Henry sighs..."That vehicle was owned by the serial killer, Mark Bentley...I don't believe that I was the target, Jo. You were...When the driver's side window rolled down and the rifle barrel came into view, I also got a glimpse of a man in the driver's seat and a woman in the passenger seat. I'm willing to bet that they were Mark Bentley's son, Devin, and his widow, Kendall."
"Revenge?" Jo whispers. She looks worriedly at Henry who nods to affirm her correct conclusion.
Lt. Reece studies the Doctor and Jo for a few seconds. "We'll put a trace on that vehicle just to confirm. The license plate could have been stolen or the vehicle could have been sold to someone else by now."
Henry nods. "It's possible, Lieutenant, but I'm pretty sure of what I saw."
"How are you so sure about the license plate number and Mark Bentley as the registered owner?" Hanson queries.
Henry sighs and lowers his eyes because he didn't want to look at Jo. "After his demise, I'd read through the case file in order to confirm something that had caught my attention earlier in the investigation. The DMV records had been a part of the file and today it simply came back to me." Despite the fact that his secret was now out to his houseguests, he didn't want to tell them of how Bentley had stabbed him on the steps of the Frenchman's house. The dark SUV parked in front of her house that night had meant nothing to him then. He'd only wanted to save the Frenchman from the deranged man, which he did. But as he'd watched the slow-moving SUV pass Jo's house earlier that day, it and the license plate number began to pick at his memories. In the shower, he'd fought to dredge the memory back up and it had finally popped out after he'd delighted his insides with Abe's lasagne. 'Nothing like a good hot meal to bring a man back up to speed after a violent death.'
"We'll still run a trace first." Reece reiterates as she ends a call to the precinct on her cell phone. She pockets the phone and lectures them all. "We want to be absolutely sure of who we're going after before we issue a BOLO. But we're gonna get these so-and-so's." She levels a look at Henry, then at Jo, who rises as if to accompany Hanson and her back to the precinct. "Martinez, it's probably best that you remain here for now, " she puts up a hand to stop Jo's protest, "or check into a hotel. Wherever you decide to stay, I wouldn't advise that you go back to your place just yet."
Jo bites her lip but reluctantly complies. "Yes, Sir."
"We'll keep a watch on you in the meantime."
"Police protection." Jo rolls her eyes and mutters under her breath. She wants to be out there in the frey. Not cooped up somewhere twiddling her thumbs while others search for some bozo who wants to off her. Even if it means being cooped up with delectable Henry and lovable Abe. She's a cop and her first instinct is to protect and serve. Not wimp out while others do it for her.
Hanson and Reece thank their hosts for the wonderful meal as they leave the shop with Lucas in tow, who does likewise. Hanson points at Jo. "Don't worry. We're gonna find this guy." He points at Henry. "Take care of her, Doc." Jo puts a hand on her hip and shoots him a look. "Well, as much as she'll let ya." He laughs.
Henry follows them down to lock the shop's door behind them. They pause and look at Henry for a few moments. Reece extends her hand and he takes it. She smiles warmly as she looks up at him. "It's finally a pleasure to really meet you, Dr. Morgan." He bows his head slightly and smiles back.
Hanson pats him on the shoulder, smiles, and shakes his head. "You crazy cracker." Henry's smile turns into a broad grin.
The two of them exit the shop as an unmarked car pulls up across the street. 'Jo's protection.' Henry concludes and he recognizes them from the precinct.
Lucas smiles sheepishly at Henry and quietly says, "See ya later, boss." Henry nods, smiles and locks the door after he leaves.
Devin Bentley and his girlfriend, Nina, burst into the home he still shares with his mother, Kendall. He takes the stairs two at a time in a breathless rush to get to his bedroom. Once they're inside, he shuts the door and locks it.
"Is that you, Devin?" His mother calls up from the kitchen. "Dinner's not quite ready yet." She wipes her hand on a kitchen towel and walks out of the kitchen to the bottom of the stairs. "Honey? Why'd you rush in like that?" She looks up towards his bedroom door.
He and Nina exchange panicked looks. "I thought you said she was out of town?" Nina whispered through clenched teeth.
"She must have come back early to, " he flops his arm up then down quickly, "surprise me. She's big on surprises." He grittingly whispers back. He schools his features, takes a few deep breaths and opens the door. He manages to look calm as he views his mother at the bottom of the stairs. "I, uh, well, that is, Nina and I have plans for tonight. We don't want to miss the first showing of the movie."
"Awww, you're not home for dinner tonight?" He smirks to himself at how disappointed his mother is; his dear, sweet mother. She, who couldn't keep Dad from his extracurricular criminal activities and she, who never understood him or the special bond he and his father had shared. Dear, sweet Mom, who never supported either one of them in any of their interests. 'She's just like that cow of a cop who shot Dad dead. If she'd done her duty as a wife, that she-devil cop wouldn't have killed Dad.'
"NO!" His mother jumps at the sudden loud anger in his voice. He calms himself again. "Sorry, no. Like I said, Nina and I are taking in a movie. We don't have much time, so..." He steps back into the room and shuts the door again. He looks over at Nina as he tries to clear his head. 'She'll do for now. At least she supports me.' He walks over, embraces her and they share a wantonly desperate kiss. They fall onto his bed as he proceeds to ravage her, much to her delight.
"You shot some guy, not that Detective, you know." Nina manages to sigh out as he smothers her with kisses, but doesn't respond. "Are we gonna go after her again?"
His hands close around her throat and he angrily demands that she shut up. "I told you! That's not just some guy, it's her boyfriend. I've been following them both and I seen how they act with each other. They got the hots for each other." He loosens his grip and caresses her face then laces his fingers through her short, black locks. Suddenly, he grips her hair tightly in his fists which causes her to wince in pain.
She gratefully accepts the pain, though. It's their way. It's what she likes. The pain and pleasure of what he gives her. Her petite frame struggles to breathe under the weight of his much larger one, but it excites her. Near death. Longing. Wanting him. She remembers salivating as she'd watched him aim the rifle at his enemy - their enemy - and pull the trigger. She'd watched the man collapse, a bloody mess. The horror on the faces of those who'd witnessed it was ever so exciting to her. The fact that she could be in the company of a man like Devin, a man who could take charge of his own life like that and right a wrong. 'It was so masculine, brutish; so - alpha male.' She was lost in some type of craze-minded ecstacy.
"If I didn't kill her, then taking that fancy dressin' boyfriend away from her like she took Dad away from me," he breathes heavily as he loosens his grip on her hair and gently massages her scalp, "that's just as good." They escalate their mutual, frenzied ravage of each other.
"Devin?" His mother's voice wafts up the stairs. "Devin, the police are here." The tinge of worry in her voice only aggravates him. Always aggravates him. But - police? His eyes desperately search the room for his rifle. 'Left it in the SUV.' He curses to himself and bangs the bed with both fists in an uncontrollable rage. 'No, no, NO! NO! NO!' He grabs Nina up off of the bed and holds her arm tightly with one hand while he searches his bureau drawers with the other. Then his fingers graze the handle of the jackknife his father had given him on his 11th birthday over his mother's concerned protests. "Time to show everyone how much you love me, Nina. How much a real woman shows her love for her man."
"Devin! Devin Bentley! This is the NYPD. Show yourself. Show yourself now. Come out with your hands up." Det. Hanson's voice barks the commands at him over the muffled sobs of his mother, Kendall Bentley.
"Okay, okay!" (silence) "Coming out." The troubled 19-year-old slowly emerges from his bedroom as he holds the small knife to the confused young woman's throat. "I'll kill her! I'll slit her throat if you come near me!"
"Baby?" Nina whimpers. "You wouldn't kill me?"
"Shut up, Nina." Devin warns her.
"Not me, baby, I love you."
"Shut! Up! Nina!"
"Drop the knife, son. Let her go." Hanson and a handful of uniformed cops train their weapons on Devin. "It's over, Devin." Hanson slowly advances up the staircase towards the pair.
"Stay away from me, man." Devin warns, his face dark with rage. "I'll cut her!"
Hanson stops halfway up. "Okay. Okay." He says quietly but he doesn't lower his weapon. "Just put the knife down and let the girl go."
Devin shakes his head and laughs grimly. He clutches Nina and the knife even tighter.
"Devin, please do what they say!" Kendall pleads tearfully.
"Just be quiet, Mom!" He yells over Kendall's tearful plea. "You never understood. Nobody ever understood!" Suddenly he shoves Nina towards the banister and she stumbles down the first two steps and catches herself. Devin steps back with the knife to his own throat now. "It's no use anymore. Just no use trying to make ANYBODY UNDERSTAND!"
Hanson fires at Devin, the bullet pierces his right shoulder. The knife flies from his hand as he slams back onto the wall and drops to the floor, groaning. Hanson whips out his cuffs and still pointing his weapon at Devin, sprints up the stairs past a distraught Nina and kicks the knife out of anyone's reach. He cuffs him as he reads his rights to him. "Call for a bus!" He barks the order to his backup detail who swiftly comply. As Devin is transported to the hospital and Nina is taken down to the precinct, Hanson called it in to Lt. Reece, then to Jo, that the suspect was in custody. They grudgingly realize, though, that he cannot be charged with the murder of one Henry Morgan. They'd have to settle for the charge of attempted murder of an officer of the law, one Det. Jo Martinez. As they interrogate him, it soon becomes apparent that an insanity plea might be more in order because it appears he is as deranged as his father was. His girlfriend, Nina Young, included.
Back at the antique shop...
"Okay...Yeah...Wow...Okay, thanks. You're the best." Jo ends the call on her cell phone and pockets it. She turns to Henry and smiles. "Well. It appears that I can go on home, after all. Devin Bentley was the culprit, as you suspected. He'll be charged with my attempted murder and his girlfriend will be charged as an accomplice."
She and Henry once again occupy the couch they had fallen asleep on together the night before.
"I see." Henry smiles as his eyes slide back and forth as he gathers the courage to speak further. "You're welcome to stay." He quietly offers. "We have a guest room and the bed is much more comfortable than this couch."
She laughs softly and shakes her head. "Nope. No, thank you. I-I'd best be going on home." He nods slightly and pulls his lips in. She recognizes that quirky mannerism. 'He does that when he doesn't like something but doesn't trust himself to speak.'
"Um, on second thought, what's Abe got up his sleeve for dinner?"
Henry looks up at her pleasantly surprised, his open mouth quickly turns into a wide grin. "Uh, I'm not quite sure. Let's see," he knits his brow in mock seriousness, "this is his new recipe night but I'm sure we'll enjoy it."
Alright, then. I'll stay."
"Great!"
"Just for tonight."
"Oh, of course."
"Just to, you know, keep each other company after what you went through when you caught that bullet meant for me." She studies the features of this weird, adorable, impossible, and handsome man she's fallen in love with. Once an unwilling participant in his counter-clockwise world, she now wishes to share the version of time that fate has dealt him. She'd heard him refer to his unusual condition as a curse, but she knows it's a blessing. Perhaps one day she could help him realize it, too. "Now, I'm just spending the night. Nothing else."
"Jo, what do you take me for? If nothing else, I shall ever remain a gentleman."
"Just making sure, you know. I want things between us to be - right. Don't wanna mess things up."
He says nothing, just gets up and pulls her along as she had done to him before. They walk to the shop's front door with her promise to retrieve a few overnight items from her place and return in time for dinner. Since she was not allowed to participate in the investigation and apprehension of her assailant, Devin Bentley, there was no paperwork for her to complete. Reece said she could give her statement when she came to work the next day. Henry, likewise, had no autopsy to perform because the dead body was himself, resurrected. So they would enjoy this rare bit of free time together. Right before she leaves, he presses her right hand to his lips and a tingle goes up her arm and down her spine. 'How adorably old-fashioned, Mr. 1779.' She steps forward and pecks him on the cheek. "See ya in a few. Say good-bye to Abe but let him know I'll be back soon?" He nods and smiles.
He watches her until her car disappears down the block. As he turns around, he sees Abe grinning at him, his eyebrows wiggling up and down. "Do not look at me like that." Henry chides his son.
"What? I'm just looking. Smiling. See-ing." He leans forward with a grin to rival that of the Cheshire Cat in the fairytale. "Shall I make myself scarce tonight? I mean, she is coming back, right?" He grins broader and wiggles his eyebrows up and down again but faster.
Henry sighs. "Yes, she is. She's gone to gather a few items from her place and then she'll be back in time for dinner." He tries to pass the information to his son (whom he feels is very badly misbehaving right now) in a nonchalant manner, but it doesn't work.
"Um, well, okay. Am I here or gone, then?"
"Do what you wish, Abraham, after you've prepared dinner, but for Heaven's sake, wipe that ridiculous smirk off of your face. I won't stand for you to make Jo uncomfortable tonight."
"Uh, no, I'll leave that to you." He ignores Henry's scowl. "Alright. Leaving to make dinner."
Henry fights the urge to smile as he watches Abe climb the stairs to the kitchen. Abe turns to look at his father who scowls more darkly at him. Abe quickly ascends the stairs and disappears into the kitchen. Despite the day's unnerving events, it's been decades since he's felt so happy. So - blessed.