Jim was visited by nightmares again – his mother yelling that she left because she didn't want a freak for a son; that she had wanted Stephen, but not Jim. He managed to wake himself up each time before he cried out. Blair dozed uneasily on the couch, aware of the unrest upstairs, but unwilling to interfere unless it got out of hand.
Part II
Blair taught his classes the next day, and was grading exams in his office when the woman in the picture walked in. "Professor Sandburg, I'm Grace Ellison, Jim's mother.I'm hoping as his brother-in-law, that you can help me out."
"Brother-in-law?"
"The answering machine message says 'Ellison-Sandburg residence', so your sister is my daughter-in-law."
Blair laughed. "I live with Jim. I'm the Sandburg."
"Oh…my…I…"
"You need to leave," Blair said as he regained his footing, "please."
"Professor Sandburg, I need to talk with my son, and since you are…you're close to my Jimmy, I need your help."
"This is between you and Jim. Please leave."
"Look professor, I can make it worth your while." She pulled out a checkbook, and Blair grabbed for the ringing phone like it was lifeline, thanking the numerous gods he knew for their intervention.
"Chief."
"Hey Eli, I thought our appointment was supposed to be at 3:15 pm. You know I hate it when you're late."
"Something's wrong." Jim responded, pressing the gas pedal to the floor.
"That's right, Eli. Remember the topic of yesterday's discussion?"
"Oh my god, she's there!"
"Glad you can retain more than beer. You owe me."
"Look I'm halfway to campus, should I call Security?" Jim leaned forward, urging the truck to go faster.
"No, just hurry up. I hate it when you keep me waiting."
"Chief…Blair, please, be careful."
"Don't worry, I'll be here." He hung up casually, and looked at the woman who had been the star of his roommate's nightmares. She'd left the chair, and was looking at photos of Blair and Jim that sat on top of the file cabinets.
"Ma'am, please, you need to leave. I won't talk to you about Jim."
"But you must. You're his…his friend, and I need his help."
"What do you want from him?" Blair was standing to the side of his desk now, the urge to protect his friend from this woman, suddenly overpowering.
"Oh, that's personal." She smiled brightly at him, and he felt the hair on the back of his neck stand at attention.
"How do I know you're Jim's mother?"
"Oh, please," she said, taking her seat, "don't be so silly."
"Okay then, why'd you leave?"
"Excuse me, I did not come here to…"
"Exactly why did you come? Certainly you didn't expect Jim to welcome you back with open arms."
"Why shouldn't he?" She sounded offended and that made Blair laugh.
"You left him – he was only 8. And you didn't even say goodbye. Hell lady, you didn't even leave a note." He was yelling, but he didn't care. This woman had hurt Jim, and he wasn't going to stand by, and let her do it again.
"Is that what he told you?"
"It's the truth, isn't it?"
"Look, clearly you have no intention of helping..."
"Neither do you," Blair spat back, enraged. "Leave Jim alone. You've already done enough damage. I won't let you do any more."
"How dare you?"
"That the best you got, lady? Come on."
"I can't believe my son sleeps with, with you…you…," she was screaming, "I raised him better."
"You seem to have forgotten that you didn't raise me at all. You left that to someone else." Jim said in a firm, quiet voice, startling both occupants of the room. The big man moved swiftly to his partner's side, and placed a hand on his back. "You okay?"
"Yeah, you?"
"Jimmy," the woman squawked, "now that you're here, we can talk. Just send your…friend away."
"I doubt you have anything to say that I want to hear. And this is Blair's office, so if anyone is leaving, it's you."
"Jim, if you want to talk with her..." Blair said Sentinel soft.
"What is it you want from me?" He demanded as Blair slipped closer in a show of support.
"Is that any way to talk to your mother?" She said, ignorantly believing she had gained the upper hand.
"Lady, I don't know you from Adam, but you seem intent on telling me something so let's just get it over with." Jim's face was locked down, his eyes iced over.Only Blair could feel the tremors rippling though the solid body.
"We have so many things to talk about...why I bet you still have that scar on your left thigh from your first try at a two wheeler." She smiled serenely.
"I have a number of scars there – from a helicopter crash, not a bike accident."
"Why Jimmy, what were you doing in a helicopter?"
"I was in the Army."
"Oh my, so my baby was a military man."
"What do you want?" Jim restated.
"Jimmy, it's really quite personal," she said motioning to Blair.
"Anything you have to say to me you can say to him." And he relaxed minutely at the warm smile Blair shot him.
"Honey, I need some money. My husband has a gambling problem, and he's in pretty deep with some men who have threatened to hurt him."
"How much?"
"$250,000"
"You're kidding right? I'm a cop for God sake!"
"Look, I know it's a lot, but you haven't touched your trust fund so…"
"Excuse me?"
"Your trust fund. The one you're father set up when you were born."
"I know about my trust fund. What's this about my not touching it?"
"Don't play games with me, Jimmy. I did my homework. My guess is you don't want his money – so give it to me. Besides, you'll have plenty left over. The way you live, it's not like you need it, and think about the wonderful irony – me getting Bill's money."
"You waltz in here out of the blue, 30 years later and expect me to hand over a quarter of a million dollars – I'll give you this lady, you got balls."
"You owe me," she responded bitterly, all pretence of politeness gone.
"I don't owe you squat." He responded in the same tone he used to let perps know he was done playing.
"Look, I may not have been much of a mother…"
"You got that right," Jim muttered.
"But I made sure I married a wealthy man so you would have a good home."
Both men stared at her – identical looks of confusion on both faces.
"What exactly are you trying to say?" Blair finally asked.
"That maybe Bill Ellison's oldest son is Stephen." Blair wanted to smack the smug look off her face so badly.
"You're lying!" Jim roared.
"Am I? It'll cost you $250,000 to find out. I'll leave my number."
As soon as she was out the door, Blair pushed Jim into a chair. He was afraid his partner was going to collapse. He knelt beside him. "Jim, just breathe with me. Come on, in – that's it - and out.You're doing great. In and out, that's it." Blair kept it up for several more minutes, hoping to restore some color to the ashen face, and thaw the ice from the blue eyes. Jim absently patted Blair's shoulder before standing up and beginning to pace.
"Was she lying?" Blair asked.
"Not sure. Her heart beat was pretty fast throughout – no real spikes – my guess is the whole sob story is a scam."
"How could she find out about the trust fund?"
"I'm thinking that she came here expecting to find me at Ellison Corp in a senior position. When she found out I was a cop, she probably made a stab at putting two and two together – saw my truck, probably drove by the loft – and figured out I hadn't touched the money."
"You, ah, never mentioned you were a trust fund baby…"
Jim smiled slightly. "I've never touched it. Not sure why, but once it was clear I could make it on my salary, I figured I'd save it for when I couldn't be a cop anymore. Sort of like my own "rainy day" fund."
"Is there $250,000 in it?"
"More."
"You going to talk to your dad again."
"No point. If what she says is true, he wouldn't know anyway."
"You know trying to shake down a cop is not the brightest thing you could do."
"That's why I'm thinking she didn't know I was a cop til she got here."
"Why approach you at all, then?"
"Beats me, Chief. You ready to go home?"
TBC
