Chapter 11
Everything had turned hectic after Jamie's call with Noble. First with the revelation of Noble's claim that he had been spying on them for weeks - but not before Jamie had inexplicably dragged his wife out of their apartment and into the hallway, away from prying eyes. Eddie had been unwilling to believe it at first, but the unwavering shock on Jamie's face as he leaned back against the wall for some added support told her it was true. Stunned as well, she mimicked Jamie's stance when her legs became shaky. She just couldn't make sense of it...how had they gone from enjoying a family meal an hour ago to this now? But it didn't take long for the magnitude of the situation to fully sink in as several questions began to weigh on both of their minds: what had Noble been watching them do? How long had this been going on? What else was he capable of? And what the hell did he really want?
When a little of the shock wore off, Jamie called Frank and Danny and soon thereafter units from the local precinct responded. Danny had shown up as well to check on them personally and to make sure that CSU and TARU was set up to sweep every inch of their apartment. The permanent scowl he wore was further proof that the situation with Noble Sanfino had escalated beyond anyone's expectations.
There wasn't much for them to do after the investigation got rolling, so Danny had convinced them to head back to Bay Ridge, promising to oversee everything himself. Jamie had been hesitant to leave, but his brother had practically forced them out knowing full well it would only drive the younger Reagan crazy to stand by and watch while more strangers went through their belongings. So they'd grabbed only a few items of clothing to get them through the next few days while everything was sorted out at their place. After a quick stop at a drugstore for some toiletries, Jamie and Eddie soon found themselves at Frank and Henry's house for that second time that day.
Eddie dropped her overnight bag next to the bed in Jamie's childhood room before letting herself drop onto the mattress with a heavy sigh. "How long are we staying here?" she asked as her eyes roamed around the room. She felt better being here, but her head was still reeling from all of the evening's discoveries and she couldn't help feeling displaced.
Jamie put his own bag on the desk chair and took a seat next to his wife. "At least a few days. TARU's going to go over every square inch of our place tomorrow after CSU is done."
"Great, so not only has Sanfino been through all of our things, but now CSU and TARU too?" Eddie complained. She knew it was necessary, but that didn't mean she had to like it; it was as if they were being stripped of their privacy over and over again. She was still praying that there was a possibility that Noble had been full of crap when he'd called Jamie and made the claim just to get under his skin, but the only way they were going to know for sure was to have TARU sweep their place. "Well, they can take their time," she conceded. "I'm not sure it'll ever feel like home again. God, I just keep wondering what he saw us doing. You're supposed to feel safe at home and that's gone...it's dirty now," she said sadly as she dropped her head onto his shoulder. Eddie kept trying to think of their time at home over the last several weeks. They were both very affectionate with each other, especially in the privacy of their own home, enjoying every second married life, as well they should, and the fact that Noble Sanfino had been getting his kicks from watching them tore at her heart and definitely had her feeling violated.
Jamie's heart broke at the sadness in her voice. He had been struggling to remain calm ever since he'd spoken to Noble, anger and guilt both consuming him. If Noble wanted to hurt him, then he should come after him directly, but he had figured out a way to hit him where it hurt most and that involved going after Eddie as well. "I'm so sorry, Eddie," he apologized as he slipped his hand into hers.
Eddie's brow wrinkled in confusion. "What are you apologizing for? You're not the perv that bugged our place."
"No, but he's the perv from my UC assignment who's come back for some crazy sort of revenge. I should have left the bastard on his own to deal with his murderous family." Jamie cursed his giant, bleeding heart for the hundredth time that night. He could still hear Danny loudly voicing his opinion on the matter...
"And what would you have done?" Jamie argued as he looked past his sister to Danny down at the other end of the table, annoyed once again that his brother never seemed to back him.
"What...what would I have done? I would have stayed the f-," Danny paused catching himself before he blurted out the f-bomb in front of the kids, "I would have stayed out of it the same way you should have. Like it or not, gangster justice is very efficient. It saves taxpayer dollars."
Jamie couldn't believe what he was hearing. Since when did any of them have the right to decide who should live and who should die? "Seriously? This guy guy gets assassinated, and that's all you've got?"
"He got what he deserved," Danny snapped back, wondering what it was going to take for the kid to stop thinking he could save the whole world.
"Why the hell hadn't he listened to Danny?" he asked himself.
"It's not your fault, Jamie. And you wouldn't have been able to live with yourself if you just stood by and let him get murdered by his own family," she reminded him.
"I couldn't live with myself if he hurt you to get to me, that's what he's been trying to do so far," Jamie stated, still hearing the smugness in Noble's voice every time he mentioned Eddie.
Eddie looked him in the eye to make sure he was listening to every word she said. "You're a good cop and a good human being, Jameson Reagan, you did the right thing by helping him and you couldn't have known he'd come back after all of these years. He was in WitSec for his own safety," she said, knowing that Jamie's immense sense of responsibility to foresee all dangers and keep everyone he loved safe would have the guilt out in full force. She loved him for it but she also had to make sure he got it through his thick, Irish skull that he wasn't to blame.
Jamie nodded. Eddie was right, but it was still difficult to let go. Jamie brought his arm around her shoulders and placed a kiss on the top of her head. "We'll start looking for a new place. I wouldn't even feel right living there anymore either." Once TARU confirmed that they had indeed been watched all this time, there was no way they would ever feel at peace there.
Eddie looked up into Jamie's eyes when another realization hit. "We're going to have to throw everything out, Jamie. He's probably the reason you ended up in urgent care."
"I thought about that," Jamie sighed. The incident with the sauce was one of the first things that came to mind after the shock wore off...and the rat made more sense now too. He had mentioned it to Danny who said he would have the CSU guys check the pantry and medicine cabinet for Noble's prints. They both agreed that it was worth checking first on whether the over-the-counter medicine that had been ineffective that night he had the allergic reaction might have been tampered with as well.
"Is it a good idea to be here?" Eddie wondered.
"What do you mean?" Jamie asked.
"I mean isn't this where he turned himself him? He's bound to remember that. It seems like he's figured everything else out."
"He's been pretty brazen so far," Jamie replied, knowing that was an understatement, "but I can't imagine he'll show up at the police commissioner's house. Plus, dad has his detail sitting outside."
Eddie dropped her head back onto Jamie's shoulder while wrapping her arms around his waist. "I'm not so sure anymore. I just thought he was a creep before, but now? This just crossed over into scary. Makes me glad we both carry when we're off duty."
Jamie quietly slipped out of bed after Eddie had finally fallen asleep. Unable to rest with everything that happened, he padded downstairs to grab something to drink and found his father sitting at the kitchen table huddled over neat stacks of paperwork. "Hey, dad," Jamie said softly so as not to startle him.
Frank looked up, surprised to see anyone up at this late hour. Jamie and Eddie had gone up to bed not long after they'd arrived back from their apartment, both looking stunned and weary after their latest encounter with Noble Sanfino. Frank had hoped they'd both feel safe here and that they'd get some much needed rest. "Hey, son. What are you doing up?"
"Couldn't sleep," he admitted with a shrug as he walked over to the fridge for some juice.
"I can't say I blame you," Frank sighed and lowered his reading glasses to study his youngest. Despite the casual response, Frank could tell that Sanfino was weighing heavily on his mind. "How's Eddie holding up?"
Jamie shook his head as he took the seat next to his father while twisting open the cap on the small bottle in his hands. "She finally got to sleep. She's creeped out about as much as anyone could be after learning you've been spied on in your own home," he responded, pausing to take a sip of apple juice. "I think we're going to look for a new place after this is all over with."
Frank was surprised to hear that. "Is that really necessary?"
"Would you feel safe in a place where some nut has broken into multiple times and has watched your every move for weeks?" Jamie questioned.
His son had a point there. "Yeah, I get that. You know you both are welcome here as long as you need." He didn't want them to go back to their apartment if they really wouldn't feel safe there. He had already made sure that TARU would secure the apartment the way they had done to Jamie's old place when he'd been threatened by a perp, although if felt like too little too late at this point. And while he hoped that better locks would keep Sanfino out, it would do nothing to restore the sense of security one should feel in their own home.
"I know. Thanks, dad," Jamie replied. "I'll talk to Eddie about it. I guess we have to figure out what we're going to do with Noble still out in the wind."
"We'll figure it out, Jamie," Frank promised. He was going to do everything in his power to keep both his son and daughter-in-law safe.
They both sat quietly for a few moments, but Frank sensed that something else was keeping Jamie up. "What else is on your mind?"
Jamie chewed on his bottom lip, wishing that his father wasn't so good at reading him. "I should have known," he whispered after a long moment.
Frank frowned at Jamie's statement. "How, Jamie? How could you have possibly known he would do this?"
Jamie thought back to the night they'd come home weeks back when the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end as soon they'd walked through the door. "Because every time I've stepped foot into our apartment over the last few weeks, I knew something was off."
"You have good instincts, Jamie, but it was impossible for you to have known that he'd go this far," Frank soothed.
"Maybe not at first, but after he'd approached Eddie in front of our building, I should have done more. If he knew where we lived -"
"Then I also hold blame," Frank interrupted, wanting to put an end to the unnecessary guilt eating at his son. "Because after you both came to me, I should have made sure you were safe both at work and at home." Frank knew it was pointless to beat himself up for not having the foresight to anticipate that this would happen, but Jamie hadn't hesitated to come to him after Noble reappeared and he did feel guilty for not sending TARU to their apartment right away. It wouldn't have occurred to them to have TARU sweep the apartment for bugs, but if they'd gone out there to secure it, maybe they could have found something instead of letting weeks go by twiddling their thumbs while they waited for Sanfino to make another move. And unbeknownst to them, he already had.
"It's not your fault, dad," Jamie repeated Eddie's words from earlier that night, understanding the message he was trying to get across.
"Then it's not yours either," Frank assured him, hoping he'd let go of the guilt so that he'd be more focused on what needed to be done to protect them now.
"I just hate this, the not knowing. He's been a step ahead of us this whole time and we have still no clue of what he really wants," Jamie vented.
"We'll find him, Jamie," Frank promised, hoping that they'd find Sanfino before he did anything else to his kids.