What Was
"What is he doing here?" Cassie asked quietly, unlocking her arms from around Theo who turned around to see who she was looking at, noticing Mark making his way into the station, nodding over to them both as they stared at him, emotionless.
"I don't know." Theo mumbled, "Or care." He turned back to Cassie, to upset to waste energy thinking about Mark and what his reasons were for being in their police station, somewhere he most definitely was not welcomed in, especially by Jake.
"Someone should tell him to leave." Cassie shook her head angrily, watching Mark head through to the main area of the station where all the officers desks were set up in the centre, "Who called you?" She asked Theo, "I… I didn't know until I got here and Mandy told me. I was on the phone to the adoption agency."
"Ronda called me." Theo said, referring to Jake's wife, "She sounded like a mess. I didn't know whether to go here first or over to her place. Didn't know if she'd want visitors so I thought it'd best I come here first." He nodded.
"I… I can't believe it." Cassie shook her head. It wouldn't sink in. Such devastating and unfortunate news for both of them. A man they had a great deal of respect for. A man who had given them both opportunities to excel in their careers, who saw potential in them and gave a lot of his time to them. It was a hard pill to swallow. An upsetting pill to swallow.
"Let's go to my office." Theo nodded to her, placing his hand at the small of her back to guide her through the station.
"Cassie, your folders." Mandy called, noticing Cassie had left her folders at the reception desk, watching as she wandered off in a daze.
"Thanks, Mandy." Theo nodded, grabbing the folders and heading on through the police station.
They stopped and spoke to many other upset police officers and colleagues, all who were as shocked as them and upset. It wasn't hard to see how much Jake was respected amongst his officers. It was a reflection on the man he was. The commissioner and leader he was.
"I'm going to get a coffee." Cassie told Theo who was in the midst of talking with one of the sergeants on their squad, "Do you want one?" She asked.
"No, I'm ok." Theo shook his head, placing his hand on her shoulder reassuringly as she nodded, making her way through the station to the coffee machine. Most everyone had puffy red eyes, discarded tissues lying around, an uneasy sadness in the air.
She took a cup from the stack by the coffee machine and held it under, feeling a presence behind her as she turned around, watching Mark make his way around her, standing beside the coffee machine.
"Please go away." Cassie told him calmly, looking away from him, focusing on her coffee.
"I'm here for the same reason the rest of us are." Mark made clear, "I respected Jake. He did a lot for me when I worked here. I'm allowed to pay my respects-"
"You shouldn't even be in uniform. You should be in prison." Cassie spat, "If I were you I'd be embarrassed to show my face in here." She looked up at him as he nodded to himself, looking down at the ground.
"I've done everything I could to be a better person." He said, "I know in my heart I have." He nodded, as if assuring himself, "Don't people deserve a second chance?"
"Yeah, most do." She nodded, "But not you." She hissed, "Not after what you did to my family. To this police station. Taking us for fools. Ratting our hard work out to your… snake friends." She spat as Mark sighed, putting his hands in his pockets, "Not after what you did to my sister." She stepped closer to him, getting angrier.
"Hey." Theo walked over to them. He'd watched from afar, angrily, as Mark had approached Cassie. He knew it was best to take her away from the situation before things escalated.
"Hey." Mark nodded to Theo, "I'm just here to pay my respects." He said.
"That doesn't involve you talking to Cassie." Theo nodded calmly, "You pay your respects, that's fine. But you do it elsewhere." He pointed away from them.
"I don't want no trouble." Mark nodded in agreement, backing away and leaving them alone as Theo turned to Cassie.
"You alright?" Theo asked her as she nodded.
"Yeah." Cassie said, walking off towards her office as Theo watched with a sigh.
"I just got a text. Jake is dead." Sean shook his head, making his way into the kitchen in the apartment where Jude was sitting doing a drawing, trying to keep her mind occupied from thinking about the person out there who had broken into their home, the person they still hadn't found any leads for.
"Jake?" Jude tried to place the name to the face, "Jake… Chicago police station Jake?" Jude raised her eyebrows once it finally clicked.
"Yeah." Sean shook his head with shock, "He had a heart attack last night."
"God." Jude frowned, "Man, that will hit Cassie and Theo hard. They were close. Especially Theo and him." She nodded.
"He was a good boss." Sean nodded, saddened by the news as Jude watched him.
"I'm sorry." She nodded, "I remember him being really sweet to me when I was attacked. He didn't deal with my case but… he was around." She remembered.
"He was a good guy." Sean nodded as Jude looked at him, watching him run his hands over his face tiredly.
"Sean, you look like you haven't slept in days." She frowned, putting her pencil down.
"I haven't." Sean nodded, "We've got nothing. Not even a fingerprint. No footage anywhere. No car to trace." He shook his head.
"I know but… something could come up." She nodded, "You don't have to carry all the pressure of finding this person."
"I do if I want my wife and kids to be safe in their own house." Sean shook his head, "Did you notice anything missing from the studio?" He asked her. She'd gone to the house earlier this morning with him to pick up some art things for her to continue working.
"No, nothing that stood out to me." She shook her head, "Besides, if someone wanted to use my brushes, they could have just asked." She rolled her eyes sassily as Sean looked at her, smiling a little as she noticed, "What?" She smiled back.
"It's just… a very Jude thing of you to say." He laughed a little as she smiled, "God, I feel like I'm going crazy." He groaned, leaning his elbows on the kitchen counter, placing his hands over his face as she looked at him.
"Maybe you should go for a shower or something." She suggested, picking her pencil back up.
"Who has a key to our house?" Sean asked.
"You've already asked this about twenty four times. Jeanie. That's it." Jude nodded, "I don't think you need to take her in for questioning, do you?"
"Well, no… because the window was smashed, that's how whoever got in, got in." He nodded to himself, "Maybe I need that shower."
"Yeah, maybe make it cold." She suggested, focusing back on her drawing as Sean watched her. He missed watching her drawing, painting, sketching… all of it. She always looked so peaceful and content. Her true happy place.
"What about that guy…" He said, almost speaking to himself as he watched Jude's pencil moving, "The guy who was having an affair with the girl murdered in the elevator at your work." He stood up straight.
"Fred Wilson?" Jude scoffed, "He barely even knows me. Plus, what the hell would him and that girl's issues have to do with me?" She shook her head.
"I don't know?" Sean said in a questioning tone, looking at her to continue.
"What?" Jude shook her head with confusion.
"How'd you find out about them?" He asked.
"It was gossip in the staff room." Jude shrugged, "I overheard it."
"You know we haven't been able to find him since she was murdered, right?" He let her know as Jude nodded, "You overhead it? You didn't see anything?" Sean clarified as Jude looked at him, not saying anything, "Jude." He said suspiciously as she looked at her drawing.
"I didn't see anything." Jude made clear, looking up at him as he waited for her to continue, "But she told me about him."
"Can't we just ban him from the station?" Cassie shook her head, lying on her back in bed later that night beside Theo.
"I wish." Theo shook his head. It'd been a long, emotionally draining day for them both. It still wasn't sinking in that Jake had passed. It was going to take a long time for it to sink in.
"The nerve of him to even show his face after what he did." Cassie said, "Not just to me and my family but to the station. Lying. Being a snake in the grass. Feeding all our work to those cronies." She shook her head, "I just don't understand why he's allowed to pick up his badge again."
"Because he's got a rich mom and dad, probably." Theo said, "It's obvious he's still hung up on you." He said, bitterness in his voice as Cassie paused awkwardly.
"I wasn't aware he ever was." She said quietly.
"It's obvious." Theo nodded, "I thought he was my friend." He shook his head as Cassie looked up at him, "Realised he wasn't when I came back from the dead and found out he waited a whole three months to make a move on you when I was gone."
"Everyone thought you were dead." Cassie whispered, "Not that I'm defending him but… we all thought you were dead. Buried in the ground, dead." She emphasised as Theo stayed quiet, running his hand through her hair, "I didn't know you guys were all that close." She admitted truthfully. Whenever she went on her rants about Mark, and expressed her hatred, it wasn't until now she realised he always stayed quiet.
"Came up together through the academy." Theo said as Cassie looked up at him.
"Really?" She shook her head as he nodded, "You've never said-"
"Cause I don't like talking about the bastard." Theo nodded, "You must have seen us hanging out when you first came to the station." He said.
"I guess." Cassie thought about it, "But I thought it was just… a civil work friendship. I didn't know you guys were close." She admitted, "So when you found out that me and him-"
"We don't gotta talk about it." He sat up as she watched him.
"I'm sorry. I never… I never actually knew you two were close like that-"
"You got nothing to be sorry for." He shook his head as she sat up, leaning back on her elbows, "He showed his true colours." He nodded, standing up from the bed.
"Where are you going?" She asked.
"Just to get a drink." He mumbled, leaving their bedroom as Cassie collapsed down on her back, sighing to herself.
