Chapter 5: Massive Overloads of Information

Cassie felt a tapping on her leg. She stretched a little and fluttered her eyes. "Cassie." she heard.

"Jason?"

"You need to get up."

"What time is it?"

"Ten thirty."

She quickly sat up in her bed. "I didn't think it was that late... has Trish came back yet?"

"Cass, you need to come into the livingroom with me."

"Okay, why?"

"There's a detective that needs to ask you about Mike and Trish." she nodded, then followed Jason out to the livingroom, and sat down.

"Cassie?"

"Yes?"

"I'm Detective Bradshaw."

"Hello." she said, looking unsure.

"I need to ask you a few questions about Trish and Michael Logan." he paused. "When was the last time you seen Trish?"

"She was here earlier... around two forty five."

"And how about Michael?"

"Three days ago, when he dropped off my daughter."

"Did he seem strange or different to you?"

She gave him a funny look. "What's this about?" she asked.

"Cassie." Detective Bradshaw started. "There's no delicate way to put this, but we found both Michael and Trish, dead in their house." her jaw dropped to the ground as Jason put his arm around her. "We believe it was a murder-suicide."

"How?"

"According to the forensics, it looked like Trish was packing to go somewhere. There was a confrontation, followed by a struggle." Bradshaw paused. "As a result to the struggle, Trish got shoved off the top of the railing on the second floor, landing on the back of her head first."

Tears were falling down Cassie's cheeks. "Oh my God." she whispered.

"Then Michael took his .45 and used it on himself... three feet away from Trish's body." Cassie was just shaking her head and crying, then Bradshaw took out his notepad. "Can you give me any information as to why this happened to them?"

"Yeah." she wiped her face. "Trish came over earlier." she paused to look at Jason. "Are the kids still in bed?"

"No, I took them over Mrs. Gordon's house." she nodded. "They're fine."

"Okay." she turned her attention back to the detective. "Trish came over and told me that Mike was having an affair... she even brought over the divorce papers."

"And then what?"

"She signed them, told her son Tyler and my daughter bye, and she left to her house to pack... she was gonna stay here for a few days." Cassie paused. "Mike was gonna move to New York with the woman and give Trish full custody of Tyler."

"Okay." Bradshaw put away his notepad. "For right now, since I know of no known family members of either of them, Tyler will be in your care... until we talk to their lawyers or find a family member."

"Of course." she nodded.

"Thank you, Cassie, you've been very helpful." Bradshaw stood up. "I'll give you a call if anything else comes up or if I need to ask any more questions." she nodded again. "I'm sorry for your loss."

Jason stood up and walked him to the door. "Thanks for coming, Detective." he told him, then they walked outside.

Cassie broke down into tears and was sobbing. A minute later, her phone rang. She dug it out of her pocket and pressed the talk button. "I don't wanna talk right now... call back later!" then she tossed the phone on the ground and continued crying.

A few hours later, Cassie calmed down. She was laying there in Jason's arms, but something felt off and she didn't feel right for some reason. Jason cleared his throat, then said "Um... Cass?"

"Yeah?"

"I'd hate to bring this up... right now."

"What is it?"

"I have a conference in the morning, in Denver."

She wiggled out of his arms and sat up. "Jason..." she whined.

"It's only for two to three days, but four at the most. I'll be back before Trish's funeral." she laid back down on the bed. "I promise, Cass."

"Fine." she said, in a defeated tone. "I'll take time off of work and take Daze out of daycare, and have Mrs. Gordon watch them both."

"Babe... you'll be fine."

Cassie rolled over on her side. "I sure hope so, Jason." she reached over to turn off her lamp and closed her eyes. "Good night."

It was around four pm the next day and Cassie was fixing dinner for the kids. Jason left earlier to Denver around nine am and after Cassie took him to the airport, she picked up the kids from Mrs. Gordon's house. Cassie also went down to her work to get the time off and she talked to Daisy's daycare to get all of that squared away.

Ding-Dong. Ding-Dong.

"I'll get it, Mommy." Daisy yelled, the opened the door. "Um... Mommy."

Cassie wiped her hands with the dish towel and walked out of the kitchen. "Who is it, Baby?" she looked up and gasped. "Oh, my God."

"Long time no see."

"Juice! What are you doing here?"

"You know him, Mommy?" Daisy asked, looking up at Cassie with a frown.

"Yeah, Sweetie... how 'bout you go play with Tyler, in your room."

"Can we watch Scooby Doo?"

"Sure." Cassie nodded, then Daisy ran down the hallway into her room.

All of a sudden, Cassie jumped into Juice's arms. "Wow, Cass... I'm glad to see you too."

A few minutes later, she let go. "Come in." he walked inside and both of them sat down on the couch. "How did you know where to find me?"

"After I called you yesterday..."

"You called me? When?"

"Well... after you left me a voicemail, I called you back." he paused. "You answered the phone, crying, and you said that you didn't want to talk and to call back later."

"That was you?"

He nodded. "I thought there was something wrong, so I had to see if you were okay."

"But how did you find me?"

"I got skills and state of the art technology to find anyone."

"Oh." she nodded. "I'm sorry about last night, if I was rude or a bitch... it was a bit of a blur."

"Okay... but are you okay?"

"For now."

"What do you mean, for now?"

"Last night, my best friend Trish was murdered by her husband."

"Really?"

"Yeah... apparently it was a murder-suicide and right now, their son Tyler is in my care until the detective finds other family members to take him."

"Wow, I'm so sorry, Cass."

She gave him a weak smile. "Thanks."

"So, you have a little girl?"

"Uh-huh." she nodded.

"I thought the doctors said that you couldn't have any."

"That's what they said, but there she is... she's my miracle baby."

"That's great, Cass, I'm really happy for you."

"Thank you." she paused. "Juice, the main reason why I called you yesterday... I wanted to tell you that I was sorry for not keeping in touch. I really missed you."

"I missed you too." he smiled. "And you're forgiven."

"Good." she nodded. "So how are things back home?" Juice slumped back on the couch and deeply sighed. "What?"

"A lot... has happened since you left."

"Like what?"

"In two thousand nine... that was the worst year ever." he shook his head. "Luann was killed by some rival porn director." Cassie's eyes widened. "You remember Otto?" she nodded. "These guys from The League, which are a bunch of white supremacist, beat up Otto and fucked up his eyes. He only can only see about ten percent or so." Juice looked down. "Uh... Gemma was raped by those League guys."

"Oh my God."

"And that Irish guy from the IRA, Cameron... stabbed and killed Half Sack, then kidnapped Abel." he paused. "Just so much has happened."

Cassie's head snapped up. "Abel was kidnapped?" Juice nodded. "And Half Sack was killed?"

"Yeah and as far as we know... Abel is still out there."

"Nobody could find him?"

"Cameron took off on a boat from the marina, he could of taken Abel anywhere." Juice paused. "I'm surprised you didn't hear it on the news."

"I don't watch the news... it's depressing."

"Oh."

"How's Jax?"

"He's a big mess... after all of this happened, he just went down hill. Tara left him and went back to Chicago, he's with a different woman every other night, and it's like he doesn't care." he looked into Cassie's eyes. "Jax needs you."