Bailey rolled over and looked at his watch. He had to blink several times for them to focus on the numbers, but when they finally did, he closed them again and shook his head. It was 4:00 a.m. He had been tossing and turning the last three hours, trying desperately to clear his head and get some rest, but it hadn't worked. If he had dozed off at some point, he didn't remember it and he sure as hell didn't feel any different. He still had a headache and he was still exhausted. More mentally than physically, but the energy draining effect was the same. He groaned as he sat up and leaned back on the headboard for support. His mind raced.

The minute they returned to the penthouse, from the Medical Examiner's office, they began to work furiously. They employed anyone from the F.B.I and Boston P.D. that could be spared and sent them out to check the shipyards and every warehouse or building within a twenty-mile radius of the pier they had found Patrick's body. They looked at over a hundred building schematics, aerial photos of the surrounding blocks, and made dozens of phone calls to local businesses, dock workers and shipyard security, and still... they had nothing. John and Jessie were still out there somewhere. Feeling desperate, he had called John's cell phone hoping Krieger would answer, so he could plead with him to tell them where John and Jessie were, but he didn't answer. When Robert suggested using Patrick's men in the search, Bailey reluctantly agreed. He really didn't want a bunch of O'Doyle soldiers running around Boston seeking revenge for their boss' death, but he knew they could probably get answers that he couldn't, so he told Robert to make the call. An hour later, a man that looked like he walked out of the locker room of the NFL, knocked on the door and Robert introduced him as Brian Kerrigan. Kerrigan was Patrick's jack-of-all-trades. Robert handled Patrick legally, Sal Minucci had handled the money and some of the businesses, and Kerrigan took care of everything else. And, everyone could see why...the man was a mountain. Before he left, clearly shaken and upset by the news of Patrick's death and Jessie's disappearance, Kerrigan told him that he would personally shake down everyone in the city of Boston to find out where Jessie and John were. Bailey didn't doubt him for a minute and he hoped it didn't come down to that. They dove back into the pile of pictures and blueprints, after Kerrigan left, and went over hundreds of possible scenarios and locations until Bailey thought his head was going to explode from the pounding in his head. It was 1:00 a.m. and they needed a break. He suggested that everyone get some sleep while he made some phone calls and checked in with everyone, but the others refused unless he agreed to also...so here he was, feeling just as bad as he did three hours ago. He hoped the others were doing much better and got the much-needed sleep that eluded him. He pulled the comforter off him and swung his legs to the floor and stood up. If he was going to think he might as well make himself useful and go through all the stuff they had, again.

He went to the kitchen to put on some coffee and then headed towards Patrick's office. He stopped in the living room when he saw Robert sitting on the couch. He was leaning forward with his head in his hands, staring at a glass full of Scotch. Bailey walked around the couch and sat across from him, in the recliner.

"Are you, okay?"

Robert looked up, noticing Bailey for the first time, and smiled weakly. "As okay as I can be." He took a long drink from his glass, almost emptying it. "I just...I can't believe he's gone. I mean, I saw him with my own eyes...and I still don't believe...I don't want to believe it. It's just crazy, ya know...everything happened so fast. We never expected it to go this far." He finished what was left in the glass and refilled it. "I keep hoping this is just a nightmare and I'm gonna wake up soon...and everything's going to be like it was...and everyone's going to be okay."

"That's understandable. These last few days have been rough and you lost a good friend."

"The best." He held up his glass, in a salute to Patrick, and then drank, finishing it in one long gulp and poured another. "Do you think they're dead?"

Bailey thought for a moment. 'Did he?' He shook his head. "I don't know. I want to believe Krieger...to believe they're alive and he's gonna call tomorrow and tell us where to find them, but it's not that easy. Langston has left nothing but dead bodies in his wake...so why would he leave John and Jessie alive? That was ultimately his goal, wasn't it? To kill them in front of Patrick...and then kill him. Why would he settle for less...but then, it doesn't make sense that Krieger called and told us where to find Patrick's body...that he would tell us where to find John and Jessie. Where the hell Langston in all of this? It doesn't make sense. It doesn't fit their M.O." He rubbed his temples, absently. "It doesn't make sense. I think Sam was right...something went wrong and Krieger, for some reason, is trying to make it right. So, I'm inclined to believe him...to believe he'll call and tell us where they are. I just hope it's not too late."

"You have a lot more faith than I do. Me? I think they're de-" He couldn't bring himself to say it. "I think they're gone. I think we're going to get that call tomorrow and the joke's gonna be on us. We're going to find them alright...but in the same condition as Sal...or worse." He emptied the glass again, this time slamming it down on the coffee table. "They did it. They've won. I just wish they would've taken me out first, so I wouldn't have to do it...so I don't have to bury my best friend and his daughter."

He reached for the bottle of Scotch but Bailey beat him to it. "I think you had enough. Don't give up on them, Robert."

Robert leaned back into the couch cushions and looked up at the ceiling. "I was thinking about Jessie..." He said after a few moments, staring blankly at the ceiling. "That's what got me out here...I was thinking about how she was after the accident...after her mother and brother died...and I was thinkin', maybe, it would be better if she were dead. That way, she wouldn't have to go through that again. Jesus, Bailey, if she watched them shoot Patrick...if she watched him die...it took a long time to get her back after the car accident and she's still not a hundred percent...I don't think she could deal with that kind of loss again, not without Patrick."

"She still has you, Robert. She has John now too...and she has us."

Robert half-smiled, but his eyes never left the ceiling. "Thanks, Bailey...and hopefully, if she is alright...we will all be enough."

"The accident...how'd it happen?"

"They were coming home from Carolyn's parent's house, in Jersey. Patrick was sick and had taken some medicine, that made him drowsy, so she drove. It was fall, and she loved to watch the leaves change colors, so they took the 'scenic route' instead of the main highway...it was early, on a Sunday morning, so there wasn't a lot of cars on the road...a truck driver fell asleep at the wheel and drifted into their lane, as they were coming out of a curve...she swerved to get out of his way, but he still managed to broadside them. The car rolled four or five times before coming to a stop...the State Troopers, when they arrived at the scene, said the car looked like it had been chewed up and spit out...they couldn't believe there were any survivors. Most of the damage was on the driver's side...Carolyn and Travis died instantly...Patrick, they said since he had been sleeping and his body was relaxed, absorbed the impact, so between his seatbelt and the airbag, he only had minor injuries...Jessie was thrown from the car through the rear window, the guy who stopped to call 911 said he saw her get up, she was about a hundred feet from the car, he couldn't believe she had walked away from that like she did." He took a deep breath, before continuing. "Patrick said if he hadn't realized Jessie wasn't in the car he would've never got out. He knew Carolyn and Travis were gone and he wanted to just close his eyes and go with them."

Bailey leaned back into the chair. "I can't even imagine what that must've been like."

"He said he noticed Jessie was missing and started to get out to go look for her... he saw her standing at Carolyn's window. He said...he said the look on her face hurt him more than anything else. She knew her mother was dead."

"The burn scars, we saw in the interrogation room that day...I thought you said he only had minor injuries."

"The car was leaking everything...the cops think someone absently through a cigarette down and it ignited one of the many puddles of fluid, that came from the car...they had gotten Carolyn out, but Travis was still inside and Patrick went crazy...he rushed the car before anyone could stop him...flames shot out from the undercarriage and swallowed him up. The fire was put out quickly but he still suffered third and fourth-degree burns from his waist to his neck...he spent a year in the burn unit of Boston General...and almost two years after that in pain, from skin graphs and plastic surgery."

"Jessie saw that too? Saw him burn?"

Robert nodded. "She put her hands over her ears when he started screaming and didn't put them down until Sal and I got to the hospital two hours later. She wouldn't let anyone touch her...when we got there she was sitting on the floor in the corner of the Emergency Room with her hands over her ears, screaming when anyone tried to approach her. It took me and Sal almost an hour to coax her out of the corner and when she finally came out, she held me like a vice grip...God, the way she was shaking...it scared me. They sedated her so they could get a look at her injuries and couldn't believe her arm was broken...she had held her arm up and fought them off for two hours with a broken arm and didn't feel it...that's how deeply in shock she was. Sal and I took turns staying with her because if we weren't in the room she would lose it...she didn't speak for days...she just held on to us. It was hard...she cried for Patrick...we had to reassure her every day that he was still alive. She totally shut down when it came to Carolyn and Travis. Then, the nightmares started...and they haven't stopped."

"Did she ever see anyone for them?"

"A couple of times, but she wouldn't talk to anyone... she detached herself from everyone...I guess she figured, if they left her, it wouldn't hurt so much. She started taking drugs to stay awake and then she would drink herself numb...she was lost for years and she wouldn't let anyone, including Patrick, help her."

"How'd she come out of it?"

Robert looked at him and smiled. "Patrick. She got hold of some bad stuff and almost died. Patrick was determined not to lose her to anything...he promised her he would not let her go, whether she liked it or not. When she was released from the hospital he took her to Carolyn's parent's house. When they came back five months later, Jessie was clean and sober, but she couldn't shake the nightmares. Patrick said they fought and cried together every day until he wore her down...until he made her feel again. She was seventeen then, and five years worth of bottled up feelings came pouring down on both of them. He saved her. I think he saved them both." He sat up and leaned forward, tears rolling slowly down his face. "She needs him. I don't know if I could do what he did...what if I can't help her?"

"You love her, right?"

"Like a daughter...she's had my heart since the day I met her."

"Then, you have nothing to worry about...when the time comes, you'll do fine." Bailey felt his cell phone vibrate and dug it out of his pocket. "Malone." He answered tiredly. He listened for several moments, then he told whoever he was talking to that he would send Grace over immediately, before snapping his phone closed. He stood up. "A van registered to Roy Langston's brother-in-law was found at a construction site...it was set on fire...there was a body inside...they're pretty sure it's an adult male, but they can't I.D. him. They have the body at the Medical Examiner's office...I'm sending Grace."

"Bailey," Robert called out to him, as he walked away. He saw the panic in Bailey's eyes and heard the tremor in his voice. "It's not John, okay? We're gonna find John and Jessie together, not apart. You believed what Krieger said, remember?"

Bailey nodded, smiling a little. "I remember. Thanks, Robert."

"There's no need to thank family, Bailey."


Tbc...