Wrong Time, Wrong Place

Chapter Two

-----

Lawson and Josh sat in complete silence as they drove to Kerry's house, which was only a few suburbs away. They knew it was late, 1.08am, but it was something that just could not wait until a reasonable hour. It had to be done now.

"Did you know that Kerry had a son?" Josh asked, breaking the quietness that surrounded them; he thought that Lawson probably knew a bit more about Kerry then what he did.

"No. You?"

"No."

The next five minutes were silent again, the only sound was the gentle humming coming from the engine of their 2009 Ford Territory Turbo. As they pulled up outside Kerry's house, Josh glanced over at Lawson, a blank expression on his face. Lawson knew from the look he was given that he was probably going to be the one who had to tell Kerry about her son. He grabbed his mobile phone out of his pocket and dialled her mobile number. It only rang twice before she answered in a tired voice.

"Lawson?"

"Hi Kerry, yeah, I'm sorry to call you this late ... but ..." Lawson replied, realising that his number must have come up on the screen of her phone, "Josh and I are parked outside your house. Can we come in?"

In bed, Kerry jerked upright. An instinct of sorts told her that something wasn't right – but of course something wasn't right; Lawson and Josh were outside her house in the middle of the night. But there was something else; something she couldn't quite fathom. Another type of instinct was about to cop a terrible blow, "Um ... yeah sure. Hang on a sec," Kerry slowly got up and her instincts turned into dread. She quickly dressed and went to open the front door for Lawson and Josh.

Almost instantly, the looks on their faces confirmed her worst suspicions. She let them in silently. They headed to Kerry's lounge room and when they were all seated, Lawson opened his mouth, "It's about James ..." he said slowly, not sure of how to approach this subject, given that Kerry never told them anything about her son.

She was instantly alert. She didn't even know that he was back from overseas. Inside her head, thoughts tumbled around like clothes in a dryer. "What if he's dead?" "Is he okay?" "Has something happened to him?" "When the hell did he get back to Melbourne?". As the thoughts in her head started to turn into a blur, Kerry could not take it any longer, "What's happened Lawson?" she snapped, worried and stressed at the same time.

Lawson looked quickly at Josh, the younger officer fidgeted nervously, but stopped when he felt Lawson's gaze on him. He then spoke, "Lawson and I were called to negotiate at the Cosmopolitan Hotel. But when we got there, we were no longer needed ... and ..." he said, not wanting to be the one to tell Kerry, his superior, that her son was dead.

But he did not have to worry. Kerry did it for him. A look of realisation and horror showed on her face; tears formed in her eyes and started to spill down her cheeks. She drew a shaky breath and said, "He ... he's dead, isn't he?" her voice quavering.

Lawson and Josh just looked at each other, neither of them wanting to be the one to confirm it.

Kerry's face suddenly became angry and she yelled, "For FUCK'S SAKE! Tell me if my son is dead or not!"

Josh looked at her in shock, while Lawson got up and pulled Kerry to him as she completely broke down in his arms, "I'm sorry Kerry," he didn't have to say any more.

"Ah guys, where are you?" Leon's uneasy voice crackled through the radio that only Lawson and Josh could hear, "Did you get to the -"

Josh stood up courteously and walked into the hallway, "Yes Leon," he interrupted him through gritted teeth, "Do you know that now is not a good time?"

"Well, you know your lapel cameras aren't switched on," Leon replied with a soft, innocent sounding voice, "But I just received information about someone who was at the Cosmopolitan and -"

He interrupted again, "We know."

"What? How do you know? It's only just come through on the computer here."

"Leon, we just know ... okay?" Josh didn't want to say anything else. It wasn't the right time. Or place.

-----

Josh went back to the TR station about an hour later, while Lawson stayed with Kerry at her place for a while. Despite not having his own car there, he knew that Josh could always come and pick him back up again. Kerry tried to argue with him; all she really wanted was to be by herself at that time. Lawson however, had a better reasoning. He thought no one would really want to be by themselves when their child had just passed away – she was only saying that to try and palm him off. But he wasn't pushed away so easily, "So do you want to tell me about James?" he began, and when she shot him a look, he quickly said, "Okay. Forget I asked."

"I want to see him."

Lawson frowned at her, before shaking his head and saying softly, but at the same time authoritatively, "I don't think you should be doing that tonight. It's not a very good idea."

She starred down at the wine glass sitting in her hand through blurred, tear-ridden eyes, "I have to see him Lawson. I have to," she began to sob again despite trying desperately hard not to.

"Not. Tonight."

Kerry tilted her head back so it was resting on the lounge and groaned, "Tell me this is all a bloody nightmare," she then looked over at him, and when he simply looked back at her, a sorrowful expression on his face, she broke down again, "He was in New York. I didn't even know that he was back here."

An odd expression appeared on Lawson's face.

"That's how close we are!" she continued, sarcasm flowing through her still rather shaky voice, "Were ..."

As Kerry slowly began opened up a little more about her son, her mobile phone that was sitting on the coffee table beeped a few times and interrupted her. She had been sent a text message. Both she and Lawson looked at each other, wondering the same thing. Who would that be so early in the morning? Kerry picked it up and looked at the message. Her eyes widened as they moved left to right, suddenly engrossed in every word that she was reading. Lawson saw the strange look on her face and asked, "Everything okay?"

"Tell me I'm seeing things," she handed him her phone.

He too looked at the message. It read:

Hi mum. I'm home. Just got back this evening. I'm about 2 go & drop my bags off at Geoffrey's... U 2 r still 2gether right? James. xx

"No, you're not seeing things," Lawson told her, giving her back the phone.

Kerry's eyes suddenly brightened up a little, and her voice was quick as she said, "That could mean that it wasn't James at that hotel. He could be alive ... Right?"

He looked across at her; doubt was written all over his face, but he could understand why she was trying to remain upbeat. No one wants to believe that their child is dead.

She was up off the lounge before he knew it, saying, "I have to go and see Geoffrey. I don't care how late it is."

He sighed, thinking that wasn't a good idea either, "Kerry don't -"

She turned around and glared at him, "You can't stop me Lawson. I have to know if James is there or not."

Lawson got off the lounge and followed her down the hallway. He wasn't in an argumentative mood, but felt that he was the one who had to stay rational, "James could have sent that message to you hours ago, and it's only just got through to you now. Anyway, don't you think that if he was there, Geoffrey would have called you?" he hated being so negative about this situation but he couldn't help it.

Kerry's face dropped a little, the realisation of the worst possible scenario returning the tiniest bit again, before she answered his question, "No. Geoffrey is a prick," and with that she turned around, towards the front door, grabbing her car keys off a small hook on the wall.

"Wait," Lawson stopped her in her tracks. Thinking that she was probably still in a state of shock and denial, he said, "I'll drive you."

She rolled her eyes with her back to him, but gave in, "Yeah. Fine."

-----

To Be Continued.