Chapter 4:

Oakdale District Attorney's office, 7:30 am:

Tom is sitting there at his desk, having come in early knowing that today was the day of opening arguments in Doc's rape trial. He was reviewing his notes when he stops and eyes the picture of him and Margo taken the night that they renewed their wedding vows. After everything that has happened over the past several months, he still couldn't bring himself to remove that picture. Seeing Margo for the first time in two months, looking pale and withdrawn, had been on his mind. He couldn't get over the thought that there could be something wrong with her and she was clearly avoiding him. He went so far as to ask Hal, but he wouldn't tell him anything—telling Tom that it wouldn't matter to him anyway if Margo was sick or not. He called and left a message for Margo, but he was disappointed that she didn't return the phone call.

Tom picks up the phone and calls her desk at the Oakdale police station, hoping she would pick up the phone. His hopes are quickly dashed when it goes to voice mail, playing the following greeting:

"You've reached the desk of Detective Margo Hughes with the Oakdale Police Department. I apologize for missing your phone call. I am not going to be available for the time being. If your call is urgent, please contact my partner, Detective Jack Snyder, or the chief of detectives, Lt. Hal Munson. Please do not leave a message, as I will not be checking them while I am away."

Disappointed, Tom hangs up the phone as he hears a knock on the door. He looks up and sees his dad, Bob, standing there in the doorway.

"Hey son, I just wanted to come by and see if you have talked to Margo at all regarding the wedding." Bob says.

"Hi, Dad. No, I haven't. I haven't talked to her in a couple of months. I did see her the other day as she was walking out of the police station with Hal. She wasn't looking like herself. She looked pale and withdrawn. She barely acknowledged that I was there." Tom says.

"Do you think this separation is hard on her?" Bob asks as he sits down.

"From what I saw the other day, Dad, I think she's taking it pretty hard. I asked Hal. He said that she's been working an awful lot and barely taking any time off. Then he mentioned to me that she's not been feeling well for a while now and that her doctor told her that she needs to take it easy. I tried asking what is wrong and all Hal would tell me is that he couldn't tell me anything and that it wouldn't matter to me anyway. I stopped by the house and I left as soon as I saw Margo put her head on Hal's shoulder. I called, but all I got was the answering machine and I left her a message. Hal said that she thought it was just a pretense to bug her about the separation papers. I tried calling her this morning at work and her voice mail greeting said that she was going to be unavailable for some time and not to leave a message." Tom says as he runs his fingers through his hair. "Dad, there is either something wrong with her or there is something that she's not telling anybody—especially me."

"Seeing Margo is obviously bothering you, son. You still care about her, right?" Bob implies, careful not to let Tom know about Margo and the baby.

"Of course I do, she's Casey's mother. Lien considers to her to be a second mother. Seeing her like that reminded me of right before she was diagnosed with Hepatitis C. I hope her HCV isn't bothering her to the point it's making her sick, Dad. I tried finding out, but she's obviously not letting me know and Hal knows more than he's telling me." Tom says as he gets out of his chair and walks toward the window.

"You don't think she and Hal are getting a lot closer since you two separated, do you?" Bob asks.

"I don't know, Dad. Part of me wants to go over to the house and talk to her—to find out what's going on. After her liver transplant, Margo was told by her doctors that she needs to be careful when it comes to stress. I know this separation isn't easy on her, Dad. So, what does she do—she throws herself into her work and works a lot, not taking anytime off. What if this makes her so sick to the point where she's back in the hospital again? I don't know what to do. I want to reach out to her and find out if she's okay, but I don't know if that will do any good. Margo has been going out of her way to literally avoid me. She went so far as to have Jack take over an investigation and not notify me about it, like she knows she supposed to." Tom says as he goes back over to the chair and sits down. "Then seeing her the other day, with Hal putting his arm around her shoulder, seeing Margo put her head on his shoulder at the house. I don't know what to think."

"Son, hopefully you and Margo will work your way back to each other. You did it before. Both of you are dealing with a lot of pain and hurt right now. Maybe giving her some space isn't such a bad idea." Bob says as he puts his hand on Tom's shoulder to try to reassure him.

"It's already been a couple of months, how much longer am I supposed to go around thinking that something's wrong with her and I am not able to find out?" Tom asks.

"I don't know what to tell you on that one, Tom. I know it's not easy, but maybe she's just not ready to face you at this time. I guess that since you haven't talked to her, she isn't going to be at the wedding." Bob says.

"No, I don't think she's going to be there." Tom says, looking at his watch. "Thanks for stopping by. I have to be in court here in about 30 minutes. Doc Reese's trial was moved up and the jury has already been seated, so that means I have opening arguments this morning."

"You're welcome. Why don't you give me a call when you're done with court for the day and maybe you and Casey could join Kim and me for dinner tonight?" Bob suggests.

"That'll be great, it's my night to have Daniel—so if you don't mind him coming along, too." Tom says, closing his briefcase.

"No, of course not, he's more than welcome to join us. I'll talk to you later, son. Remember; don't beat yourself up too much over this. It will take some time." Bob says as he walks toward the door. "By the way, good luck in court."

"Thanks, Dad. I'll talk to you later." Tom says as Bob walks out the door.

"Maybe he's right; she's not ready to face me." Tom thinks to himself as he grabs his suitcase and heads to court.

Java, 8:00 am:

Casey is sitting at a table with his morning usual, a banana nut muffin and vanilla iced coffee, his left hand having been in a cast for the past couple of days since breaking the ring finger and a bone in his left hand playing flag football. In between bites, he's been trying to manage to get caught up on his reading for his Advanced American History class. Chris walks in, orders a coffee, and notices Casey.

"Hey Case, what's up with the hand?" Chris asks as he grabs his coffee and sits down.

"I managed to bust up a finger and a bone in my hand playing flag football in gym class two days ago. Yeah, yeah! I know, nice timing with the wedding being next week" Casey replies.

"Are you going to need surgery at all on it?" Chris asks, trying to inspect the cast.

"I go see a hand specialist next week. The doc in the ER said that I need to wait at least a week for the swelling to go down. I'll find out then." Casey tells him as he takes a gulp of his coffee.

"Have you seen your mom at all lately? I've tried calling her yesterday about the wedding. Her cell phone is temporarily shut off and when I call the house, I get the machine. I was hoping to find out if she's going to be at the wedding because Ali and I really want her there, with everything that has been going on." Chris states.

"No, sorry man, I haven't seen her since Dad and I moved out of the house. Dad saw her about three days ago and said that she wasn't looking real good—like she was sick again. I hope it's not that. It was so hard on everybody when she was really sick the first time and came close to dying. I tried calling her the other day when I did this, and all I got was the same thing you got with the cell phone." Casey says.

"I have a favor to ask of you. You have Grandpa Chris's pocket watch, don't you?" Chris asks.

"Yeah, I do. What's up?" Casey inquires.

"I was wondering if you were going to have it with you at the wedding. Ali and I were planning on having a small table set up at the church with a picture of her late grandfather, Dan, and Grandpa Chris. Ali's going to have his favorite gold chain hanging on the picture frame. I was wondering if we could possibly put the pocket watch by Grandpa Chris's picture—just a way of acknowledging them. You'll get it back after the ceremony." Chris informs his nephew.

"Yeah, that would be a great way to do that. Not a problem, I'll have to go over to the house to get it because I left it over there. Hey, I've got to get to school. I didn't go yesterday because of the hand. Later, man." Casey says as he gets up and fumbles his book into his bag.

"Do you need help with that?" Chris asks.

"Nah, I've got it. I've been managing. Thanks anyway. You're not going to have a problem with the cast?" Casey asks.

"No, it's understandable." Chris says.

"Well, I'll see ya later then." Casey says as he grabs his bag.

"Later Case." Chris says as Casey leaves to head off for class.

Chris disappointed from hearing that Margo's not going to be at the wedding, pulls his cell phone out of his jacket pocket and calls Alison.

"Hey hon. what time do you have class this morning?" Chris asks.

"I don't. Class was cancelled for this morning and I promised Mom that I was going to go over to the hospital and work on some lab files for her this morning. What's up?" Alison asks after answering her phone.

"Well, I just spoke to Casey. You know that Mom and Dad have tried talking Margo into attending the wedding, but to no luck. Casey hasn't spoken to her since he and Tom moved out of the house. The weird thing is that her cell phone is temporarily shut off and she's not answering the home phone. Casey and I came to the conclusion that she's not attending the wedding." Chris informs his fiancée.

"I'll have to talk to Emily and Jennifer about something else for something borrowed, then. Margo was going to lend me the bracelet that Tom gave her when they got married. Is everything alright with Margo? I know that she and Tom have separated." Alison says as she shakes her hair from the towel.

"We don't know. Casey told me that Tom saw her the other day and she wasn't looking so good. He said that Tom described to him that she looked as sick as she did when she was first diagnosed and right before she had her liver transplant. Nobody's been able to get a hold of her lately. Casey even tried when he broke a finger and a bone in his left hand a couple of days ago." Chris tells her.

"I'll figure the something borrowed out. I'll talk to Mom when I see her at the hospital to see if she has any last-minute ideas. I have to go get ready. I'll talk to you later, I love you." Alison tells him.

"I love you, too. I'll talk to you later. Bye." Chris says, and then hangs up the phone. He gets up, grabs his coffee, and leaves to go start his shift at Memorial.