"Is it useful to feel fear, because it prepares you for nasty events, or is it useless, because nasty events will occur whether you are frightened or not?"
- Lemony Snicket
Julia was awake. Shawn could hear the water running in the shower. Ordinarily, he enjoyed hassling her about the bathroom and looked forward to it. It exemplified the normalcy he craved as a child. He'd always wanted siblings who behaved like siblings were supposed to. Not like Stacy who ran off and never contacted her little brother again. Or Eddie who was an abusive felon. Or...
He didn't think Jack deserved to be put in the same category as their other half-siblings, most of whom they'd never met. Jack tried to have a relationship with him at least. And it wasn't entirely Jack's fault that they no longer spoke.
He sighed, rolled onto his side, and swung his feet over the edge of the bed. As he sat up, he caught a glimpse of something under the bed.
A sock. With foot in it. Shawn lifted the comforter's edge and peered under the bed. It was Jamie fast asleep with his head resting on a wadded-up hoodie and clutching a comic book in his hand. Gently, Shawn pulled him out from under the bed and picked him up. The boy stirred and sleepily blinked at him.
"You know next time you can sleep on the bottom bunk," he told the boy.
"I didn't want Uncle Cory to be mad."
He smiled as he thought about Cory's extreme reaction to Auggie wanting to share the bed with him. "It's not Uncle Cory's room."
"It is his bed."
Shawn laughed. He stooped to pick up the comic book that had fallen from the boy's hand. A warm feeling of nostalgia washed over him when he saw the vintage X-Men comic from the early 90s.
"Dad's still teachin' this story, huh?"
Jamie didn't answer. He'd fallen back to sleep.
Jon was in the kitchen when Shawn made it downstairs. He stood quietly in the doorway and watched his mentor go through his morning routine. A strange feeling of intense affection coupled with wistfulness came over him. He recalled when he first went to live with Jon and how uncertain he was of everything and how convinced he was that he'd be out on the street in no time because his teacher didn't want kids of his own at the time. Eventually, he learned that he and Jon were very similar and ultimately, with Audrey's help, developed a strong relationship.
Now he understood that those similarities went much deeper that he knew then. Both had been adrift at the same point in their lives without blood family to turn to. Both had troubled teen years. With the help of Audrey's father, Jon, whatever trouble he'd been in, got out of it and turned around to offer to him the same helping hand and home when he needed it the most.
"Hunter, you keep headin' down this life track you're on, then the places you're goin' aren't any places you're gonna wanna be, man."
"Yeah, I know. I've been there. Someone reaches out to you and says they care about you, it's easy to run."
Jon's words from the past reverberated in his head as they so often did. There was a moment when he first moved in after getting caught sneaking out, that his teacher grabbed him by the back of the neck and got nose to nose with him.
"I've been where you're headed, Shawn. If you think Imma just stand by and watch that happen, you're dead wrong."
As a teen, he thought Jon was bluffing. As an adult he knew he hadn't been.
An intense wave of indebtedness and admiration hit Shawn again just as Jon turned around looking weary and worried.
The superintendent was surprised to see him. Shawn stared at him for a moment, then stepped forward to do what he should have done a long time ago. He jogged over to his father and hugged him tightly.
Jon was stunned by the display of affection that Shawn hadn't shown him since he was 15. Back then he was so slow to respond to the kid who so badly needed to know he was loved, but not now. He embraced the younger man back even tighter.
"I love you, Dad." Shawn was surprised to find that his eyes were wet from emotion.
Tears pricked Jon's eyes, too. He'd given up hearing those words from his oldest long ago. Then the fear that Shawn resented him for what happened when he was 15; the fear he'd carried for two decades suddenly dissipated. He physically felt a weight drop from his shoulders.
"I love you, too." His voice was so thick with emotion that he could barely get the words out.
Shawn held him for a moment more then stepped back and gave him a cheeky grin. "Ah, you're just feelin' vulnerable."
Jon shook his head and laughed. Shawn had said this to him when an old girlfriend from Connecticut came to visit and he tried to explain himself to the teen.
Shawn went over to the coffee maker to fix himself a cup. Jon watched him for a moment, feeling very unworthy of the younger man's love and trust.
"Shawn."
He looked over his shoulder at the superintendent and gave him a quizzical look.
"I really needed to hear that."
Shawn smiled.
"I really needed to tell you that."
The atmosphere in the district office's conference was decidedly chilly despite the thermostat being set on 76 degrees. Shawn could have sworn the temperature dropped when the new hires walked in. While Jon was in his office finishing up a call with an administrator from one of the junior highs, Shawn took the opportunity to step out and grab Russ to ask if these sorts of meetings were ever recorded for future reference.
"If Jon wants it to be," Russ told him.
"Does he have to tell them?"
"No." Russ rolled his eyes. "They signed already. If they didn't read their contracts that ain't nobody's problem but theirs. They can take it to the union."
Shawn stepped back in and took his seat, trying to ignore the surly, silent people in the room. He texted Jon that he thought recording this meeting might be in his best interest. The superintendent texted back and told Shawn where the recording device was.
When Jon came to start the meeting, there was a decided shift in the demeanor of the new hires. Mr. Remington seemed to grow very bold and arrogant. He also appeared to be looking for a fight. Shawn sat back and watched. He also kept a close eye on the digital recorder to make sure none of the conversation was missed.
Every question Jon asked was met with defiance and derision. Every answer made the superintendent angrier, but he kept impressive control over his emotions. Eventually, they stopped responding all together and stared at Jon with identical smirks across five faces.
"All right," Jon finally said. He pushed his chair back and stood up. Leaning over the table with a grim face, he said in a low, menacing voice, "This district is not under mayoral control, which means I run the show. You have 48 hours to provide your resumes in full. If you don't, you will be put on administrative leave. By then the background checks will be in."
Jon left the room, but Shawn hung back until the others had left as well. He rubbed his index finger along his beard, deep in thought over the meeting. He didn't need to know much about how the education system worked to know that the attitude that these principals were giving Jon was unacceptable. These people clearly thought they were untouchable. But he did notice a potential weakness. While they didn't react to the threat of being put on administrative leave, he absolutely saw them flinch when Jon mentioned the background checks.
Shawn turned off the recorder and put it back in its place. With a sigh, he started to head back to Jon's office when the burner phone went off. His pulse quickened to what felt like a dangerous rate and he felt nauseated. Quickly, he pulled the mobile device out and prayed the text was from Katherine.
It wasn't.
All the money in the world can't stop the truth from coming out.
He panicked, simultaneously screen capping and deleting the text, unsure if he got a shot of the message or not.
Jon hadn't seen it. There was no way he could have.
Unless he happened to be on his phone at the time.
Shawn grabbed his own phone out of his pocket so fast he nearly threw it across the room. He scrambled to pick it up and open the messaging app.
I need that app update now!
Shawn knew that DeAndre was in class and would be unable to do any work on the update, but it was all he could do at the moment. After several minutes of fruitless pacing, Shawn left the conference room before Jon came looking for him.
In his office, Jon had drawn the blinds and shut off all the lights. He had a severe headache that was worsened by light. He never had migraines prior to taking this job and they were growing steadily worse. He reached for the over-the-counter migraine medication in the bottom drawer of his desk. It did little to help but he refused to take anything stronger. He had a strong aversion to drugs, especially prescription drugs, and he wasn't about to take them no matter bad the pain got.
After several minutes of sitting in the dark while waiting for the medication to kick in, Jon picked up the office landline phone and dialed an outgoing number. The phone rang several times before it was picked up.
"This is George Feeny."
Jon smiled at the sound of his former boss's voice. "George, it's Jon."
"Oh, Jonathan," there was a deep fondness in the other man's voice. "Wonderful to hear from you!"
Jonathan. It was always Jonathan with the man!
After twenty years, he shouldn't expect a change, but for some reason he hoped that just once the older man would break convention and call him Jon.
"Yeah, sorry I haven't called more. It's been crazy here."
"I can imagine. How are Audrey and the children?"
"Good, good." He tapped his fingers on the desk. "We hope you and Lilia will be able to make it out to one of Grayson's games soon. We'll be traveling south next month. Audrey can get you guys a schedule."
"We'd love to attend. I'll have Lilia call her and make plans."
"Great, great." Jon knew he was repeating himself, but he couldn't help it. The pain in his head was making it hard to concentrate. "We're also headed your way for Spring Break."
"Excellent," the former educator sounded surprised but pleased. "Be sure to come by and see us while you're here."
"We will, we will." Jon sighed as he tried to get ahold of his thoughts. "Shawn's wantin' to go back and revisit the past. I know he wants you to be a part of that."
"Yes, Alan told me Shawn was home. It will be good to see the whole family together."
"Yeah, yeah, it will be."
"Jonathan, is everything alright?" Mr. Feeny had not missed the unusual repetitiveness of the younger man's speech.
"No, it's not, George. Everything is all wrong. I need some advice."
"What's troubling you?"
Jon detailed the changes that had taken place with the new hires and his being stonewalled at every turn. "I'd ask Alex Kessington to look into things because his connections ran so deep here for so long, but a few years after he retired, he moved to Scotland and didn't maintain those connections."
"Yes, well, I may be many years removed from the classroom, but I am still in contact with many educators, several in New York. I'll see if these names mean anything to them."
"I'd appreciate it, George. I gotta admit, I have no idea what to do here."
"Yes, well, the answers are there. You will find them."
"I hope so."
"Jonathan, don't run yourself into the ground over this situation or this position. It isn't worth it."
Jon considered this. "Why did you never become a superintendent?"
"I knew it wasn't worth it. I saw many fine educators become superintendents and lose touch with the students and themselves. I knew I was far more effective in the position I was in than at the top of the chain of command."
"Yeah, I'm beginnin' to understand that." Audrey had been right when she told him he would be miserable out of the classroom. He knew that almost from day one. But he let his pride get the best of him and he was certainly paying for it.
"That being said," George said encouragingly. "I'm sure we can get this sorted out during spring break. I look forward to seeing you."
"Yeah, you too, George. Thanks."
Jon hung up the phone feeling unsettled. He couldn't shake the ominous feeling that hung over him.
Wednesday was as horrible as Monday and Tuesday were for Cory. Mr. Pennington stalked his every move and camped out in his classroom. It was bad enough to be under a constant microscope, but it was absolutely maddening not to even know which man was stalking him. The Penningtons had no distinguishing features between them that he could see. One, the principal, was a warm, charming man, according to parents, but Cory had yet to have any interactions with him that he was aware of. The other was a snide, condescending totalitarian who seemed to hate everything and everyone. Oddly enough, parents spoke very highly of him, too. Or possibly it was his brother they were talking about. It was impossible to know as the men refused to identify themselves by first names. At one point on Tuesday Cory could have sworn that the same man answered to both first names when a visiting principal stopped by.
During Riley's class, Mr. Pennington was lying in wait once again. The once affable, chatty students that Cory so love much dragged themselves in. They were as deflated and unenthusiastic as their teacher. No one seemed to have any energy even though they'd just eaten lunch.
Riley hated to come to class because she had to watch her father berated and mocked in front of his students. Worse, she promised him that she would not tell her mother what was going on just yet. Ever the optimist, Cory believed that things would get better when the new staff settled in. Minute by minute, Riley watched that hope seep out of him. She was torn between her promise to her father and the intense desire to help him by breaking that promise, knowing her mother would move heaven and earth to protect her family.
Maya hated to come Mr. Matthews' class, too, for many of the same reasons as Riley. Maya also hated to see petty little people like Pennington stomp all over good people like Mr. Matthews just because they could. She hated that more than anything. But unlike Riley, Maya was not indecisive. She had come to class prepared to act and expected her age to protect her if she crossed any legal boundaries. While pretending to pay attention to her teacher and his tormentor, Maya took her phone out of her pocket and began to record everything that happened in class.
Julia stood in front of her open locker with her head in as far as she could go. She seriously considered stepping inside and closing the door, but she was afraid that Mrs. Remington would find her, gather the class around, and laugh at her for hiding. Sucking in a deep breath, she reminded herself that her father was the superintendent, and this nightmare would only last a brief time. With a heavy heart, she slammed the door shut, picked her books off the floor, and headed to her English Lit class.
Mrs. Remington was there of course. Dre sat in the far back and didn't look at her. They had decided that it was the best if they stayed a part in the woman's classes. Ever faithful, Dre texted her the moment she slid into her isolated desk in the front of the room.
Hey beautiful
Julia was careful not to smile as any form of joy attracted Mrs. Remington's ire.
Hey bae
I think Jovanni ghosted me. Or you. IDK. Can't get him to respond.
Tragic.
Just a heads up in case he contacts you.
TY
That was all the texting they dared do, lest their phones be confiscated for the rest of the year.
The bell rang and class began. Julia felt a nagging ache in her temple and her stress level rose in fear of what Mrs. Remington would do to her this time. In just a few short days, she'd been routinely ignored by everyone but Dre in homeroom and humiliated by their teacher in English Lit. Mrs. Remington delighted in making a show of criticizing Julia's work in front of the class. Even when her papers were exemplary, the woman found something to scoff at.
The current book they were studying was Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Mrs. Remington had an incredible ability to take a fantastical book and make it into dreary drudgery. Had it not been for her father reading the book to her at an early age and giving his analysis on it and Lewis Carroll, she would have thought it was the most boring story ever written.
Eventually, Mrs. Remington stopped lecturing and began an activity that require everyone to choose a character they felt they were most like and find the meaning of that character's name. It was a boring, routine activity and Mrs. Remington was nothing more than a boring, routine teacher.
The activity proved be more daunting than originally thought as many of the characters had no actual names, therefore students who did not chose Alice, Elsie, Lacie, or Tillie or something similar were faced with the task of trying to come up with a clever meaning to avoid being called out in front of everyone.
Dre chose the Mad Hatter. Risking detention and possibly effecting his class standing, he said the meaning of the Mad Hatter's name was just that a crazy hatter. When asked why he felt this character suited him, he answered flippantly "because we're all mad here."
The class giggled and Mrs. Remington commended him on quoting the text although it was not the Hatter who said those words.
It was Julia's turn next, and she knew exactly which character she identified with. Like Alice, she too had fallen down a rabbit hole and was looking for a way out. When her teacher called her name, she stood up and with all the confidence she could muster, she answered. "I identify most with Alice."
Nobody was terribly impressed by this. Several others had answered the same. However, Mrs. Remington zeroed in on Julia's response.
"And what does her name mean?"
"Noble."
"Give me eight to ten adjectives to describe Alice that also describe yourself."
"Curious, courageous, kind, intelligent, courteous, humorous, proud, direct, conscientious," she rattled off every trait she could recall without putting much thought into it.
"Thank you, Julia," said Mrs. Remington, much to everyone's surprise. And that was it. No mocking, no criticizing.
Julia had been braced for the worst but there was nothing to brace for. She didn't know what to think. On a day she was ready to take on the villain that was Mrs. Remington, there was no villain. There was only an English Lit teacher.
The bell rang to dismiss the class and Julia tried extremely hard to get out of the room without drawing any attention to herself. Sneaking in between the desk hoping to get lost in the crowded shuffle to the door, she was almost out when she felt something sharp dig into her arm. Startled, Julia looked up into the eyes of her teacher.
"Julia," she said gently. "We need to talk." She tightened her grip on the girl's arm and pulled her to the front of the room.
DeAndre watched her be detained, exited the room, and stood outside of the classroom to wait.
"Julia," the teacher said. "I'm growing increasingly worried about you. I did not say anything during class but the reasons you identify with Alice are quite alarming.
Huh? Julia thought. All I did was give her character traits. Who takes things like that seriously?
"When you only see yourself as perfect and infallible that is a cause for deep concern. Coupled with your issue with authority and your poor work in class, I feel it would be best for you to seek counseling. We have a wonderful guidance counselor and a social worker who understands troubled teenagers very well. I want you to think about working with them to sort out your emotional problems."
Emotional problems? Julia didn't know what to make of this. I don't have emotional problems. I am not a troubled teenager! My only trouble is you!
Julia had never been called such things before. She was called level-headed and delightful by other teachers. She was not troubled; she was her father's daughter: strong, smart, and not about to be pushed around by anyone.
"You must understand this out of genuine concern." Mrs. Remington's darted out like a lizard to wet her lips. "Given your family history-"
Julia jerked away from her. "What family history?"
Mrs. Remington shook her head in pity. "We know all about your older brother, Shawn. And of course, your father and his past..."
Julia's mind was sent into a tailspin as she tried to understand what the woman was saying.
"We want you to fill out this form, Julia."
The teen jumped, startled by the voice that spoke over her shoulder. Mr. Remington appeared out of nowhere and put a paper in front of her. His eyes were friendly and warm, almost comforting. Almost.
Julia stared at the paper.
What are you afraid of? was written in bold text across the top of the page.
"What is this?"
"It will help us understand you," the principal said.
What am I afraid of? Julia stared at the page full of lines that wanted a full confession not just a one- or two-word answer like spiders or the dark. She bit her lip. Confused over the question and growing increasingly worried about being alone in a room with these two strangers, Julia handed the paper back.
"I won't fill this out."
"You must, Julia, darling."
The way he said darling made her skin crawl. "No."
The word lingered in the silent classroom. Julia could not look in his eyes. His eyes were steely and hypnotic. And terrifying.
She was afraid. Of them.
But she didn't fear them the most. What she feared most was losing her father in some way. But she would never, ever tell them that. Never.
The silence stretched until it felt as though it reached into eternity. Finally, Mr. Remington's spoke,
"Then you may go."
Julia skirted out from under his presence and took off towards the door.
"I want you to know that I am your friend, Julia," he called after her. "All I want is to help you and you desperately need help."
Julia fled into the hall. The next class had started already, and she was alone with them right behind her.
"Hey."
She whirled around ready to fight when she saw Dre step out from behind the door of their classroom. Quickly, she followed him around the corner to the lockers.
"You okay?"
"No."
"I heard what they tried to get you to do." He hugged her tightly for a moment then stepped back with a worried look. "What was that about Uncle J?"
"I don't know. And I don't know what to do."
He held up his phone that had a recording app pulled. Something had obviously just been recorded.
"Don't ever be alone with them out doing this," he advised her.
Julia stared at him for a moment then smiled in relief. DeAndre had recorded what happened to her with the Remingtons.
Shortly after Audrey returned home from picking up the boys from school a text came through on her phone and it took her several minutes to get to it as Bella had picked up the phone and hidden in the pantry to play with it. Separating her phone From Bella was not easy and Audrey received a hard, angry yank on her hair for it.
The effort, Audrey decided when she saw who had sent the text, was not worth it.
It was Katherine.
Audrey was genuinely surprised the woman contacted her as she seemed determined not to have anything to do with her.
Dylan is available Saturday. He'll be over at 9 am.
Rude! Audrey thought irritably. But that was the Katherine Audrey knew. The woman had rarely been anything but rude to her.
You'll have to take him to the rink in Flushing.
I don't have time to drive him out there. I'll take him to Jon at his place
Take him to Jon? His place? Does she think we live apart? As resentment began to creep in, Audrey did everything she could to push it back.
Jon will be with me. At the rink. 7-12. You can take him there or wait until we get home. Otherwise, he'll be sitting on the stoop until we get back.
Fine. How do I get there?
Lady, I am not your Google, she huffed mentally. Then she texted Katherine the name of the arena and left it to her to figure out how to use Maps.
After dinner, Shawn, who was strangely quiet, offered to do dishes and watch Bella and Jamie while Julia and Grayson did homework. Audrey knew there was something bothering him, but he wasn't interested in talking so she let him go.
Julia collapsed onto her lap the moment she sat down. Her tears brought Jon into the living room. Their daughter recounted her day insisting that her teacher and principal were terrible people and that DeAndre had proof of it. Audrey wasn't sure what to make of these stories. On the one hand they seemed fantastic. On the other hand, Cory was reporting similar happenings to him. Both could be dramatic. Neither were prone to lying.
Jon listened intently to her. Audrey could see him growing increasingly agitated. After she was done with her story, he told her that he would take care of everything. He held her for a short while then sent her off to do her homework.
Audrey pulled her feet onto the couch and rubbed her ankle. "What are we going to do about this, Jon? Mrs. Remington has completely switched gears on me and refuses to give me a time to meet."
Jon pressed his lips together in frustration then said, "Are you keepin' the correspondences you're havin' with her?"
"So far."
"Print hard copies."
This was something he'd never told her to do with a teacher before. "Jon?"
He took hold of her foot and rested her heel on his thigh. Absently, he began to massage the sole of her foot. "I have a bad feelin' about this, Aud. "I'm going to start copyin' you and Shawn on everythin'. Maybe I'm gettin' paranoid, but I don't wanna walk into work one day and find that there's been a mysterious system glitch that's wiped out all traces of these people."
"Okay."
"I'm also goin' to send you what I have so far. I'd like for you to print that out, too."
Audrey bit back a smile and arched an eyebrow instead. "Am I your secretary now?" She couldn't help but take a dig at Katherine and her refusal to do her job right.
"I wish." Jon thought about this for a while. He'd gladly take Audrey in the office and Shawn at his side. There was no point in wishing for the impossible, but it did give him an idea.
"Is there any chance you could come down to the office a couple of days for a few hours? Bring Bella if you need to."
"Yeah, I'm sure I can arrange that. Why?"
"I need your perspective. Sometimes people forget themselves around you and you might be able to find out what I can't."
This was true. People often treated her as younger than she was or assumed that because she married an older man, there wasn't much going on behind her pretty face. They had the tendency to speak loosely around her as though she was too dumb to understand what they were talking about. It was irritating usually, but over the years she'd learned to use it to her advantage particularly when it came to learning people's intent concerning her family.
"I'd also like you to be at the Superintendent Conference next Thursday and Friday. I figure it's my best chance to find someone willing to talk about these people."
"Of course, I'll go. I'll ask Aunt Nettie if she can watch Bella and pick up the boys."
"Good." Jon stared broodingly at the blank television screen.
Audrey could tell by the look on his face that his head was bothering him. She leaned over as much as she could and ran her hand down his cheek. He caught her hand and kissed the back of it.
"I'm pulling Julia from all of Mrs. Remington's classes for the time being," he said.
Audrey was surprised by this and very worried that he would choose to do this so soon. "Where's she going to go?"
Jon smiled. "I still have a few people willin' to work with me. You remember Devon Collins?"
"Yeah," she said slowly trying to pull together the fuzzy memory. "Wasn't she Shawn's guidance counselor?"
"For like one session. She was not good," he laughed. "Not then anyway. She's not Collins anymore; she's Nunez now. Her husband's job transferred them out here from Philly and she started as one of the guidance counselors at Julia's school this year."
"So, I take it she's no longer inadvertently encouraging students to quit school and go to Paris?"
"Yeah, it's been a while since she's had a kid take off to France or Texas." He couldn't help but laugh at the memory of Shawn thinking he was going on a tour of Europe by way of Paris, Texas. "No, she improved a lot. I spoke to her this afternoon. Julia will work with her durin' homeroom and will be in her office for English Lit. I'll take over teachin' her until these background reports come in and I can get this mess sorted out."
Audrey took her feet away from him and snuggled up to his side so that she could rub his head. He sunk down into the couch and let out a weary sigh. She kissed him lightly and said, "Well, Julia's always wanted you for a teacher. She'll be happy."
"Yeah." The thought warmed him briefly, then it came back to him why he was doing this.
"I wonder which counselor Remington was goin' to send her to," he mused darkly. "I can guarantee it wasn't Devon."
Audrey was quiet for a while before she said, "Jon, are you sure you can manage teaching too?"
He didn't answer right away. "What choice do I have? I won't let my kid be unfairly targeted by a teacher whose issue is with me."
"You know, you're not the only teacher in the house," she reminded him. With a small smirk she said, "And I did do my student teaching in English Lit with this okay cooperating teacher."
Jon turned to look at her. "Just okay?"
"Maybe less than okay," she corrected herself. At the look of offense on his face, she put a hand to her heart and breathily sighed, "But he was so, so fine."
Jon laughed and shook his head. Then he sobered some. He really couldn't take on anything else no matter how much he wanted to be Julia's teacher.
"Jules has study hall at the end of the day," he thought aloud. "I could have her do that with Devon then she could finish the day with you."
"Do you want me to go to the high school for that?"
Jon frowned. It would be easiest on Julia, but harder for Audrey to accommodate. If she went to the school for that period, it would mean she would be in the building with the Remingtons without him.
"No," he said firmly. "I think she should just come home to you."
"Okay," Audrey agreed. "She will be upset that she won't be coming down to see you after school."
"No, she can still do that."
Audrey smiled as his determination to keep Julia close and leaned over to kiss him.
"I figured. I'll have to let everyone know her route will be different in the afternoons." She paused a beat, then said, "Katherine texted me."
Jon looked shocked and disappointed. "I missed the flyin' pigs?"
"I did, too," she grinned. More seriously, she said, "She informed me that she was dropping her son off here at 9 on Saturday."
Jon gave her a funny look. "We won't be here."
"That's what I said."
"She'll have to bring him to the rink."
"Said that too."
"And she said?"
"She'd drop him off with you at your place."
"Wow," Jon gave a low whistle. "She really dislikes you."
"And you used to really like her? Oh, Jon."
Jon laughed and ran a hand over his mouth. "Yeah. I didn't do too good on my own, did I? Glad Shawn was with me when you showed up or I probably woulda missed you completely and ended up with her."
She made a face at the idea. "Thank God for Shawn."
"Yeah. He had you picked out for me from the start."
She grinned proudly. "That's my boy."
"So," Jon inhaled deeply, suddenly tired. "Dylan Saturday?"
"Dylan Saturday."
Audrey ran her finger under the collar of his shirt "Jon?"
He gave her a quizzical look.
"She better not stay."
Shawn had spent the last few days researching the events of 1977 in his spare time. He was frustrated and unhappy with what he'd come up with, which was nothing. Finally, just as his personal phone buzzed, he came across a shop that specialized in both old books, magazines, and newspapers. Luckily, it was in the Village, close to the District Office.
Ignoring the text message, he quickly called the shop to inquire if the owner had any old copies of The Village Voice. Not only did they carry the paper, but they just happened to have every issue from 1977. Because he had no idea which month or week he was looking for, he asked for the owner to hold all issues.
"I don't think I can do that."
"It's really important, sir," Shawn tried to sound as young as possible hoping it would win him some favor. "See, I'm doin' some research on my family. My parents grew up here and I was hopin' to maybe find some stuff out about them or people they knew."
"What're you lookin' for, kid?"
"I'm not sure exactly. I think my dad made The Village Voice a couple of times when he was a kid. My granddad and maybe my mom too."
"Who're your parents?"
"Jonathan and Audrey Turner. My mom used to go by Andrews."
There was silence on the line for so long Shawn thought the man had hung up.
The man huffed heavily into the phone as though he didn't buy Shawn's story. "So your granddad would be...?"
"Richie A."
"All right, for Richie's grandkid I'll hold the papers. Your pops made The Village Voice a lot. Don't know about his kids. But he was definitely in there."
"I'll be by right after school."
"I'll hold them till the end of the day."
Relieved and pleased, Shawn sat back against his chair and stared into space for a while before he remembered the text.
It was from DeAndre telling him to check his email and install updates on both phones. Clever as he was, Dre made it possible to update the app on Jon's phone remotely once it was updated on Shawn's phone.
The update was an intensive one, but without the worry of how to get it onto Jon's phone, Shawn let it do its thing while he did his.
The workday was strangely quiet.
Jon was in meetings or on the phone all day and while Shawn tagged along there wasn't much for him to do other than craft his next piece for NYC LifeStyle. He decided to commit these new memories he was recovering to paper while relating them to present-day events. Last week, this proved to be successful. He told the story of how he came to live with Jon and what it was like coming back home after 17 years. It was a hard piece to write initially as he had to expose a lot of himself to make it work. Shawn discovered that writing these memories in third person not only helped to effectively write the piece in detail but also removed himself far enough from memories that he didn't feel so vulnerable and open. This more unusual approach to a biography/autobiography caught his readers' attention and the piece had over a million hits since it's Friday posting. He was tremendously thankful that this formula was working.
Shawn sat in the outer office while Jon met with some Union reps and worked. Katherine did not bother him. She didn't even seem to notice him. When she talked, she chattered to whomever was around to gush over her new boyfriend. She did not bother Jon, either. This concerned Shawn, but he let it go as he had other things to worry about.
Julia came in at her usual time, happier than she'd been since the new hires took over. She cheerily reported that she enjoyed having class in Mrs. Nunez's office. Dre walked her to and from the office and no teachers harassed her. And she didn't mind having her mother for English Lit either. Years ago, Jon had been filmed for a series of potential homeschooling videos and Audrey planned to incorporate these into her studies. She was happy. Jon was less worried.
Not long after she came in, Shawn excused himself to head out. Jon told him that they'd see him at home and went back to his phone call. But Julia jumped up and followed him.
"Where are you goin?"
Shawn shifted uncomfortably. He didn't have a story prepared and he really should have had one. "I've got some stuff to do."
She crossed her arms over her waist. "Like what?"
Shawn shifted his weight from one foot to the other and back again. He didn't want to lie to her, but he also didn't want her to go with him. "Work stuff, sis. Sorry."
"But what about her? You're just gonna leave Daddy with her?"
"He's got you," he shot back harsher than he meant to.
Julia blinked and frowned. She regarded him with blatant suspicion.
"Text me if anything happens," he told her, "And I'll come straight back."
"Okay," she said unhappily, looking and sounding very much like Audrey when she was upset.
Shawn quickly took off and refrained from looking back; he could feel Julia's eyes still on him. Exiting the building he turned to the left and headed to the East Village. The general area he was looking for wasn't hard to find but somehow the shop itself was. Finally, he gave up and called the place. The owner just laughed at him and told him to turn around, look to his left, then look down.
The Good Old Days was located under the stores that sat at street level. Shawn had to walk down a flight of stairs to reach it. Once he was inside, he felt like he'd been transported back to time before he was born. Everything looked old, but well preserved as though the Good Old Days was a time capsule and not a secondhand store.
Shawn had seen pictures of places like this from past research. This was like an underground Bradlees or Memco. He stared at the store's inventory that ranged from clothing to furniture to electronics to hardware to home goods to personal care. Not one thing that he could see could be dated later than 1980. Even the architecture, flooring, and walls boasted of a time long gone. The space was expansive, too, reaching far beneath the buildings above it.
This is definitely bigger on the inside, he thought in awe.
"You must be Shawn."
He whirled around trying to locate the unseen voice.
The voice laughed. "You always have this much trouble findin' stuff, kid?"
"No, I, uh, I'm just a little distracted," he stammered. Finally, he saw the short man standing among the clothing racks. The man regarded him with an amused smile. "I've never seen a place like this. Is it a department store?"
The man looked ridiculously pleased. "You could call it that," he replied humbly. "A bit on the small side compared to what they would have been in their heyday."
"Doesn't look small to me."
The man took a step forward and walked around him, giving Shawn a good look at him. He was an older man in his late 60s or early 70s, and he was wearing a pale blue leisure suit with a pair of vintage Oxfords. His silver hair was short and parted at the side with thick sideburns. Shawn could smell the cigar smoke that lingered on him as he passed by.
The man looked Shawn over and gave a low whistle. "You are young, aren't you, kid?"
"Not so much," he shrugged. He didn't want to give away his age in case the man wouldn't be so accommodating to someone in their 30s, but he also didn't want to be regarded as too young, either.
The man snorted. "Too young to have ever seen any of this stuff outside of a museum."
"I've seen it."
The man raised an eyebrow.
"On TV," he admitted sheepishly.
The man laughed and motioned for him to follow.
"The name's Mack. You say you're Richie grandkid?"
Shawn bit his lip, then sighed, "Yeah, unofficially."
Mack looked wary. "I wasn't aware he had any 'unofficial' grandkids."
"Yeah, stuff happened and I was never formally adopted," Shawn mumbled. He was weary of having to explain this every time he encountered someone who knew his family. "It's a little late now to do that I guess."
George shrugged. "Are you Jay or Audrey's son?"
Shawn blinked, not sure of how to respond to that. "Uh, both."
"That's a little odd, but to each their own," the older man gave him a funny look. "You got in with a good family."
"What do you mean that's a little odd?"
The man either didn't hear him or chose to ignore him. He was behind the cashier's counter rummaging around on the shelves. When he stood up, he had an armful of papers with him. With an 'oof' he dumped them on the counter. "Here, kid. Here's your papers."
Shawn failed to realize how many papers there would be to go through. He began to sift through them and was immediately overwhelmed.
"What're you lookin' for?" Mack asked curiously.
"I dunno." He sneezed at the overpowering dusty odor coming from the papers. "Mentions of my family, especially from the spring of '77. I was told there should be somethin' in there."
Mack nodded. "You wantin to know about your pops?"
"Yeah, I'd love to know more about him. I only met him twice before he passed away."
"Richie was a good man. One of the best," the older man said somberly. "Kinda famous in these parts back in the day."
Shawn looked up with interest. "You knew him?"
"Yeah, we met at Venus in '69. We were good friends until he lost his wife."
Shawn nodded. "What was he known for?"
"Known for?" Mack laughed as though he couldn't believe Shawn didn't know. "You want the latest, greatest albums? See Richie. You want to see the latest and greatest? See Richie. You wanna know who's gonna hit big before they do? See Richie. You wanna meet these guys? See Richie."
"He was pretty big on the music scene?" Shawn couldn't help but smile. His teenage self would have loved to have been able to hang around his grandfather's shop, especially if he could get him access to the Counting Crows or other favorite bands.
"Yeah, one of the biggest. He was also well known for keepin' the kids outta of trouble."
"Oh, yeah?"
Mack nodded. "Yeah. There was a lot of freedoms out there on the street that were easy to access for kids too dumb to know how to handle them. Those were the ones Richie really looked out for. Probably saved a lot of them from really screwing up their lives."
"Yeah, I've heard a little about that. Did you know a Jonathan Turner back then?"
Mack pursed his lip as he thought, then slowly shook his head. "No, the name doesn't ring a bell. Who is he?"
"Well," Shawn said slowly. He was now incredibly confused that a friend of Richie's wouldn't know Jon. "I was under the impression that Richie helped him out at one point."
"Could be," the man said. "A lot of kids, mostly boys, got themselves into a world of trouble. Too many to remember the names."
"Do you remember any names?"
"I remember his kids and that's about it."
"Kids? Plural?" Audrey did not have any siblings of that he was absolutely sure.
George gave him a strange look. "Yeah, he had Jay and Audrey. I thought you said Jay was your dad."
"Well, I," Shawn was reeling. After talking to Audrey, he was convinced that Jay Andrews and Jon were the same person, but now he was beginning to doubt that. "I mean, my dad, went by his first initial, J, back when he knew Pops."
"That was a common thing to do," Mack said thoughtfully. "I probably did know your dad; the name just doesn't ring a bell."
"Tell me about Jay," he said. "I don't think I know him."
I'm pretty sure I don't, he thought.
"Jay hung around Venus a lot. If he wasn't in school, he was at the shop. He and Richie were real close, tighter than a lot of fathers and sons are, especially when the kid's a teenager. Jay was a pretty good kid, but he also gave Richie fits. My buddy didn't take too well to havin' his son bein' brought home by cops in the middle of the night. Repeatedly."
"Really?"
"Jay couldn't stay out of trouble to save his life. Just as soon as it seemed he was makin' progress that gang he hung with would show up and he'd end up in the back of a cop car again."
"That's pretty bad."
Mack shook his head ruefully. "It was worse than that."
Shawn frowned. "How?"
Mack shrugged. "I don't know the details. Richie never went into them. But I know somethin' big happened that landed the kid in so much trouble that he went to court over it."
"Whoa." Shawn shook his head trying to get over the confusion over who Jay was. This couldn't be Jon, but Audrey didn't have a brother. The shaking didn't help; it just made things worse.
"Yeah, it was a big deal here for a while. Everyone was talkin' about it. Never made the news much, but a lot of rumors went around. Wish I could remember the details."
"What happened?"
"What happened?" Mack raised his eyebrows and regarded Shawn inquisitively. "Are you askin' about Jay or my memory?"
Shawn blinked. "Uh, both?"
"Sorry, kid, I lived my life in psychedelic haze through most of that time," he apologized. "My memory isn't the best anymore. All I remember is that it was a big deal. So big that this super rich couple came down from Connecticut and got involved. That's when all the news seemed to evaporate into thin air. I figured that was because there were a bunch of rich kids involved in the case. I mean, why else would they care?"
Jon's parents are from Connecticut, Shawn thought. That's the only thing that fits.
"Who were the other kids?"
"I dunno. They were just a bunch of kids who thought slummin' it was cool. They liked to come out of their mansions at night and pretend they were a buncha tough gangsters. How Richie's kid got involved with them, I'll never know."
The more Mack talked the less sense he made. Shawn frowned as he tried to commit everything to memory so he could write it down later.
"I'll tell you one thing, kid," Mack went on. "Richie didn't let his kid out of his sight for a second after that mess got resolved. Not until he went off to college."
Shawn frowned, not sure of how to respond. "Is there any chance someone who knew Pops and Jay might still work at Venus?"
George's countenance saddened drastically. "Nah, kid, that place closed for good before the turn of the century. 1999 to be exact." He sighed morosely. "Those were the good old days."
"Oh." This news hit Shawn much harder than he expected. Of course, a record place would be long gone with all the new music formats that had come along since the height of vinyl records. He had been hoping to visit the place to learn more about Richie and Jon since it had been so important to his family. Knowing that this was now impossible filled him with unexpected sorrow.
With a heavy sigh, he asked, "How much for all the papers?"
"All?" Mack looked rattled. "I dunno know, kid. No one wants 'em. Twenty bucks and we'll call it good."
Shawn pulled out his wallet to pay the man. He failed to bring anything with him to haul them home and ended up buying an expensive vintage Wayfarer overnight bag to put them in. After saying goodbye to Mack, he headed out to the nearest bench on the Bowery to look at the papers. It wasn't the best place to do this, but Shawn, more desperate for answers than before, couldn't wait to look through them at home.
He flipped through the papers looking for dates in late March-May. It was frustrating not to have something to direct his search. The dates began to blur in his head when suddenly he remembered the one Topanga found: March 15.
The paper for that date was easy enough to find. With shaking hands and a racing pulse, Shawn carefully scanned each page before he turned it. There on the third page, in the middle of the newspaper, was the article Topanga found at the library. The picture that was missing was right in front of him, taking up a quarter of the page. He was so anxious over what the article might contain that he could not read anything. Drawing in a deep breath, he steadied himself and the paper. Just as he started to study the picture, a hand descended in front of him and snatched the paper from him.
Outraged, Shawn jumped up, fully expecting to see a teenager or someone looking for attention. Instead, he found himself staring down the Boogeyman. He was so shocked that he reeled backwards away from the Thing and fell over the curb. For the first time, he clearly saw the Boogeyman. It was very squat and muscular and not much taller than Shawn. It was, however, much, much wider and thicker. It was dressed just as Julia and Maya described: black from head to toe and covered in a gray ash. It wore the hood of it's sweater over a black hat with a planet and letter V embroidered in red and black polarized sunglasses. It stood with the newspaper in its thick, stubby, tattoo covered hands as though it was built into the pavement.
Someone had to blink.
Shawn, still dazed, slowly stood up and faced the Thing. It was unnerving not to be able to see it's eyes. He tried not to look away, but his gaze drifted onto the stolen paper. Now more than before, he knew he had to get that paper back.
With bravado he stepped forward and tried to keep his voice steady.
"Give it back."
He really didn't expect it to return the paper, but he had no idea what else to do.
The Boogeyman stood in place for a moment more then ran.
Shawn couldn't believe how fast it took off. There was no way so large a man could run so fast. It was inhuman. Choosing to do the most unwise thing he could, Shawn took off after it. His brain did kick into gear long enough to scoop up the bag with the other newspapers lest a passerby walk off with it.
Whoever was behind those sunglasses knew the alleys of the Bowery well and had an enormous advantage over Shawn. Shawn managed to stay with it through a series of twists and turns but as he went deeper into the labyrinth of the back streets, he began to worry that this was the thing's intent all along: to get him hopelessly lost. Pushing those thoughts back, he let adrenaline push him forward.
Eventually, the Boogeyman turned sharply and disappeared. Shawn stopped and saw a partially hidden entrance between the fence and a brick wall and slipped through. He ended up in yet another alley. At the opposite end, he saw his target. Anger and stubbornness rose within him and became a rocket fuel. He ran faster than he'd ever run in his life.
Suddenly, a wall appeared out of nowhere. Shawn slammed into it at full speed and the force of the impact sent him flying backwards. He landed harshly on his back and skidded several feet on trash and broken glass. Pain engulfed him and stole his breath.
As he lay there trying to breathe and judge whether he'd broken anything, the wall advanced on him. It walked right up to his feet and stood over him breathing heavily. Shawn inhaled a shaky, painful breath, knowing he was fully at the mercy of It. It cocked it's head to the side as though studying him then it shot out a hand toward his head.
He wished he was brave enough to look Death in the eyes, but he was not and he shut his eyes tightly as possible while thoughts of his loved ones flashed though his head. But Death did not come for him. Instead, it took his bag and rummaged through it. Shawn would have bewildered by this, but the afternoon had been so bizarre that this made sense. It took a section of the papers from the bag and put them under it's arm. The Boogeyman then reached down again and grabbed him by his shirt front. Shawn was put on his feet with no effort on his part. Then it got right in his face and put a firm hand on his shoulder as though he was an authority figure to him. Both Jon and Mr. Feeny had done this very thing to him many times as a kid.
The pain and confusion made Shawn's head swim. Nothing made sense. Everything was upside down. This feeling was worsened when the thing said in a rough but compassionate voice, "Leave this alone, Shawn. Leave the past alone."
With that it disappeared, leaving Shawn shaken and shaking. He didn't know what was more terrifying: that the Boogeyman knew his name or that he'd heard the voice before.
Back home, Shawn managed to make it to his room without being stopped by a family member. With the door safely shut, he threw the overnight bag on the lower bunk bed and let out a growl of agony. His back was beginning to tighten up and ache as though it had been cut open and was scabbing over. Gingerly, he tugged at his shirt not sure if he wanted to see the damage that the street had done to his back. Just as he was about to take his shirt off an impatient pounding shook his door.
"Shawn!" Julia yelled. "I need to talk to you."
Shawn rolled his eyes, grimaced as the fabric of the shirt touched his back, and yanked the door open.
"Can you give me a few minutes?"
"No," she said pushing her way in. "I need to talk to you now."
"All right," he said wearily, closing the door again. "What's goin' on?"
Julia stood in the middle of the room with her arms over her waist. "That's what l wanna know."
"What're you talkin' about?" His back felt like it was on fire.
"You've been sneakin' around a lot lately. You don't talk to me anymore," her bottom lip gave a funny tremble. "And you've forgotten about Miss Tompkins!"
Shawn sighed. "I haven't gotten, Jules. Somethin' just came up."
"What?"
"It's nothin' you need to worry about," he promised.
"Is it about Daddy?"
Shawn didn't know what to tell her. He tried to come up with something to say, but he paused too long and she got her answer.
"It is! Shawn!" She jumped up into his face. "What's going on?"
He didn't answer. Pain shot up his shoulders into his head when he stepped back out of her way.
"Shawn!" her voice rose in panic. "He's my dad! Tell me!"
In that moment, Shawn made up his mind what to tell her. She might hate him, but he had to protect her.
"I want you to see somethin." He turned around and pulled up the back of his shirt. The movement was like a bomb of pain on back and it rippled across his body.
Julia gave a squeal of horror. His back was bloodied, bruised, and swollen. "What happened to you?!"
"I ran into the Boogeyman." he said, letting his shirt drop. "Literally."
"He did that to you?" She looked pale and her eyes shone with fear.
"Do you understand why I want you to stay out of this right now?"
"Who is he?"
" I don't know. "
She was silent for a moment and chewed on her thumbnail. "I want to help," she said quietly.
"I know, Jules. Right now, I need you to stay close to Dad at work if I have to leave."
She nodded. "Do Uncle Cory and Aunt Topanga know?"
He nodded. She looked wounded as he knew she would be. Putting his hands on her shoulders, he looked her in the eyes.
"I told them because they're adults. Until I know what we're dealin' with, you will stay out of it.
She didn't look convinced and he knew what she was thinking. He was brushing her off because she was a kid and he didn't take her seriously.
"Julia."
She looked up at him with a pained expression.
"The year I was with Dad- do you remember what I told you about my Christmas with him?"
She nodded.
"He asked what I wanted for under the tree and I said I was savin' that for my birthday. Do you remember what I wanted?"
"An engagement ring," she sighed not understanding what this had to do with anything.
"And there was somethin' else."
She frowned and shrugged.
"I wanted Mom and Dad to have a kid." Shawn stared at her for a moment as he realized for the first time that she was that dream come true. "I really wanted a sister. I had a sister, but she left me. So I wanted one to love and take care of. One I'd never leave. You're her, Jules. You're the little sister I dreamed about for years."
Julia's face softened as her eyes teared up. Gently, she put her arms around him, so she didn't hurt his back.
Shawn wrapped his arms tightly around her. "I love you, Jules. And I'm gonna do everythin' I can to protect you, even if you hate me for it."
Julia pulled away just enough to look up at him. "I'm mad at you for tellin' Uncle Cory and Aunt Topanga and not me. But I don't hate you."
He nodded his understanding. He'd feel the same way if he was in her place.
"I could use some help," he said pointing to his back,
Julia straightened up. "Sure. I'll go get the first aid kit."
Before she opened the door, she looked back and gave him a shy smile.
"I love you, too, Shawn."
By Friday not much had changed. The new hires tried to call Jon's bluff by showing up at the District Office without their resumes. They were shocked that not only did Jon put them on administrative leave, but he had them escorted from their buildings by security when they tried to return.
Nothing else of interest happened. Even the poster remained steady all week. Dylan was nowhere to be found. He became inexplicably busy after his mother delivered the news that he was spending Saturday with Julia in front of everyone at the District Office.
As for Katherine, other than letting everyone know every time her boyfriend texted her, was as normal as anyone else. She treated Shawn and Julia as she would anyone else's children, which is to say, she ignored them. According to Shawn's logs, her contact with Jon was minimal and only professional. She didn't even text him about Dylan coming over.
Shawn and Julia found this change disturbing.
There was no time to linger on this or what it meant, however. Friday was an early dismissal day and it allowed Jon to have all his meetings with District staff much earlier than normal. Everyone was out of the door by the time the elementary schools would have normally dismissed.
Jon had no desire to prolong going home, either. The rest of the day was packed with practices and Family Night, and he wanted to get a nap in before Grayson's stick and puck session.
Nothing unusual happened as they headed to the World Ice Arena. After Julia and Grayson were done on the ice, Audrey told them they would not be staying for the public skating session because they had dinner reservations at World's Fair Marina close to the Arena. The dinner, it turned out, had been planned a month in advance to celebrate Shawn's return home and his success at NYC LifeStyle.
Shawn was both thrilled to be the center of their attention and humbled. The dinner was excellent but more so was the company. As he held his youngest sister on his lap with Maya at his side, Shawn was blindsided by a surge of love for the people at the table with him. His family. His. Forever.
For most of his life, Shawn believed that nothing good would happen to him. And if something good did happen it wouldn't last because he was Shawn Hunter. He was not worthy of happiness. He was not worthy of love or wholeness.
My dream came true, he thought in awe. Dreams comin' true are a real thing. Even for me.
This thought took an unexpected turn towards Angela.
She was another dream.
A broken dream.
Before sadness could creep in, he caught Audrey's eye and she signed "I love you" to him.
He grinned and returned the sign.
Dinner went on longer than expected so Family Night was cut short and there was only time for a movie. Audrey asked everyone to get ready for bed. She had planned a sleepover in the family room complete with air mattresses and sleeping bags. Excited, the kids dispersed to get ready while Shawn helped Jon set up the room for the night. Just as they started to inflate the last air mattress, they heard Audrey's terrified scream from her bedroom.
"JON!"
Jon felt icy fear course through him at her cry. He'd never heard anything like that from her before and it galvanized him into action. He and Shawn took off at full speed to the bedroom. Jon reached the master suite just ahead of Shawn. Both men checked up abruptly at the entrance to the room.
The bedroom was completely trashed. Drawers were pulled out and thrown a good distance from the dresser. Clothes were scattered everywhere. Even the bed had been upended and the mattress pulled off the bed frame. Jon stared at the ransacked room as anger and fear surged through him. Someone had been in their home and he struggled to wrap his mind around that fact. Eventually, he shook himself away from the state of the room and focused on his wife who was nowhere to be seen.
"Audrey?"
There was a light on in the closet and a quiet sobbing coming from inside. At first, he thought she was crying because of the violation to their home and property, but it quickly became apparent that there was more to it.
He stepped into the closet and found her on her knees in despair. He knelt and gathered her in his arms.
"It's gone," she kept saying over and over. Her voice was muffled as she pressed her face into his chest.
"What? What's gone?"
She pointed behind her at her side of the closet. Jon studied that side of the room but didn't understand what she was referring to. Their closet, as far as he could tell, was strangely untouched.
"Aud, I don't see anything." He brushed her hair off of her face so she could breathe easier.
She pushed away from him and, still pointing, got up and went over to her clothes where there was a gap.
"Your jacket!" she wailed as tears uncharacteristically flowed from her. "It's gone!"
It took a few minutes for why she was so upset to fully sink in. Jon stood in the middle of his closet and started to laugh. Their house had been broken into and she was upset that his old leather jacket was missing. He didn't know how else to respond. Eventually, the laughter died into a deep, heavy sighs as though he was crying without tears.
Shawn watched them with growing concern. Finally, to distract himself from everything that was going on, he asked, "Do you want me to call the police?"
Jon looked at him with glassy eyes and nodded.
Julia kept the younger kids busy in the family room while the adults dealt with the police. She was scared and confused. After a three-hour inventory of their possessions, they could find nothing missing except for her father's oId leather jacket. No electronics or jewelry had been taken and the safe showed no signs of being tampered with.
Aside from the jacket, the only other unusual thing the police found was that there was no forced entry and the alarm had not been activated. A call to the security company showed the alarm had been disabled by passcode for an hour before being activated again. This concerned the police far more than a missing jacket.
Audrey was still beside herself, but she wasn't crying anymore. Shawn sat with her and held her hand while Jon sorted through everything.
"Was the jacket valuable?" one of the officers asked. "You said it was 25 years old. Some of those old motorcycle jackets are worth a lot."
"Not this one," Jon said shaking his head. "It was expensive at the time, but it wasn't exactly unique. Besides, I was wearin' it when I crashed my bike almost 20 years ago. The back and left arm were more shredded than I was."
The officer looked befuddled. He'd seen a lot of strange things in his years on the force, but this was certainly near the top. "It must be worth something to someone."
"My wife. She's kept it all these years. I can't imagine anyone else carin' about it. It's mine and I woulda thrown it out years ago, if it didn't mean so much to Audrey."
"All right." The officer scratched his head. "It's unlikely that we'll be able recover the jacket, just so you know."
"Yeah." Jon put his hand over his mouth then threw up his hands in frustration and grumbled, "What idiot steals a 25-year-old jacket with a bad case of road rash!?"
No one had an answer for him.
While the officers finished up the investigation, Jon joined his wife and son on the couch.
"What's the deal with jacket?" Shawn asked.
Jon shrugged and pulled Audrey over closer to him. "It was a gift from Richie. He sent it to me for my 28th birthday. That was the last I heard from him until we all went to see him on that class trip. It's always been real important to her even after it got destroyed. She's never really been able to tell me why, though."
Audrey didn't bother to offer any explanation. She was too upset.
Shawn nodded. He didn't know how it would be possible, but he had to get that jacket back for her.
This can't be a coincidence, he thought angrily. I wonder if this is somehow tied to everythin' else that's been goin' on?
The police left some time later with the advice to get the locks and security passcode changed as soon as possible. They were also leaving a car outside for the night.
Jon gathered everyone together to explain what happened and that everything was going to be fine. They continued the sleepover as planned. Jamie and Bella were unbothered by everything that had gone on and were just annoyed their night was interrupted. Grayson, however, was very worried and afraid. He wriggled his way in between his parents and stayed there all night. Julia stayed close to Shawn. No one said much. Only the younger kids slept that night.
Although they didn't have time to talk, both Shawn and Jon were worrying about the same thing:
Someone had a key and security code to their home.
Jon deals with the aftermath of the break-in. Dylan comes over and begins to question the stories his mother has told him. Shawn continues his investigation. Eli is ready to introduce Jon to his girlfriend.
Comments always welcome. I hope you're enjoying the story.