Lose the Road
By – TempestRaces
Chapter 5 – Pictures of You
"Pictures of you, Pictures of me, remind us all of what we used to be."
Once she got in the truck she let out a breath she hadn't even realized she'd been holding and laid her head onto the steering wheel. He was going to be ok. He was already awake and talking. He couldn't do much moving. And he seemed pretty shaken mentally. But he was going to recover. And she'd stay put as long as she had to to make sure he was well on the way before she left. That decided she finally started the truck and put it in reverse. She programmed Jesse's address into the GPS unit and started to follow it's on screen directions.
Half an hour later she was pulling up at the house. It looked just as she remembered it. Until she took a good look and realized the whole front lawn was peppered with bullet holes, the earth all torn up. "If this Johnny Tran asshole wasn't dead, he would be soon," she growled to herself as she got out of the Escalade. She locked the doors and armed the security before walking up to the front door. It was locked. She really hadn't expected that. She walked around to the back and found the rear door locked too. She got off the wooden back step and walked to the back side of it. She reached under the step, felt around, and felt her fingers close over the key Vince kept duct taped to the bottom side of one of the floor boards. She could still hear him telling her 'I've been locked out of the place drunk one too many fuckin' times not to keep a spare key back here somewhere.'
She peeled the key off the tape and clambered back up the step before unlocking the door and going into the house. She closed and locked the door behind her. The kitchen was spotless. She knew from what Jesse had told her that they'd been living in trailers at this huge race meet called Racewars for a day or two before the big event anyway. So of course Mia had spiffied up her part of the house before locking it up for several days. She moved into the living room and looked around. Nothing much had changed. The PlayStation was gone, replaced by a PS2.
She crossed to the mantle on the far wall, picked up the 'team' picture and looked at the faces. It was a current picture she was sure, because she had no idea who the blonde with his arm around Mia was. He could only be the Brian Jesse had told her about. The blue-eyed cop who had fallen for Mia. The cop they had all believed when he told them he was just a down on his luck street racer slinging parts for Harry.
Jesse and Leon were crouched out front while Dom and Letty stood behind them and sideways, Dom's arms around her waist. The blonde man and Mia were off to the other side, with Blondie at Dom's back. And Vince was on Letty's other side, standing alone on the far left. His arm was kind of half around Letty. But his eyes were directed off to the side of the image and he had the same look on his face he always had when someone tried to take his picture when she was around. The whole 'make it stop' look of distaste. He didn't like to have his picture taken any more than she did. "So where are you all now?" The picture didn't answer. But where ever they all were, they were likely together. Not all alone as they had left Jesse.
She put the picture back rather forcefully with a curse. Fuck them all. And especially fuck Vincent. He was the only one with the wherewithal to tell Dom to stop being a moron, and give up the harebrained scheme before it got them all killed. He was the only one Dom might have listened to and he was the only one with the balls to tell Dom off, get in the larger man's face and hold his ground. But he hadn't. He'd let them all go down, and for what? For money to keep a bunch of stupid, over tuned cars on the road so Dom could not only be the best racer, but keep a posse of the best racers around him to be his subjects too. "Stupid fucking moron," she growled. She looked at picture Vince. "And you! You knew better. You had to know it was a dumb idea. So what the fuck were you thinking? And getting Letty and Jesse involved to boot! The three stooges you, Dom and Leon made I understand, at least." It was like because she couldn't take her frustrations out on the real people she was simply going to vent them at their picture representations and hope it worked. "And you," she turned her gaze to Leon. "Where were you when Jesse was betting the slip to that fuckin' Jetta? You were supposed to look out for him. You were supposed to be the street smart one while I wasn't here to do it. You were supposed to be like his big brother. So why the fuck didn't you stop him before it was too late? And why the fuck did you bail on the aftermath when you didn't do your job?" Picture Leon didn't answer either. He just kept staring out at her with the same serious look on his face.
She turned away from the fireplace with a growl. She was rapidly becoming too keyed up to take a nap. Figuring the basement and Jesse's room was the best place for her to calm down, she started back toward the kitchen. Before she got much farther than the doorway between the living and dining rooms, there was a knock on the front door.
Her eyebrows knitted together over her nose in confusion and concern. Who would be at the door? If she didn't answer it, it would seem strange. After all, her truck was parked in the driveway. She crossed to the front door and hauled it open to find two uniformed police officers on the step. "Yeah?"
"We're looking for Dominic Toretto."
"You and the rest of the cops in this god damn city. He ain't here. And Leon ain't here, and Vince ain't here, and Letty ain't here, and Mia ain't here either. Does that cover them all?"
"Who are you, exactly?"
That certainly was a common refrain from the cops of L.A. today, Tempest mused. "I'm the sister of one of the guys who lives here. What's it to you?"
"The people who live here are under investigation in a series of robberies. Can we come in and ask you a few questions?"
"You can ask all the questions you want. But you can do it from right where you are. You're not coming into his house unless you have a warrant that says you can." She watched as they shared a look. It was clear they thought her refusal to let them in meant she was hiding something. She didn't know if she was or not. But she did know if she invited them into the house and they found anything incriminating, it would be admissible because they were in the house with her permission. If they wanted to come in they'd need that warrant.
"Where were you on Saturday?"
"Home in Santa Fe working on a design project."
"You're from Santa Fe?"
"Yeah. Listen, my brother isn't under this investigation. He was shot almost to death on the front walk by Johnny Tran. Since he was running in fear for his life from Johnny at the time, the FBI has already cleared the fact he couldn't have been part of whatever the fuck the rest of the idiot patrol was up to. So I really don't know what you think I'll be able to do for you. Jesse and I barely ever spoke in the five years he's been in L.A. I didn't know his friends, and he certainly didn't fill me in with the details of anything they were doing so I doubt he even knew himself. Good luck finding Dominic though. I hope you nail his overgrown balls to the wall for what he got my brother into with this Tran dude."
"So since you've been here, none of Toretto's team has attempted to make contact with you? You haven't heard from one Officer Brian O'Connor either?"
"No and no. Seriously guys, I really can't help you. Like I told the plain clothes guy at the hospital, if I knew anything I'd share. I'll co-operate any way I can, but I just don't have anything for you. I just really want to take a shower and get some sleep. I have to be back at the hospital to sit with my brother in a few hours. I'm only staying here because Jesse told me to and it seemed to make him feel better to think of me here than in some motel."
"Ok. If Toretto does contact you, you'll let us know?" The cop who made the statement held out his card.
"You'll be the second one to know, right behind me."
With a nod they left and she locked the door behind them before collapsing against it. Dominic had dug his team in deep. With a shake of her head she pushed off the door and made her way into the kitchen and down the basement stairs. The place wasn't in any better shape than the last time she'd seen it.
Without knowing how she'd gotten there, she found herself in Leon's room. All the dresser drawers he had were open, their contents spilling out and rifled through. His closet stood open, and it was clear that about half his clothes were gone. He always told her that she was the last thing he saw before he went to sleep at night because there was a picture of the two of them together on his night stand. It was gone. Gone like Leon. And when he'd left, he'd known that he wasn't coming back for a long time. On impulse she went upstairs and looked in the bedrooms up there. It was obvious Dom, Letty and Mia had known the same thing. Their clothes were mostly gone, and hastily removed. A few personal items were gone too, but the lack of forethought was apparent.
She wandered back to the basement and into Jesse's room. All his things were just as she remembered them. His drawers weren't open and empty. His closet was still full of his things. His bed was unmade and half his wardrobe was strewn dirty across the floor. She knew he hadn't run off. He'd packed for Racewars and never been back. But he hadn't run away.
Just one room left on her survey. It was the last place she ever wanted to find herself again. But just like driving by a bad car wreck, something compelled her to look and damned if she could help herself. She left Jesse's room and crossed the living area to the closed door of Vince's domain. With a deep breath to attempt to steady her nerves, she pushed the door open.
The smell of Vince assaulted her at the door and it turned her knees to jello. His smell was still so familiar she might as well have been sleeping on top of him yesterday instead of over two years ago. His room was just the way she remembered it. Right down to the much assaulted alarm clock glowing red in the perpetual night of his basement room with the blacked out window. His clothes, like Jesse's, were strewn dirty on his floor. But none of his drawers were open, and his closet looked full. She pulled open the drawer where his tank tops had always been when she'd been living in his room and found the drawer full. His favourite shirt sitting right on the top.
All his drawers were full. So why had he run off with his friends without packing when all the others had taken the time to fill their bags? Why was there a picture of the two of them on his dresser? Why did he keep that in the first place? But since he had, why hadn't he taken it with him if it was so important to him? Why did his room seem as undisturbed as Jesse's when the rest of the rooms of the team members showed clearly the haste their occupants had left in, and the lack of intent to return?
Her breath caught on a sob. She did the only thing she could think of to do in that moment. She started shedding her clothes on her way across the room to the bed. Next thing she knew she was back in Vince's bed in her underwear, his pillow clutched to her chest as she buried her face into it and sobbed with her whole body. As she started to cry herself out the scent of Vince surrounded her and she fell into a deep sleep, strangely comforted by the presence of Vince in the room, even though she knew he was run off with his friends for parts unknown. Even though she knew he too had abandoned Jesse to his fate.
When she woke up the clock told her it was seven pm and she'd been out for about three hours. She showered quickly, dressed just as fast in clean clothes, and drove efficiently back to the hospital. She wasn't hassled on her way to the fourteenth floor this time, and made it to Jesse's room without meeting anyone at all. She found Jesse awake and watching the little TV he'd been given. "Hey. How you doin'?" she asked as she walked into the room.
"Good. You look a bit better. You get some sleep?"
"A bit. I'll get more tonight." She sat on the edge of the bed beside her cousin. "I'm so glad you're gonna be ok."
Jesse smiled. "It's good to see you T." It was very good to have someone he loved close to him. The weight of loneliness that had been bearing down on him was lifted. He wasn't all alone anymore. "So, Escalade huh?"
"Yeah, Angelo insisted. Said my Altima was too old to make the trip. Plus, he was right. The GPS and radar detection equipment came in very handy. I made the drive between here and Toronto in about twenty four hours."
"I still don't know why you didn't just come under your own name. You didn't do anything wrong and you don't know anything. Being here for me isn't illegal."
"I know that. But it just sat wrong with me. I didn't know what I was walking into and really, I still don't. Plus, I wouldn't have been allowed into the ICU if I wasn't immediate family and cousin doesn't always count."
Jesse nodded his understanding and agreement almost absently. "T, I need to ask you a favour."
"Name it. But maybe you should get use to calling me Jessica. You're going to have to remember when the doctors and nurses or cops are around."
"I will. But when it's just you and me, I want to call you by your real name. It's like you're not really here if I have to call you some fake name."
"Ok, but you can't forget to switch to Jessica if anyone else is around." She would do almost anything in her power to make him feel even just a little more comfortable, after what he'd been through.
"I won't. You don't think anyone is listening in to what we say in here, do you?"
"I think if they were they already would have been in here to question you about the things you told me earlier."
"Well, that stuff is pretty common knowledge. Maybe not who was doing it, or exactly what, but it's not earth shattering evidence to them. What if they're waiting to see if I tell you anything really good?"
"Jesse, I think you have to be able to expect a certain level of doctor patient confidentiality, and I don't think you could expect any if they were letting the FBI bug your hospital room. As long as the door is shut and there are no doctors or nurses around, we should be ok."
"Well, ok then. Listen," Jesse looked up at her earnestly. "I have a favour to ask."