Blimey last week was tricky – three Christmas parties thanks to work, friends and other work seriously ate into my writing time – plus I've now already had my fill of turkey.
Thanks again to my lovely reviewers this week - Sorry about the late post yesterday!
Also a big thanks to Ela Roy for the little plug at the end of her awesome 'Filling in the Blanks' – I was very honoured.
SPOILERS – this week – Erica wakes up, Jesse gets the fingerprint results from Scott's phone, and Marissa and Krystal have a heart to heart.
…
The police car pulled in ten minutes after AJ arrived home. Marissa had been keen to bundle her son straight to bed, but Jesse wanted to speak to him first and find out why he ran away.
Jesse conducted the interview in the parlour in the presence of Marissa and JR. Marissa still had her arm around AJ's shoulder, as if she was afraid to let him go. JR was pacing in the background. Jesse found his restlessness curious.
"AJ, firstly I hope that you understand that it is very wrong to run away. It is also very dangerous. You have put everyone here who cares about you through a lot of pain."
"I know I'm sorry." said AJ, his face was still red and puffy from crying.
"Can you tell me what you were running from?" asked Jesse.
AJ briefly looked across at his father before answering.
"I thought it would make things better." he said quietly.
"How would it make things better?" Jesse asked leaning closer.
AJ looked at his mother now.
"I can't say." said AJ in an even quieter voice.
"You must have had some reason." said Jesse, "Was someone being mean to you? Were you afraid to talk about it?"
AJ bit his lip.
"It wasn't really that."
"Well can you tell me what it was?"
"I wanted to make my mommy happy and make my daddy not be angry."
"How could losing you every make me happy?" asked Marissa, kissing her son's forehead for the hundredth time.
"You could be happy with Bianca… and not here with daddy being cross all the time. And if you weren't here making daddy cross and I wasn't here making daddy cross then maybe he would be happy too."
"You wanted me to be happy with Bianca..?" began Marissa.
"Who told you to say that ridiculous nonsense!" scoffed JR interrupting her.
Jesse waited a beat before he asked his next question.
"AJ are you afraid of your father's temper?"
"What?" snapped JR.
AJ ducked his head again.
"Sometimes."
"Is your father ever angry about your mommy's friendship with Bianca?"
"Yes." said AJ. "And mommy and Bianca aren't just friends they love each other!
"What is me being upset about losing my ex-wife got to do with any of this?" cried JR. "Am I angry about losing the woman I love? Of course I am! Would I hurt my son because of it? No! I would never hurt AJ! Never ever!"
Jesse looked across at JR's stubborn expression and back to Marissa who looked absorbed in thought.
AJ chose that moment to give a huge yawn. Jesse began to remember how late it was.
"Young man." said Jesse. "You have had a long couple of day. We all have. I think it's time to say goodnight and I'll come and speak to you again when you're rested."
"Okay," said AJ drowsily, giving another big yawn, "Mommy can you come?"
Marissa looked to Jesse.
"Do you need to ask me anything?"
"No." said Jesse, "Go and tuck your little boy in."
They left together, mother and son, hand in hand.
"Good night." called Jesse, but then he noticed the sunrise just beginning to light the sky. "I mean Good morning!"
"Good morning." AJ called back, his tone already brighter.
Jesse turned back to JR who was still pacing in front of the fireplace.
"JR I wanted to ask you a couple more questions." said Jesse.
"What? Why? Are you trying to pin this on me? Do you know who you should be talking to? Bianca! You don't find it suspicious that she just turned up with AJ out of nowhere in the middle of the night?"
Jesse's brow furrowed in confusion.
"JR what are you suggesting?"
"I'm suggesting you arrest her for kidnapping my son!"
"Your seriously think that Bianca Montgomery kidnapped AJ? For what reason?"
"Because she hates me and because she knew it would be a way to get Marissa back."
Jesse tried not react to JR's preposterous suggestion.
"You heard all that stuff AJ was spouting; she brain washed him." continued JR, oblivious to Jesse's derision.
"It's very unlikely that a child could be brainwashed in a day." said Jesse, trying his best to stay polite.
"It was more than a day." said JR "And I have proof."
JR pulled phone records from a dresser drawer.
"I noticed this this morning." said JR pointing to number on the list. "That's her number. She's been calling the house once a week for over a month. What's that if it isn't grooming!"
Jesse took the document from JR's hand. The number did indeed recur every week around the same time every Friday.
"There is probably a very obvious explanation for this."
"Yes, she was grooming my son so she could kidnapped him!" snapped JR.
"When I speak to Bianca, I will ask her about the phone calls." said Jesse, trying to get JR to calm down.
"You need to do more than talk to her." said JR. "You need to arrest her!"
…
Jesse's next stop was the hospital to speak to Bianca just as he'd promised JR.
One thing was certain in Jesse's mind, having now experience JR's volatile temperament first hand he was all the more suspicious about the man's role in the mansion shootings and the near fatal injury of his ex-wife.
…