Breaking Ties - An Umbrella Mystery

Heroic Muse · Nov 12, 2014

JJ Deveraux sat in the library, burying his nose in his English book. He'd been reading the same sentence over and over. It kept making less sense than before.

"Dude, what're you doing in this dusty old place when its still daylight?" Rory's voice bounced off the walls.

JJ glanced over at the other students trying to study and shrugged apologetically. "Gotta keep my grades up."

"You seriously make me worry, man. You're wasting away in here while there's fun to be had out there."

"Rory -"

"No matter though. Cause I," Rory said, plopping into a chair and shoving his long hair out of his eyes, "have the perfect solution." JJ turned a page and Rory said, "Come on, aren't you even gonna listen?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"Don't act so excited. It's not good for your heart."

JJ started to turn another page but Rory slammed his palm into the middle of the book. "That loser Paige isn't worth throwing your life away like this, man. She thought she was too good for you, but it was the other way around. Forget her. Go back to your roots."

JJ pushed the book away. "What's the big idea, dude?"

Rory leaned forward, finally dropping his voice to a whisper. "Rumor has it Dr. K leaves the English final lying around on his desk and the door unlocked."

"So?"

"So if someone were to walk in while he wasn't there they might get a sneak peek. And if they accidentally hit the camera button on their phone, they could share the wealth."

JJ stared at Rory while he tried to figure out what to say. "You mean cheat."

"Why put it like that? I'm just evening the playing field. So what do you say? Are you in?"

"No!" JJ struggled to catch his breath. "Come on, man. You don’t need - "

“Skip the lecture, dude. I get it.” Rory shook his head. “It’s sad, man. You used to be so much fun before you got mixed up with Paige. Do you know I never once saw her smile? I don’t think she knows how. And then you went and fell for her and now you’re just like her.”

“You know what else is sad?” JJ retorted, crossing his arms. “Me thinking you’d do anything for me like in the old days.”

“You mean like the way you took that Jill chick out from under my nose.”

JJ jumped up. “You’re gonna have to get over that, cause I’m not explaining it to you anymore.” He moved closer to Rory, not enough to really be threatening, but Rory jumped back anyway. “You wanna know what happened that night, dude? You really wanna know?” JJ advanced on Rory, not caring they could both be kicked out of the library. “I had your back, that’s what. Dude, you were so totally wasted that anything could have gone down and you wouldn’t have known the difference, so I got you out of there.”

Rory shifted his weight. “I have your back too.”

“Do you?”

“If you really had mine, you’d help me steal this test.” JJ glared at Rory and Rory said, “Come on, man. You’re gonna pass with flying colors no matter what, so why can’t you just help me have a chance?”

“Dude, you have a chance. Ever heard of opening a book?”

“Easy for you to say.” Rory laughed bitterly. “You grew up going to fancy schools and your mommy hanging your report cards on the fridge, and now that you’re not smoking weed you’re back to being her golden boy who does everything right. Plus even if you do something she’s not cool with, all you gotta do is pick up the phone and there’s Dr. Dan making time for you.”

“So, what, you’re jealous now?”

“No, man. I just wish you knew how lucky you are. You got a cool family and all sorts of smarts. Dude, my mom beat me every time I got a bad grade til she got sick of me. If it weren’t for my brother I’d still be living in the park. I’m not as smart as you. I can’t pass without a little extra help.”

“And if we get caught - “

“We won’t.”

“Yeah, we will. It always catches up with you sooner or later.”
“Are you gonna help me or not?”

JJ was quiet for a minute, trying to get his words together. Finally he said, “Any time you wanna study, I’m there, dude.”

“Forget it, man.” Rory swung his backpack over his shoulder. “I got plenty of real friends who’ll help. If you’re not one of them, don’t bother calling me anymore.” He stomped off towards the elevator.

JJ threw himself into his chair and slumped down. Sorry, Rory, he thought. I’m not giving up on you that easily.

Hope sat at her desk, flipping through files while she talked to Jennifer on the phone. “Of course. When I get done at the station, we’ll do coffee and get caught up. And Jennifer, just breathe, okay? JJ’s come a long way. He’ll get through this too. See you soon, cuz. Bye.”

Rafe knocked on Hope’s open office door as she hung up the phone, then stuck his head in. “You got a minute to ride out with me to Salem U?”

“Of course. What’s up?”

“Campus Security just called something in that I think you should be in on.”

“Let’s go then.” Hope threw her jacket on and followed Rafe out of the station.

Heroic Muse · Nov 12, 2014

When Jennifer got Hope’s text that it might be a while, she decided to go to Brady’s Pub by herself. She wanted to get out of the house. The picture of her late husband, Jack, on the mantel just seemed to be staring at her, telling her that she had to do something for their son. If he was here she would yell at him that she didn’t know what to do, but since he wasn’t, it was better just to get out.

She got herself a cinnamon latte, her favorite, which she hadn’t had in a long time, and sipped it slowly, trying not to think of anything. Wasn’t that what Julie had told her? Meditate and don’t think of anything. If only she knew how that worked.

“I thought that was you, Jennifer.” Maggie Horton looked as smart as ever in her pale pink suit, pearl earrings and necklace to match.

“Hi Aunt Maggie.” Jennifer tried to smile. “Where are you off too all dressed up?”

“Oh, nowhere special. Just off to lead a meeting, that’s all. But I’m glad I caught you.” Maggie sat down across from Jen and patted her hand. “Tell me, how is that wonderful son of yours doing ever since he broke ties with Eve Donovan’s daughter?”

“I wish I knew.” Jennifer pushed her coffee away, shaking her head. “He’s hurting, Aunt Maggie, I know he’s hurting, and I don’t know how to reach him.”

“Well, what does he say when you talk to him?”

“Nothing. He’ll tell me, ‘Oh Mom, I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.’ But he leaves the house early in the morning and doesn’t come back until almost 11 o’clock at night. He says he’s studying all the time, and I hope that’s true, but that’s not JJ.” Jen took another sip of her coffee and said, slowly, “You’re probably going to think I’m being paranoid, but you know the signs better than I do… do you think this means he’s doing something he shouldn’t be?”

“You mean drugs?”

Jen blinked back the tears as she nodded.

“Oh, Jennifer Rose…” Maggie took Jen’s hand in hers. “If he changed once, he can do it again. How about I talk to him and if he has relapsed, I’ll help him get right back to what he’s supposed to be doing.”

“Are you sure? I know you have a lot going on with Brady and - “

“Stop it. We are family. No matter what happens, I’m always here for my favorite niece. Now, you said he leaves early in the morning? How early?”

“Most days, I don’t even know he’s gone.”

“Then I’ll just have to stay over so that I can catch him before he leaves. I’ll just tell Victor that he’ll have to live without me for one night.”

“Oh no, Aunt Maggie, I couldn’t ask you to - “

“Not another word.” Maggie took out her phone and began texting. “One thing we have in common is that once our minds are made up, nothing can change them. And mine is made up that I am helping you.”

There was an older man standing outside the dorm room as Rafe and Hope came around the corner. He was wearing a jacket with a Salem U insignia, and the lanyard tucked halfway into his shirt was probably his name badge.

“Jake Peterson?” Rafe asked him.

Peterson nodded as Rafe displayed his badge. “This is, uh, the scene?”

“Yes, sir. “

The two cops slipped on gloves before opening the door all the way so that they wouldn’t damage any evidence. Rafe couldn’t help whistling under his breath as they walked in.

The room had totally been torn apart. The pieces of a broken lamp were still on the floor, forcing the detectives to watch their step, papers and books were strewn everywhere, the desk had been overturned… The only thing that was intact was the bed. A girl sat on it, hugging herself and staring at the floor. She was clearly old enough to be a student here, but the way she was hunched over made her look no older than Hope’s daughter Ciara, who was in the fourth grade.

“Marissa?” Hope said gently. The girl nodded. “Um, what happened here?” Hope asked.

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

Hope and Rafe exchanged glances. Hope said, “How about Detective Hernandez interviews Mr. Peterson about what he saw when he found you while you and I talk?”

“I guess,” Marissa mumbled. Hope mouthed her thanks to Rafe as he left the room.

“Can I sit down with you?” Hope asked Marissa. Marissa nodded and Hope sat down carefully on the bed. “You must have been so scared. Look at the way this guy tore this room apart. Were you in here then?”

“I was here.” Marissa hugged herself tighter. Hope waited a minute before saying, “Tell me what happened.”

“I don’t remember all of it.” Marissa blinked hard. “He… he had a knife and he… he made me…” She put her head in her hands, then looked up again. “He wanted money and jewelry and whatever else was valuable, so he… he tied me to the bed and...and he…” she began to cry.

“He hurt you,” Hope said.

Marissa nodded. She rolled up her skirt and showed Hope a mark around her ankle. “He taped my legs,” she said, dropping it. She rolled up her sleeve next and showed Hope another mark. It looked like a rope had been pressed into her skin. “He tied my wrists.” She pulled at her ripped dress. “He ripped the sash off my dress and shoved it in my mouth to shut me up.”

Hope sighed. The young ones always got to her when they got hurt. “I’m sorry I have to ask this, but did he hurt you anywhere else?”

Marissa shook her head. “He pulled my skirt up but then he just laughed, like if he wanted to he could, but he didn’t. Instead he tore up the room and ran off with my stuff.”

Hope looked at her, trying to size up if the girl was leaving anything out.

“I’m so tired,” Marissa said.

“That’s understandable. Let’s get you to a hospital to be checked out and then - “

“No. No, I don’t need that. Everyone will laugh at me and my parents will find out and they’ll make me leave school.”

“I want to make sure you’re all right. I know some doctors who you can absolutely trust.”

“I guess.” Marissa stood up. She looked away from Hope and said, shyly, “Is it okay if I get changed first?”

Heroic Muse · Nov 12, 2014

Paige stared at the paper on her desk for about the millionth time. Okay, she thought, this is it. Sign this paper and you won’t have to see JJ ever again.

She reached for a pen, but stopped as Eve came out of the bedroom. “You’re here late today, baby,” Eve said. “Now I hate to see you moping around and not going to class over some boy.”

“He wasn’t just some boy, Mom,” Paige said. “I thought I loved him.”

Eve sighed. She played with Paige’s braids the way she had when Paige was a little girl and said, “Come here, sweetheart.” Paige seemed reluctant, but she followed her to the couch.

Eve took Paige’s hands in her own and said, “I tried so hard to protect you from this, baby girl, but you might as well realize now that no man is worth it. You know what I went through with all those men including your daddy. But don’t you let this get you down. You just keep going to class and getting those grades that come so easy to you, and soon enough you’ll be on your way to Stanford.”

“Mom - “

“Or if not Stanford, somewhere else full of smart people doing amazing things. You have a bright future ahead of you, and you can’t let someone like JJ Deveraux stop you from getting everything you deserve.” Eve glanced at the paper Paige was still holding in her hand. “What’s this, baby?”

“It’s nothing. It’s just…”

“A drop form? Isn’t it a little late in the semester to be changing your classes around?”

“It’s no big deal, Mom. I’ll have to take a W, but - “

“No big deal? No, my little girl is not getting a W. No way, no how. Now come on, music is supposed to be your fun class. I know you love it, so why would you even consider dropping it?” Eve’s face hardened. “It’s that JJ, isn’t it? He’s in there. Honey, if he’s bothering you - “

“He’s not.”

“He’d better not be.”

“It’s not that JJ’s doing anything wrong,” Paige said slowly. “It’s just that we used to sit in the front of the class together, so right now I’d rather not see him, okay?”

“Then let him drop the class. A W won’t make any difference to him.”

“My mind is made up. I need more time to focus on my internship anyway.” Paige got up. “I’ll see you later, Mom.”

Paige hurried out of the apartment before Eve could say anything else. While she waited for the elevator, she stared at the other paper she had printed out. Thank God Mom didn’t see this before I’ve made up my mind, she thought.

Nicole Walker had just sat down with a cup of coffee when her boss called to talk to her about the new guy she had just interviewed for the internship position. The guy had seemed nice enough, and definitely knew his stuff, but something about him was off, and she couldn’t figure out what it was.

“Miles,” she said in a falsely bright tone. “I’m waiting for a call back from my source at the police station, but believe me, this one is worth the wait. How does an exclusive on a crime wave that the cops don’t want us to know about sound? You’re right, that title needs work--can’t win them all. What?”

Daniel came into the coffee shop just then. Nicole waved him over while she continued trying to get rid of Miles. “Yes, Miles, I interviewed two more internship candidates. Yeah, that first guy would make decent eye candy. Okay, I’m lying--he’d make great eye candy. But I’m not sure he can produce the stories to match, and what’s a pretty face without any talent, right?” Miles yelled at her through the phone for the 30th time that he wanted the internship filled by the end of the week. “I don’t think I heard you right,” Nicole said. “I think you might want this done by Friday. Don’t worry, I’m on it.” She hung up.

“Sorry about that,” Nicole said. “You know how Miles gets. He’s like an angry dog with a bone all the time.”

“I get that.” Daniel smiled at Nicole, and she felt like she could breathe more easily. “So what’s the bone you’re trying to wrest away from him this time?”

“You don’t want to know, believe me.” Nicole sighed. “He’s got it in his head that it’ll be good for our image to hire some college kid to get in my way and blow it with all of my sources.”

“What, an intern?”

“Yep. I don’t know why he didn’t just try to buy Will Horton back from Hollywood. After all, he keeps saying we have an image to keep up, so Will’s tell-all exposes would fit in, don’t you think?”

“I’m gonna go with the words you hate to hear: no comment.” Daniel flashed a smile at Nicole.

“You’re a big help.”

“I try.”

“You should see what I have to work with,” Nicole said. “This last guy that came in knew all the right things to say. It was like he ate a textbook on how to ace reporter job interviews, but if he came across a story that somehow didn’t make it into his class notes, he’d have no idea what to do. And he was the best one yet.” Nicole tapped her pen on the table. “Hey, could you do me a favor?”

“Uh oh.”

“It doesn’t involve hiding any evidence, I swear.” Nicole laughed, but Daniel didn’t. “Too soon?”

“Just a little.” Daniel sipped his coffee. “What’s up?”

“Next time you see JJ, do you think you can sell him on the idea that pursuing a journalism internship will add depth to his future musical tours? I know reporting isn’t really his thing, but he has good instincts, and so far these other jokers wouldn’t know a story if it came running up to them wearing the words EXCLUSIVE SCOOP.”

Daniel’s phone rang just then. He glanced at it, frowning. “I gotta take this. It’s Parker’s preschool.” He picked it up. “Hello? Yeah, this is Parker’s dad. What? Nah, it’s probably nothing to be concerned about, but I’ll come get him now.”

Daniel got off the phone. “I gotta go get Parker.”

“Is he okay?”

“I think so. He said he felt dizzy during circle time, but he probably just needs some extra time with his dad before he leaves for Chloe’s tomorrow. Sometimes the day before he gets a little clingy.” Daniel’s phone buzzed again as he stood up. He glanced at it. “You gotta be kidding me. It’s been quiet all day and they’re paging me now?” He sighed. “Nicole, I hate to ask you, but I don’t see any way around this. I’m gonna have to bring Parker to the hospital with me; do you think you could keep him entertained in the waiting room til I get done?”

“Of course. You know I love that little guy.” Nicole grabbed her purse and threw it over her shoulder so she could follow Daniel out of the coffee shop.

Heroic Muse · Nov 12, 2014

JJ got to the music building early on purpose so he could play his guitar. He liked the feel of the auditorium. Before he and Paige had broken up, she’d sat listening to him play and he thought he might actually be good enough to be up on the stage someday.

Probably not, he thought now, but playing in the auditorium still was totally different than playing in his bedroom or even in the living room at home.

As he tuned up, his friend Jeff came in and slid into the seat next to him. JJ did his best to ignore him. Playing in front of people he didn’t know well made him nervous. He took his time tuning each string to an app on his phone, hoping Jeff would go away before he began playing for real.

“Did you hear about that girl who got attacked?” Jeff asked.

“No.”

“Really? The cops were all over it. You couldn’t get into the dorms, that’s why I’m here so early. Apparently some guy broke into this girl’s room, tied her up and trashed the place. Your mom’s cousin was nosing around looking for the guy and so was this big Hispanic cop.”

“Dude,” JJ said, running his thumb over the strings. “That’s terrible. What’re you so happy about it for?”

“I’m not,” Jeff protested. “It’s just that campus is so quiet. This story has exclusive written all over it, and if I can crack it, I’ll impress that ice-cold *bleep* who interviewed me for the journalism internship. I could tell she didn’t want to give me a second thought, but when she sees what I can do, she’ll know she misjudged me.” Jeff put his backpack down. “You have an in with your cousin--think you can get me an interview about this robbery?”

“I don’t think so,” JJ said quickly. He put away his tuning app. “You, uh, you didn’t happen to catch the girl’s name who got robbed, did you?”

“Marissa somebody. I never heard of her.”

JJ said nothing else. Relief washed over him that it wasn’t Paige who had got robbed, though he played it cool, strumming his guitar like he wasn’t thinking about his ex-girlfriend at all.

Paige was, just then, walking across campus with Daphne. She’d been spending a lot of time with Daphne since the breakup; even though she didn’t know the other girl that well, she appreciated her company, and Daphne had never once said a word against JJ when they were dating.

“So did you give any more thought to moving into my room?” Daphne asked.

Paige sighed. “I was all set to sign the papers this morning, but… wasn’t that girl who got attacked living in your dorm?”

“Yeah, but that was an aberration.” Daphne hugged a book to her chest. “Come on, Paige, it would be so much fun, plus it would get you away from your mom’s prying eyes. That way next time you meet someone, she can’t fill your head with doubts.”

“What happened between me and JJ wasn’t about my mom. I mean, yeah, she didn’t help, but in the end JJ just had too much baggage and I wasn’t ready to help him deal with it, you know?”

“That’s too bad. I thought you guys made a cute couple.”

Paige glanced up at the trees as the girls walked through the wooded area behind Daphne’s dorm. “It’s too nice a day out to talk about things that weren’t meant to be,” she said.

“You still going to drop that class you share with him?”

“I never really wanted to take Music Theory anyway. I just couldn’t get into anything else.”

“If you say so.”

Paige bit her lip. She really wanted to move in with Daphne, but she wasn’t sure if it was the right thing to do. She clutched the drop form tightly in her hand as the girls made their way towards the music room so she could get the teacher’s signature.

Nicole had asked someone to bring some toys to the waiting room for Parker, but he wasn’t really playing. Instead, he sat half on the chair next to Nicole, holding a toy truck and leaning against her while he moved it slowly back and forth.

“Still not feeling good, huh?” Nicole put her arm around Parker. He shook his head and she said, “Your daddy will be back soon.”

“Nik…” Parker said. “Where’s Jennifer?”

Nicole’s eyes widened. She didn’t know what Daniel had told Parker about the breakup with Jen, and even she knew better than to explain how much better off both Daniel and his son were without that wanna-be saint in their lives. “Well,” she said, “she’s not here. But you know who is here? Good old Aunt Nicole. You and me always have a good time, right? And soon your daddy’s gonna be all done fixing up whoever it is who needs his help right now, and he’s gonna spend the whole rest of the day with you.”

Parker made a loud, wheezing sound like he was about to start crying. Nicole pulled him onto her lap. “Don’t take it so hard, sweetheart,” she said. “I know I can’t compare with Jennifer but - “ She cut herself off; Parker’s heart felt like it was beating super fast under her fingertips. “Oh my God,” Nicole said under her breath. Parker was still crying, only it wasn’t crying...he was gasping for breath.

Nicole’s brain didn’t know what to do, but her body moved by itself, scooping Parker up, running to the nurse’s station. “He’s not… he’s not breathing right. Help him.” The nurse on duty seemed to Nicole to be moving too slowly. “Don’t just stand there! Get him on oxygen or something!” The nurse picked up the phone and announced some code or other, then two emergency workers came running to the front desk. For a second Nicole got confused and hugged Parker tight, not wanting them to take her baby away, then Maxine said to her, “The doctors can’t work on him with you squeezing him so tight, Nicole.” and she came back to the present, realizing she wasn’t holding her dead baby boy but a barely alive, struggling to breathe four year old that she was supposed to be watching for just a few minutes.

“Sorry,” Nicole mumbled as they loaded Parker onto a gurney and started checking his vitals. “For a minute I thought…” One of the emergency workers leaned over and said to Parker, “Can you talk, buddy?” and Nicole said quickly, without thinking, “He won’t talk to strangers.” The emergency workers hooked Parker up to some machines and rolled him down the hall. Nicole watched him go.
Maxine touched her shoulder and she flinched. “I thought you might like to know that your quick thinking probably saved that boy’s life.”

“He’s all alone in there,” Nicole said, still dazed. “Daniel’s with a patient and probably doesn’t even know and if he comes to, he won’t know who anyone is or what’s happening.”

“When he comes to,” Maxine said firmly, “he’ll see at least one familiar face because you’re gonna be right there with him. Now don’t you worry about Daniel. I’ll track him down and get him over there as soon as possible. In the meantime, you go into the ICU and if anyone gives you a hard time, you just tell them Maxine told you to come.”.

Heroic Muse · Nov 12, 2014

“So what do you say?” Jeff said. “If I get this exclusive, I can find out for you who the girl was, so you can, you know, make sure she’s all right.”

JJ, not liking the way Jeff said that, said, “I told you, my cousin isn’t gonna tell me anything, and she sure as hell isn’t gonna tell YOU.”

Just then, the auditorium door opened. JJ automatically turned his head to see who was coming in. When he saw it was Paige, he turned around again and began playing quickly to make it look like he hadn’t noticed her.

“Guess your ex is back from the dead,” Jeff said. JJ pretended not to hear.

Paige walked up to the front of the room, holding herself very straight and tall, walking slowly. JJ couldn’t help thinking that she was one classy woman. Too classy for me, he reminded himself. He strained to hear what Paige was saying to the teacher, though he didn’t know why he cared.

“Paige,” the teacher said. “I’m glad to have you back with us. I was worried.”

“Actually,” Paige said, “I’ve been thinking about it, and I’ve decided this class isn’t really for me. I know it’s late in the semester, but I was hoping you would sign my drop form.” She glanced behind her, and JJ was sure she’d seen him looking at her. He watched her take her signed form back, wondering if he should say something to her as she passed by again. No. It was over, so what was the point of saying anything?

Paige left the classroom. JJ watched the door swing closed. He put his guitar down and slumped down in his seat. There was no point in playing now.

Hope’s mind was on Marissa the whole way back to the station. She had left the girl in good hands at the hospital, and she just hoped her intuition was wrong and that Marissa hadn’t been lying about her attacker stopping short of rape.

Now she and Rafe were in her office, discussing the case, and she was glad, because getting into cop mode stopped her from ruminating on how her victim was doing.

“So, what do you think?” Rafe asked her.

“I didn’t really get any good information out of the victim. The poor girl was too shaken up. No real description of the guy, no ideas about anyone who could have done this to her, and she lives alone. Did you get anything useful out of the security guy?”

“He was mainly concerned about what parents will think if this makes it onto the 6 o’clock news.” Rafe sighed. “Besides he didn’t see much of anything. He got a bunch of noise complaints, contacted the resident assistant, and she came over and found the girl. She called him, he came and took a look, then called us.”

“You don’t think he - “

“I didn’t get that sense, though we can’t rule him out.” Rafe consulted his notes one more time. “He just seems like a guy who’s in over his head. Most of what campus security deals with over there is petty little things. Kids fighting, underage drinking, that sort of thing. The only reason he called us was he’s never dealt with anything this major and wanted to make sure it was handled right. He kept saying that he thought maybe someone wandered in from off campus, and that could have been to deflect suspicion, but I got more of a sense that he didn’t want to believe that someone who actually goes to school there is capable of this kind of violence.”

“So basically we have nothing.” Hope looked through her notes. “I told Kayla to call me as soon as Marissa’s examination is complete. When I do, I’ll head over to the hospital and talk to her again, but I don’t think I’ll get much out of her. I’ll try to get a list of her friends and then we can split that up.”

“In the meantime, I’ll look through recent unsolved cases and see if there’s anything that matches this scenario. Maybe we’ll get lucky and this guy will have struck before.”

The office phone rang. Hope picked it up. “Salem PD, Brady.” She frowned. “What? Yes, of course, we’ll be there right away.”

“Kayla done with the girl?”

“No,” Hope said. “There’s been another robbery in the dorms.”

Kayla had called Marlena in for a consult after she had finished examining Marissa. “The good news is,” she told Marlena, “there’s no signs of trauma in the genital area, so she hasn’t been raped. But what happened to her obviously isn’t good, so I thought I should bring you in prior to releasing her.”

“Of course,” Marlena said. “Why don’t you introduce me to her, since you’ve already built rapport with her? That way she knows you’re turning her over to someone she can trust.”

Marlena followed Kayla into the hospital room. “Marissa,” Kayla said, “this is Dr. Marlena Evans, our head psychiatrist. I wanted her to talk to you for a few minutes about - “

“A shrink?” Marissa said. “Thank you, Dr. Brady, but no thanks. I don’t need to talk about what happened to me. It’s over and done with.”

“I can understand that,” Marlena said, sitting down near Marissa. Kayla left the room to give them some privacy. “But you know, Marissa, you’re a young woman away from home for the first time and you suffered a very violent attack. It’s important to know that there are people you can go to for support. You don’t have to deal with this alone.”

“If you really understood, you’d leave me alone.” Marissa crossed her arms. “I don’t need support, I don’t need pity, all I need is to see the cops haul in the guy who did this to me and throw him in a cell, okay? Now go away and tell Dr. Brady to let me go back to my dorm so I can go on with my life.”

Heroic Muse · Nov 12, 2014

Rory didn’t bother to show up to English class, which meant he was probably off somewhere smoking a joint. Figured, JJ thought. He barely paid attention during class either; while Dr. K droned on and on he put his mind to work coming up with a plan to make sure Rory didn’t get himself expelled.

By the time class ended, a dim idea had formed in his mind. He had a feeling about where Rory was, and the first step in his plan had to be to find out what his friend was up to.

Instead of going through campus proper, JJ cut through the woods behind the dorms. There was a place in the middle of the woods where someone had cut down a bunch of trees, and Rory and the other stoners went out there a lot. JJ knew because Rory kept trying to get him to come.

He was halfway there when his cousin Hope called his name. Dammit, JJ thought. Hope had her badge and gun, which meant she was here on official police business, and even though he wasn’t doing anything wrong, he didn’t want to talk to the cops right now, or anytime, really.

“Hey, Hope,” JJ said, trying to smile.

She didn’t smile back. “What are you doing in these woods?”

“Taking a shortcut to the English office.”

“Well, don’t. It’s not safe--someone’s already broken into the dorms twice and for all we know he’s hiding out here.”

“Twice?” JJ’s heart beat fast. “Who… who got hit the second time?”

Hope looked him up and down, but then her face softened and she said, “I don’t think it was anyone you knew, honey. But have you seen anything suspicious, anyone around here who doesn’t seem to belong?”

JJ thought about it for a second. “Nobody.”

“Okay then. Get back to campus.” As JJ reluctantly turned around and headed back towards the main buildings, Hope called after him, “And JJ?” He turned his head and she said, “Be careful, okay? This guy could be anywhere, so keep your guard up.”

Nicole sat with Parker for what seemed like forever. There was an oxygen tube slipped into his little nose now and he was hooked up to a heart monitor. The display glowed an eerie green that Nicole couldn’t stand looking at.

Parker’s eyes were closed; he was resting, the nurse had said, but Nicole wished he would wake up.

“Come on,” she said under her breath. “Where’s your daddy already?”

The door opened then and Maxine came in, followed by Daniel. Nicole stood up. “Daniel, hi. I’m glad you’re here. I’m sure Parker is too, or he will be when he wakes up.”

“What happened?” Daniel asked.

Nicole shrugged. “One minute he was fine, the next his heart was beating at a thousand beats a minute and he was gasping for breath.”

“We’re gonna have a cardiologist take a look at him,” Maxine told Daniel, “as soon as you sign off on it.”

“Okay,” Daniel said. “Order a pulmonologist consult too. Maybe whatever happened started in his lungs. I’m thinking an asthma attack and then he just got scared. Also, I’ll want a full blood panel in case he picked up some kind of infection that’s causing all this.”

“Yes, doctor. I’ll get the paperwork started right away.” Maxine left the room.

“How long has he been out?” Daniel asked Nicole.

“Maybe half an hour.” Nicole patted Daniel’s shoulder. “He tired himself out fighting the EMTs. The tubes and equipment scared him and he didn’t want them touching him.”

“Yeah, I bet they did.” Daniel sighed. “I guess I’d better call Chloe, let her know what’s up.”

“Right now?”

“She’s his mother, Nicole. She has a right to know her son’s in the hospital.”

“I know that. But what about you, Daniel? You just got off work, got this terrible news, and you don’t get a minute to just be with your son?” Nicole pulled out the chair. “Sit.”

“I can’t. There are people I gotta notify… and I gotta check on his test results… and confirm for once and for all that this was nothing serious.”

“Nothing serious? Daniel - “

“I gotta do something, Nicole! Parker, he was fine this morning and now he’s lying in a hospital bed hooked up to a breathing machine. I need to know why. I need to use all my medical know-how, all my expertise, and get him better.”

“I understand, believe me I do,” Nicole said. “But Daniel - “

“No.” Daniel turned his back on Nicole. “Any other patient, I’d go above and beyond the call of duty to make sure they get the best care I can possibly give them. When it comes to my son, I gotta do twice as much.”

“She’s right, you know,” Kayla said from the doorway.

“Kayla.” Daniel’s manner was professional, his tone of voice even, but he didn’t fool Nicole, and she doubted he was fooling Kayla either. “Did we get the test results back already?”

“I think we should talk.” Kayla glanced at Nicole. “Would you mind giving us a minute?”

Heroic Muse · Nov 12, 2014

“Yeah. Sure. I have some calls I need to make for work anyway.” Nicole kneeled down and kissed the top of Parker’s head. “You feel better, little guy, you hear?” She couldn’t help squeezing Daniel’s shoulder on the way out of the room.

The door swung closed behind Nicole. Daniel waited for Kayla to say something, but she just stood there, clutching Parker’s chart close to her chest and trying to smile.
Rory was sitting on the grass outside some campus building or other with Bev. He couldn’t tell the buildings apart, especially not when he was high.

“So I heard you talked to JJ,” Bev said.

“Yeah.”

“Let me guess. It was a waste of your breath, he’s too good to help us, blah blah blah. Loser.”

Rory giggled. “You’re the one who’s in love with him.”

“Was in love with him. After Paige dumped him, he didn’t come running back to me like he should. I finally realized he’s not worth my time. And soon you will too.”

Rory turned the other way, not really wanting to deal with Bev and this conversation. She was ruining his high. He thought he saw JJ in the distance, going into one of the buildings.

Bev turned her head too, to see where Rory was looking. “That’s the English building. I bet he’s going to go narc to Dr. K about you.”

“We’ll see about that,” Rory said.

“Want me to come with you?”

“Nah, I can handle it myself.” Rory ran off. Bev watched him go, then went off in the same direction.

Paige spent the whole bus ride home thinking about what Daphne had said. It would hurt her mom for her to move out… but if she had gone to Stanford, her mom would have just had to deal with it. Plus, Daphne was right. Her mom’s voice was too much in her head, and that had messed up things with her and JJ.

JJ. She’d rearranged her whole life so she wouldn’t have to see him anymore and remember who she once thought he was to her. If she moved to the dorms, she’d be on campus all the time--did that mean she’d run into him more often? He’d looked like he wanted to say something to her today. She was glad she got out of the classroom before he could.

When Paige came in, her mother was pacing around the apartment. “Oh, thank goodness,” Eve said. “I was just about to call you to make sure everything was all right.”

“What’s wrong?” Paige asked, putting her purse down.

“Oh, nothing. Just me being silly, I guess. But it sounds like your ex boyfriend or maybe some of his delinquent friends are up to their old tricks.” Eve gestured towards the computer. “Have you seen the news today?”

Paige glanced at the headline. “Three students attacked at Salem U. dorms,” she read aloud. “Three? Daphne told me it was only one.”

“Your friend wasn’t one of them, was she?”

“No. She’s fine. But Mom, what do you mean JJ had something to do with this?”

Eve bit her lip. “You just be careful while you’re on that campus. I won’t have something happening to my baby girl, you understand?”

Paige sighed. “I guess this isn’t a good time to bring up that Daphne invited me to live in the dorms with her.”

“You’re not going to do that, especially not now.”

“I was thinking about it. Mom, I’m 18 years old, and if I had gone to Stanford - “

“Stanford would have been different. You’d have been surrounded by a higher caliber of people, baby, and they wouldn’t be going around putting knives to people’s throats and tying them up.”

“Crime happens everywhere, Mom.”

“Well, it’s a moot point now, because until the police catch whoever it is that’s doing this, there’s no way I’m letting you live in the dorms.”

Paige got that same gleam in her eye that she used to when Eve tried to talk her out of dating JJ. She pulled out her phone.

“Baby, listen to me,” Eve said. “I may have been wrong about some things before - “

“A lot of things.”

“Be that as it may, I’m not wrong about this. You have far too much sense to go moving into the middle of a crime wave. Come on now. Wait until they have this guy behind bars before you think about moving.”

“I guess,” Paige said.

“Come on, living with me isn’t so bad, now is it? I still owe you that shopping trip and now that you’re totally free of certain other influences and my money’s come in, you should have plenty of time to - “

“I have to study,” Paige said, and went into her room.

Eve sighed as she let herself fall back onto the couch. I’m only trying to keep you safe, she thought, just like I always have.

Dr. K wasn’t in his office when JJ knocked, but his door was slightly open. JJ came in to leave him a note.

There were papers strewn all over the desk. Rory’s goofy plan wasn’t going to work, JJ thought, and he was just going to get himself caught trying. He rifled through the papers, looking for a post it so he could leave his note. As he moved a large pile, something fell out. JJ bent down to pick it up, then did a double take.

It was the exam.

He couldn’t help glancing at it. All multiple choice, looked like the questions were about two books they’d read.

He shook his head. He shouldn’t be doing this. He reached forward to put the test back…

...and felt a heavy hand on his shoulder. He looked up into the face of that security guard who was always patrolling the campus.

“What do you think you’re doing, son?” the security guard said.

**COMING UP IN CHAPTER 2**

The campus robber's actions escalate--and so does the investigation
JJ gets out of one tough situation but may be stuck in another one.
Kayla takes over Parker's medical care.

Heroic Muse · Dec 2, 2014

Chapter 2 - Rory to the Rescue

JJ swallowed hard, aware that he looked guilty even though he hadn’t done anything. “I was leaving a note for my professor, but he isn’t here so - “ He started to walk off.

“Hold it,” the security guard said. “You’re not going anywhere.” The guard picked up the exam. “Now, I wasn’t born yesterday. I know what an exam looks like and I know you were looking at it.”

“I swear,” JJ said, “I just knocked it off his desk by mistake and was picking it up.”

Neither the guard nor JJ noticed Rory tiptoeing up to the door, which was cracked open. The guard tapped the paper against the desk. “You'd better give me one good reason why I shouldn’t detain you for attempted theft of an exam and let the school decide whether to expel you."

Rory’s mouth dropped open, but he stood his ground, waiting to see what was going to happen next.

Kayla hugged the file to her chest and looked at Daniel. Her demeanor was professional as always, but Daniel thought he saw her lips tremble slightly.

“So what’s the news?” Daniel asked. “Did we get his blood panel back?”

“We haven’t taken the samples yet. I wanted to talk to you first.” Kayla gave Daniel a semi-smile that he knew all too well. He’d seen her give it to hundreds of patients before delivering bad news.

“Have a seat,” Kayla told him.

“I’m okay,” Daniel said, crossing his arms. “Just give it to me straight.”

“I spoke with the pediatric cardiologist and she wants to do a chest x-ray to see how big Parker’s heart is. Depending on what she sees, she might also want to do a CT scan. Now I know that’s a lot for such a little guy to go through, but she feels, and I agree, that there’s almost definitely something wrong with Parker’s heart.”

“Are you sure?” Daniel turned towards Parker. “Parker, he gets scared a lot, and sometimes… sometimes when he gets spooked, it’s hard for him to breathe. I don’t think we can conclude anything until all the tests are in.”

“Daniel.” Kayla brushed his arm with her fingertips. “Right now you’re speaking as if you’re Parker’s doctor, but you’re his father. I know how difficult it is for any parent to hear that their child has a serious health condition, especially us, because we have enough knowledge to convince ourselves that it’s really something else.”

“I’m not doing that, Kayla. Parker, he could have a whole lot of things going on besides his heart, and I’m just saying, we don’t want to overlook anything.”

Kayla patted Daniel’s shoulder as she pulled out the chair next to Parker’s bed. “Let me worry about that.”

“So I don’t get a consult on my own son’s care?”

“Of course I’m going to consult with you, the same way I would with any parent whose child is seriously ill.” Kayla pushed her hair behind her ear. “I can’t imagine what I would do if Joey was in the hospital. As a doctor, I’d want to do everything I could to get him better, and as a parent I’d be terrified that I couldn’t. Daniel, I really think Parker needs you to be his daddy right now. Sit with him. Be there when he wakes up. Hold his hand and tell him it’s going to be all right.”

Daniel took out his phone. “I guess I’d better call Chloe after all. And, uh, Maggie will want to come see him as much as she can too.”

“Yes. Do that.”

Daniel sat down next to Parker’s bed, holding his phone but not doing anything with it.

“Daniel,” Kayla said.

“Yeah?”

“If you need time off to be with Parker or books for him or… or anything at all for him, just ask. It’s not a problem.”

“Thanks,” Daniel mumbled. Kayla patted his shoulder again before leaving the room.

Daniel sat with his phone in his lap, watching Parker breathing through the oxygen mask.

Roman Brady was in his office, trying to make sense of the reports Hope and Rafe had given him about the Salem University robber when a kid wandered into the police station. Roman watched him from his office. The kid was dressed smartly, wearing a pressed white shirt, gray dress pants and a suit jacket to match. He was talking to one of the uniforms, asking if Hope was available.

Roman came out of his office. “Do you have information about a case?” he asked.
The boy turned. “Actually, I’m trying to get information. Jeff Atkins, WTTN TV.”

“They’re sure taking reporters young these days.”

“I’m just an intern,” Jeff said. “I work for Nicole Walker; she sent me to get the scoop on this guy who’s attacking people over at Salem U.”

“And she sent you to harass my uniforms instead of calling me herself?”

“Um…” Jeff was clearly flustered by Roman’s manner; his cheeks turned slightly red and he stammered, but he quickly recovered. “Well, see, I go to school there, so she figured I’d have an in. I’d really like to get a quote from Hope Brady, but since she’s not available, I guess you’ll do.”

“Oh yeah?” Roman smiled slightly. “Well you can tell Ms. Walker that the chances of me giving away anything about this case have just gone from slim to none. And if she gives you a hard time, you tell her Commissioner Brady said to go to hell.” Roman walked back into his office, leaving Jeff standing there, stunned.

Heroic Muse · Dec 2, 2014

Rory leaned forward, listening as JJ said, “Look, you don’t know me, so I get why you think I’m lying, but I’m not. I came in here to ask Dr. K about this stupid novel we’re reading, which I totally don’t get no matter how many times I read it, and he wasn’t here, so I was looking for some paper to write a note. That’s all that happened.”

The security guard stared at JJ, sizing him up. “I’ve heard some stories in my day, son. That’s the best you can come up with?”

“That’s why you should believe me. If I was lying, don’t you think I’d come up with something better than that?”

Outside the door, Rory looked around to make sure nobody had seen him. He took a joint and his lighter out of his pocket. He had to flick the lighter a couple of times to get it to light. He heard the school cop tell JJ to have a seat. “Damn it,” he said under his breath, flicking the lighter again. This time it ignited, and he was able to light the joint.

Inside the office, the guard wrinkled his nose as the smell of Rory lighting up wafted into the office. JJ noticed it too but did his best not to react. He hated the smell of that stuff now that he’d been off it over a year.

“I’ll be right back,” the guard told him. “Don’t you move.”

Rory ducked around the corner and threw the joint down the stairs, then flattened himself against a wall. The guard didn’t see him as he ran down the steps.

JJ was sitting in a chair by the door, staring into space, as Rory hurried in. He grinned. “Rory to the rescue, but you can thank me later. Let’s get outta here.”

Miles called while Nicole was waiting outside Parker’s room. “Look, I’m sorry that I haven’t gotten past round one of American Idol, journalism school version, but I’m dealing with a medical emer - what? No, I didn’t hire an intern behind your back. I barely feel like hiring one that you know about, so why - you know what? Maybe when I’m done finding out whether my friend’s son is going to live, I’ll rush right back to the office and check my files to see if we even interviewed Jeff.”

She slammed the phone down just as Kayla came out of Daniel’s room. Nicole put aside her anger to give Kayla what she hoped looked like a sincere smile. “Kayla. How is he?”

“Parker? Or Daniel?”

Nicole shrugged. “Either one.”

Kayla sighed. “I can’t really talk to you about my patient, even if it’s off the record, but I can tell you that Daniel’s in for a rough time. I’m glad he has a friend to support him right now.” Kayla’s phone buzzed. “Excuse me,” she said, and walked off.

Nicole hesitated, then opened the door and quietly came into the room. Daniel was on the phone. “I’m sure, Chloe, I’m sure he’s gonna be okay, but I thought you should be the first to know. Well, he’s sleeping now, but yeah, as soon as he wakes up I will call you back so you can talk to him. Me? I’m okay. No, really, I am. Yeah, I’ll keep you posted. Bye.”

Daniel hung up the phone. He sighed deeply as he began to put in the next number. Nicole put her hand on his shoulder. “Hey,” she said softly. “How are you doing?”

“You too? I’m fine, Nicole. It’s this little guy we gotta...we gotta be worried about.”

Nicole glanced at Parker. “He’s stable, right?”

Daniel nodded. “Though I’ll feel a whole lot better when he opens his eyes.”

“Same here.” Nicole squeezed Daniel’s shoulder. “Are you sure there isn’t anything I can do? I can, I don’t know, make it all about me and tell you about my crazy boss to distract you. Or I can be uncharacteristically unselfish and go get you some coffee or give you a shoulder to cry on.”

“Nah, I’m good.”

“No you’re not. If you were fine with this, I’d really be worried about you.” She turned Daniel’s chair slightly. “Talk to me. Tell me how much this sucks, rant about how unfair it is, say whatever you have to say.”

“Nicole, I really appreciate what you’re trying to do, but really, I’m okay.”

“Are you?”

Daniel sighed. “When I gotta give bad news to a patient, Nicole, I try to do it without making them feel like they’re gonna fall apart. Parker got sick what, an hour ago? And in that time...in that short span of time everybody’s started tiptoeing around, asking me in these soft voices how I’m doing, acting like they expect the answer to be that I’m one step away from shooting myself. So if you wanna help me… just go, Nicole, just go do whatever you would have been doing if Parker wasn’t hooked up to a bunch of machines.”

Nicole sighed. “I know I’m being a little pushy--” Daniel raised his eyebrows at her. “Okay, a lot pushy. But if anybody knows what it’s like to insist you’re okay when you’re losing your child it’s me.”

“That,” Daniel said, “is completely different. Parker, he’s gonna be fine.”

“You’re right. Of course you’re right. I shouldn’t have said that. I’m sorry. I was just trying to help.”

“I know you were.” Daniel got up, glancing at his phone. “I gotta make some calls,” he said firmly, “and Nicole, I gotta do it alone.”

“Okay, fine. It’s really hard for me to tear myself away from the scintillating task of finding an intern who won’t destroy my relationship with the Salem Police Department, but if you don’t appreciate the sacrifice I’m making…”

Daniel couldn’t help smiling. “You have a relationship with the Salem Police Department?”

“Well, it’s a work in progress.” Nicole smiled too, but then got serious. “Hey, when Parker wakes up, give me a buzz, okay? I’d like to come see this little guy.”

Daniel nodded. He got up so that Nicole could hug him. “And you,” she said. “Take it easy.”

Parker’s eyes flickered open, then shut as Daniel sat back down. He sighed as he took the little boy’s hand in his own.

Heroic Muse · Dec 2, 2014

“So are you moving in or not?” Daphne asked Paige. The girls were sitting on Daphne’s bed; Daphne had insisted on hanging out here to demonstrate that they weren’t going to be scared out of doing what they were normally going to do.

“I don’t know.” Paige sighed. “Don’t get me wrong, Daphne, I want to, but…”

“But?”

“My mom doesn’t think it’s safe. She got really upset, Daphne.”

“Of course she did. Paige, she doesn’t want you to move out of her house.”

Paige’s eyes narrowed but Daphne said, “I’m not trying to talk against your mom, Paige, but remember what happened with JJ?”

“This has nothing to do with - “

“Yes, it does. You let your mom’s voice way too far into your head and you gave up on the first guy you ever loved, all because of her. Do you really think it’s going to be easier when you meet someone else?”

“I don’t know.” Paige crossed her arms. “If I do this, it’s not because I want to get away from my mom, okay? And it’s not so I can date. It’s just… all my friends are here, and I’m almost 19, so I don’t know, isn’t this what I’m supposed to do?”

“Gee, don’t make me feel so special.”

Paige pinched her lips together angrily. Daphne said, “Look, I’m not trying to start a fight. I’m just saying, never mind what your mom wants. If you want to be here, then forget this guy running around trying to terrorize us.”

Paige looked at the empty bed on the other side of Daphne’s room. She imagined decorating the blank wall above it the way she wanted to, with her jazz musician posters and her inspirational quotes. She’d put her pictures on the empty desk on her side of the room, next to her computer. She’d take only a few outfits to put in the dresser, as she could easily go home to get more clothes, and the top drawer would be for her jewelry box.

“I do want to move in,” she said slowly.

“Then do it,” Daphne said.

“There’s just one thing we have to take care of first.” Paige turned towards Daphne. “Come talk to my mom about how safe it is here.”

“Paige - “

“No, listen. She won’t believe me, she thinks I’m just naive or something. But you live here. So if you tell her it’s safe, she’ll back off.”

Daphne crossed her arms. “Is this really the only way you can get the green light to move in with me? Come on, Paige, isn’t it enough that you know that it’s safe?”

“You don’t know my mom. Once she gets something in her head, she doesn’t let go.”

“So fight back.”

“This is me fighting back, Daphne.”

“No, it’s not. This is you giving in. If you don’t want to move in with me, fine. But don’t hide behind your mom’s opinions then complain that she’s too much in your business. Come on, Paige. You’re the one who said that it’s time. So are you in or not?”

Rafe and Hope got some mozzarella sticks on their way back from Salem U so that they could fuel themselves for breaking this case. Now they were back in the police station, trying to put everything together. “Okay,” Hope said as she grabbed a stick, “what do we know so far?”

“Looks like it’s the same guy behind all three crimes,” Rafe said. “I mean, it could be a copycat, but same M.O on all three? What are the chances?”

“Right. By now rumors are probably spreading like wildfire, especially since we’ve been there all day, but I’m sure there’s some things only the perp knows.”

“Yeah, like his identity.” Rafe sighed. “Different dorms, different age students, and so far not one of the victims knows the others. So I’m thinking, he’s striking randomly. But somehow I can’t shake the feeling that that’s what he wants us to think.”

Hope’s phone buzzed. She glanced down at it. “Well, maybe we’ll know more in a little while. Kayla just gave me the go ahead to interview Marissa again.”

Roman stuck his head out of his office just then. “Hope. Rafe. Glad I caught you both.”

“I’m about to go interview a victim,” Hope said.

“Well, glad I got to you before you left then. Both of you in my office. Now.”

When JJ and Rory got out of the building, Rory said, “What do you say we hit up the stoner circle in the woods?”

“No, man, that’s not a good idea.”

“Dude, come on. This stuff just saved your life! Look, you don’t have to smoke if you don’t want to. Just hang out, like old times.”

“No, it’s not that. The woods are crawling with cops, dude. They think that guy who’s robbing the dorms is hiding out there.”

“All the more reason to go. Listen. We catch this guy for them, we’re heroes. They won’t care how lit up we are then.”

“Rory - “

“All right, fine. Forget it.” Rory started to stomp off.

JJ followed him even though he was going towards the woods. “Dude! What’s your problem?”

“What do you think?” Rory turned around, his eyes blazing. “I had your back in there, man, even though you totally went behind mine.”

“What?”

“You went all high and mighty telling me how cheating’s so wrong, acting like you would never do anything like that. You put on a good show, man. You even had me believing it. But you were really just out for yourself, going to steal the exam and cut me out of it.”

“You know what,” JJ said, “think what you want. If it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t have even been in that office in the first place. I was scouting it out to see if your idea was even gonna work, and guess what? It’s not. I did you a favor, man.”

“That’s what you think, dude. You know why you got caught, JJ? Cause you were stupid. I’d be way smarter about it.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, you think you’re so smart just cause you don’t get high anymore, but I got news for you. If it wasn’t for me and Kurt, you’d have had no one to bail you out with Theresa, and who was it who was by your side the whole time you were dating Paige, trying to make you see how wrong she was for you? And now I threw away a piece of my best weed just to save your *bleep* again. I may not be the smartest guy in the world, but at least I have the sense to know who my friends are.” Rory pulled his backpack over one shoulder. “See you around, dude.” He stormed off.

“Rory!” JJ shouted, but Rory was gone. JJ pulled off his backpack and threw it at the woods. It landed right at the edge; he heard a crack. He could feel people staring at him as he went to go pick it up.

Heroic Muse · Dec 2, 2014

Victor came up behind Maggie as she was packing her overnight bag. He put his hand on her shoulder and said softly in her ear, “If only we could get away together somewhere.”

Maggie smiled as he kissed the back of her neck, then turned towards him. “A tempting offer,” she said. She put her arms around Victor. “I really hate to leave you, but I’m sure we can live without each other for just one night.”

“I’ll try, but it won’t be easy.” Victor smiled back. “But what I don’t understand is why JJ Deveraux spending his time hitting the books is such a crisis. The boy’s finally putting his nose to the grindstone. Jennifer should be celebrating, not inviting you to join her in a panic attack.”

“Oh, it’s not JJ I’m worried about,” Maggie said, folding a sweater and putting it into the bag. “It’s Jennifer.”

“Jennifer? For goodness sake, that woman was an investigative reporter once. She’s faced down madmen in the jungles of Africa, been held hostage more times than you can count without blinking an eye, and look at what she put up with with that husband of hers. Surely she can survive her adult son deciding to make a life for himself that doesn’t include spending every waking minute with her.”

“Jack Deveraux had his wild side,” Maggie said evenly, “but somehow he and Jennifer made it work. Ever since he died, she hasn’t been herself. Oh, she’s had periods of stability, but especially now that Daniel insists on moving on - “

“As he should have, all things considered. If she’s throwing this kind of fit about JJ spending some extra time with his schoolbooks, I can’t imagine how smothered Daniel must have felt. He must have been turning blue from oxygen deprivation every time he got around her.”

“Jennifer has seemed lost since Jack died,” Maggie said, “like she’s just drifting through life, waiting for the next big adventure that’s never going to come and lashing out at the world for not giving it to her. Who knows, maybe a girls’ night in will help her center herself on something other than JJ.”

“Always the optimist. That’s why I love you.”

Maggie and Victor kissed. Just then Maggie’s phone buzzed. She pulled away reluctantly and answered it. “Daniel, hi. We - what? No, of course I want to be there right away. I’m sure Victor will too, but you can ask him yourself if you want; he’s right here. Oh, all right. Yes, we will be there as soon as we can.”

She got off the phone and turned towards Victor. “It looks like Jennifer is going to have to wait,” she said, her eyes wide and wet with tears. “Parker’s in the hospital, and it sounds serious.”

In Roman’s office, Rafe seemed more at ease sitting across from Roman than Hope did; despite the fact that Roman was her brother-in-law, or maybe because of it, Hope always felt like she was being judged, and she didn’t like it.

“You two wanna tell me what you’ve been saying to the press? Cause this morning we got some doe eyed kid in here sniffing around, asking all sorts of questions, and he seemed to know that Hope here was on the case.”

“I haven’t said anything,” Rafe said, “and I’m sure Hope didn’t either. Come on, Roman, we’re working a case on a college campus. Kids see us snooping around, they start telling stories about why we’re there.”

“Yeah, well, I hope that all it is. I don’t think I need to tell either of you how high profile this case is. Now I’ve read the reports, and I see that campus security made it very clear that they don’t want this on the news. Now if this drags out too long, we might have no choice but to make a statement, but for now… if you see the press, you keep your mouths shut. And if either of you has any press contacts--” Roman glanced at Rafe--”and yes, I’m talking about your friendship with Nicole Walker--you tell them to call off their dogs until we’re good and ready to make a statement. Is that clear?”

Rafe and Hope both nodded. “Is that all?” Hope said, irritation creeping into her voice.

“Actually, there’s something else I want to discuss with you, Hope. Rafe, give us a minute, will ya?”

“Of course.” Rafe left, closing the door behind him.

Hope crossed her arms. Roman looked her up and down and said, “I can’t help thinking, Hope, that for some reason this case strikes close to home.”

“No more than any other case.”

“You’re already putting a lot of hours in and as we get closer to catching this guy it’s just gonna get worse. You up for it?”
“Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“You got a little girl at home, and a hotshot defense attorney you’re dating. Neither of them’s gonna wait for you forever, Hope.”

Hope reddened. She glanced at her phone and said, “Neither is this vic. I’d better go interview her while the details of the attack are fresh in her mind. Excuse me.”

Paige went to Club TBD to think things over, though why she went there she wasn’t sure. The whole place felt like JJ to her. She remembered sitting with him here, telling him she loved him, talking about how they would always be together…

She sighed and stirred her water with her straw.

“You look like you could use something a little bit stronger,” somebody said. Paige looked up from her water at T, who was standing there giving her a goofy grin. He was cute, Paige thought, and then banished the thought to the back of her mind. Cute didn’t work out so well.

“I don’t drink,” Paige said.

“Of course not.” T was still grinning. “You’re too young. But hey, can I convince you to live dangerously and get a soda?” His eyes sparkled and his voice dropped to a whisper. “Or maybe even a burger.” Paige scrunched up her face at him and he said, “No? Well then how about some conversation at least?”

“Could you just leave me alone?”

T looked crushed. “Yeah. No problem.” He started to walk away.

Paige sighed. “Wait, come back here.” T turned and she said, “Look, I’m sorry. It’s just that between my mom, and my friend, and my ex-boyfriend, the world is kind of weighing down on me. But I shouldn’t have taken it out on you just because I don’t know how to make a decision.”

“No. You shouldn’t have.” T pulled out the other chair. “I’ll give you a chance to make it up to me, though.”

“Yeah? How?”

“Rumor has it that I’m a pretty good listener, so lay it on me.”

Paige’s eyes narrowed. “Why are you being so nice to me? I hardly even know you.”

“Maybe that’s what your problem is,” T said. “You can’t fathom someone being nice to you just to be nice.” He got up. “I gotta get back to work now. Good luck with… well, whatever it is you’re upset about.” He walked off, leaving Paige to stare into her water and think things over.

Heroic Muse · Dec 2, 2014

When Hope walked into Marissa’s hospital room, the bed was empty. She cursed under her breath and turned to leave. Maxine was coming in.

“Maxine,” Hope said. “What happened to the girl who was in this room?”

“That poor girl who got attacked at Salem U, you mean? She signed herself out. Said she didn’t see a need to wait around anymore and that she was putting this behind her.” Maxine sighed. “I sure wish she’d stuck around some. I’m not supposed to say this, but between you and me, Dr. Evans wasn’t pleased she left. She hasn’t got herself together nearly as much as she thinks. How could she, after an attack like that?”

“Nobody could,” Hope agreed. “Any idea where she went?”

“Probably back to that dorm room of hers. She seemed real anxious to get back to where she’d been before all this happened.”

“Thanks.” Hope took off in the other direction.

After Rory left, JJ texted Daniel, but he didn’t feel like hanging around school while he waited for a response. He had too much pent up energy that he needed to get out of his system before he did something he was going to regret later.

He did what he always did when he felt like this. He went to Horton Town Square and looked at the bookstore window that he had broken that time he went crazy. He hated that he’d done it, but he forced himself to relive it whenever he was upset so that he would never, ever do something like that again.

“A dollar for your thoughts,” a girl behind him said.

“What?” JJ didn’t turn around. He pretended not to be trying to see the girl’s reflection in the window; he really wanted to be left alone right now. The girl was sitting on the edge of the flowers in the middle of the square, swinging her long legs. Her dark hair was tied into a high ponytail and her big eyes were staring right at the back of JJ’s head.

The girl smiled. “It’s only supposed to be a penny, but inflation, you know.” She got up off the flowerbed and moved towards JJ. “Anyway, the inside of your head looks like a place I’d like to be. What’s up?”

JJ shook his head. “You don’t want to be there, believe me.”

“Hey, if you’re gonna invite me to a pity party, at least turn around so you can do it to my face.”

JJ sighed. “You’re not gonna leave me alone, are you?”

“I’ve never been known to be like that before. Even the guy who attacked me had to gag me to shut me up.”

JJ did a double take. He turned around to tell the girl--he tried to remember whether anyone ever said what her name was, but he couldn’t--that he was sorry for what had happened to her even though he didn’t want to talk right now. She said, standoffishly, “I knew that would get your attention.”

“I feel terrible for what happened to you,” JJ mumbled.

The girl shrugged. “Don’t be. Unless you’re the guy who did it.”

“No. I’d never - “

“Just kidding. But no worries. At least I get to see what you look like. I’m Marissa, by the way.”

“JJ.”

They shook hands, awkwardly, and then Marissa said, “So seriously, JJ, you look like you’re in just as bad shape as me. What’s going on?”

“Look, Marissa, it’s a long story - “

“I have time.”

“ - and honestly, last time I met a girl in Horton Town Square it turned out to be a total nightmare, one that I just got free of, so no offense, but I’d rather keep my thoughts to myself.”

“That’s cool.” Marissa shifted her weight. “But how about we go get some yogurt or something? I won’t make you say a word, I swear.” JJ sighed and Marissa said, leaning in close, “Look, if you want I’ll tell you every sordid detail of my attack. That always seems to be a conversation starter.” JJ didn’t respond and Marissa said, “Come on, what do I need to do to get you to come sit with me?”

“It’s not you,” JJ said, forcing himself to remember how things had ended with Paige so he wouldn’t make the mistake of getting caught up in this new girl’s enthusiasm. “It’s, look, there’s stuff about me that turns off any decent girl, and I learned that the hard way. So right now I, uh… I gotta go.”

“Ooh, intriguing,” Marissa said. “Well, if you change your mind, I’ll be over there waiting to hear all about you. See you around, JJ.” She gave JJ a quick smile before she turned and walked off.

Jennifer was in her office working on a press release when Maggie stuck her head in.

“I’m not interrupting, am I?” Maggie asked.

“Of course not, Aunt Maggie. I wasn’t even supposed to be working today, but I wanted to get ahead on some things that aren’t being announced for a couple of weeks.”

“And it gets you out of the house.”

Jen pretended not to hear as she continued typing, but her lips thinned.

“Well,” Maggie said. “I know I already texted you about changing our plans but I thought you deserved an explanation in person.”

“No explanation needed.” Jen deliberately avoided looking at Maggie. “If this has something to do with Daniel, it’s really not my business anymore, Aunt Maggie. So go do whatever you need to do for him. It’s not like this is the last day that JJ is going to sneak out of the house before I’m awake.”

Maggie watched Jen typing for a second, squeezing her hands together while she thought about what she wanted to say. Then she said, quietly, “Listen to me, Jennifer Rose. This isn’t about you, and it isn’t about Daniel either. And it certainly isn’t about who I care about more now that you two have decided to go your separate ways. So hold your fire, and while you’re at it, do me the courtesy of closing your computer screen for just a minute and listening to what I have to say.”

Jen hesitated, but something in Maggie’s voice worried her, and she got up from her computer and came around to the other side of the desk. “Aunt Maggie, what is it?” she asked, sitting down next to her. “You’re not sick, are you?”

“Not me,” Maggie said. “And no, not Victor either.” She sighed. “I don’t know whether Daniel would want you to know or not, but since you used to be a big part of Parker’s life, I might as well go ahead. Earlier today, Parker collapsed. He’s down the hall in the pediatric ICU.”

Jen’s eyes widened. She blinked back tears. “Do they know what’s wrong with him?”

Maggie shook her head. “Daniel didn’t say. But maybe, just maybe you can put aside all your animosity for a little while so that we can all focus on that little boy getting better.”

Heroic Muse · Dec 2, 2014

Hope spied Marissa across the square, eating frozen yogurt, and was about to approach her when Eve Donovan came out of a store and said. “Detective Brady! I am so glad I caught you.”

“I’m sorry, Eve, but unless you have information about a case, I’m going to have to ask you to excuse me.” Hope kept walking.

Eve walked in front of her, blocking her path. “Now look,” she said, “I know we’ve had our differences in the past, mostly because of your loyalty to your stuck-up cousin Jennifer and her no-good son, but that doesn’t change the fact that you have to protect everybody, now does it?”

Hope looked over Eve’s shoulder to make sure Marissa was still at the yogurt place. “What are you talking about?”

“Well, my daughter Paige--you know her, bright girl, got into Stanford, is making a good impression on Kayla Brady over at the hospital--anyway, she has got this crazy idea in her head that she wants to move into the dorms. Now, ordinarily I wouldn’t have any problem with my baby moving on, but with this crime wave - “

“Hold it. Who said there was a crime wave?”

“Oh come on, Hope. I read the papers. Besides, Paige told me that some poor girl was attacked, and I know how these things go. Anyway, you know how teenage girls are--she won’t listen to me about why this is a bad idea, so I thought if you gave her a little talking to about safety maybe she’d see reason.”

Hope bit her lip. She didn’t want to give in to Eve’s nonsense, but at the same time Paige did need to know how to protect herself on campus. After all, JJ wasn’t the only kid who thought cutting through the woods behind the dorms was a good idea.

“Oh come on,” Eve said. “If your little Ciara was old enough to go to Salem U, wouldn’t you move heaven and Earth to keep her safe?”

“If I see Paige I will talk to her,” Hope said, leaving out what she actually planned to say. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have official police business over there.” She walked off quickly before Eve could say another word.

Parker was awake when Maggie came into the room. “Grandma,” he said. He was even harder to understand than usual.

“I am so glad you’re up,” Maggie said, pasting on a fake smile. She kissed the top of Parker’s head before turning to Daniel. “How’s he doing?”

Daniel glanced at Parker. “Maybe you oughta ask Kayla. She’s running a bunch of tests to make sure his heart and lungs and everything are as strong as they need to be.”

Maggie frowned. “And you?”

“I’m okay.” Daniel hit his phone against his palm. “Actually, I’m glad you’re here, Mom. Can you sit with Parker for an hour or so? I gotta take care of something.”

“Daniel, I hope you’re not trying to take care of too many patients while Parker - “

“Parker’s gonna be fine,” Daniel told her, firmly. “I can’t put my life on hold, Mom. There are other people depending on me too, and I gotta be there for them. I will be back as quick as I can, believe me, I don’t wanna spend one more minute than I have to away from Parker.”

“Then don’t. I know you care about your patients, Daniel, but they’re not family. Can’t another doctor - “

“This IS family!” Daniel hated getting loud in front of Parker, and he also hated having to tell Maggie any of his business, but sometimes it was the only way to get her to back off. “JJ, he needs to talk to me about something, and I’m not - “

“But sweetheart, I’m sure JJ will understand that you have a family emergency. Can’t you tell him - “

“Mom. Stop. Can you please just sit with Parker til I get back?” Daniel moved past her to kiss the top of Parker’s head. “I’ll be back as soon as I can, buddy. I promise.” He started to leave the room, then stood in the doorway watching Parker. He sighed deeply before he finally left.

Marissa looked up from her vanilla frozen yogurt as Hope approached her table. “Detective Brady,” she said uncertainly. “Hi.”

“May I sit down?” Hope asked.

“You weren’t exactly who I was hoping would ask that, but sure, go ahead.”

“I’m guessing you have your eye on some boy,” Hope commented.

Marissa shrugged.

“Who is he?” Hope asked, thinking that maybe this was her way into getting Marissa to trust her enough to answer her questions.

“If you think the guy who did this to me is my boyfriend, he isn’t. I don’t have one, and I’d never seen the monster before.”

“I wasn’t thinking that at all. I was just curious, that’s all.”

“Look, Detective Brady, I’m not stupid, and I know you’re not my friend. I’ve pretty much told you everything I know already, so I’m not sure what you want, but you’d get a lot further with me if you’d just ask already.”

“Okay. For starters, do you remember anything else about the guy who attacked you that could help us find him?”

Marissa pinched her lip. “I told you, I never saw him, I don’t know who he is, just that he was a creep. He grabbed me, he put a knife to my throat and he tied me up. That’s all I know.”

“Did he - “

“I really don’t want to keep reliving this, especially since I don’t know anything. Can’t you leave me alone?”

“No,” Hope said after a second. “I can’t. I know this is difficult but this is the only way we’re going to catch this guy. After he left your room, he went and did the same thing to another girl across campus, and then to a boy in some other dorm. And believe me, we’re asking them just as many questions about it. I’m not doing this to be a pain in your butt. I’m trying to find this lowlife before he hurts anyone else.”

Marissa’s eyes widened. “So basically, nobody’s safe?”

“I didn’t say that. We will get this guy. But even if you don’t remember anything about him, maybe you can still help. Can I show you some photos of the other kids that got robbed? Maybe you know something about them that can help us put this all together.”

Marissa nodded. Hope took out her tablet and showed Marissa a photo of a smiling, dark haired girl, and a boy whose red hair stuck out from underneath his baseball cap. Marissa looked carefully at them. When she looked up at Hope, Hope thought she saw relief in the girl’s eyes. But all Marissa said was, “The only thing we seem to have in common is none of us is blonde.” She pushed away her yogurt. “I never saw either of them in my life. But, um, tell them I’m sorry. What I went through, nobody should have to go through.”

“I will,” Hope promised as she got up.

Marissa went to throw away what was left of her yogurt, As she watched Hope walk off, she took out her phone and mumbled to herself, “Okay, JJ, let’s find out who you are and make sure you’re not living in the dorms too.” She opened Ewe Search and typed in “Salem University student JJ.”

Heroic Muse · Dec 2, 2014

Daniel looked tired when JJ got to his office. JJ played with his keys as he came inside and closed the door. “Are you sure this is a good time?” he asked Daniel. “Cause no offense, man, but you look like hell.”

Daniel shrugged. “Yeah, it’s been rough, but let’s not talk about that right now. What’s up?”

JJ sighed. “You know how you didn’t give up on me all that time I was trying to make you miserable?”

“Okay, JJ, I’m gonna stop you right there. We’ve been through this, man, and you know it doesn’t matter to me.”

“No, man, it’s not that. Not this time. It’s just…” JJ took another deep breath. “Okay, I have this friend who’s doing something he shouldn’t be, and it’s like, totally going to ruin his life. And everything I’m doing to try to get him to see it, it’s just making things worse. So I wanted to ask you…” JJ looked up at Daniel, his eyes wide and full of sincerity, “I guess I wanted to ask, how do you get through to someone who’s so mad they hate the sight of you?”

Daniel rubbed the bridge of his nose while he thought about it. “You just keep trying,” he said, finally. “You refuse to give up, man, no matter how mad they get, you just keep looking for any little crack in their defenses, anything you can use to get them to see that you’re not the enemy. But JJ, you gotta know, man, sometimes, sometimes no matter what you do, you’re just gonna lose your friend. Now I’m not saying you will, but you, you just gotta be prepared to take that risk.”

JJ slumped down in his seat.

“I’m not trying to discourage you, man. I think you’re trying to do a noble thing. I just want you to know what you’re up against.” Daniel played with a pen on his desk. “Tell you what. I don’t wanna pry, you know that, but if you wanna tell me exactly what’s going on, I promise you it will stay just between us, and then maybe I can help you come up with some ideas to get a handle on it.”

Jennifer didn’t really know where to go. Her whole body ached to be in Parker’s room with Daniel. She’d messed that up pretty well, hadn’t she? She didn’t want to go home, either--too many memories of Jack, too much emptiness, too much knowledge that she had a son out there in the world who was avoiding her.

Parker in a hospital bed. JJ God knew where.

She couldn’t help either of them.

Jen found herself in Horton Town Square, near the memorial to her grandparents. She touched it, trying to feel her grandmother’s warmth, trying to hear the voice that had so gently guided her so many times. All she felt was cold metal under her fingertips.

She took out her phone and called JJ, blinking back tears, telling herself sternly to get it together before he picked up. He didn’t--the voice mail did.

Hey, you’ve reached JJ’s phone. I’m really busy but I’ll probably call you back sometime soon if you leave a message.

Jen took a deep breath. “JJ, it’s Mom. I know you think I’m breathing down your neck all the time, but I really miss having my son around. Even if you don’t want to come home til late, please call me. I’ll be around all day. I love you, honey.”

She squeezed her eyes shut as she hung up and massaged the bridge of her nose to make the tears stop.

“Jen!” Hope said as Jennifer opened her eyes again. She came up to Jen from across the square, Ciara trailing reluctantly behind her. “I’m glad I ran into you, cuz.”

“Yeah,” Ciara said. “Now we don’t have to waste time going to your house when I’m supposed to be going to Theo’s.”

“Ciara,” Hope said, but Jennifer said, “No, that’s all right. I’m sure Ciara didn’t mean to be rude. What’s up?”

“I felt really bad that we never got to do coffee,” Hope explained. “I got caught up in a huge case, and if Roman hadn’t made me take a break I’d probably still be in the office looking at the same evidence and hoping it told me something different. So I thought I’d stop in at the pub and get something to bring over. But since I ran into you, why not just catch up there? That is, unless you’re in the middle of something.”

Jen forced a smile. “No, nothing. JJ and Abigail are both out doing their own thing, so I’ve got a few hours to spare. Let’s go.”

Heroic Muse · Dec 2, 2014

After JJ had told Daniel the whole story, Daniel looked like his headache had gotten worse. He rubbed his temples and said, “Oh my God, JJ, you do realize that you were risking not only getting kicked out of school but getting arrested again, right?”

JJ turned red. “I wasn’t planning on doing anything dangerous, Daniel, I swear.”

“You weren’t planning on doing anything dangerous. What exactly did you think was going to happen, man? Were you thinking, at all?”

“I thought maybe if I scouted it out, I could get Rory thinking I was on his side, and then, I don't know, talk him out of stealing the exam. It was lame, I know.”

“Yeah. It was. JJ, you get arrested, no judge is gonna care about what you were trying to do for Rory. You’re just gonna end up right back where you started, kicked out of school and with a possible jail sentence hanging over your head. And your future, JJ, your future will just go right down the drain. You got that?”

“Got it.”

Daniel patted JJ’s shoulder. “For what it’s worth, man, you’re doing the right thing trying to look out for your friend. You… you just gotta think things through so that you keep your own nose clean while you get him believing you’re on his side. Okay?”

“Okay.” JJ stood up and held out his hand. “Thanks, Daniel.”

“Not a problem. Just…just be careful. Oh, and one more thing, JJ.” Daniel gestured towards the seat. “You were asking me what was going on with me. I’ll tell you but I don’t want it going any further than this room. Are we clear?”

“I won’t tell anybody. I promise.” JJ sat back down.

“Thanks.” Daniel sat down on the edge of his desk, facing JJ. He sighed. “I’m stretched real thin right now, man, and I want you to know it has nothing to do with you. But Parker, he… he’s not well.” Daniel blinked back tears. “I don’t know exactly what’s wrong with him yet. Your Aunt Kayla, she’s helping me figure it out, but right now, JJ, right now he’s in the ICU and that means that taking care of him has got to be my first priority.”

“I...I’m sorry. If I’d known I wouldn’t have wasted so much of your time with… with my stupid problems.”

“Honestly, man, you did me a favor. I had to get away for a few minutes, think about something else than what could be happening to my son. And JJ, I want you to know, if you need me I will be here for you as much as I can be. It’s just, til Parker’s back on his feet, I can’t make any promises about my schedule.”

“I understand.” JJ got up. “Is there anything I can do to help, man?”

“Actually, there is something.” Daniel patted JJ’s shoulder. “You, JJ, you just keep doing as well as you’re doing. I’m so proud of the way you pulled yourself together this last year, man. Just keep it up, just keep giving me something to be happy about while I’m going through this. Deal?”

“Deal.” JJ shook Daniel’s hand. The two men patted each other on the back before they pulled apart.

Ciara sat down with Jen and Hope at Brady Pub but Hope said, “Oh, honey, I think Grandma Caroline would love it if you went upstairs and spent some extra time with her.”

“You mean, you want me to go away so that you and Jennifer can talk about why she’s so sad.”

“I’m not sad, sweetheart,” Jen told her, “but your mom and I do want to catch up on grown-up things.”

“Yeah, right,” Ciara said.

“Ciara Alice,” Hope told her in a very tired voice, “please just go see your grandmother, okay?”

Ciara slid off her seat and stomped upstairs. Hope was pretty sure that her daughter had decided to sit on the top of the steps and listen instead of going all the way into Caroline’s apartment, but she decided to ignore it.

“Sorry about that,” Hope told Jen. “She’s going through a phase again.”

“I guess maybe I’m lucky that I didn’t have to go through that with my kids,” Jen said, “since they were away at boarding school when they were Ciara’s age.” She blinked hard.

Hope reached for her hand across the table. “What’s going on?”

Jen sighed. “I’ve failed JJ. That’s why he’s avoiding me. It has to be. He never wanted to go to that school in the first place, and then after Jack died, I just couldn’t… every time I looked at JJ, I saw his father, and it hurt so much that I just tried to push him away. My son was hurting, and I wasn’t there for him. And then for a while it seemed like everything was fine, everything was straightening itself out, but ever since he and Paige broke up… Hope, my son is in trouble again, I just know he is.”

“What kind of trouble?” Hope asked. “He’s not - “

Jen shook her head. “As far as I know, he’s not using. But he leaves for school early in the morning and comes home late at night, and I don’t know what he’s doing in between.”

“Wait a second. JJ’s on campus all day and all night?”

“Yes. Why? Do you know something? Is my son - “

Hope sighed. “I didn’t want to worry you, so I wasn’t going to say anything, but the Salem U campus isn’t exactly safe at the moment.”

“What do you mean?”

“I can’t give you any more details than that, Jennifer. I’m sorry. But JJ needs to stay out of the woods behind the dorms. They’re too secluded and a lot of crime takes place there. And if I were you, honey, I’d tell him he needs to stay off the campus altogether late at night.”

Jen’s eyes widened. “You’re scaring me, Hope. Please, tell me what’s going on and how I can protect my son.”

Hope took out her tablet and stared at it, thinking. “If anyone asks, you didn’t get this from me,” she said. She handed it to Jen.

Jen glanced at it. She saw the headline stating that three students had been attacked at Salem U. She turned white as she slowly put it down on the table.

Heroic Muse · Dec 2, 2014

Paige sat in her room, trying to concentrate on her biology textbook, but too many voices were swirling through her head. Daphne telling her that if she wanted to move in, she should just forget what Eve thought. Eve saying she wasn’t going to let Paige move until they caught the mugger. T saying her problem was that she was always looking for the ulterior motive.

She slammed the book closed and picked up her phone. “Daphne?” she said. “It’s me, Paige. If you’ll still have me, I’m ready to move in.”

As she hung up the phone, her mother stormed into the room and said, “Like hell you are!"

Bev joined Rory in the smoker’s circle in the center of the woods. "So even after you save JJ’s *bleep*, he’s too good to smoke with us?”

“I don’t wanna talk about him,” Rory told her, throwing back his head to let out a big lungful of smoke. “It ruins my high.”

“Whatever.” Bev took the joint from him.
Rory stared out into the distance. “We’re gonna have to come up with a new plan, thanks to JJ botching the other one.” He giggled. “That school cop’s probably put a 24-hour guard on the English office.”

“Like what?”

Rory laughed again. “You know anything about breaking into computers?”

“Like Dr. K even knows what a computer is. He probably doesn’t even use a calculator to add up the grades.”

“Hey!” Rory said. “That’s brilliant.”

“What is?”

“Dr. K’s gonna need to hire a student to put the grades in the computer, right? So maybe - “
Bev giggled. “Doesn’t he have, like TA’s and stuff?”

“Leave it to me. I’ll get us in.”

Bev’s phone buzzed just then. She frowned as she looked at it. “We’ll have to continue this stimulating conversation later. I gotta meet someone.”

“Hey,” Rory said, suddenly sobering up. “You’re not hooking up with that Cole again, are you? He’s bad news, Bev, worse than JJ.”

“Not that it’s any of your business, but no, I’m not that stupid. Or that desperate.”

Bev pushed past Rory. He followed her, watching through the trees as she met some guy. He thought it might be Cole, but he couldn’t tell; it was too dark. Whoever it was, he kissed Bev kind of hard. Rory didn’t like it.

He was so busy spying on Bev he didn’t hear the leaves rustling behind him. Suddenly, someone grabbed him from behind, covering his mouth with a gloved hand and putting a knife to his throat. “Keep quiet and get on your knees, dude,” a voice said in his ear. “And give me your wallet and your weed.”

SPOILERS FOR CHAPTER 3
-The robber steps up his game after an infuriating encounter
-JJ comes up with a new plan to intervene in Rory’s--will this one work?
-Nicole decides to give Jeff a taste of his own medicine.

Heroic Muse · Dec 14, 2014

CHAPTER 3

Rory raised his hands slowly into the air. He started to bend his knees, then suddenly reached across, grabbing the robber’s wrist and pulling the knife away from his throat. At the same time, he tilted his head up, butting the guy in the chest.

The robber stumbled slightly; his hand slid off Rory’s mouth. He struggled to get back in control, pulling the knife towards Rory’s ribs.

Rory tightened his grip on the guy’s wrist. He twisted it hard, pulling it behind the guy’s back and forcing his fingers open. The knife fell; Rory kicked it away from them.

“Let go of me, you stupid stoner!” the robber said, throwing his free arm around Rory’s neck and trying to choke him. Rory pretended it was worse than it was, dropping his head onto the guy’s arm as if he were about to pass out. The robber let go slightly and Rory twisted out of his grasp, then elbowed the robber hard.

The robber fell backwards and Rory fell on top of him. The two wrestled on the ground, rolling over and over. The robber’s bag burst open and the duct tape he was planning on using on Rory rolled out.

Rory saw the knife half-hidden under the trees as they rolled over one more time. He gulped; using a knife against someone went against his nature, but it seemed like it was the only way to end this. The guy just wouldn’t give up otherwise.

He grabbed the knife, forcing himself to steady his hands before he quietly put the weapon against the guy’s throat. “Quit, dude,” he said, his voice trembling slightly. “Lie still.”

The robber seemingly had no choice to obey; he stopped moving. Rory grabbed the tape off the ground. He began feeling buzzed again as he wrapped tape around the guy’s wrists, then around his ankles.

When he was done, he looked around to make sure nobody was nearby, then tossed the knife into the trees. He stood up and glared at the robber. It was so dark he couldn’t really see what the other guy looked like, just that he was dark haired and that his eyes looked dead.

“You know, man,” Rory said, “If you wanted some weed you could have just asked. I always share.”

“Let me go or you’ll be sorry.”

“You’re lucky you didn’t totally ruin my high, or I’d do more than just give myself a head start. Have fun getting out of this.” Rory grabbed his bag and took off.

Even though it was late, Nicole went to the office and grabbed a bunch of files. She wanted to check out this Jeff guy and find out what his game was. She didn’t like having her name used in someone else’s scheme--she could ruin her reputation all on her own if she wanted to.

She found his folder in her reject pile.She opened it slowly, reading over his resume and application and remembering his interview.

Jeff had been a bit too gung-ho. She’d asked him what his career plans were and his eyes lit up. “I’m gonna cover the big stories,” he said. “All the crime and drugs and violence that people don’t know about. I’ll let them know what their world is really about.”

“How do you think you’ll fit in with the scintillating stories about dog shows and community days we cover here at Titan?” Nicole asked him.

“Don’t patronize me,” Jeff said, and there was some sort of spark in his eye that Nicole did not like. Then he recovered from it and said, “What I mean is, I can go out and get the real stories so that we have to push all that stuff aside. Look, I’m at Salem U, and I’m sure you think the most interesting thing there is that every time the cops shut down one kegger, another pops up on the other side of campus. But there’s stuff going on there that you won’t believe. You’ll see.”

And now here he was, claiming she sent him to cover the serial mugger on the Salem U campus and blowing her chances of getting the real story any time soon.

Nicole opened her computer and signed into the public records database. She typed in Jeff’s full name to see if anything came up. Nothing.

Nicole went to the start menu and looked through some of the other databases, trying to find something that would tell her what she wanted to know. Her phone buzzed.

“Rafe, hey!” Nicole said. “Has it been a while? I’ve been so busy covering community clothing drives and delays at the airport, I hadn’t noticed. Coffee? How about we throw caution to the wind and throw in an entire meal? Yeah, there’s something I need to talk to you about too. See you then.”

Nicole hung up the phone and went back to looking through databases. I guess there’s always good old Ewe search, she thought. She hated using it; she felt it was beneath her. But she was getting desperate.

Ewe Search turned up Jeff’s picture from some school event. Nicole printed it out. “So you show up pretending you’re something you’re not just to try to get some information,” she said to it. “Well, two can play at that game. We’ll see tomorrow how you like it.”

Heroic Muse · Dec 14, 2014

The house was dark when JJ came in. He opened the door softly.

A light came on as he tiptoed towards the stairs. He glanced up as his mom came slowly downstairs. She was wearing a nightgown and her hair was down instead of being tied into a neat bun like it usually was.

“Did I wake you?” JJ asked. “I’m sorry. I was trying to be as quiet as I could.”

“No, honey, I wasn’t sleeping.” Jen came downstairs. “I couldn’t until I knew you were here at home, where it’s safe.”

“Well, I’m home now,” JJ said, “and I’m gonna head to bed, so - “

“No.” Jen sat down on the couch. “It’s more than you being out so late. I know you want your space from everyone and everything, especially me, but it’s beyond time we talked, and I’m not going to sleep until we do.” She patted the seat next to her.

Paige turned slowly to face her mother. “How long were you listening at my door?”

“Now Paige, we’ve talked about this, sweetheart, til we’re blue in the face, and the fact is that as long as there’s some crazy man on the loose who preys on sweet, innocent girls like you, you’re staying here.” Eve crossed her arms. “And if you cross me on this, sweetheart, well you’re just going to leave me no choice but to - “

“But to what?” Paige demanded, getting up. “I’m almost 19, Mom. You can’t do anything to me anymore.”

“Oh yes I can,” Eve said, moving to block the door. She pulled out her phone. “I am going to get that Hope Brady over here right now to talk some sense into you and if that doesn’t work - “

Paige rolled her eyes--something her mother had never, ever seen her do--and said, “Call whoever you want. I’m still moving in with Daphne.”

“Sweetheart, please - “

“Isn’t it enough you ruined my relationship with JJ?” Paige demanded. “You got your way on that, Mom, but that’s the last time I’m giving in to you.”

“JJ!” Eve was shocked. “Honey, I thought we agreed, that boy is no good for you. He’s the one who’s got you all riled up tonight, isn’t he? You’ve been talking to him on that college campus again.”

“No,” Paige said. “JJ and I are history, but the next time I meet a guy, everything’s going to be different. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to pack.” She pulled some flattened boxes out from under her bed.

Eve bit her lip. “Paige, sweetheart,” she said, her tone softer, “I’m not saying not to move in with Daphne. I’m just saying, you don’t have to do anything tonight. Just sleep on it, baby, that’s all I ask. If tomorrow you still want to move, I won’t stand in your way.”

“You promise?”

Eve held up her fingers. “Scouts’ honor.”

“Okay, fine,” Paige said, “but I’m not going to change my mind.” She sat down on her bed again.

Eve said goodnight to her before going back out in the living room. She fired up her computer; while she was waiting for it to come on, she said under her breath, “That’s what you think.” She typed something into her computer before picking up her phone.

Rory skateboarded all the way home, which took about an hour, since Kurt didn’t answer the phone when he called him for a ride. He told himself it was cool, but really he was *bleep* and didn’t want to admit it. Nobody wanted to spend their high being angry at their stupid brother.

As soon as he got home, he burst through the door, calling, “Kurt! Where are you dude? You won’t believe what just happened. I almost got robbed, man… but that lame martial arts class you made me take actually saved my life. So I owe you one, dude. Kurt? Are you here?”

Rory turned on the light. He found Kurt lying on the floor next to an open bottle of beer. For a second he thought his brother was dead, then Kurt made a horrible snoring noise and Rory realized he was just passed out. “Partying without me, huh?” he said under his breath, picking up the bottle. He took a swig from it to calm his nerves, then put it down and shook Kurt. “Dude, wake up. I just got out from under a knife to the throat. Come on, let’s smoke some together in celebration.”

Kurt pushed Rory off him. “Don’t sneak up on me like that,” he mumbled, his speech slurred. “I don’t like people sneaking up on me, man. Don’t sneak up on me.” He tried to jump up, but almost fell and had to grab onto the coffee table to steady himself. “Get away from me,” he said, trying to push the table towards Rory. “You don’t sneak up on me, little bro, not ever, you understand?”

Rory picked up his skateboard, quickly, and slid out the door. It would probably take Kurt a good half hour to pass out again. Rory could take him if he had to, but one fight with a madman per night was enough.

Marissa’s dorm room seemed smaller than usual to her as she pulled back the covers on her bed. She glanced over at the door to make sure it was locked before climbing into bed and settling into her pillow.

His hand was pressed against her mouth as the door closed. He said something… and there was something sharp leaning against her neck… cold and sharp… she watched herself drop her purse on the floor… her hands went up in the air and he moved her over to the bed...

Marissa’s heart beat fast. She opened her eyes and saw she was safe in bed and that nobody else was in the room. She rolled over and closed her eyes again.

The rope was too tight around her wrists...she tried to scream but something was in her mouth… she gasped for breath while she watched her lamp fall to the floor and shatter…

Marissa sat up in bed, breathing hard. She reached for her phone, looking for something to calm herself down. When she woke up the phone, the article she’d been reading about JJ was on the screen.

Young Boy Goes Bezerk, Destroys Bookstore

She scrolled down quickly, looking for clues. “Why, JJ?” she whispered, remembering the sad look he’d given her when he’d finally turned around earlier. She’d felt his sensitivity, his pain. She’d known he was like her.

Nothing told her how this sweet, gentle boy had become this other… monster. She scrolled back up and stared at the picture of the bookstore. Glass everywhere, chairs overturned, a guy on top of JJ, holding him down the way her attacker had held her down except this time, the boy was the bad guy and the attacker the good guy.

There’s stuff about me that turns off any decent girl, JJ had said. Was this what he meant?

Marissa put the phone down and tried again to sleep, but this time when she closed her eyes, all she saw was herself in Horton Town Square, seeing JJ looking at the bookstore window like she’d seen today. She came up to him and tapped him on the shoulder. When he turned around, she pushed her lips onto his, kissing him passionately, pushing him up against the bookstore window.

She jerked awake again. Sitting up, she pulled her pillow to her chest and hugged it, rocking back and forth to calm herself. What the hell is wrong with me? she thought.

Heroic Muse · Dec 14, 2014

JJ sat on the couch, his arms crossed. Jen had gone on and on after he’d tried to tell her he wasn’t avoiding her specifically--why couldn’t she ever listen to him?

“I know,” Jen was saying now, “that you are 19 years old and I can’t tell you what to do or when to come home. But I am asking you, JJ, no… I am begging you… until Hope catches this madman who is terrorizing Salem U, please, honey, please be here by 10 every night so that I know you’re okay.”

JJ stared at the floor while he thought about it. “I know I have done a lot of stupid stuff that’s scared you to death, and I don’t want you to have to worry about me anymore. But Mom, this guy only attacks people in the dorms.”

Jen shook her head. “I know you think that, honey, but I’ve been around long enough to know that with someone like that, you never know what they’re going to do next. It might feel like nothing can happen to you, but any time you’re on campus, especially at night, JJ, you could be putting yourself in danger.”

There was a loud crash outside. JJ and Jen looked at each other, and he could tell she was thinking the same thing he was: maybe the robber, whoever he was, was hitting private houses now.

“What was that?” Jen asked.

JJ opened a closet and took out his old baseball bat. “I don't know, but I’m gonna find out. Stay here.”

“JJ! Don’t you think we should - “

But JJ had already run out the door, holding the bat tightly, to check things out. Jen closed the door and went to the window to see what was going on.

Daniel adjusted Parker’s covers, talking to him all the while even though Parker was asleep again. “I don’t think you’re gonna get to go to your mom’s tomorrow, buddy,” he said. “But you hurry up and get better so you can go, and in the meantime, maybe...maybe she’ll come visit you here. Would you like that? Yeah, I bet you would.”

“So you’re Daniel Jonas,” a voice said from the doorway. Daniel turned to see a short woman standing there, holding a clipboard. The woman had bright blue eyes that were hidden behind her glasses and red hair arranged into a loose ponytail. She was wearing a lab coat.

“And you are?” Daniel asked.

“Elizabeth Harper,” the woman said, coming all the way into the room. “But all the kids call me Dr. Liz.”

“Well, he’s asleep,” Daniel said. He glanced at the monitor above Parker’s bed. “His heart rate and respiration rate have been stable for hours. How soon can we try taking him off the oxygen?”

“You’d be better off asking the pulmonologist about that,” Elizabeth said, “or maybe the cardiologist. That kind of stuff isn’t my specialty.”

“So then, why are you here?”

“I’m a pediatric counselor,” Elizabeth explained. She glanced at Daniel and added, “though I also do adults.” She blushed. “Anyway, being in the hospital can be stressful for children--and for parents too--so whenever the little ones are sick, I come around to see how everyone’s doing.”

“Yeah, well, he’s asleep, and I gotta tell you, he doesn’t do so well with strangers, so I don’t know if you’ll get anything out of him. But if you wanna give it a try, tomorrow would be - “

“Yes, I figured.” Elizabeth glanced over her shoulder as someone else came to the door. Daniel was relieved to see it was Nicole.

“Well, your wife probably wants to say good night,” Elizabeth said, “so - “

“Oh, she’s not - “

“Girlfriend, wife, whatever. I’ll leave you to it. It was certainly nice meeting you, Dr. Jonas, and I’m sure we will be seeing a lot of each other.” Elizabeth slid out of the room.

When JJ rushed outside, he found Rory struggling to pick up the trash can from the driveway. Trash had spilled all over and Rory’s skateboard was flipped over on the side of the driveway.

“Sorry dude,” Rory said, seeming slightly out of breath. “I had a little mishap.” He tried to right the trash can but he couldn’t quite do it.

“Come on!” JJ said. “I did more than enough of this when I had to clean the frickin’ square to stay out of jail.” He threw the bat down and helped Rory get the trash can back where it belonged. “What are you coming over here all high for anyway?”

Rory scowled. “I need a place to crash and I thought you were the kind of friend who would do anything for me. I guess I forgot, that guy doesn’t live here anymore. Sorry I bothered you.” He picked up his skateboard and slammed it down on the concrete. Something cracked; he cursed under his breath and tucked the skateboard under his arm as he stomped off.

Heroic Muse · Dec 14, 2014

JJ followed him to the end of the driveway. “Rory, wait, I didn’t mean it like that, man. Just my mom was getting on my case about hanging out late when there’s that guy robbing people and -” Rory bit his lip, and JJ noticed how wide his eyes got. “What?”

Rory leaned on his skateboard. “Look, dude, even though I’m mad at you, I’d be a crappy friend if I didn’t tell you to be careful. I...I ran into that guy in the woods. He’s messed up, and not good messed up either, scary messed up. Anyone who’d pull a knife on me just for $5 and a tiny bit of weed’s gotta be.”

“Oh my God.” JJ paced back and forth. “What’d he do to you?”

“Nothing, man. Yep, you’re looking at the only person who got one over on the Salem U robber.” Rory grinned. “He had duct tape and everything, dude, and I don’t even wanna know what he was gonna do with it, but it doesn’t matter. I turned the tables. It’s gonna take him at least til dawn to get free.”

JJ looked at him sideways. “You’re okay?”

“Better than ever, man He can’t keep me down.” Rory’s grin faded to nothing. “I do need a place to crash for a few though. My stupid brother is too partied out to join in the celebration.” He took out a joint. “I took the edge off a little before I headed over, and I got enough to replace. I know you don’t wanna do that stuff, but I’m prepared in case you change your mind.”

“Nah, I’m good.”

“Your loss.” Rory flicked his lighter.

JJ put his hand on Rory’s wrist. He could feel it shaking, and he didn’t think it was just from all the stuff Rory did, either. “Wait on that just a little. We still gotta get past my mom, and if she can tell you’re lit up, she’ll have a fit.”

“If anyone could use some, it’s her,” Rory said, giggling.

JJ shot an angry look his way. Rory’s face fell. “There was a time you could take a joke, dude,” he said, but he put the joint away before following JJ back to the house.

Bev and Cole’s kissing session had gotten hotter and heavier; Cole had backed Bev up against a tree and was kissing her hard while reaching for the buttons on her blouse. She was equally into it, pretending to push Cole away because that’s what he liked, but really wanting him.

Suddenly, there was a cry for help coming from the clearing. Bev pushed Cole away for real. “Hey,” he said, annoyed. “What game are you playing now?”

“Didn’t you hear that?” Bev demanded. “Someone’s in trouble.”

“What, you care about them more than you do about me?” Cole kissed Bev again, lightly, but she pulled away as the person called for help again.

“Go see what’s going on,” Bev said.

“All right, all right.” Cole tightened his belt. “Don’t move til I get back.” He disappeared into the woods. Bev waited til he was far enough ahead that he wouldn’t know she was disobeying him before she followed.

“Do I want to know who that was?” Nicole asked Daniel as she came all the way into the room.

“Not really,” Daniel told her. “Just some shrink. No one important.”

“The inmates are running the asylum, huh?” Nicole said. “Anyway, what’s the news about Parker?”

Daniel sighed. “Wish I had some to give you. He was up for a few hours but otherwise it’s just these machines keeping him stable.”

“Thank God for technology,” Nicole said. “Daniel, forget what I said earlier, okay? Parker’s going to be fine.”

“Yeah, I know.”

Nicole looked Daniel over to get a sense of how okay he was. “Um, you said you needed me to do something?”

“Yeah.” Daniel fished his keys out of his pocket. “I’m gonna be staying here with Parker so I need someone to check on things over at my apartment. Do you mind stopping by when you get a chance?”

“Of course.” Nicole sort of half smiled. “Want me to stay so I can do crowd control around your front door?”

“Nah,” Daniel said, “but tell you what. If you want to sleep in the guest bedroom for old time’s sake, go for it.”

“Tempting,” Nicole said, “but not tonight. I have to chase down a fake intern tomorrow, so I gotta get ready.”

“A what?”

“It’s a long story for another day. I could wring Miles’ neck for getting me involved in this star search crap. But first, I want to track down this Jeff guy and let him know that name dropping’s not free of charge.”

“Nicole…”

“Don’t worry, I won’t go too far...or at least I won’t get caught.” Nicole winked.

Daniel rubbed his temples and said, “I hope not, cause I don’t wanna have to come bail your *bleep* out.”

“As if!” Nicole laughed. Her smile faded and she said, “Seriously, though, you just get some sleep tonight. I got this.” She hugged Daniel and said, “Kiss Parker for me, okay? I don’t want to wake him.”

Jen turned away from the window as JJ came into the house, trailed by Rory, “Honey, what - “

“Mom!” JJ said as Rory closed the door. “You won’t believe what Rory just told me.”

Jennifer glanced at Rory, who plopped himself onto the couch, then turned back to JJ. “Is that what you’ve been doing every night?” she asked. “Hanging out late with Rory, that’s why you didn’t want to come home?

Breaking Ties - An Umbrella Mystery

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