Conspiracy

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N:

Chapter 6 (Contemplating Truth)

Jade folded her legs while sitting up on her bed at home. Her hair was damp from having taken a shower, and she was wearing a navy blue robe that loosely covered her still wet skin. In her hand was one of the Bosch novels that she was currently entranced with.

In this one, Detective Bosch had found new information regarding the death of his prostitute mother that was murdered when he was young. He was working desperately to solve this case, the case that made him want to be a detective.

Beside Jade was a bowl of cherries, her typical snack for when she was reading. Her left hand was dipping into the bowl and she was rolling two cherries around her finger.

Try as she might, she wasn't able to fully invest herself in the novel, as her mind was still on the Vega sisters. She tried to fight Tori and Trina from her mind, and fought in vain to erase the image of their mother's depressive stare from memory.

She turned a page in her book and groaned in frustration. "Sikowitz told me not to just focus on the girls…" She lowered the book and turned her eyes to the door. "Mrs. Vega is important too, then there's Gary." If she listened to her dad, then she had to understand that David and Gary used to be friends but ended at each other's throats.

Could it have been all the competition between the two men that caused them to grow apart? If so, did this have anything to do with David or the women? It was very possible that it had something to do with David's personality, however.

Her father described David as being a weak minded man. He was never confident. He had a charm that won over some of the women in their inner friends group, despite not appealing to many other women. He was raised by his mother, as his father died in the military. This mother was domineering and controlling, and had her thumb on the pulse of everything in his life.

Suffice to say, it appeared that Gary was the one to befriend him and pull him in with the group. Gary even got him on the sports team, though Henry claimed the coach didn't care too much for David and kept him benched most of the season.

"Then how would a guy like David land a woman like Holly?" Jade brought her hand to her chin and furrowed her brow. According to her dad, Holly was on the girls' softball team in her high school and in college. She only dated the star pitchers as she was a pitcher.

She was said to be headstrong, compassionate, and intelligent. At the same time she had a bit of a snooty attitude, and Henry said it was Gary who had taken a liking for her. Holly also seemed to go after someone who knew what they wanted in life and was confident in their future, a man that in no way sounded like her dad's description of David.

So the question of how David wound up with Holly was perplexing for Jade to figure out, because judging by her personality, she would not have gone for a loner like David. If anything, she sounded like she would be more attentive to somebody like Gary. "Which would make sense if she were having an affair with him…"

There was a knock on her door and she threw her head up suddenly. She pulled the flap of her robe tight over her body and frowned as Beck opened the door. "What are you doing here?" She was still angry with him over their argument, and she wasn't happy that he was walking in on her at this moment.

"Mr. West let me in." Beck was holding a bouquet of red and white roses in his right hand, and a large heart shaped box in his left. His eyes fell onto her and his lips parted slightly. "Um I, uh…was I interrupting-" She released her grip on the robe, letting it loosen and reveal a tiny strip of skin along her body.

"I just got out of the shower." She unfolded her legs and bent her left knee upwards, frowning as the bottom of the robe opened partially. Her lips flicked back into a smirk when Beck's face turned bright red. "Dad must not have realized. I don't think he would have let you back this way otherwise…what did you need?"

"Um. Apo-I wanted to apologize for that argument." She dropped her knee and smiled at him. Beck approached the bedside and sat on the edge. "I was stupid. I still don't understand why you're so insistent, but I won't stand in your way. I just-I don't know if there's really something going on or not, and if there is, I don't want you doing something dangerous."

"I'm working with Mr. Sikowitz now." Beck furrowed his brow and she closed her book with her thumb still in the spine. She set it on her belly and turned her gaze up to Beck. "He's a private detective, Beck. He's taking me in to be his apprentice, to teach me the ropes."

She saw a glint of pride in his eyes and smiled as he reached over to pat her leg. "That's good." She still wanted to know what Sikowitz's full agenda was, but he was the master here and she the student. There were bound to be things that he knew and wasn't ready to teach her yet. "So, investigating the Vega family?"

"Yeah." She dropped her eyes, then leaned forward, reaching her hand out to him. "But you can't tell anybody about this." It was important that no one know about the investigation, otherwise David could catch wind of it. Also, the connection that was there with Beck's mother couldn't be ignored.

Beck looked away from her and pulled his hand back to his lap. "You think my mom's involved in whatever it is you're looking for, don't you?" Her fingers curled and she dropped her hand to the silk bedding.

"I didn't want to come out and say it, but-"

"You mentioned something about my mom earlier with Sikowitz, so I'm not surprised." Beck scratched the tip of his nose and his chest caved inwards. "Mom knows Mr. Vega. I asked and she said she was old friends with him. She started talking about how they were all friends with this popular kind of guy and how David was in his shadow or something…"

Jade pressed her lips together and leaned back against the headboard. She moved her hands to her book and folded her fingers over the edge. The room grew silent, save for the pounding of heart. "So, what are you thinking, Beck?"

His mouth opened and his eyebrows rose. His breath skipped, making a small clicking noise as he brought his hand up to his forehead. "I don't know." His hand dropped down to the edge of the bed, leaving an impression as he gripped it tight. "Am I supposed to believe a good friend of ours is trapped with a psychotic, power-hungry dad? I can't think that, I don't want to think that."

"Sikowitz says you don't have to." Beck turned his head to her and she shrugged. "You don't have to question the facts until there is proof. What he says 'beyond reasonable doubt', right now we don't even know if Mr. Vega is a bad guy or not."

"And if he is?"

"I don't know. I think we have to find a way to help them somehow."

Beck chuckled and closed his eyes. "I'm impressed. Hearing you say you want to help someone, when you've always been one to be unnecessarily cruel. It's a change, but I like it."

It was shocking to her too, but the more she thought about it, the more she couldn't just allow herself to ignore justice. If there was truly something wrong, she wanted to do something to fix it. Working with Sikowitz, she was confident that she could make an impact.

She reached over and took the box of chocolates from beside him, remembering that he had come to apologize for his part in the argument. She was grateful. "I'm sorry for calling you a blind and ignorant asshole, Beck."

"Well you might have been right. I still don't know if there's any point in investigating that family or not, but like I said…I'm just going to let you do what you want there."

"I appreciate that." Her heart swelled and she focused her attention on removing the red ribbon tied around the box. When she had it removed, she opened the box and instantly grabbed one of the maple fudge pieces. "As much as I appreciate maple fudge." Beck laughed and Jade brought the candy to her lips, delighting in its sweet taste once it entered her mouth and breached her taste buds.

Just then her bedroom door opened and Henry stepped in. She paused with her teeth halfway through the chocolate piece. Henry's wide eyes moved from her and over to Beck. Henry pulled his belt upwards and his chest expanded slowly.

When he spoke, his voice held a deep and commanding tone that resonated with the two. "I wasn't aware my daughter was still undressed after her shower. Beck, would you mind stepping outside so she can get dressed?"

She smiled slightly as Beck rose from the bed, stammering in a failed attempt to respond to the man. Though he phrased his statement like a question, Jade could discern from the pitch in his voice that this request was more of an order that Beck was to follow.

"Yes sir." Beck's face flushed of its color and he quickly ran past the foreboding man. Henry smiled at Jade and she waved her fingers at him.

"Well I wasn't going to let anything happen," she joked. Her father's eyebrow rose and his hand grasped the doorknob to his left.

"I'm more concerned about the boy's actions than yours, Jade." As expected of a father, she was in no way shocked by this. Still unsure about whether or not she was completely over the argument with Beck, she was tempted to leave him waiting for her. She picked up her book and opened it back to the place she had been at, then crossed her legs again. "How long will be, sweetie?"

"A few minutes." She picked a single cherry from the bowl next to her and popped it in her mouth. When the juice from the cherry mixed with the maple fudge, she squealed in delight as the two flavors seemed to fight for dominance. Jade swallowed the bite and looked up to her father with a bright grin. "I just want to finish this chapter first, then I'll come out and get him."

"Okay." Henry's shoulders fell slightly and the man looked over his shoulder with a heavy sigh. "I suppose I will find something to talk with the boy about."

"Thanks, Dad." He moved out of the room and shut the door. It made a slight click, then silence followed to allow Jade full concentration on the remaining portion of her novel.

Part of her mind moved back to the actions of her dad, and she wondered if maybe she was wrong. Maybe David could be that kind of father? No, judging by the things she saw of him and what she heard, he couldn't be.

Then Trina's words from days prior struck her: Which man, the one in my dreams or the one in my nightmares?

David was the nightmare. Jade could deduce that enough, but unless he had a serious Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde complex, there was no way he was the father of anybody's dreams. The father of dreams would be to Trina and Tori what Henry was to Jade; caring, protective and compassionate.

Trina remembered someone, but Tori didn't, meaning that whatever truth Jade was looking for had to have happened when the girls were at a specific age where Tori couldn't remember much of anything: Infancy to early toddler years.

"I think he was single fifteen years ago," Henry's statement played in her brain like a record, causing her to once more set her book to the side. The framed photo also returned to her mind.

'Truth', as she would call the incident, happened when Trina was five. "Twelve years ago?" Then did this mean David wasn't the girls' father, or was Henry just not sure?

After all, Henry hadn't seen David for nearly as long as he hadn't seen Gary, twenty years-the only reason he saw David again was because the man showed up for some party that he and Jade's mother threw.

David could have very likely fathered two children with somebody in that five year timeline that her dad didn't have contact with the man. The only thing that still didn't make sense to her was Holly's relationship to David. The profiles just didn't mix, and it didn't sound like a case of 'opposites attract' would bring those two together.

At least one of those parents might not be the parent of Trina and Tori, but she still didn't have any proof that went beyond reasonable doubt. It was likely not even the connection she needed to look for.

"Regardless of parenthood, I still should talk to people who knew David best…" She kicked her legs off the bed and glanced at the closet door across from her. "That means I need to talk to Gary," she muttered, "His alleged best friend."

Yes, a talk we won't get to until about chapter 10-for good reason and progression. Well, what are your thoughts here? Clearly there's some more discovered things, and it is good that Beck came to apologize.