"Stories don't like to end when you want them to, do they? Loose ends aren't easy to snip with scissors or tuck inside a hem. They tempt you. They want you to keep pulling until there is nothing left to keep you warm." ― Jan Ellison
"You should have told me this sooner."
Audrey's eyes flickered between that fogbound color with no name and the grayish green of an angry squall. Her gaze was fixed on her son.
Cory had been allowed to leave. Shawn had been backed into the living room.
Audrey sat on the couch and expected him to follow. He took a spot across from her on the coffee table.
"I know," he sighed repentantly. "I thought I could take care of it myself."
"That's not your responsibility." Her voice was devoid of emotion and very cold.
"I feel like it is."
Audrey leaned closer to him. Sitting on the coffee table across from her, he looked very much like the 15-year-old she met years ago though there was no longer a chip on his shoulder. She took his hands in hers.
"Shawn, I love you and appreciate what you want to do, but this is my job. Jon is my husband. If someone is trying to interfere in my marriage, I need to be the one to deal with it."
"Right, I'm sorry. I just didn't want to put more stress on you."
Audrey let go of his hands and sat back. He wasn't telling her everything. "What stress would it add?"
Shawn dropped his hands between his knees and sighed, uncertain of what to say.
"Shawn?"
"I have some pictures taken from her computer," he admitted. "I saw some tabs that looked odd for a school secretary to have open, and I may have looked a little closer when she was gone."
Audrey gave him a chastising look. "Shawn."
"I know. I know." He put his hands in front of him as though to ward off her disappointment. "It was wrong. I've only done it twice."
Because I haven't had time to do it again, he thought.
Audrey held him in that scolding glare for an agonizing minute, then arched her eyebrow. "So what did you find?"
Shawn gave her a quizzical look, not sure he heard her correctly.
"If you've already got it, you might as well show me."
It really shouldn't have surprised him that she would be both upset with him and more than willing to use what he'd found. Shawn pulled out his phone and clicked on the gallery. Moving to the couch, he handed her his phone.
"Unreal," she muttered under her breath as she looked at the photos of the articles Katherine had been reading and her history. "Unbelievable."
She gave his phone back. "I'm glad you have these. Don't you ever do that again."
"Yes, ma'am," he said appropriately ashamed. Shawn rubbed his sweating palms across his jeans. "There's somethin' else. You remember the night Julia told you I was meetin' Dad for dinner?"
Audrey frowned then nodded slowly as the memory returned.
"It was Katherine's idea to go to Claudette. She convinced Dad to send Julia home. Because he thought it was a business meetin', he did. Julia was so upset about it that I went to find him. Katy helped me figure out where he was and called the restaurant. She found out that the reservation was in Dad's name. He didn't make it, Mom. She did. I called her out on it while he was on the phone with you and her reaction told me I was right."
Audrey bit her bottom lip and went silent.
His pulse beat against his eardrums and all the information he had fell out of his mouth. "Do you know the reason why Blake and Jacklyn showed up here when they did?"
She frowned and shook her head. Her eyes had cleared to a calm gray that Shawn recognized with trepidation as the calm before the storm.
"They told me Katherine showed up at their place claimin' to be a former fiancée of Dad's. She told them you were the reason they didn't get married. That you got pregnant to keep Dad. That you forced him to take this job and to have another kid."
Audrey closed her eyes and bit her lip harder. She was clearly furious.
Shawn fell quiet. He couldn't tell her about the text messages she hadn't seen without exposing the app, so he avoided looking at her and stared at his hands. To prevent himself from confessing further, he remarked, "There's somethin' wrong with her datin' Eli."
Audrey was still staring at him with that blank look, he could feel it. Eventually, she said, "I'll take care of this from now on."
Shawn nodded and started to stand up.
"But Shawn," the icy tone in her voice made him sit back down. "If anything, and I mean anything happens with her, you better tell me immediately."
The image of Audrey taking Dr. Sorrell to task sprang to mind and he gulped, "Yes, Mama."
"Audrey, I told you one meetin'. Now will you stop badgerin' me about this?"
Saturday was not off to a good start. Jon had been up almost two hours earlier than he normally was for a school day. This immediately set Audrey on edge as he only did this when he planned for a long day at the office.
"Why are you up so early for a 9 am Saturday meeting if there isn't more than one?"
Jon glared at her. "Because you wanna go to Philly on Monday. You won't go without me, so I have a ton of stuff to do before we leave."
Audrey pursed her lips as she leaned against the kitchen sink. Staring at the floor, she tried to quell her rising anger and doubt. Everything Shawn told her about Katherine hissed in her ears.
She trusted Jon. Katherine wasn't capable of drawing his attention away from her.
But…
"It's not just one meeting, is it?"
Jon didn't answer right away. He pushed past her to get to the coffee machine.
The smallest of creases wrinkled her brow as she put a hand on her aching back. "Jon, you promised me. You promised Shawn."
"We aren't leavin' until Monday," he snapped. "What difference does it make if I'm in meetin's today or not?"
"I need help," she snapped back. "Three kids can pack for themselves, but I have two who can't and one that needs supervision. I need someone to just keep them busy while I make sure they have everything." She drew in a shaky breath before continuing. "Then there's the two of us. And all the loose ends we have to tie up to make sure the house is secure before we leave."
"You have Shawn and Julia." Jon rapped his fingers against the counter impatiently waiting for the machine to dispense his beverage.
"No, I don't. They're going with you."
He rolled his eyes. "Then Maya can help."
"She has to pack, too."
The coffee machine sputtered and hissed as he turned on her. "If you need so much help here, why are Shawn and Julia goin' with me?"
"Because I want them to."
Jon stared at her in confusion for a moment and then realized why she was sending them with him. He gave a snort of derision.
"You don't trust me, do you?"
Audrey refrained from answering for a moment then said in quiet frustration. "Not when it comes to this job."
"Unbelievable," he mumbled. Putting his hand on his waist he gave her a disgusted look. "What have I done to lose your trust?"
"You take meetings all the time when you tell me you won't."
"Things come up beyond my control, Aud. You know that."
For two years, she had not mentioned the circumstances that brought them to the situation they were in now, but she couldn't hold the words in any longer, "You swore to me you wouldn't take this position, but you did anyway. It's become a habit with this job to tell me one thing and do another "
Jon looked like she'd slapped him. "I thought we were past that," he spat.
"You were the one who brought up trust and this job." She shifted her weight, trying desperately to reign in her frustration, but her stress level kept rising and she knew that wasn't good for the baby.
"Yeah, and I thought we'd agreed that once we were even on somethin' we wouldn't bring those things up anymore."
"Even?" She has no idea what he was talking about. "How are we even on this?"
He looked down at her stomach. "We're havin' another a kid, aren't we?"
Audrey's mouth fell open. Until that moment, she had been under the impression this child was because Jon wanted it. As the meaning of his words sank in she withdrew from him. Then heartbroken, she turned abruptly and rushed out of the kitchen.
Jon swore at himself as she left and slammed his coffee mug into the sink. Hot coffee splattered everywhere. The liquid ran down the walls of the sink like tears. The mug lay at the bottom split straight down the middle.
DeAndre met Julia and Shawn at the District Office. Jon grunted hello to the teen and said nothing more as he irritably marched down the hall to the offices. When Dre saw the look on the superintendent's face, he grimaced and asked Julia,
"What's up with Uncle J?"
"Not sure," she responded with a heavy sigh, "but I think he and mom got into this morning."
"Uh-oh," Dre said with a low whistle.
Jon, not in the mood to talk to anyone, stormed into his office, and slammed the door leaving Julia, Shawn, and Dre alone in the outer office.
Shawn sighed and sat his laptop down on the small table where he usually worked. Neither parent would talk to him, so he was unsure what had happened between them. He could only hope it had nothing to do with what he told Audrey the night before.
As he sat down the poster caught his attention.
Something was wrong.
He looked around the room and realized Katherine, who inserted herself into everything, was not there.
Shawn smirked as he studied the offensive artwork. He motioned for the teens to join him.
"What's up?" Julia asked.
He scrolled through his phone and the smirk grew into a grin. "Miss Tompkins isn't comin' in today," he told them.
"You sure?"
"Just checked the texts. She asked Dad if he needed her over break. He said no. Didn't mention the meetin' today."
"Let's hope she doesn't just show up then," Dre said shuddering. "She gives me the creeps."
"Same," Julia agreed. She regarded Shawn and the poster curiously. "What are you thinkin', bro?"
"Why don't we check this baby out?" Shawn said running his hand down the length of the frame. He gave her a wicked grin.
"What we gonna do, brotha Shawn?" Dre rubbed his hands together, thrilled at the prospect of dissecting the poster.
"We're gonna see what makes this thing change colors."
The trio moved the poster to floor and crowded around it. They assumed removing the frame was the easiest thing to do.
They were wrong.
At first, none of them could find a way to remove the frame. It was nothing like a traditional poster frame. Then Dre found glossy black tape hiding screws that lined the entire back of the frame. There were at least fifty screws. Shawn retrieved a screwdriver meant for electronics from Russ' office. Dre undid the screws while Julia kept track of them. When they finally got the back off, they were stunned to see the inside.
What they were looking at was not a work of art at all, at least not in the traditional sense. It was a complex series of electronics.
Dre was awed and eager to dismantle the whole thing to see how it worked and if he could put it back together. Shawn stopped him. They couldn't risk someone realizing they'd broken into it.
As Dre was inspecting the components, Aisha Locke walked in. She didn't seem overly surprised by the sight of the group and their disassembled project. She only stopped long enough to ask if Jon was in, then saw herself to his office.
They went back to work. After ten minutes of analysis and Shawn recording the process, Dre sat back and said matter-a-factly, "This is a super simple giant tablet."
"Can you explain, bae?" Julia asked, wrinkling her nose at the mess in front of them.
"Essentially, it's a display screen. There's an SD card slot here," he said pointing to the upper corner of the screen. "There's also this little receiver here that tells me it can be controlled by remote."
Shawn's gaze drifted over to Katherine's desk, "If there's a remote, I bet I can guess where it is."
"Allow me," Julia said. With screws jingling in her hand, she went over to the secretary's desk. She used her shirt to prevent leaving any fingerprints when she pulled open the center drawer of the desk. As she did, a flash of light went off from inside of the drawer. Blinking off the daze of the light, she rubbed her eyes as she looked down.
"Dre, could this be it?"
Dre and Shawn joined her at the desk. Dre pulled his sleeve over his hand and picked up the black device Julia was pointing at. It was small and rectangular with three buttons: on/off, up/down, mode.
He took it over to the frame on the floor and clicked the power button. Peter Max's work appeared on the screen. He hit mode. The poster changed from normal colors to garish orange and red. Each time he hit mode another color scheme came up. The Up/down button-controlled line thickness.
"Yep," he said seriously. "This is definitely it."
"So what do we do with it?" Julia asked, turning to her brother.
Shawn looked at the dismantled "poster" and put his hands on his waist. "We put everything back the way it was."
"What!?" the teens cried in dismay.
Shawn turned the video camera on his phone off and put the device back in his pocket.
"Let's see how this plays out."
"So she gets away with whatever?!" Julia was furious at the thought.
"No," Shawn said ignoring her dramatic foot stomping. "We need to be patient. And ignore the stupid thing now that we know that it is changin' and it's not us goin' crazy."
Begrudgingly the teens agreed to do what Shawn said they should. By the time Aisha left Jon's office the three were sitting in their seats. The poster was standing at the front of the office. Shawn was working on his laptop and Dre and Julia were texting each other.
Aisha was unable to provide much help, but she did take the information Jon had and promised to be in touch.
After she left, a fleeting thought crossed his mind: if this is internal, can I trust her?
He rubbed his eyes and prayed his faith wasn't misplaced.
What little light was in the room came through the blinds and reflected off the polished desktop into his eyes. He groaned as the near constant pain in his head grew. He slid his chair over to the window and closed the blinds.
Jon sighed. Between the conflicts at school and home, he wasn't sure how much more he could handle. What he had he wasn't handling very well.
Audrey refused to speak to him before he left and that was now nagging him more than anything else.
Light abruptly lit up the room as his phone rang. Jon grabbed it, hoping that it was his wife. Disappointment pressed down on him when he saw it was a text from Eli wanting to get together over break. He was willing to come to Philadelphia.
Jon ignored him.
He then scrolled through his texts, emails, and voice mails. He threw the phone on the desk, and it skidded to the edge.
Nothing from Audrey.
Not there should be. It wasn't like she needed to apologize for anything.
He saved the phone up from a fall to the floor and sent a text:
I'm sorry.
Before he could put the phone down again his wife responded. She must have been waiting for him to contact her.
I know.
I love you.
Love you too, babe.
Jon put the phone back on his desk and turned to stare at the closed curtain window.
He knew he was lucky that Audrey was so quick to forgive after everything he'd put her through these past two years. But her patience would not hold for much longer. He needed to find some way to take care of things here and get to Philadelphia.
Before he had time to devise any sort of plan, his phone went off again.
It was Willard Jorgenson.
"Jonathan." The principal sounded as though he was in a basement. There was a strange echo around his words. "I'm sorry to bother you on a Saturday. But it's important I meet with you."
Remembering the warning Audrey gave him regarding taking any more meetings, he let out a slow breath to stall as he made his decision.
"I'm gettin' ready to go out of town, Will. The wife won't be happy if I'm not home soon."
"I have information on the Remingtons and Penningtons."
Jon stopped breathing for a moment. Displeasure washed over him.
He was taking another meeting.
"I can't meet now. I have to get home to help my wife. Can you meet me here later?" he asked knowing there was no way he could come back without there being a scene at home.
"No," Jorgenson said adamantly. "We can't meet anywhere near the District Office or school grounds." He paused a beat then dropped his voice and said, "You're being watched, Jon."
Jon pulled the phone away from his face and stared at it.
"What?"
"And so am I. So is anyone who's ever been involved with these people. Listen Jonathan, I want you to meet me at Shanghai Cuisine on Elizabeth Street."
Jon swiveled back and forth in his seat. "I've never heard of that. Is it new?"
"No, it's an old place in Chinatown," Jorgenson replied. "It's back behind the Oriental Culture Enterprises Company bookstore. My wife's friend is the manager there. It's a secluded place to conduct business. No one will follow you in. It's invitation only.
Jonathan, go to the alley behind the Culture Enterprises building. You'll see an iron gate that isn't normally found in New York alleys. Ask for Charlie. He'll take you where you need to go. If anyone asks what your business is, answer 'crystal glasses".
Jon was not prepared for such cloak and dagger tactics and was highly skeptical of what Jorgenson wanted him to engage in.
"Is this really necessary, Will?"
"Yes."
There was such a strong fear conveyed in one word that skepticism vanished and some of Jorgenson's fear transferred to him.
"Will, what exactly do you mean we're bein' followed?"
"I'll tell you tonight. Meet me at six. Don't be late."
"Will? You can't tell me stuff like this and leave me hangin' on why?"
The line was dead.
Jon sat back dumbfounded. The pain in his head was growing stronger. He just wanted to crawl into a dark hole and sleep until this nightmare was over. Since that wasn't an option, he chose to sit in the darkness for a while longer. The dark had become a comfort to him since the headaches began getting progressively worse. The dimmer it was the more solace he found in it. Eventually, he pulled himself out of his misery enough to turn the desk light on and gather his things.
As he reached the door of the office, his phone went off again. This time it was a text.
But not from Audrey as he expected.
It was Devon wanting to meet at Shanghai Cuisine.
Do you know how to get there and get in?
A chill ran down Jon's spine as concern over these sudden back-alley meetings grew. He had little choice but to follow through with them. Neither Devon nor Willard had given him reason not to trust them. So far, their information had been accurate.
Yes. Meet me at 6:30.
Maya skipped through the kitchen and playfully punched Shawn on the arm as she went by. Shawn laughed and turned around.
"Maya."
"Yeah?" She stopped skipping and threw her arms around him.
Still uncomfortable with such casual displays of affection, his return of her hug was weak. "Are you packed?"
"Yep."
He put a hand on the top of her head and pushed back lightly to make her look at him "Did you do Mom's checklist?"
Maya grinned. "Aunt Audrey's already checked my checklist. I'm ready to be loaded into the car."
"Great," he smiled and gave her an affectionate pat on the head. Then his face grew serious. "I need to talk to your mom before we leave. I've texted her a few times, but I'd prefer to actually speak to her. Have you heard from her lately?"
"She called while you were with Uncle Jon. She talked to Aunt Audrey after she talked to me. Do you need to ask her something?"
Maya gave him a knowing grin that, to Shawn, looked slightly deranged.
"Why are you lookin' at me like that, Maya?"
The teen stood beside him and bumped him with her shoulder. "Are you gonna ask her out?"
Shawn frowned and shook his head. "What? No. Why would I do that now when we're both gonna be out of town?"
Maya shrugged and looked dejected. "I had to ask."
He couldn't be too upset with the question; he understood exactly where she was coming from. "I wanna make sure I have all the permission I need to take you outta town, kid. Your mom's the only one who can give that."
"Thanks, Shawn, but…" She shook her hair out of her face. "Aunt Audrey did all that. Mom sent her paperwork and everything."
Shawn shook his head and laughed. "Of course, she's has. I'll just text your mom then."
He watched Maya skip off to Julia, feeling significantly better about Katy's absence. While he still strongly disagreed with her for leaving Maya for indeterminate amounts of time, at least Katy was reachable and had things in order.
As he headed up to his room to begin his own packing, Shawn texted Katy. As he tried to close the app, his thumb hit the side of the phone causing it to scroll wildly. When the scrolling stopped a name stared back at him.
Jack Hunter.
Shawn pursed his lips as he thought about the last time he'd spoken to his brother. Then the invoice he found in the attic came to mind.
Once he got to his room, he closed his door and locked it. Sitting on the lower bunk he continued to stare at the name. Without thinking, he tapped the call button.
The phone rang for some time. Shawn assumed that when Jack saw who the caller was, he would ignore it.
Much to his surprise the ringing stopped, and a tired voice said, "This is Jack Hunter."
Shawn froze. He wasn't expecting his brother to pick up.
"Hello?"
He shook himself and managed to get out, "Jack, it's Shawn."
"Shawn?" Jack was more surprised by the caller than Shawn was that his call was answered.
"Yeah. Uh, how are you?"
"Okay," he sounded stunned. "You?"
"Same." Shawn took a deep breath. "Listen, I know the last time we talked it was…"
"Forget it, man," his brother cut him off. "Okay? We both said some stupid things. As far as I'm concerned, it didn't happen."
"Sounds good to me." Shawn paused. He'd forgotten why he called.
Jack picked up on his brother's hesitancy. "So how are you really, Shawn?"
"I'm back home."
"Home?" This confused Jack as he was unaware of any place Shawn had called home since they graduated college. "Like the trailer park?"
"No," Shawn replied with a small laugh. "Not the trailer park."
He wasn't sure how to tell Jack about home without telling a lengthy story. He had never told Jack about the time he spent with Jon nor ever mentioned Audrey. It was one part of his life he didn't want to share with his brother back then.
Jack was quiet for a moment then asked, "You mean you went back to the teacher you lived with?"
"How did you know?" The moment the words were out of his mouth, Shawn knew the answer.
"Eric." The brothers said together.
Jack laughed. "Yeah, Eric told me about the year you spent with your teacher and his girlfriend."
"The girlfriend is now the wife," Shawn replied with a smile. It was hard to think of Eric and not smile. "And yeah, I'm home with them now."
"Good. I'm glad. From what Eric told me they seem like great people. What are their names?"
"Da-" Shawn caught himself and cringed. Jack didn't know the story behind his family with Jon nor did he know the full story of what happened when Chet turned up and took him back. "Jonathan and Audrey Turner."
"Dad." Jack corrected him softly.
There was no judgement in his voice, only understanding yet Shawn felt he had to explain.
"The year I spent with Jo-Dad changed everythin', Jack. I can't even begin to explain what happened. Not over the phone."
"You finally had a family and peace, huh?"
"How'd you know?"
Jack sighed. "Because that's what I had with my mom and stepdad. Wasn't perfect. But nobody was drunk or gettin' hurt."
"Yeah. That's exactly it. Only that I saw everythin' as perfect." Shawn paused. "You call your stepfather dad now?"
"I do."
Shawn bit back tears. No matter what Chet had done he still felt like he was betraying him by calling someone else dad. To hear that Jack also called someone else Dad felt like a double blow. He knew Chet didn't deserve his loyalty, but still…
"Chet was our father, Shawn," Jack said quietly as though he read his mind. "But Ronnie and Jon- they're our dads. There's a difference."
"Yeah, I guess so."
"Is everything really okay, Shawn?" Jack asked worriedly.
"Yeah. Why?"
"You called."
"Right." Shawn said. He'd momentarily forgotten that he initiated the call. "I was goin' through papers lookin' for family history and I found this invoice for Pennbrook addressed to Dad. You told me your stepdad was the one who paid for my college tuition."
There was no response.
"Jack?"
Shawn could hear what sounded like fabric rubbing over the microphone.
"Yeah," his brother finally said. "I remember what I told you."
"And?"
"And my stepdad did pay your tuition. For a year."
"Did Chet ask your dad to help pay for my school?"
"Yes."
"And Chet said he'd pay your dad back. That's why your dad wrote the letter to say it wasn't necessary."
"Correct."
"How did my dad get involved?"
Jack was quiet again.
"Eric."
Shawn's brow furrowed in confusion. "Huh? Eric?"
Jack laughed. "Do you remember that time my dad came down to take a tour of Pennbrook and meet my friends?"
"Yeah, I remember I chose not to spend time with him. I resented that he was payin' for my tuition. I was really uncomfortable around him."
"Dad noticed that, and it bothered him. He really wanted to meet you. He mentioned this to me while we were at the apartment, Eric overheard and…"
"Told him everything he knew," Shawn finished. Eric was always in everyone's business and always stepped in at the right moment to help.
"Pretty much. Eric made this little comment about how your dad would be upset that someone else was payin' for his kid's college tuition."
Knowing Eric as he did, he could imagine how the conversation went. "Your dad told him my dad couldn't…"
"And Eric informed him he had the wrong guy. You can imagine how confused my dad was by the time Eric got done with him."
Shawn shook his head and laughed. "So how did Ronnie get over his encounter with Eric?"
"Took a while. But when he did, I told him what Eric told me about Jon. Dad was interested in meetin' him. I wasn't there when they met, but Dad told me much later that Jon really wanted to take care of college for you. He felt like he owed you that much."
Shawn stood up and began to pace. Jon owed him nothing; he never did. A feeling of disgust with his younger self overtook him. "When did you find out?"
"After we graduated. I thanked Dad for helpin' you, told him how much it meant to me. That's when he told me. He said Jon didn't want anyone to know."
"I get now why your dad didn't mind payin' for Chet's private hospital room and everythin' else he did."
"He would have done that anyway." Jack was quiet for a moment. "You know, I think Dad understood what Jon was goin' through and wanted to help him find some peace, you know, since you didn't want him in your life anymore."
Shawn couldn't say anything in reply. The heaviness of guilt made it impossible to speak.
Jack went on:
"I mean I was pretty horrible to him when he and Mom were first married. Didn't want anything to do with him. Of course, I was a kid and couldn't disappear like you did. Instead, I was as nasty as possible to him. And he did nothing but take care of me."
The silence that suddenly filled the conversation was too much for Shawn. "When did you start callin' Ronnie Dad?"
"After Chet died." Jack tapped his fingers against his desk. "Everything you said about our father leadin' up to that second heart attack really got me thinkin' about Ronnie and everything he did for me. No matter how much I screamed at him, disobeyed him, rejected him, used him for money- he was always there. Always called me his kid. Offered me his name. His only fault was that he wasn't the fantasy version of what I wanted my dad to be. He wasn't my father."
There was noise on the line that Shawn recognized as Jack struggling to maintain his composure. After a moment, he continued,
"I thought Chet could be the dad I wanted with a little help, you know? I could save him, change him. But you were right about him. I called Ronnie after Chet died and apologized for every hateful thing I said or did to him."
Shawn still couldn't properly respond to his brother's confession. This was one of those things he and Jack had never talked about before.
A series of beeps was heard on Jack's end and Shawn heard several muffled voices in the background.
"Listen, Shawn, I've got a call comin' in I have to take. Is there any chance we could get together in a couple of months when my schedule clears? I'd like to talk."
"Yeah, absolutely."
"Shawn?"
"Yeah?"
"Is it okay if I meet Jon?" Jack sounded hesitant. "Eric said you didn't want me to."
Shawn sighed. "I didn't for a long time. I was afraid Dad would like you better. You have a lot in common."
"I'm your brother, Shawn, but I'm not his son."
"I know." He smiled ruefully. Jack was being far more understanding than he thought he would be. "And yes, I want you to meet him."
"Great!" Jack exclaimed in relief. "I'll text you soon so we can schedule something."
"Sounds good, man."
"Shawn? Do me a favor."
"Yeah, sure."
"Don't tell Eric we talked."
"Why?"
"It's a long story. Just please don't tell him."
"Yeah, okay."
Jack said goodbye and ended the call.
Shawn sat back down on the bunk for a while, mulling over his conversation with his brother. After a while he got up and went to his desk. Pulling out his notes on Jon and Jay, he made a list of the things he had to get done before leaving for Philadelphia.
Jon made it home shortly before eleven and stole Audrey away from their children long enough thoroughly apologize for his behavior. Afterwards, he helped her with the packing. Although she seemed happy, she was strangely quiet.
"You okay, babe?"
She suddenly reached for his face and kissed him. It was a strange kiss. Almost like one given to a lover that you would never see again. Her kisses were usually like fire but this one chilled him to his core.
"Babe?"
"I love you." There was a haunted look on her face as though she was talking to a ghost.
"Aud, you're scarin' me."
Audrey stepped back from him and put her arms around her stomach as though she was cradling the baby. "I'm worried about you, Jon. You've never had migraines before, and these came on suddenly. You don't eat healthily anymore if you eat at all. Are you okay?"
"Yeah," he said defensively. The urge to walk out of the room and conversation was overwhelming. He didn't want to deal with this now.
"I think you need to see a doctor."
"A doctor? Why?" An irrational annoyance took hold of him. He could feel himself shut down to anything she had to say.
"Jon, you've been complaining about these headaches. You're having memory issues. You're tired all the time. You've had both dizziness and vertigo. Last time you let me check your blood pressure, your heart rate was sky high, but your blood pressure was low. You're cranky and anxious most of the time."
Fear and concern pinched her features together. Sensing that she'd already lost him, she grabbed hold of his arms and tried to get him to look at her.
"This could be something simple like stress or dehydration. Or it could be something much more serious. You need to get bloodwork done at the very least."
"Aw, c'mon don't start that Nurse Audrey bit with me," he snapped irritably as he pulled away from her. "You didn't even finish that degree."
Audrey stared at him with her mouth open. It took her a moment to recover. "What is that supposed to mean?"
Jon sighed. If there was anything he excelled at lately it was upsetting her. "I just mean that you go overboard about my health and start runnin' through that course you took after my accident. I don't even know why you bothered to start the stupid thing." He should have shut up at that point, he done enough damage, but he charged on with, "God knows you've used that knowledge to be a pain in my –"
"I did that because I wanted to know how to take care of you properly," she spat. "In case something happened while we were at home. Or it happened again!"
Jon took a step back. Instead of going silent as she always did, the anger in her began to breech the blank exterior.
He knew he'd pushed too far.
"Maybe you should have married a real nurse." Her voice was growing louder, and her hands closed into tight fists. "Maybe you should have married the curvy blonde one from your accident that was all over you in the hospital! With the way things are going you're gonna need her more than me!"
And he did it.
He successfully brought all the emotion out of her.
She stood there shaking. Her face was red and a torrent of tears rushed down her face.
"Aud," he said softly. "I don't know where that came from. I-"
Audrey held her hands up to warn him to stay back. She turned and rushed out of the bedroom.
Jon sank onto the bed and put his head between his hands trying to stifle the oncoming storm that was yet another migraine.
Why do I do this?
He didn't want to. He didn't mean to. It was like a compulsion to push her to her breaking point and for some reason he was doing it more and more.
He couldn't control it.
Jon pressed the heel of his hands into his eyes putting as much pressure as he could on them.
She was right.
There was something wrong.
"Daddy?"
Jon moved his hands away from his face and found himself looking into the eyes of his youngest son.
"Yeah, J, what's up?" he asked wearily.
"I heard you and Mama yellin'," Jamie didn't seem upset, but he did look concerned. He put a small hand on his father's face. "You look like you gonna cry."
A shaky laugh at the six-year-old's astuteness escaped him. "I kinda feel like it."
"When I feel like cryin', I hug Mama. Then I don't cry."
"Yeah, I'm not so sure Mama wants me to hug her right now."
"Mama's mad?"
"Mama's real mad."
Jamie studied his father seriously then put his hand on Jon's chest. "Wait here."
The little boy took off running out of the room. A few minutes later he returned and wrapped his arms around his father's neck.
"Feel that?" he whispered in Jon's ear.
"Yeah?" Jon replied not sure what he was supposed to feel other than his son's affection.
"That's Mama. I hugged her for you. So you don't cry."
"Huh," Jon said as the urge to cry became stronger. "Thanks, J. I needed that."
"Daddy?"
"Yeah?"
"When we get to Philly can we go to a Flyers' game?"
"You wanna go to a Flyers' game?" The question stung. "I thought you were a Rangers fan."
"I am," Jamie assured him. "That's why I wanna go."
"I'm not followin', Jamie."
"I want us to be the only Rangers fans in the arena. And I wanna meet Gritty."
Jon gave him a bemused smile. "I guess we'll have to see what Mama's plans are first. And Shawn's. He has a lot of stuff for us to do."
"Daddy?"
"Yeah?"
"You should go hug Mama so I can meet Gritty."
Jon couldn't help but laugh. Ignoring the pain, he grabbed his son into a bear hug and kissed the top of his head.
"Let's go see what your brothers and sisters are doin, huh?"
Jamie shrieked with delight as for the first time in a long time Jon lifted him into the air and let him "fly" in his arms as they left the room.
Audrey's concern about everyone being packed and ready to go in time turned out to be unfounded. The kids had been unusually cooperative in helping to prepare for their trip. Even the youngest children sensed the urgency to leave the City and wanted out.
Shawn went up to check on Maya and Julia and found them going over Audrey's lists for Jamie and Bella. Grayson took every completed bag and hauled it downstairs to sit by the garage door making sure to line it up in a way that would make it easy for their mother to give a final check.
"What's left to do?" he asked Julia.
"Nothin'," she said with a shrug. "Everythin's packed that can be packed. Stuff like toothbrushes will be added the mornin' we leave."
"Nothin'?"
She shook her head.
"Uncle Jon says we're a day ahead of schedule on everything," Maya confirmed.
"Well, then," he said. A sense of foreboding filled him. It seemed very odd that in a household of eight people that everything needed for a two-week trip could be done already considering they only started packing that morning.
Shawn headed downstairs looking for Audrey who was nowhere to be found. Instead, he found Jon sitting in the living room staring at a blank television screen. Bella slept in his arms with a chubby cheek smooshed against his chest.
Jon looked miserable.
"Dad?"
The superintendent glanced up at him. The look of gloom on his face told Shawn that something had happened between him and Audrey.
"You okay?"
He shrugged. "Sure. I've only managed to upset Audrey to the point where she isn't talkin' to me."
Shawn stared at him. "What did you do?"
Jon sighed. "Brought up the past."
A shiver ran down the younger man's spine. The past was causing more issues the longer it went undealt with.
"What in the past could upset her that much?"
"I got onto her for naggin' me about my health," he admitted ashamedly. "Brought up the nursin' program she never finished. Kinda a reminder of the past she wants to forget."
"Nursin' program?" Shawn sat down next to him. "I've never heard about this before."
"Didn't she tell you how the Nurse Audrey name came about?"
Shawn thought back to when he saw Audrey for the first time in years:
"When Jon was in the hospital, I didn't exactly, how can I say it?" She flashed Shawn an embarrassed smile. "I didn't exactly defer to the nurses' experience or education when it can to taking care of him. I read everything I could about motorcycle accidents and head trauma and physical therapy and made sure to let his medical staff know what I knew. And then told them what to do and how to do it." She laughed at herself. "So the nurses started to call me Nurse Audrey and would say it rather sarcastically to each other and to me when I got particularly obnoxious. Which was often. It wasn't exactly a term of endearment."
"Yeah, she said she read a lot of books and annoyed the nurses by tellin' them what to do."
Jon shifted Bella's position. "Those books were for a nurses correspondence program. She was allowed to use my hospitalization for experience." He sighed heavily. "It's a long story. Remind me to tell you in Philly."
Shawn slumped against the back of the couch. There was an awful lot that needed to be told in Philly. He hoped two weeks would be enough.
"Do you need me to do anythin'?"
"Nah, we're ready to go except what has to be packed in the mornin' on Monday."
"Do you need me to hang around and run interference?"
Jon gave him a rueful smile. "If you have things to do, go do 'em. I don't wanna put you in the middle of what I started with your mom."
"Are you guys gonna be okay?"
"Yeah," Jon said.
I hope, he thought.
Although he wasn't reassured Shawn stood up and said, "All right. There are a couple of things I need to do. Text me if you need me."
Jon gave him a nod and a tight smile.
As much as he wanted to stay and force his parents to talk to each other, he knew it was better to stay out of it. Besides Audrey was still unhappy with him for withholding the information on Katherine for so long.
Shawn headed up to his room. Before they left for Philadelphia, there was one loose end he needed to take care of: confirmation that Jon was Jay.
Going straight to his desk, he opened the top drawer. Inside was a photo of him, Jon, and Audrey taken when he was fifteen at Audrey's house during Christmas. He picked up the photo and gave it a loving stroke with his thumb before putting it in the inside pocket of his leather jacket.
As he passed the kitchen on his way out, he saw Audrey standing by the island. Jon was with her. They didn't look happy, but they were at least talking. As much he wanted to eavesdrop on them like he did when he was a kid, he forced himself to head out.
It was too early for the Terra Blues to be open, but he was hoping someone might be around who could tell him where to find Sonja. Shawn caught an unsuspecting manager in the back of the building unloading a truck who told him Sonja was inside doing inventory. The man allowed Shawn in under the condition that he finish unloading the truck with him.
Twenty minutes later, Shawn sat the last case of liquor down in front of Sonja who lit up when she saw him.
"Nice to see you again, honey," she winked at him, sticking her pen into her bright red hair. "You didn't happen to bring Jonny with you, did ya?"
Shawn shook his head. "No, he's at home with my mom."
"Too bad," she laughed, clicking her tongue against her teeth. "I was hopin' to see the face behind that gorgeous voice I remember so well."
Shawn couldn't help but grin. "I was wonderin' if you'd take a look at a picture for me."
"Sure, honey."
Shawn took the photo from his jacket pocket and handed it to her.
Sonja took the picture and held it at arm's length. "Sorry, Sweetie, I need my readers and I don't have 'em."
After finding the right spot to see, her face lit up. "Oh, Jay! Look at that handsome devil! So that's what that kid grew up to look like. Gorgeous! Now I really wished I coulda gone around with him." She put her arm down and looked up at Shawn. "When was this taken?"
"1995," he told her. "And that's not Jay. That's Jonathan Turner."
"Oh, no," she shook her head. She held the picture up in front of her again. "That's Jay, I'd know that face anywhere. His hair is combed back and shorter in the front, but that smile. No one has a smile like that. Only Jay."
"That's my dad," Shawn insisted.
Sonja shook her head slowly. She obviously didn't believe him. "Your dad is Jay's twin then because he looks just like him."
Shawn nodded and took his phone out. He pulled up the gallery and swiped through it, found a picture, then handed the phone to her.
"Is this Jay now?" She glanced up at him.
He shook his head.
Her eyebrows shot up and disappeared into her hair. "This is your dad-Jonny?"
"Yeah."
"Mmm," she said appreciatively. "He's aged well." She shook her head again and frowned. Then she tapped a red fingernail against Jon's image. "Honey, I'm tellin ya this is Jay. Has to be."
For whatever reason, Richie and Jon had done a very thorough job with the Jay persona. Rather than argue, Shawn thanked her for her time and headed out.
Despite Sonja's identification of Jon as Jay, he still felt unsettled and wanted further confirmation. He hoped confronting these people who knew Jay with a picture he knew to be Jon might be enough to get some real information out of them.
As Shawn stood outside the doors of the Terra Blues, he suddenly recalled the picture Audrey gave him of Jon and Richie when Jon was fifteen. He turned quickly and took off sprinting to the nearest subway station.
Audrey was still angry with him.
Every time he made peace with her, he opened his mouth and angered her again.
And she was going to have to stay angry this time. This meeting was too important to miss.
Jon pulled the collar of his wool coat up around his face as the wind nipped and bit at his nose and ears as though it was angry with him too.
It was too cold for the beginning of April.
For the first time in years, he wished he's had his leather jacket. Somehow that jacket kept him warmer than any winter coat he'd ever owned.
As he headed to the subway station, thoughts of the jacket followed him. It was meaningful to him when it was still intact, but once it was damaged it had no purpose but to grieve his wife.
It should have been discarded the night of the accident.
Still, he wished he had it now.
The jacket was a lingering reminder of an unpleasant piece of the past. It always bothered Jon that Audrey had never had it repaired. She had the bike restored almost immediately but the jacket she held onto. He knew it was possible to fix; she'd taken it to a tailor who specialized in leather and was told it could be done. But she never took it back in.
She would not tell him why nor would she let it be taken out of the closet.
And now it was gone for good.
It was 5:45 pm and the time had been set forward an hour in March, yet it was unreasonably dark. Streetlights were beginning to come on as Jon exited the Canal Street station near Chinatown. A strange fog was settling around pedestrians' feet. Jon shivered and involuntarily tried to shake it off his shoes.
The Oriental Culture Enterprises Company was a bookstore on the 2nd floor of its building. It took him several minutes to find the street that led behind the bookstore as instructed. Just as Jorgenson said there was a solid iron gate that blocked the path to the alley, and it was locked.
Jon turned and looked around for someone who could help. The space he was in was deserted. He knocked on the iron door as loud as he could, but the gate was so thick it barely made a sound before his hand hurt too much to continue.
"May I help you?"
Jon turned around and saw a short man dressed in a fine black suit watching him intently.
He tried to remember what Jorgenson told him to say. "I'm lookin' for Charlie."
The man smiled. "What is your business?"
Apparently, the speakeasy style code words were a real thing. Ill at ease, he replied, "Crystal glasses."
The man gave him a warm smile and extended his hand, "My name is Charlie. Welcome, Jonathan."
Jon's brow shot up in surprise as he shook the man's hand. "You know me?"
Charlie placed his hand on the gate. A small window opened above his head and a pair of dark eyes stared at Jon.
The man held his hand up to the peephole and flashed a ring on his pinkie finger at the eyes.
The window closed and the gate opened.
"Please," Charlie gestured for Jon to walk through ahead of him.
Apprehensively, the superintendent did as he was told then waited for the other man to join him. There was no sign of the one who opened the gate.
"I'm sure all this may seem very strange to you, Jonathan."
"Yeah," Jon cast a worried glance over his shoulder. "To be honest, it creeps me out a little."
Charlie laughed quietly. "We at Shanghai Cuisine pride ourselves on giving our clients absolute privacy and protection."
"Please don't take this wrong," Jon said even more uncomfortable than before. "But this all seems a little shady."
As the men walked down the alley, night seemed to fall much faster. Jon could see no stars in the skies above them despite the day being cloudless. Red and orange lights lit the pathway at their feet creating grim shadows that danced along the building walls after them.
"I'm sure it does," Charlie was not offended. It was rare that a first-time visitor was not put off by the unusual pomp and circumstance of his business. "I assure you though. We allowed no criminal activity here." He directed Jon to turn to the left and led him to a corridor. "We began as a place of refuge for battered women to plan their escape safely hidden away from their abusers. Although business has grown to other avenues, our first concern is those in abusive circumstances."
The men descended a staircase that seemed to appear out of nowhere to Jon as he couldn't see very far in front of him. Darkness encased them. Jon felt disoriented and lightheaded, afraid he wouldn't make it down to the bottom of the stairs on his own feet. Charlie sensed his uncertainty and took his arm.
"I apologize for the lack of lighting," the man murmured. "There is heavy construction going on to the exterior of our little underground restaurant to make it more comfortable for our guests as they arrive. Unfortunately, an electrical mishap this morning cut power to the outer venue. We do keep the lights low in this area, but we do usually have lights."
At the foot of the stairs a door closed behind them, and a bright light flooded the space they were in.
"Apologies," Charlie said again, handing Jon a pair of sunglasses. "We are still working on a way not to blind our guests when they reach the courtyard."
Once the shades were on, Jon felt reoriented but a pain at the base of his skull remained.
The entrance to Shanghai Cuisine looked like little more than warehouse doors in an underground garage. However, when the doors slid open, an upscale restaurant was revealed.
Jon's expression of shock made Charlie grin. He was quite proud of his business and loved the shock value of the arrival to it.
"Mr. Jorgenson is waiting for you," he said, gesturing inside the restaurant.
Jon followed the man inside and found he was much more comfortable keeping the glasses on. He wasn't the only one either. Several in the venue had theirs on as well.
The red lighting of the interior paired with the glasses created a soothing, almost numbing sensation around Jon's head, easing his headache.
"Jon," Willard stood to greet him as the superintendent approached the table. "I'm glad you could make it." The principal was a tall, broad man with thinning blond hair and deep blue eyes. He looked tired.
And worried.
"Yeah, me too. I wished you had warned me about what I'd have to go through to get here. My life flashed before my eyes a couple of times," Jon said half-jokingly as he took a seat across from the man.
Jorgenson gave him a rueful smile. "Sorry about that. But the less you knew the better."
"Yeah," Jon inhaled deeply. "You know, I was never a fan of James Bond."
"I've ordered for us."
"Oh?" He wasn't planning on eating. Then Audrey's accusation about his dietary habits came back to him and he shifted uncomfortably to shake them off.
"Yes." Jorgenson leaned his elbows against the edge of the table so that they were not actually on it.
"Will, you told me I was bein' followed."
"You are."
"How do you know?"
"Because I've talked to former teachers and students. Because I've seen them."
"What's them?"
Jorgenson pushed back from the table a bit. "Varies from person to person, but everyone recounts the same black polarized sunglasses, a hat of some type, and a hooded sweater. Most are followed by males, but some females."
Jon pressed his lips into a thin line, struggling to accept what he was being told. It sounded too much like a movie. "I've never seen anythin' like that."
"Have you been paying attention?"
Jon put his hand over his mouth, offended. He chose to say nothing.
The principal softened a bit. "I don't mean that as an insult, Jon. Believe me, I was wrapped up in the problems at my school, too. I didn't see him until he was pointed out to me."
He moved his hand. "How'd you find out about these things?"
"My students reported the same creature lurking around the school grounds. My own children started seeing the same thing. I didn't take it seriously until I saw it too."
Jorgenson tapped his thumb against the table. "Have your kids said anything?"
Jon shook his head. "No."
"You need to talk to them."
"They'd tell me," he said ardently.
"Would they?" Jorgenson's brow shot up. "Mine didn't. I was too busy for them, and my secretary convinced them were making things up to get my attention."
Jon's mouth fell open slightly as he recalled Katherine's assertion that Julia was making up not getting her texts for attention. "So, when did you become a believer?"
Their meal arrived at the table halting the conversation. As the server placed their plates on the table, Jon saw the man was wearing noise cancelling headphones like the ones worn at a shooting range. An uneasy feeling settled over Jon. All this subterfuge bothered him. Not everything legal was ethical and he worried about what was happening around him.
The steaming bowls of wonton soup placed before them were too hot to eat.
This was wrong.
The soup was much hotter than it should be, and it should not have been served first. In traditional Chinese restaurants, soup was served at the end of a meal.
Jon was ready to leave when Jorgenson leaned forward again. Steam rose around his face giving it an ominous look in the orange and red lighting.
"My kids told my wife who withheld it from me until I was in a better state of mind."
"How'd you get to a better state of mind?"
"That's not important. This is." Jorgenson slid a manila envelope over to him. "The Penningtons and Remingtons are related. How I'm not sure yet. But there is a connection. They work together with each group taking up residence in a high school and junior high. DeMarco is their newest team member. He isn't as cunning as they are but he's every bit as dirty."
"Dirty how?" Jon recalled the one article he found on the man alleging inappropriate conduct with students.
The principal nodded to the file. "It's in there. But read it later."
Jon arched an eyebrow.
"Eat."
He picked up his chopsticks and noticed Jorgenson wasn't moving.
"Aren't you eatin?"
Jorgenson was looking behind him. "Your 6:30 is here."
Jon turned to look behind him and saw Devon approaching.
The principal traded places with her and said farewell.
"How weird is this?" Devon greeted him as she slid into the seat.
"I'm ready to bail, Devon," he replied, setting his eating utensils down. "That's how weird it is. You get here okay?"
"Yeah, fine. I had no idea this place was real. I thought Matís made it up to tease me." She picked up the chopsticks by her plate. "I know I'm supposed to eat but I can't stay long. Matís wants to get out town for spring break and he wants to leave tonight."
Jon snorted. "Audrey should leave tonight but she won't without me."
Devon's face was dark and serious. "You should get out, Jon."
"I can't."
Devon shook her head. She recognized the same stubbornness in him that was in her husband. "If your family won't leave without you then put them first and go with them."
There was fear in Devon's voice and it set him on edge. Jon arched an eyebrow. "What do you know?"
"Maria called me," she said, pushing the bowl of soup away. "She called to warn me. To tell me to check our home and watch my children closer than I've ever watched them before."
"Why?"
"Maria and the others who resigned suddenly- they were intimidated and threatened but that's New York school politics right? You've been through it."
Jon nodded. Empty threats of physical harm and harassment were more common than they should be.
"They ignored those threat as just another one of those things until they started receiving pictures in the mail, in email, and on social media private messaging."
"Pictures of what?" Suddenly, he felt sick as images of what might be sent over the internet hit him.
"Their children. From inside their homes. Adam Franco received pictures of his grandchildren sleeping in their beds."
Jon frowned in disbelief "Franco's daughter lives in Washington state."
The color drained from his face as Devon's words sank in.
Someone went across the country to threaten an assistant principal's family.
Jon was momentarily incapacitated by panic: Audrey was home alone with the kids. Shawn had gone out and he didn't know when he'd be back.
Devon twisted the cloth napkin in her hands. "Jon, the worst part of this is no one can find a source for these pictures. Maria had their house swept looking for cameras by professionals. They found nothing."
"Did they go to the police? They didn't come to me."
"Would you go to the police if you were getting pictures of your kids and details of their daily schedules? Or would you resign and get them as far away from here as you could?" She shook her head and looked away from him. "I know what I would do. I wouldn't come to you. I'd leave. Once I knew they were safe, I might come back and go to the police. But probably not."
Jon couldn't think clearly. He needed to get away from everything and everyone and try to make sense of what he was being told. "Is Maria okay?"
"Yes. As soon as she moved all harassment stopped. The same thing happened to Adam. He and his wife moved to be with their daughter. As soon as they were gone everything stopped. He did try to go to the police here, but it was brushed off as a sick prank since the harassment stopped."
"They should have come to me."
"You were a part of the threats."
"Me?"
"They were told not to go to you. The warnings came with some of the photos."
"What do I do about this, Devon?" Jon felt like he was caught in an undertow and couldn't get out of it. "Matís and Aisha are both certain this is comin' out of the Mayor's office. How do I get NYPD to investigate the Mayor's office?"
"You can't," she said sadly. "If anyone can it's Aisha. I know she had the Remingtons and Penningtons removed Friday."
Devon reached across the table and grabbed his hand.
"That's another reason why you need to get out of town. Is your home security up again?"
"Yeah," he nodded slowly, staring at her hand. "I had an entirely new system put in. Paranoid, I guess."
"You're not. It was a smart thing to do." Devon glanced at her phone. "I have to go, Jon."
She quickly gathered her things and stood up. Before she left Devon leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Give Audrey my love and be careful."
Jon nodded and sat staring at the untouched soup and the chopsticks on the table. The pain in his head was rising as his thoughts became tumultuous winds roaring inside his mind.
He desperately wanted everything to stop.
Charlie appeared next to him.
"You appear to not have much of an appetite, Jonathan," he commented with quiet concern.
"Yeah, I'm sorry about that." Jon sighed and reached into his coat pocket. "Lemme know what I owe you."
The other man waved his hand at this. "It's already been taken care of."
He gave him a joyless smile. "Thank you."
"Feel free to leave when you choose. Our sentries at the front will escort you out."
Jon thanked him but remained in his seat for a while longer. Eventually he got up, grabbed the file, and tucked it into the back of his waistband. At the doors, he waited for several minutes for the sentries, but none came. Frustrated he decided to leave on his own.
Stepping out into the darkness of the garage outside of the restaurant, he took his glasses off. Instantly he sensed something was wrong and turned to go back inside but the doors were already closed. Without light or knowledge of the area's layout to guide him, Jon stumbled forward with his hands outstretched attempting to feel his way out.
He didn't make it far before he heard a strange sound to his left. It sounded like metal scrapping a wall. Jon pressed forward as the noise grew into a high-pitched whine.
Then there was silence.
Panic overcame him and compelled him to run but without sight he could go nowhere. His other senses were too underdeveloped to give him any sense of direction. The dark that once brought him such peace and relief had turned on him.
Somehow, he got spun around and no longer knew if he was heading towards the restaurant or away from it. Every nerve screamed as he tried to move forward.
And the pain.
The pain was excruciating.
Then he heard it: the creaking of something heavy that was about to fall. The sound surrounded him. He didn't know where it was coming from.
Audrey appeared before him. Jon stared at her image as the horrible realization that he hadn't made things right with her filled his head.
He closed his eyes and prayed that whatever was going to happen would happen quickly.
And it did.
Everything happened at once: Audrey, the prayer, and a white light piercing the night. A second after a heavy body hit him shoving him backwards into the light. A pair of arms wrapped around him preventing a fall. The sentries, who were now everywhere, rushed to close the doors. As they did Jon looked up and saw a masculine figure in black wearing polarized sunglasses and a hoodie. It was covered in an ashy gray dust.
A deafening crash was heard just after the doors closed.
Charlie swore at the guards for not paying attention, for putting his guest at risk. Still cursing he ushered Jon back to his table where he began profusely apologizing.
The superintendent couldn't hear anything but blood rushing to his head as he fell into the chair held out to him. Adrenaline and cortisol rushing through his system elevating the pain in his head to an unbearable level.
Struggling to breathe, he leaned his elbows on the table as he held his head between his hands gasping for air. Charlie was saying something about construction crews and finding reliable workers who were willing to sign nondisclosure agreements. Something about a beam being left in crane.
Finally, the voices stopped talking and Jon's pulse quieted down. He was exhausted and out of breath as though he'd been playing a full period of a hockey game without a line change. After several minutes, he felt strong enough to move his hands away from his head.
His eyes were still closed when he heard someone sit in the chair across from him.
Jon opened his eyes and found himself looking into the bright blue eyes of his past.
A past named Angelo Sartori.
The house was oddly silent when Shawn darted back in to pick up the photograph he needed. The kids were crowded around the television watching an episode of "Family Matters". Despite the humor of the show, there was no laughter, just blank stares at the screen. Even Bella and Jamie seemed listless.
There was a pervading anxiety in the air. As though a weight was pressing down on them and slumping them over.
Shawn shivered.
He wondered if it was wise to leave them.
Yet he had to go. This couldn't wait.
On his way out he told Audrey he'd get dinner out as he had things to do before they left. She didn't say anything, just nodded. He knew Jon was leaving as well and he promised he'd try to make it back before he left.
He didn't.
The Good Old Days was closed for restocking until 6 pm so Shawn tried to track down Oliver Shortman. At this time of day, no one seemed to ever have heard of him. He went to the Lynn Redgrave Theater to look for Sandra. His questions were met with blank stares.
I wonder if the fog got her?He couldn't help but wonder.
Shawn continued to wander up and down Bleeker Street waiting for the Good Old Days to reopen. The wind picked up and its little icy fingers pinched at his face. He flipped up the collar of his old faithful jacket to thwart its attacks.
A sense of urgency overcame him, and Shawn quickened his pace. Bleeker Street had no answers for him, so he headed to the East Village.
The spirit on the Bowery seemed a bit more alive than Bleeker Street and Shawn felt that it was easier to breathe there. As he headed towards the Good Old Days, he passed a children's store whose door was ajar.
The smooth strains of Billy Joel surrounded him as he continued by.
One minute I'm in Central Park. Then I'm down on Delancey Street.
Said from the Bowery to St Marks-hey, there's a syncopated beat.
Said whoo-hoo-whoo-hoo-hoo. I'm streetwise, I can improvise.
Said whoo-hoo-whoo-hoo-hoo. I'm street smart, I've got New York City heart.
I've got somethin' Shawn thought. I'm just not sure what it is.
Mack was just changing the closed sign to open when Shawn arrived. The man gave him a knowing expression and waved him in.
"How are you, Shawn?" he asked as he shuffled past racks of clothing.
"Okay."
"Whaddya you need?" Mack stepped behind the cashier stand and waited expectantly.
Shawn took the photo from his jacket and placed it on the counter.
The older man picked it up and studied it. His expression softened and he looked almost sad.
"You still chasin' the past, huh, kid?" Mack shook his head. "I've always wondered what happened to the kid in the photograph."
Shawn watched his expression carefully. "He's the superintendent of New York Schools."
Mack didn't seem as surprised as he was concerned. "You found him?"
"He's my dad."
"What?"
"Jonathan Turner."
"This is Jay," Mack said forcefully.
"This," Shawn pointed to the picture, "was given to me by Audrey who told me this is her husband, Jonathan Turner, when he was fifteen."
Mack looked stunned. He swore softly as he continued to stare at the picture.
"I wonder what he looks like now?" he mumbled.
Shawn took his phone out and showed the man the picture he'd shown Sonja.
"That's Jay," was all Mack could say.
"That's what I need to know about, Mack- why my dad went from Jonathan Turner to Jay Andrews and back."
"I don't have any answers for you, Shawn," the older man sighed. "I wish I did but I don't."
"Yeah." Shawn tried to hide his disappointment as he took back his picture. Mack was done talking so there was no use in staying. "Thanks."
Mack watched the younger man go. He shook his head regretfully.
He hated to lie to the young man.
"Ya okay, Jonny? Ya don't look so good."
Jon stared at Angelo. As if his evening wasn't bizarre enough the man across from him now made him question his sanity.
"Would you be okay if your past just walked up and sat down across the table from you?"
"Nah," Angelo said quietly. He folded his hands and placed them on the table. He looked unhappy. "Especially if that past is me."
"I didn't mean it that way."
"It's okay, Jonny. You should have that reaction."
Jon was thunderstruck by this turn of events. He felt numbness settle into his emotions. "So what's goin on? Why are you here now?"
Angelo rubbed a hand across his chin. "I'm worried about ya and the family."
"Why?"
"It's a dangerous time to be in the City. Heed the advice of your friend. Leave. Don't come back early."
Jon studied his former friend's face that was haggard by years of drug and alcohol abuse. If not for the eyes and tattoos, he never would have recognized him.
"Somethin's not right," Jon said shaking his head. "After all this time you just show up and tell me to get outta town. And I'm supposed to go?"
He stood to leave. Angelo grabbed his wrist.
"J."
It wasn't Angelo that made Jon sit back down, it was the name he hadn't used in decades, the name he now called his youngest son by.
"There are things I can't tell ya right now." The lower right corner of his mouth trembled uncontrollably. "But I'm out on the street and I hear things. Just… take a break. It looks like you could use one anyways."
Jon saw the tremor and put his hand over his mouth. After a while he said, "Are you still usin'?"
Angelo's upper lip twitched this time. "Yeah, J, I am."
He looked embarrassed and looked away. Jon felt sympathy for him, but that sympathy didn't go far.
"Nah, man," he said, putting his hands up. "Don't bring that around me. I'm not that person anymore."
"Were you ever really?" Angelo smiled dejectedly. "I'm gonna go to rehab soon, I just have a few things to square away before I can commit."
"Like what?"
He looked Jon in the eyes. "I have past mistakes to repay."
The superintendent shook his head. "Wouldn't that be done better if you went to rehab first?"
"Not this time."
"Same ol' story, man."
"Maybe."
"If you can't tell me what's goin' on then it is."
Angelo sighed. "Fair enough.
There was something about his friend being here at this moment that Jon couldn't dismiss at coincidental. "I'm sorry, Angelo. I wanna believe you. I always have. But I can't trust you and I won't expose my kids to the drug stuff or that past. I've got enough problems as it is."
Angelo nodded his understanding and folded his hands in front of him. His fondness for Jon was as great as his fondness for his wife whom he still saw as that little girl his mother used to watch.
"How is baby girl?" he asked, referring to Audrey by her old nickname.
"Angry. For good reason too." Jon sighed. "Speaking of Audrey, I need to get home."
Angelo nodded. There was a deep sadness etched into his weathered features. "Be careful, J."
"Yeah," Jon said as he stood up again.
The moment he turned to leave he felt extremely lightheaded. Tiny flecks of light darted around the periphery of his vision. He tried to grab onto the table, but his hand missed the edge completely.
Angelo was at his side immediately and held him upright.
"J? You okay?"
Jon gripped his arm for several minutes then shook his head as his vision cleared. "I'm fine," he said gruffly. "I'm fine."
"You used to be a bettah liar, Jonny," Angelo told him. "How long has this been goin' on?"
"I dunno," Jon responded lamely. "A while."
"Does Audrey know?"
"Unfortunately."
"I'm takin you home."
"No," Jon said trying to push him away. "That's not a good idea."
"You're not leavin' here alone."
Feeling unstable on his own, Jon stopped protesting and let Angelo guide him out of the restaurant. On the subway home he leaned his head against the window and closed his eyes, but the shaking of the train worsened everything and made him nauseated.
By the time they reached Astor Place Station, Jon was feeling well enough to walk without Angelo supporting him. Angelo stayed unusually close to him with one hand on him while he was constantly scanning the crowd for something.
The walk home seemed to take forever. When they finally reached the brownstone home, Jon struggled to make it up the front stairs.
"Tell Audrey," Angelo told him with the authority he used to use on him when they were kids.
"I just need to rest, Angelo." Jon fumbled to find the keys in his coat.
"Will you?"
"We leave for Philly on Monday."
"Tell your wife."
"Right."
As the other man started to leave, Jon leaned against the door and called to him.
"Thanks, man. I owe you."
Angelo gave him a small smile. "Othah way around, J. I owe ya."
Jon waved to him. "Get yourself straight, then come see me."
"Ya got it, Jonny."
Jon turned slightly, blinked, and Angelo was gone.
The superintendent turned and wearily went inside.
Audrey was in the living room leaning against the entertainment center looking lost. Silently he walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her. She melted into his embrace. As her hands went to his back and slid up towards his shoulders, Jon realized that the file was no longer in his waistband.
There was no way it could have just fallen out.
To my readers:
As we are coming to a close on Book II with one chapter to go, I just want you to know how important everyone is to me who has taken time to read this far. It's an undertaking, I know, and that you would spend your time with me means everything to me.
I also want you to know that I value your feedback. Your thoughts and opinions on the story and character development are invaluable and I would love to hear them. Your thoughts on Audrey would mean a lot as well. I'm always open to questions.
You can always find me here or Tumblr (you can message me without an account) or Discord. Details in bio.
Happy New Year!