Chapter 41

In the morning, Bobby resolved to believe his mother. She was dying after all. Why should she lie?

He briefed Eames and the Captain, handing over the picture of his mother in the Houndstooth suit.

Ross saw the holes immediately, only he didn't believe the photograph Brady took was of Goren's mother. "If this is your mother, then why is her picture in Brady's scrapbook from the 60's?"

"Like she told me, they dated."

"In the 50's, you said… before Brady was even in the Army. He claims this was taken after he was discharged, eight years later."

"Well, it's possible this is another woman," Eames offered, her voice calm and quiet. "Brady said he worked for this woman as a handyman."

"He's toying with you," Ross said, looking right at Goren. "Now, you're personally invested. He's got you exactly where he can control you."

"No, he's not in control of me. I can handle him," Bobby protested.

"No. Detective, you don't need this in your life right now."

A chill went through Alex. She knew Ross was only trying to help Bobby, what with his mother and all, but this was not the way to go about it. Sure enough, Bobby popped.

His voice was quiet, but he spoke his mind. "You don't know what I need." He gave the Captain a cold stare. "Okay, and don't tell me who I am. You don't know who I am and don't tell me how I think." Again, he stared at the Captain. The anger was written on Bobby's face.

Ross paused a moment. Alex's mind was already racing, trying to figure out how to smooth things over between the two men. She wasn't sure anyone could talk to Bobby right now. He simply had too much on his plate to try and conquer his emotions, as well.

Ross was angry, too. "I'll just tell you this. You're off this case." He walked out.

Alex raced after him. That was the last thing Bobby needed. He was invested in the Brady case, personally or not, and he needed to decide for himself when to leave it. "Captain? Captain. Captain! I'd like you to reconsider." She followed him into his office.

"Is he getting any sleep at all?!" Ross demanded, revealing he knew a little more about their partnership than he let on.

Alex shut the Captain's door. She didn't answer his question, only pleaded with him. "You can't ask him to walk away."

"Your partner is too close to this!"

"I'm not," Eames countered. The Captain was quiet. She had his ear. Alex took a deep breath. "If I feel he's losing control, or his judgment is off, I will come to you."

He read the determination in her voice, in her body language. It was Ross's turn for a deep breath. "Okay, Eames. He's your partner. But take care of yourself. Don't let him pull you down with him."

She nodded. "Thank you," she said, and walked out of the office, back to Bobby.

He still sat in the interview room. He sat staring at the faded picture Brady had taken of his mother. He was still seething, but he wouldn't take it out on Eames. She was all he had.

"Well, did you talk him out of it?" Bobby asked. "Promise to 'keep an eye' on me, or whatever it is you always do?"

Alex approached slowly, and sat down beside him so that her knee just bumped against his leg. "Yeah," she said quietly. "You want to fight about it?"

Bobby pursed his lips and shook his head, trying not to smile. They were quiet a moment, and she could see he wasn't as angry any more. "I'll get you a coffee, and maybe we can work on that one," she said, pointing to a photograph that had a clear picture of a building that had half a sign showing.

He nodded, and whispered, "Okay," as she left the room.

It was almost lunch when Bobby's cell rang. "Hey Bobby," Frank said.

"Hi Frank." Alex glanced over at him, but his face was blank, as it often was these days.

"I just came from seeing Ma," Frank told him. "She, uh… Look, can we talk?"

Bobby checked his watch. "Sure, look, I'll uh, I'll meet you for lunch." They agreed on a place and a time and Bobby hung up.

"Everything okay?" Alex asked.

"He wants to talk. Look, I'll meet you back here, later."

"Sure, Bobby."

As an afterthought, Bobby grabbed the picture of Brady and stuffed it in his pocket. Frank was older, maybe he could explain the timeline to him more clearly.

They ordered coffee, and Frank spoke. "Mom's stopped eating," he told his brother. "She just… stopped." Bobby slid him the sugar. "Said the food's lousy anyway." They both smiled a little at that.

"I gotta, ask you a question okay?" Bobby said. "Look. This picture here. Bobby pulled the picture of Brady out of his pocket and showed it to Frank. "You recognize this guy, maybe from when we were kids?"

"Yeah, that's Uncle Mark," Frank said without hesitation. "Oh my God, you don't remember him?"

Bobby was surprised. He sat back a little, eyes intent on his older brother. He shook his head.

"He used to bring you little gifts. Signed baseballs and hockey pucks and stuff. You don't remember that?"

Bobby shook his head. "When?"

"I don't know. Whenever Dad was away. The last time you were four, 'cause I was seven. It was when we had that Cooperstown disaster."

"When Grandma was sick?" Bobby asked, thinking he remembered now.

"No, that was afterwards. And Grandma wasn't sick. Mom got in a car crash and she stayed with Grandma. You got the story wrong."

Bobby sighed and squirmed, piecing together what he knew with what Frank was telling him.

"Dad had booked this hotel in Saratoga near the track. Big surprise. Mom got mad. He went on his own."

It just wasn't adding up. Bobby squirmed again, turning away and then back. "Wait, well, how did Mom get in a car crash?"

"She went upstate with Uncle Mark," Frank said, pointing at the picture.

Immediately, Bobby thought of Miss Hill and the fisherman's shack. "She went with Uncle Mark?"

"She went with Uncle Mark."

Everything inside of him was screaming no no no no! Bobby bit his lip and asked, "Who took care of us?"

Frank smiled. "I did."

"No, you did not!" Bobby said, laughing.

"The whole weekend!" Frank tapped Bobby's chest with the back of his hand, and Bobby smiled at him. "Yeah, when Mom came back she was all black and blue. Then she stayed at Grandma's for I don't know how long. You really don't remember any of this?"

Bobby shook his head. "No, I don't remember."

Frank looked back at the picture. "Wow. I haven't thought about him for a long time." He took another sip of his coffee.

When he returned to the squad, Bobby was determined to see Brady, to confront him about his mother. Alex tried to talk sense to him. "Your brother might have it wrong," she said gently.

"No. He doesn't. He was older, and he remembers." Bobby gathered up what he would need and tucked it into his binder.

"Still, it doesn't mean-"

"I was looking in the family album. My mom, she was happy, you know, she was smiling. And then something happened. And she was never the same after that. She was just never the same."

He walked out of the room and Alex chased after him. "Bobby…"

"He planned this, Brady… from his first move," Bobby said. He was almost to the elevators.

"Come on!" Alex urged him. "I'm your partner." She stood in front of him and he finally held still long enough to give her a long look. She could see the red rims of his eyes. He'd been crying again, before he came back here.

"So then you're gonna have to trust me, Eames," Bobby told her.

Somebody almost bumped her coming out of the elevator and she stepped aside. She stepped aside a little more, and Bobby went past, giving her a quiet look of gratitude. Once he was inside, however, he hung his head. He shouldn't have played that card, not on Eames.

Alex watched the elevator doors close, thinking she had just made a big mistake. She fingered the cross at her neck and said a silent prayer to God to watch over Bobby.

He put the puzzle together again during the drive to Pennsylvania. His mother had dated Brady, before the Army, and when the man had come back, she was married. He held a torch for her, she said. He must have realized she wasn't happy with his Dad… all the times he left them alone for weekend gambling excursions. And Brady used that, preyed on her loneliness, made her feel special.

She'd had an affair. And then one day, Brady had taken her to the lake. And she must have tried to break it off because he'd beaten her black and blue.

By the time Bobby checked in through security at the prison, he was boiling with rage. He waited quietly for them to bring the prisoner, not sure exactly what he would say, but determined to face the man, anyway.

"Where's your partner?" Brady asked.

Another surge of anger swept through him. He didn't even want Brady to think about Alex. "She thinks that you're wasting our time," Bobby told him.

"But you don't feel that way, do you?" the prisoner asked.

"Who is she?" Bobby asked, pushing a picture in front of the man.

Brady looked up at the detective. "Any word from the Governor?"

Bobby stared at him, and thought of his mother, facing her own death sentence. "You're afraid of death, aren't you?"

"I've seen a lot of death," Brady replied.

"I've seen a lot of death, too," Bobby snapped back. "But for you, it's about control. That's what it's all about."

"And you're not here to profile me, are you?" Again, Brady pulled the garbled picture of Bobby's mother out of the pile. "It's all about her, isn't it? Bambi. The one woman I could have loved."

Tears were welling in Bobby's eyes. He swallowed and forced them back, then looked at Brady.

"She married another man, but she didn't forget about me. I'd see her in New York, on leave. We were together the night Kennedy was elected. We celebrated together."

Bobby watched the man smiling, remembering times with his mother. He was more disgusted by the minute. "You were in Germany in 1960."

"I said I was on leave!" He looked at her picture and sighed. "We drifted apart after that, but I was there the weekend this photo was taken."

Bobby's anger was rising up, causing his face to twitch. No he told himself, unaware that he had mouthed the word. No.

"The magic was still there," Brady added. He smiled. "That's what you wanted to know, wasn't it?"

Bobby's face was full of tears now, threatening to fall. He shook his head. "No," he barely managed to say. "I can't…" He sat back, trying to get control, but again, he thought of them together, of Brady beating her in the shack. "I can't," he muttered again, and without another thought, his hands were on Brady's throat and he'd dragged the man to the wall. He shoved him hard against the rough blocks of the prison wall.

"Go ahead! Go on! Kill me!" Brady shouted. "You can do it! They'll let you do it!" He said, eyeing the guards. "They don't care!" Brady said, and Bobby sobbed.

"Nooo!"

"You have it in you! You have it in you!" Brady cried, and Bobby thought once again that Brady was his father. He let go, turned, and threw his head against his arms, sobbing on the tabletop.

Brady stood against the wall, breathing hard. The guards stood by, eyes straight ahead, a witness to nothing Goren had just done.

Finally, Brady tried to move toward Goren. "I always wanted a son," he said.

The guards moved in quickly and caught him. "Shut up!" The bigger one ordered. "Detective, I'm gonna take him back to his cell."

Bobby stood, keeping his back to them all, but he nodded.