Breaking Ties - An Umbrella Mystery

After hanging up with Nicole, JJ had a few minutes to spare. As he tightened his tie, he checked out his notifications on his phone. He had a Salem U Social friend request icon; he clicked on it and Marissa’s profile came up.

Marissa had asked him if he smoked weed right before the cops rolled up on them. What would she have said if he’d had the chance to tell her the truth?

JJ shook his head. “Sorry, Marissa, it’s better you don’t get to know me. You won’t like what you find out any more than Paige did.” He put his finger over the DELETE REQUEST button, but somehow he couldn’t bring himself to touch it.

He slid the phone into his pocket just as his mom came down the stairs. “You look great, honey,” Jen said. “Where are you going, all dressed up?”

“Um, Rory’s bail hearing is this morning.”

“Oh. So were you able to make arrangements with Aiden Jennings to take his case?”

“He’s gonna do today’s hearing,” JJ said wearily, sensing an argument coming and not wanting one.

“Is he - “

“I really gotta go, Mom.”

“You know, JJ, maybe I didn’t make this clear the other day, but I really do hope for the best for your friend.”

“Do you?”

“Of course I do.” Jen automatically straightened JJ’s collar. “Just because I don’t like who you become when you’re around Rory doesn’t mean that I wish bad things for him. I do feel sorry for him, especially after what you told me about his home life, and I hope he gets what he needs in order to get on a better path. I just think he needs more than you can possibly give him, and I don’t want to see you throw your life away for him. That’s all.”

“Mom! I’m not doing that. I want to finish college and make something of myself--don’t you know that?”

“Yes, of course I do. But when it comes to Rory, sometimes I wonder if there’s anything you won’t do.”

“I’m gonna be late.” JJ pulled his coat on and hurried out of the house.

Jen sighed as she closed the door after him. Why can’t I ever say the right thing when it comes to my son? she thought.


Chloe had barely opened her eyes when the lab tech came back with the x-ray machine. “Do you have to do that now?” she asked, glancing at Parker. “He just woke up; can’t you give him a few minutes before you start poking and prodding him?”

“Sorry. Dr. Collins needs this as soon as possible. As soon as she has the second image, she can make a decision about treatment.”

Chloe sighed. She glanced at Parker and said, “Can you be a big boy this time and just let the doctor take the picture?” Parker shook his head. Chloe sighed and got down on her knees so she was looking at Parker at eye level. “Please, angel? The machine won’t hurt you, I promise. It’s just going to take a picture of your insides to give to the doctor so she can see what’s making you sick.” Chloe blinked back tears, wanting to be strong for her son. “Just roll over on your tummy, you won’t even see it.”

“Nooo,” Parker said.

“Come on buddy,” the lab tech said. “What’s it gonna take to get you to cooperate?”

Parker shook his head. Chloe said, “Tell Mommy.” Parker whispered something in her ear and she said, “We can’t go home now, baby. We just can’t.” She blinked hard. “Please angel, just roll over.” She reached for him to help him roll over, but he grabbed onto the sides of the bed and held on tight, starting to cry.

Chloe couldn’t stand it. She looked around desperately for someone, anyone who could help. Maxine was passing by, so she called to her, “Maxine! Can you come in here for a minute please?”

“Of course.” Maxine came in and Chloe said, “This is impossible. This x-ray machine scares the living daylights out of him and they say they need to take another one, but he won’t… and maybe Daniel could get him to cooperate, but he’s not here and I just can’t take this.”

“Don’t you worry. I know how to handle this boy.” Maxine came and sat down. “Now Parker, we talked about this. Do I need to ask Dr. Brady to come in here and give you a big needle full of medicine to make you calm down?”

While Maxine went on talking to Parker, Chloe slipped out of the room for a second. She hated to leave Parker, but she couldn’t handle seeing him this upset, or the machines, or the whole situation. She flipped through her contacts to find the number she was looking for. “Hi,” she said into the phone, barely controlling the tears. “I know it’s probably weird for me to call you after all this time, but you know that family emergency I told you about when we ran into each other? It’s… it’s Parker… Right, of course you figured that--what other family do I have left in Salem anyway? What? They’re… they’re still running tests. No, even Daniel knows he can’t be the lead doctor for his own son, but he’s overseeing it as much as he can.” Chloe sniffed. “Look, stop asking so many questions! No, I wanted you to know. If anyone should, it’s you. Really? You’re… you’re glad I called? Oh. Of course. Yes… yes I’ll keep you posted. Always.” She hung up and collapsed against the wall, hugging the phone against her heart.


“What’s wrong, Mom?” Paige asked, pressing the phone to her ear and playing with her keys. She and Daphne had just been about to go grab some breakfast at the cafeteria when the phone rang. “You sound terrible.”

“Let’s go,” Daphne mouthed to Paige, but Paige held up her finger.

“Everything’s fine,” Paige said. “No, nothing happened. It’s been nice and quiet. Today? Daphne and I are going to go to breakfast and she wants to show me around campus before class. Mom… listen, I’m fine. Okay, okay, yes I can do that. I will find time today to come get the rest of my things. Daphne can - Why? Okay, fine, I’ll come alone. See you later.”

Paige groaned as she got off the phone. “Oh my God, my mom!”

“You didn’t have to pick up,” Daphne said.

“She’s my mom. Of course I’m going to talk to her.”

“Well yeah, but you’re already homesick and she’s not helping. You’re on your own now, Paige. You get to decide when you want to talk to her. You don’t have to jump every time she calls anymore.”

Paige squeezed her keys. “Can we please just go?”

“I know you feel like I’m being hard on your mom, but Paige, I’m just trying to look out for you. She’s trying to make you feel sorry for her so you’ll move back home, and you can’t let her do that.”

“Nobody needs to look out for me! That’s why I moved away from my mom in the first place, remember?”

“You’re right, you’re right. I’m sorry I said anything.” Daphne pulled her purse on and walked quickly away. Paige sighed before following her.
 
“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you,” Daniel said to Nicole.

“Scare me? Don’t flatter yourself, Jonas--I don’t scare that easily. I was just the tiniest bit surprised, maybe. I’ve been tiptoeing around, trying to make sure you don’t have any excuses for getting out of bed before you absolutely need to, and here you are. What are you doing, anyway?”

“Just brushing up on a couple of things.” Daniel’s eyes didn’t move from his screen. “I’m not up on the latest treatments for heart disease. It’s just not my specialty.”

“What? There’s something medical you don’t know?”

“I know. Shocker.” Daniel almost smiled. “I don’t expect to know enough to say definitively what Parker needs, but I figured instead of walking in there blind, if I can just get enough of this research into my head to form an intelligent opinion, maybe it’ll up his chances of getting the best care.” Nicole started to say something, but Daniel cut her off before she started, saying, “I have to do something, Nicole. I can’t just sit here waiting for the hospital to decide his fate.”

“So you keep telling me,” Nicole said. “Hurry up and wait’s not my style either. Want me to check into the cardiologist’s background to make sure she’s the best one for the job?”

“Nah, not necessary.” Daniel glanced up at Nicole for the first time. “You heading out?”

“You know me, I hate to say goodbye but I’m always rushing somewhere. Did you need me?”

“Not exactly.” Daniel looked like he wanted to say something else, but he didn’t.

“Okay then.” Nicole put her hand on the doorknob, then turned around. “It was kinda nice staying here last night,” she said. “It felt like things were almost the way they were before.”

“Yeah.” Daniel turned back to his computer.

“Daniel?” Nicole pretended to be looking for the right key while she waited for Daniel to look up again. “Uh...what happened last night...it’s not going to make things awkward between us, is it?”

Daniel’s eyes widened but all he said was, “Don’t worry about it. I was tired, you were tired...it’s already forgotten about.”

“Okay. As long as we’re on the same page.”

Daniel nodded.

“I’ll… I’ll check in later to see how Parker’s doing,” Nicole said. She hurried out of the apartment, closing the door behind her. Yeah, she thought, leaning against the wall. Same page but in a completely different book.


Marissa headed to her therapy appointment early. It was a nice day, especially for October, and anyway, getting out of the dorm room instantly made her feel a little better despite the fact that once again she hadn’t slep very wellt. This time it was weird dreams where nothing really happened, but she kept jerking awake and sitting straight up in bed like something had terrified her.

As she walked across the town square, she saw JJ hurrying in the other direction. She smiled ruefully, telling herself, Keep walking. He’s going to think you’re stalking him, the way you keep popping up wherever he is. She found herself calling his name anyway.

JJ turned around. “Uh… hey… I’m kinda in a hurry, Marissa.”

“Okay,” Marissa’s heart sank--why was JJ being so cold to her all of a sudden? “But listen… instead of us running into each other at random times, why don’t we, like, plan something?” Her heart beat fast but she kept going. “I mean, you’ve owed me a conversation for a long time, and I’d really like to have it.” JJ didn’t answer and Marissa asked, “Where are you going, anyway?”

“Rory’s bail hearing.”

“Oh. I hope it works out for him. If I didn’t have this stupid appointment, I’d go too. Not… not cause of you… or not just cause of you anyway. What happened to him was a travesty and I want him to know he has my support.”

“I’ll tell him.” JJ glanced at his phone. “Listen, I don’t wanna be late...for all I know they close the doors when they start and I don’t want Rory to think I flaked on him. Can I catch up with you later?”

“Student center at like, 11?”

JJ nodded before hurrying off. Marissa sighed as she checked her phone and went off in the other direction.


As soon as Rory’s escort had sat him down at the defense table, Aiden approached the DA. “Aiden,” she said, surprised. “I can’t believe you’re taking such an insignificant case.”

“I could say the same thing.” Aiden gave her a half smile--it couldn’t hurt. “What do you say we make this go away? We plead guilty, he gets a couple days community service, maybe a required meeting or two, and we call it a day.”

“With his arrest record? I don’t think so.”

“Come on, Lindsay. Are you really going to waste the taxpayers’ time and money playing hardball on this while hardened criminals go free?”

“Look, if it were up to me, I’d be happy to plead out. But I’m under orders to make an example of this kid. The weed’s not that important, but he’s in and out of jail, plus with all the drug crime in Salem, the prosecutor’s office feels that overlooking minor offenses is just going to lead to even more major offenses. Someone has to start paying, and unfortunately for your client, that someone is him.”

Aiden crossed his arms. “So there’s no kind of deal we can strike here?”

“Not one that doesn’t include jail time. Now I know what you’re going to say, so don’t bother opening your mouth. I may be stubborn, but you’re the one who’s threatening to try a case he can’t possibly win without resorting to technicalities and other tactics. Your boy’s guilty, period. Let him do some time and we’ll call it even.”

Aiden crossed his arms. “Three days, with credit for time served.” The DA gave him a look and he said, “Come on, don’t tell me you’re looking for a long jail term over this.”

“He might have robbed somebody! Besides, a sentence that amounts to him going free is no sentence at all. He serves a full 30 days in addition to going to AA meetings, a year’s probation and submission to random drug screenings.”

“No can do. I guess we’re going to trial.” Aiden walked over to Rory, ending the conversation.
 
Chloe thought she heard Parker’s monitor beeping like crazy. She put her phone away and pulled herself together, hurrying towards his room.

Maxine stopped her at the doorway. “You might as well stay out there so that you’re out of the doctors’ way.”

“What’s going on?” Chloe pushed against her. “I need to be with my son.”

“You need to calm down. If you want to be helpful, call Daniel and tell him to get his butt back here as soon as possible.”

JJ felt as nervous walking into the courtroom as he did during his own hearing. He looked around, trying to get his bearings, as he headed for the front row. Memories were flooding his brain… talking with Aiden right before his hearing began… Theresa coming up to him and trying to mess with him… the way the judge looked at him…

He shook his head. That was then, this was now, and he’d been out of trouble for a year. There was nothing to be nervous about, not as far as his own freedom went, anyway. He could see Mr. Jennings up front with Rory, and the DA… the judge hadn’t come in yet.

JJ continued looking around as he slid into a seat in the front row. The room was mainly empty, which didn’t surprise him, though he was disappointed that Bev wasn’t there. She was probably being selfish, enjoying some time with Cole instead of supporting Rory. I know Cole set Rory up, JJ thought. I just have to find a way to prove it.

Someone else was coming in now. JJ turned to see who, and was shocked to see it was Jeff. The two boys locked eyes, then both turned away at the same time. Jeff came down and sat down next to JJ.

“Didn’t think I’d see you til class on Tuesday,” Jeff said.

“Yeah, me either.”

“You here supporting your friend?”

JJ nodded. Nicole hadn’t told him to keep his job secret, but he had this feeling he wasn’t supposed to tell anybody, especially not Jeff.

“Sorry to tell you this,” Jeff said, “but he doesn’t deserve your support.” He leaned forward. “See, Rory might put on this cool stoner vibe, but it’s all an act. Underneath that mellow exterior beats a black little heart. That boy robbed me and tied me up and they had better do something about it.”

“Why are you here?” JJ asked. “Don’t you have a big story to chase?”

Jeff laughed. “This is why you’re not a reporter like me. No instincts.” He leaned back. “This is the story, dude. Either they’ll lock Rory up til his trial or they won’t. Either way, I get to write about it, show how justice works or doesn’t work in this sleepy little town. Small comfort after what just happened to me, but it’s better than nothing. Just wait til I walk into Nicole Walker’s office with my write-up. She’ll see what I’m made of.”

“Yeah.” JJ swallowed the rest of what he really wanted to say, adding only, “I ran into her yesterday, dude. She’s looking for you.”

“Of course she is.” Jeff grinned. “I knew she’d see what she has in me eventually. I pulled a little trick, man, one she will be proud of.”

“You mean telling the cops you work for her?”

Jeff’s face fell. “How’d you know?”

“She was pretty *bleep* off about it. I was trying to get some peace, play my guitar in the park, and she comes along wanting to know did I know you. She was really gunning for you, dude.”

A scowl flashed across Jeff’s face, but he quickly replaced it with a smile. “She’ll get over it once she sees my write up. I’m telling you, man, this is my day. She’s gonna hire me by this afternoon. You’ll see.”

The bailiff announced Judge Walston just then. JJ looked at Jeff out of the corner of his eye as he rose. Jeff’s eyes were sparkling and a half smile crept across his face, giving JJ the chills.


“I’m so glad you decided to come see me today,” Marlena said, smiling at Marissa.

Marissa sat up straighter, her eyes narrowing. “Why?”

“Well, when we last spoke, you were determined to handle the after effects of your attack on your own. It takes a lot of strength to admit that you aren’t doing as well as you’d like and to ask for help.” Marlena picked up a pen. “Now, before we get started, I do want to tell you that the work we will be doing together is completely separate from the work we may do in order to help the police catch the person who did this to you.”

Marissa crossed her arms. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh. You must not have got in touch with Detective Brady yet. I’m going to be working with her--and perhaps with you--on some techniques that may help you remember more about what happened to you so that the police can more easily apprehend your attacker. But that’s not important right now. As I said, the work we’re doing together right now is completely separate from that.”

Marissa sat quietly biting her lip. Dr. Evans remarked, “You look like you have something to say.”

“I have a lot to say.” Marissa breathed deeply. “In answer to your unasked question, Dr. Evans, no I have not got in touch with Detective Brady, and I’m not going to, either. Maybe you can help me and maybe you can’t, but one thing’s for sure: expecting the cops to do anything for me is just a waste of time.”

“Oh?” If Dr. Evans was upset, her face didn’t show it. “What makes you say that?”

“Because it’s true.” Marissa blinked back tears. “They asked me the same, painful questions over and over like they expected me to have some different answer, and then they go and arrest the wrong guy. And okay, anyone can make a mistake, even a cop can make a mistake, but they don’t listen to the victim when she says in no uncertain terms that this isn’t the guy who did this to her? No, the only one who made a mistake was me… and that mistake was in thinking that Detective Brady gives a damn about getting this guy. All the cops care about is getting someone, anyone, so they can rest easy and say that we’re all safe when we’re not, when this guy is still out there…” Marissa suddenly felt like she was talking too much, revealing too much. She cut herself off abruptly. Her eyes refused to stop burning no matter how many times she blinked and she found herself wiping them with the back of her sleeve as if she were three years old again.

“I see.” Marlena made a note on her pad. “You know, Marissa, refusing to engage with the detectives on your case can make you feel in control again, in a way you haven’t since your attack. But consider this: your very refusal, your choice to do nothing to help put the perpetrator of the attack behind bars, may in the long run cause you to feel even less power in this situation. So why don’t we begin by talking about the real source of your feelings of powerlessness? Tell me what you experienced during your attack.”
 
As Hope was walking into the police station, a young man came running in behind her. “You’re that detective that’s related to JJ, right?”

Hope turned. She put her purse behind her desk and said, “I’m Detective Hope Brady, if that’s what you’re asking. Why?”

“Yeah. Detective Hope Brady. Yeah. JJ said that was your name once. I’m Kurt, um, Kurt Adams.”

Hope gave Kurt a puzzled look. “How can I help you?”

“My little brother is missing,” Kurt said, talking very fast. “The other night, um, I was kind of not at my best, and he didn’t come home. And I told JJ yesterday, I told him, tell Rory to call me, right? And he said okay, but still I never heard from Rory so I figured, I figured I’d have to overcome my fear of this place--cause I don’t like cop shops, I have to tell you, they’re not my favorite place… anyway, I figured I should fill out one of those missing person reports or whatever.”

“I can save you the trouble,” Hope said. “I know where your brother is.”

“You do? That’s great.” Kurt grinned. “So um, Detective Brady, um, where is he?”

“Your brother’s in the courthouse,” Hope said, “waiting to be arraigned on drug charges.”

Kurt looked upset for a second, but then he laughed and said, “Great! He’s not missing! Thanks Detective!” He ran out of the police station.

Hope sat down at her desk, shaking her head. What is going on in Rory’s home life? she thought.


Eve had barely got out of the shower and gotten dressed when someone pounded on the door. Who in the world? she thought, going to answer it. Paige said she was having breakfast with that friend of hers first, and anyway she has a key. She opened the door to find Jill standing there.

Jill pushed past her, coming in without being invited. “I’m tired of playing games,” she said. “You didn’t even give me enough for one night at the Salem Inn. I had to stay in the park last night. Do you know how creepy that place is after dark?”

“My heart just bleeds for you, it really does, but I told you that the room isn’t available until the end of the week. Now get out!”

“I don’t think so.”

“Now come on, Jill. You don’t want me to have to call the cops to come get you after all we’ve been through, now do you?”

“You’re going to call the cops on me? When I’m pregnant and I have no place to stay?”

“I don’t want to, believe me I don’t, but if I have to, I will.”

“Good.” Jill plopped down on the couch. “I’d love to tell them all about what you hired me to do...here I am, a poor girl desperate to get off the streets and you pay me a lot of money to drug your daughter’s boyfriend. Is Paige coming over today, by the way?”

Eve glared at Jill. “What do you want?”

“I’m not waiting til the end of the week to move in. I’m staying here from now on. Your precious daughter will just have to deal with it.”

Eve’s eyes widened. She picked up her phone and started to disappear into the other room. “Hey!” Jill said. “What are you doing?”

“Calling your bluff.” Eve went into the bedroom, leaving the door open just a crack so she could see Jill sweat. She dialed a number, lowering her voice. “Eric? This is Eve Larson. I am so sorry to have to bother you, but I couldn’t think of a better person to call to help a poor homeless girl who just crossed my path. I’ll explain more in person… now I hate to ask this, but is there any way you could head over this way right away?”


When Daniel rushed into the room, Parker was sitting up in bed, smiling and playing with the toy Elizabeth Harper had given him. He turned towards Chloe, trying to catch his breath. “From your message… I thought…”

“Yeah,” Chloe said. “So did I. I thought I heard his monitor going crazy, but I… I guess I was hearing things.”

“Wait...where were you?”

“I had to take a call.”

“You had to take a call.” Daniel rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Our son… our son, Chloe, he’s… you told me to go home and then you, you walked out of the room to take a call.”

“I didn’t leave him alone. Maxine was here.”

“Maxine. She has… she has been a wonderful friend to me, and to Parker and I guess to you… but she… she is not his family, Chloe.”

“Really?” Chloe’s eyes widened. “So it’s okay for you to leave him with Jennifer while you go do God knows what, but if I need a minute, that makes me a horrible mother?”

“He knows her. God, Chloe, I cannot believe I have to explain this to you.”

“You weren’t here!” Chloe blinked back tears. “They wanted him to do another x-ray, and he was freaking out, and I couldn’t… what was I supposed to do, Daniel? I was here by myself with him and yes I stepped out for a second, but don’t you dare come waltzing in here after the fact judging me!”

“You’re right. I wasn’t here. Cause you told me not to be.”

“I told you to go home and get some sleep. I figured you’d be back first thing in the morning, that you’d want to be back. My mistake. I should have realized, everyone in the world is worth being saved by Daniel Jonas except his own son!”

Parker began to cry. “Mommy, Daddy, Mommy, Daddy.”

“Now look what you did,” Chloe said. She turned towards the bed. At the same time Kayla came in.

“Hey!” Kayla said. “What is wrong with the two of you? Parker doesn’t need this kind of drama, and neither does the rest of the ICU.” She glared at both of them. “I understand that right now this is a stressful time for everybody, but this is not acceptable. Don’t make me treat you like children and assign times for each of you to be in this room with Parker...alone.” She glared at both Daniel and Chloe.

Chloe had her back to everybody. She was sitting by the bed, singing quietly to Parker and trying not to let tears seep into her voice. Daniel’s arms were still crossed but he said, “You’re right, Kayla. Chloe, uh, I’m sorry I jumped down your throat. I kinda panicked when I got your call.”

Chloe kissed the top of Parker’s head. “It’s okay, sweetheart. Daddy and I aren’t fighting anymore.” She turned towards Daniel, her eyes wet, and said, icily, “Yeah. You did.”

“Chloe,” Kayla said softly, “I know you want more support, but do you mind if I borrow Daniel for a minute?” Chloe nodded. Kayla gestured to Daniel to follow her out of the room.
 
Judge Walston took the case file and said slowly, reading aloud, “Rory James Adams, one count of possession of less than 2.5 grams of marijuana.” He looked at Aiden and the DA over his glasses. “Dare I presume that the two of you are going to come to an agreement on this one?”

The DA glanced at Aiden, who shook his head slightly and said, “Unfortunately, we were not able to do that as of yet, your Honor.”

“Well, try harder. I don’t want to waste too much of the court’s time with this. But in the meantime, how do you plead?”

“Not guilty, your Honor.”

“Bail?”

“Own recognisance, your Honor,” Aiden said. The judge nodded but the DA said, “Your Honor, with all due respect…”

“Please tell me you have a good argument for keeping this defendant in custody prior to trial.”

“I know this particular offense doesn’t seem like it’s very important,” the DA said, “but it’s a question of frequency rather than degree. His arrest record would kill quite a few trees to print out. In and out of juvenile detention from the age of 13, drug dealing, assault, vandalism, theft… and that’s only what he’s been caught doing. Your Honor, his own mother had to call the police on him several times because she was afraid of him, and he no longer resides with her as a result of that fear. Not to mention, your Honor, that these drugs were found on him during a routine search after an arrest on suspicion of multiple counts of armed robbery.”

“Counts that you couldn’t make stick,” Aiden argued, “and therefore are not relevant. Your Honor, what does any of this have to do with whether or not my client is a flight risk? He’s a student at Salem University who has already missed two days of classes due to his arrest, and to keep him in jail awaiting trial seems needlessly punitive. It seems to me that the district attorney is determined to go around your authority over sentencing and put my client in jail regardless of whether the court ultimately plans to limit his freedom.”

The DA crossed her arms. “Your Honor,” she said, “are you really going to allow this attorney--and I use the word lightly--to sling accusations around your courtroom like that?”

“I know what I won’t do. I won’t have this descend into a circus. Both of you be quiet and listen to my decision.”


“No.” Marissa’s voice was almost a whisper. She pressed her arms tightly against her chest. “I spend way too much time going over it again and again. Whenever I close my eyes, I see it.” Her eyes darted to the floor, than back to Marlena. “All I really need is a good night’s sleep, just one, so I can think clearly again. I was hoping maybe you could prescribe some sleeping pills.”

“Getting sleep will help, but one night’s sleep won’t cure it. I think you’re looking for something easy. Take this pill and it all goes away. Unfortunately, that’s not how it works. When something as traumatic as what happened to you occurs, the only cure is time. Time and talking. The more you talk about your attack, the easier it will be for you to heal.”

“I said I don’t want to talk about it!” Marissa got up. “This isn’t going to work. I’m sorry, Dr. Evans, to have wasted your time.”

“Tell you what.” Marlena put her pen down. “Let’s at least finish the session. If you don’t want to talk about what happened to you, perhaps talking about something else will be helpful for you.” Marlena gestured towards the chair. “For example, let’s talk about what’s causing you to have so much difficulty sleeping.”


“First things first,” Kayla told Daniel in her office. “As Chief of Staff, I have the authority to reduce patient loads as needed. I’m sorry, Daniel, but until we start seeing some movement in Parker’s condition, I’m taking you off the surgical roster.”

“With all due respect, Kayla, this… this is not necessary.”

“I disagree.” Kayla put her pen down.

“I’m an excellent surgeon.” Daniel turned his back to Kayla. “And right now - “

“Nobody is arguing with that. But you know as well as I do that no matter how good a doctor is, he can’t do his best for the patients if he’s distracted. You’re not going to be able to turn it all off and give your full attention to the patients on your operating table while your son is lying in the ICU with a potentially life-threatening condition. I couldn’t, if it was Joey. Dr. Chung couldn’t, if it was Peter lying in that hospital bed. No doctor can, Daniel. Not even you.”

Daniel bit his lip, trying to get his words together. “Not only, Kayla, not only do my patients need me, but I need this. On a selfish level, I… I need that distraction, Kayla. I cannot just sit in that room thinking about Parker, thinking about what’s going on with him and what might happen. You say I can’t turn it off to assist my patients but Kayla, turning it off completely is how I am surviving this. If I can’t operate, if I can’t do my job, I don’t know how I’m going to function.”

“I see,” Kayla said, giving Daniel a puzzled look. “Don’t you want to spend more of your time with Parker?”

“Of course I do. Every minute I’m away from him, it kills me.”

“You can’t have it both ways, you know.” Kayla’s voice was soft, sympathetic. “You can’t be in his room 24 hours a day and at the same time perform complicated, lengthy surgeries. And really, Daniel, nobody is going to fault you for taking time off when your son is this seriously ill.”

“What are you trying to say?”

Kayla sighed. “As the chief of staff in this hospital, I have to do what’s best for the patients. And as your friend, I also have to tell you I’m concerned about you. I don’t think you can be there for either your patients or Parker the way you need to be right now. You’re frazzled, you’re stressed out, and that’s affecting everybody negatively. So as of today, I’m giving you some time off so that you can just be there for your son. And in the meantime, I also strongly urge you not to try to handle this on your own.” Daniel stiffened and she said, “I’m not going to push Elizabeth’s services on you. But if you don’t want to talk to another professional, at least lean on your friends and family. You’re right, you can’t be in Parker’s room all the time. Neither can Chloe; that’s why she stepped out. But when you need a break, don’t go see patients. Go home and relax. Spend time with Nicole… Brady… Eric… Maggie… all the people whose lives you’ve touched and who are waiting in the wings to be there for you the same way you’re always there for them.”

Daniel was quiet, thinking. It suddenly popped into his head that he had promised Jennifer a continuation of a conversation about JJ. He didn’t think he had the energy for her right now though, or for anybody. He’d slept fine despite worrying that he had somehow led Nicole on, let her think that they could ever be more than friends, but now a tidal wave of weariness hit him and he sank down into a chair, unsure whether they were done or whether Kayla was still talking.
 
Marissa sank into the chair. “I’m so tired, Dr Evans,” she said. She held on tight to the arms of the chair while she tried to put her words together. “Every night’s the same. I’m exhausted, so exhausted my… my bones hurt, and I think, I have to sleep tonight. And then I lie in bed and I close my eyes and… and I see things I don’t want to remember.”

“Memories of your attack?”

“I guess. Sometimes it’s like… like a movie in my head. Other times it’s just… a shadow moving on the wall that I think is something else… or a voice in my head asking me if I’m sure I locked the door, am I sure nobody’s in the room. It goes on all night and then morning comes and I think, I must have slept, that couldn’t have been going on all night. But I’m tired, so tired, and coffee doesn’t help and a shower doesn’t help and nothing helps.” Marissa’s eyes burned, this time from exhaustion. She blinked and said, “So you see, that’s why I need sleeping pills.”

“I’ll prescribe them,” Marlena agreed, “on one condition.”

“What?”

“I want you to make another appointment with me. Your insomnia as well as your mood swings and your panic attacks are all symptoms of your mind and body trying to make sense of what has happened to you. As we discussed earlier, that’s not something that can be cured in just one session. For now, I’d like to see you twice a week. If you will agree to that, I will try you on mirtazapine and see if that helps relieve your symptoms enough to allow you to sleep.”

“That sounds like blackmail,” Marissa objected, but she was too exhausted to be forceful about it.

“That’s one way to look at it. Another is that I’m trying to be as conscientious about your care as possible. Even if I weren’t a believer in therapy as an adjunct to medication, I’d still need to see you to monitor how the medication is affecting you and make sure you’re on the right dose. Now you should know,” Marlena said, picking up her prescription pad, “that this isn’t a sleeping pill, strictly speaking. It’s an antidepressant, and it may take some time to start working. But I think you will find that soon enough you’ll be able to regulate your sleep and some of your other symptoms. In the meantime, our work together will certainly help you get the control over your life that you want. So all that’s left is for you to agree to our next appointment.”

Marissa nodded.


“Both the DA and the defense attorney make a point,” Judge Walston said. Just then, the courtroom door opened again. JJ turned, along with most of the courtroom, as Kurt ran into the room, allowing the door to slam closed behind him. JJ tried to catch his eye, but Kurt looked the other way, maybe on purpose.

The judge banged his gavel. “I will have it quiet in here. Young man, I don’t know who you are, but I expect your presence at these proceedings to be more respectful than your entrance. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes your… your Honor.” Kurt seemed to be slurring his words a little.

“Good. Now, as I was saying… both sides have a point when it comes to the bail in this case. I am not pleased that this case is even going to trial. Mr. Adams--”Judge Walston gave Rory a pointed look--”if the police mistakenly arrested you for a serious crime, perhaps you should take a good, long look in the mirror to figure out why they would think such a thing. In any event, it is illegal to possess even small amounts of marijuana, and the fact that the drugs were found during an arrest you or your attorney plans to object to is irrelevant. Now, you have the right to claim innocence and to put on a show to try to convince a jury--and perhaps myself--that there is some reason we should all overlook the letter of the law, but I hope you choose instead to simply take responsibility for having broken it, and that the DA’s office in response exercises leniency.”

Judge Walston gave the DA an equally pointed look. JJ, feeling like he was the next to be on the receiving end of the judge’s annoyance, made an effort to get rid of the scowl he could feel creeping onto his face.

“Now,” Judge Walston went on, “regarding the bail itself. It is true enough that this defendant has a lengthy arrest record, but that is neither here nor there as far as this case goes. Despite the fact that he was initially accused of a serious, violent crime, the defendant cooperated fully with the police during his arrest, demonstrating that he respects the authority and seriousness of these proceedings, even if he does not appear to respect much else. As Mr. Jennings points out, the defendant is a full time student, and it seems to me that to keep him in custody is to deny him the only chance he has for a future outside of a jail cell. At the same time, I would be remiss if I didn’t take into consideration his full history. Ms. Rubin has a point as well--it is more than probable, given this history, that the defendant simply has not been caught for a more major offense than the one he committed, and part of the reason for keeping defendants in custody is to intervene with their tendency to wreak havoc in our community. Thus, for the defendant’s sake, the sake of all of Salem and most importantly for the sake of my own conscience, I am splitting the difference. Bail is set at $500, and trial is set for the first of December. The defendant will remain in lockup until such time as bail is paid in full.”

Rory looked around the courtroom as the judge’s gavel came down. He doesn’t have $500, JJ realized. He racked his brains trying to figure out what to do. Maybe he could take up a collection or something.

As the guards began to escort Rory back to his cell and what few spectators there were emptied out, Kurt said, loudly, “Excuse me, your Honor!” The judge turned slightly, his lips pinched together. Kurt said, fishing some bills out of his wallet, “I just got paid, I have the $500. Do I give it to you or something?”

“See the clerk,” Judge Walston told him, “and if I were you, I would try to at least appear sober so that he can accept your payment.”
 
“So,” Jill said, rolling her eyes as Eve came back into the living room, “are the cops on their way?”

“You bet they are,” Eve said, “and it seems that they’re really cracking down on girls like you, trying to clean up the streets. You know, with all this crime going on over at the school they’re doubly concerned about making sure all the parents think Salem is a safe little town for their sons and daughters to move to.”

“Good.” Jill leaned back. “Let them hear all about how you’ve been harassing the poor pregnant lady, not to mention how you blackmailed me into helping you protect little Paigey from her big bad boyfriend.”

Eve scoffed. “Like they’d listen to you. As far as they’re concerned, I’m a good citizen who tried to save a prostitute from life on the streets, and I feel so terrible about the way you paid me back.”

“I thought I heard that boy got a blood test,” Jill commented nonchalantly, “and it showed drugs in his system. I wonder who he got them from?”

“Why in the world would I drug him? My whole problem with him was that he was all about drugs, drugs, drugs, and I didn’t want my daughter exposed to that lifestyle. He probably took them his own damn self.”

“Just wait til they find out that you told me to, that you warned me if I didn’t drug him and make out with him you’d go straight to the cops. That makes none of what happened my fault and all of it yours.” Eve paled and Jill went on, “I can’t wait to see the look on your daughter’s face when she finds out her mommy’s in jail for extortion, drugging… maybe sexual assault too, I had to pull JJ’s clothes off while he was out cold just to get the picture you wanted. I bet she runs straight into his arms once I give her the news.”

“Paige won’t believe you,” Eve said. “She knows I love her. She knows I’d never do anything to hurt her.”

“Mmm hmm.” Jill rubbed her belly. “Just like I love this little one growing inside me. I’m going to need a nice, warm place to stay, with winter coming and all, plus I’m eating for two, so I’ll need some help with food.” She glanced up at Eve. “You didn’t call any cops, so let’s stop playing this game. Who’s on the way over?”


After Kurt paid the clerk, the guards took the handcuffs off Rory. “I’m free, right?” he said to Aiden, who nodded. “Thanks, man.” Rory grinned.

“Guess your friend got off easy after all,” Jeff said to JJ. “How the hell did someone like him get a slick lawyer like Aiden Jennings?”

JJ shrugged. “Maybe he has good luck.”

“Or good friends.” Jeff shot JJ an angry look.

“Dude, what are you so hyped up about?” JJ asked. “The judge wasn’t exactly happy with him. So someone stood up for him, so what?”

“He attacked me!” Jeff said. “He should be rotting in jail until his trial, but they don’t even press charges on the robbery. I’m telling you for your own good, JJ, you should stay away from that guy. He’s violent. Just ask your new friend Marissa what he does to people.”

JJ crossed his arms. “How do you know anything about Marissa?”

“I saw you guys talking in the square on the way over. If you’re hoping to score with her, good for you. She should be pretty easy to win over, since she’s pretty fragile after what happened to her.”

“JJ!” Rory called from the back of the courtroom. JJ turned for a second; when he turned back, Jeff was gone. JJ sighed as he went over to Rory and Kurt.

“Congrats, dude,” JJ said. He nodded at Kurt. “Thanks for coming through for him.”

Kurt laughed. “Like I’m ever not there for my bro.”

JJ bit his lip. Rory said, “Dude, listen, we’re gonna go celebrate. Don’t flip out, you don’t have to do any pot or anything, but you should be there.” It only half registered; JJ, looking over Rory’s shoulder, saw Jeff slide out of the courtroom.

He was supposed to go check in with Nicole, but if he followed the guy, she wouldn’t fault him for being late. “I’m sorry, man,” he said. “I gotta run, but how about we catch up later?”

Rory scowled. “Come on, man, stop having a fit of conscience. You’d think you’re the one locked up, the way you act sometimes.”

“It’s not that, dude. It’s just I gotta meet someone. “

Rory’s eyes widened. “Oh… it’s that new girl, right? Listen, if you wanna swing by with her, we’re gonna hang in the park. She’s totally welcome.”

Just then, Aiden came up behind them. “Before you disappear, I need to confer with you for a minute. There’s the matter of the actual trial, assuming I don’t get through that DA’s thick skull that you deserve a deal, but even more important… while it’s fresh on your mind, let’s talk payment.”

“I told you,” Rory said, “I’m not exactly swimming in cash like JJ is. My brother just paid most of his paycheck to cut me loose.”

“I’m not talking about money. There are other ways to work this out,” Aiden told him. “Would you mind crossing the street to my office for just five minutes?” He turned towards JJ. “We won’t be long. I promise.”

“We’ll wait,” Kurt said, laughing again. “It’s not like we have anywhere else to go today.”

Rory headed out with Aiden. “I really gotta run,” JJ said. “Tell Rory I’ll be by later.”

“We’ll save you a joint,” Kurt called as JJ hurried out. JJ turned, started to say something, then decided it wasn’t worth it and ran down the courthouse steps.

The street was practically empty by the time he got outside. Jeff couldn’t have got too far, JJ thought, but he didn’t see him anywhere. He headed in the direction of the square since you pretty much had to go through it to get anywhere.
 
Hope was in her office, looking over all the victim statements again while she waited for Rafe to come back from his meeting with the campus security officer. “Okay,” she said to herself. “Think, Brady, what do we know?” She turned the page and read another statement. “The guy attacks from behind. In all three cases in the dorms, he slipped inside the room while the victim was opening the door, and in the woods he grabbed Rory while his back was turned. So, okay… his crimes are crimes of opportunity, yet they seem methodical, planned out. So the question is, are these victims random, and if not, how he is he finding them?”

She flipped a page, remembering the interviews she’d had with the victims. I’d just come from my Economics class, one said. It was right after Classic Lit, another had told her. I went back to my dorm to study after Creative Nonfiction, another had said.

Hope’s eyes widened and she turned towards her computer. “Class lists… why didn’t we think of this before? Maybe he’s in classes with these victims so he knows their schedules, their habits, who seems like a good target…” She picked up the phone and started to dial a number.

Just then, Marlena knocked on the door. Hope put the phone down. “Marlena.”

“I’m not interrupting, am I?”

“No, not at all. I was just having a good old fashioned conversation with myself about this case.”

“Sometimes those are the most productive conversations.” Marlena smiled. “I had a few minutes, so I thought I’d come by and update you in person about the strategies we discussed yesterday.”

“Of course.” Hope gestured towards the empty chair across from her desk.

Marlena closed the door as she sat down. “I’ve met with all three victims,” she said. “They’re all handling what happened to them differently, of course, and they’ve all been significantly affected. I think cognitive re-enactment is a better idea than hypnosis, given all of their mental states right now. I’d like to oversee the process just in case it brings up unexpected feelings for anybody.”

“By anybody I assume you mean Marissa Hunter.”

“I’m not at liberty to comment, but I’m curious--why are you concerned about her in particular?”

“No reason,” Hope said, deliberately flipping through papers on her desk as she answered. “Well, no real reason, anyway. She was our first victim, and from the beginning I guess I’ve felt this connection with her. The more I try to question her, though, the more belligerent she becomes. The other two aren’t any happier about having to deal with this over and over, but they’re willing. Marissa isn’t even taking my calls at this point.”

“I see,” Marlena said. “I do think gaining her trust may be difficult, but once she understands that this is the best way to catch the person who did this to her, I’m sure she’ll get on board.” She stood. “I have to get going, but do you have any questions for me?”

“Actually,” Hope said, “I wanted to ask you about something else.”

“Of course.”

Hope took her glasses off. “How well do you know JJ Deveraux?”

“Your cousin’s son? I know more about his story than I do about him, I’m afraid. Why?”

“It probably isn’t my place to say this, but I’m going to say it anyway. JJ’s been kind of...lost, and I don’t think Jennifer knows how to handle it. He’s not the only one, either. I keep running across kids who are on the wrong path or about to be, especially with this case. I was wondering, do you know of any after school programs, like maybe at the community center, any places where the kids can go if they need someone to talk to or something to do?”

“Well, as you know, nothing is going to change for JJ or any other young person unless they want it to change. But I’ll get a list of resources together for you and you can pass it on to Jennifer or any other parent who’s worried.” Marlena’s phone beeped. She checked it, saying, “My next patient is on the way, so I’d better get back to my office. Call me when you’re ready to do the cognitive re-enactments.”


Daphne and Paige were too late for breakfast in the cafeteria by the time Paige was ready, so instead they went to the student center and bought food at the food court.

“So how was your first night of freedom?” Daphne asked Paige as she put hot sauce on her breakfast burrito.

Paige shrugged as she took a spoonful of oatmeal. “I had a hard time falling asleep. There were all these weird noises and stuff.”

“Yeah, it takes a little getting used to. The walls are so thin you can hear everything that’s going on everywhere.” Paige sighed and Daphne said, “Paige, it wasn’t anyone breaking in to anyone’s room. I swear. The campus is safer than ever.”

“I know that.”

“Well, then why aren’t you smiling? You did it. You got away from your mom, got your own space...this is awesome, Paige!”

Paige stirred sugar into her oatmeal. “I’m not quite away from my mom yet. I still have to go pick up the rest of my stuff this afternoon.” Daphne started to say something and Paige said, “Don’t worry, she’s not talking me into moving back.”

“I know,” Daphne said. “I still don’t see why you have to do that right now, though. I mean, you just got here. Can’t you have a few days to get used to your new surroundings before you rush off to get your things?”


Jeff walked into the student center, his laptop under his arm, his eyes blazing. He was not pleased with the Rory situation--it meant his effort to pay Rory back for beating him wasn’t working, and for all he knew the cops were looking at him now. Well, he knew how to handle that, he thought grimly, heading for an empty table.

He didn’t notice JJ following a little behind him, though he felt like something was wrong. He looked around the room. Paige Larson was sitting at another table with that girl she was always hanging out with. What was up with the two of them? he wondered. Paige was never alone, like she knew Jeff was around and wasn’t taking any chances. Oh for God’s sake, he told himself, she dated JJ Deveraux, she can’t possibly be that picky.

He headed for Paige’s table. JJ ducked into the corner so he could watch what was going on. JJ’s phone buzzed. It was Marissa--she must have got his number off the Salem Social site. Her message read simply, “I’m at the student center. Hope to see you soon.”


“Look,” Paige said to Daphne, “I know what you think, but my mom is still my mom, and she needs me. It’s going to take some time for her to adjust to me being gone. Ever since I can remember, it’s been just the two of us, except when I was a baby and we lived with my grandparents. It’s not fair to expect her to just get used to me being gone all at once.”

“What would she have done if you’d gone to Stanford? Moved to California just so she shouldn’t be alone?”

“Daphne - “

“I thought I recognized you,” a voice said behind them. Paige turned to see that reporter guy she’d met last night. “Paige, right?”
 
“I don’t remember giving you my name.” Paige’s eyes narrowed.

“We were in class together, remember? We talked about that last night, when your friend here was in the bathroom.”

“What do you want?” Daphne said. “We’re having a private conversation--nothing newsworthy here.”

Jeff laughed. “I don’t work 24 hours a day, you know. Actually, I’m working on something much more interesting than whatever you ladies were gossiping about. I was at the bail hearing for that Rory kid this morning. Can you believe they didn’t even charge him with robbing me? All he’s getting is some dumb charge for having a baggie of weed in his pocket. The judge was pretty *bleep* off too.”

“That’s weird,” Paige said. “Why would they do that? I mean, you’d think they’d wait til they had an iron clad case on the robbery.”

“Probably because - “ Daphne began, but Jeff raised his voice slightly to drown her out. “No clue,” he said. “But no worries, either. Being the intrepid journalist I am, I’m in a unique position to write about it. Maybe that’ll help the cops get their heads out of their asses.” Jeff smiled.

“Better go write it then,” Daphne said sharply.

“Yep.” Jeff adjusted his laptop in his arm. “I’ll be right over there working. Maybe you’ll want to read it when I’m done, Paige? I heard you were super smart.”

“She has plans,” Daphne said, “don’t you, Paige?”

“Well, yeah, but if it’s not too long I could probably look it over.”

Jeff gave her another smile before walking off.


Rafe had taken Roman along with him to meet Pete, the head of campus security, in Pete’s office. “I think we can all agree,” Roman was saying now, “that we want to put an end to this guy’s reign of terror. That way, we can get out of your way and your students can get on with their studies as normal.”

“I do agree,” Pete said. “I’m just not sure about this plan. It sounds dangerous--which I know is your place to worry about, not mine, since it’s your people who will be doing this--and also, don’t you think this will end up drawing more attention to the school? I mean, I know it’s all for show or whatever, but whatever person you stick in there as bait will be the fifth student attacked. If the press gets wind of this, it could ruin Salem U’s reputation for safety.”

“Everyone in the department understands that they aren’t supposed to talk to the press about this case,” Roman said.

“Be that as it may, sooner or later someone will go rogue, and then what?”

“With all due respect,” Rafe said, “until we catch this guy, Salem University isn’t safe. That’s just a fact. So let’s do this and restore your school’s reputation. In the meantime, we will keep this as quiet as we possibly can… but with cops crawling all over the premises and rumors flying around, we can’t make any guarantees.”

“All right,” Pete said. “Explain to me again exactly how this is going to work.”


JJ waited until he was sure Jeff was too busy to notice him before approaching Paige’s table. “Hey, Paige, I know we’ve been trying to steer clear of each other but - “

Paige’s eyes narrowed. “What do you want, JJ?”

“Look, that guy Jeff you were just talking to… he’s bad news. He - “

“Oh my God. You are so transparent.” Paige rolled her eyes. “I know you’re jealous that I’ve moved on, but guess what? You don’t have any say over who I talk to or who’s in my life. We’re broken up. And I’m not the one who got so wasted I don’t remember cheating on you with some random guy.”

“If you’re talking about Jill, I’m telling you for the last time, I never touched her! You really aren’t as smart as you think you are, are you Paige?”

“At least I’m smart enough not to get into a situation where I’m bringing a life into the world while trying to deny that I was ever with the parent of my child.”

“What?”

“Don’t try to deny it, JJ. Even you can’t be that ridiculous. I saw Jill, okay? And she’s pregnant--very pregnant, like about to pop out a baby pregnant. So your excuses about how someone drugged you or you picked up the wrong drink or whatever the story is today… they don’t matter anymore.”

“You obviously didn’t talk to her, or you would know that whoever her baby’s daddy is, it isn’t me. Where did you even see her, anyway?”

“It doesn’t matter. The point is, you’re not even man enough to take responsibility for your accidental child, but you dare tell me who to spend my time with?”

Daphne put her hand on Paige’s wrist. “Paige - “

Paige pulled away. She glared at JJ; the fire in her eyes made his heart beat a little faster and made something happen down there that he really didn’t want happening. “Damn it, Paige,” he said, “if you don’t get by now that you’ve got it all wrong, you never will. “

“Get away from me!” Paige said.

Just then Marissa called from a few tables down, “JJ! Over here!”

“Yeah,” Paige said, making a face, “go over there to your new girlfriend and leave me alone!”

JJ’s eyes flashed. “Don’t forget who tried to warn you when this all blows up in your face.” He stomped off towards Marissa’s table. As soon as he was gone, Paige turned towards Daphne, her eyes wide with hurt. She put her head down on the table so that Daphne wouldn’t see her cry.
 
Aiden gestured towards the extra chair in his office as he unlocked the door and turned on the lights. Rory looked around as he came in.

“Nice digs, I know,” Aiden said, coming in. He closed the door. “Have a seat.”

Rory, pulling out the chair, said, “Dude, I told JJ not to go hiring any fancy lawyer that I couldn’t pay for.”

“Relax,” Aiden said. “I understood that going in. The bail hearing’s on me, anyway, so don’t worry about that. But now that you’ve seen my ultra fancy lawyer skills at work, if you want me to represent you going forward, we’ll need to work something out.”

Rory slumped down in the seat. “I guess I could try to pick up some work at that store my brother works at, but they barely want one of him, so they’re probably not gonna go for two. Look, man, I appreciate what you did for me already, but it’s not like I have any money coming in. I don’t like owing anyone anything, not weed, not money, so I guess I’ll just take my chances.”

“I don’t think you’re listening,” Aiden told him. “I’m not talking about money. Do you think you’re the first client I’ve ever had who couldn’t pay my full rate? I’m going to offer you a special discount.”

“Like, what’s the price tag? Cause I still got that $5 that robber tried to take off me.”

Aiden smiled. “How does zero sound?”

“What’s the catch?”

“The catch is this. Instead of paying me in money, you and I, my friend, are going to trade services.”

Rory looked puzzled. “I don’t have anything I can give you. Unless you want me to hook you up with some weed. I always have access to the best in the state.”

“No,” Aiden said, laughing slightly. “I was thinking more along the lines of you coming in a couple times a week to, I don’t know, empty the trash, straighten up my desk, leave the place better than you found it. You do that for the next six months and we call it even.”

“I get it,” Rory said. “Like that community service JJ got stuck with.”

“I guess you could say that. So do we have a deal?”

“Yeah, why not?”

“Good. So I’ll see you tomorrow evening.” Aiden stood. “One thing, though, Rory.” He leaned in close to him and said softly, “Do what you want on your own time, but don’t come here high or I’ll get ya.”


Chloe was sitting by Parker’s bed, watching him sleep, and practically falling asleep with her. Her phone beeped. She jerked awake and pulled it out to look at it.

It was a text from Philip:

Does Parker still like trains?

Chloe couldn’t help smiling, though her eyes were tearing up. Her phone beeped again. It was a picture this time of the outside of the Illinois railway museum; Philip had typed, When he gets better enough to come home, maybe we could take him here. My treat.

Just then, Daniel came back into the room, so Chloe quickly put her phone away in order to keep the peace. If things progressed with Philip, she’d eventually have to tell him, but now wasn’t the time.

“How’s Parker doing?” Daniel asked.

Chloe shrugged. “He’s sleeping for a change. Is it… is it normal for him to sleep this much?”

“I guess,” Daniel said. “With all the poking and prodding they do all night long, he probably isn’t getting a full night’s sleep.”

“I guess you’re not either.”

Daniel shrugged. “Look, Chloe, I’m… I’m sorry I jumped all over you before.”

“I know.” Chloe sighed. “We get along so well when we’re living in different cities. I guess parenting Parker in the same place just isn’t for us. I thought after all this time, maybe we could be friends for Parker’s sake, but I guess we still need that distance to stop us from tearing each other into pieces.”

“Maybe.” Daniel sighed. He turned his back to Chloe, thinking. “Or maybe,” he said slowly, watching Parker sleep, “maybe we’re just two ordinary people dealing with an extraordinary situation. I mean, splitting up holidays and visits, that’s a lot easier. This… this kind of illness… it wasn’t in the divorced co-parenting manual.”

“I guess not.” Chloe sighed. “Look, as long as Parker’s confined to this hospital room, we’re going to have to find a way to parent him together from the same space.”

“Yeah. So what do you propose?”

“I don’t know. I just think we have to present a unified front.”

“A unified front? What is this, a military intervention?”

Chloe laughed. “Well, you know what I mean. I don’t think we should fight in front of him. If he’s anything like me, he’ll eventually try to manipulate our differences to get his own way when he really shouldn’t. As it is, right now it terrifies him.”

“Yeah. I agree.” Daniel turned towards Chloe. “Listen, as long as we’re talking diplomatic relations, can you do me a favor? Call Nicole and try to make amends with her. She really didn’t mean to intrude.”

“I know she didn’t. Daniel, Nicole used to be my best friend. We’ve been emailing back and forth forever, and I’m probably one of the only people who gets why she shredded that evidence and doesn’t hate her for it. So if she thinks that little tiff we had the other day is the end of our friendship, she’d better think again.”

“I’m sure she knows on some level,” Daniel said, “but she’s had it rough. People in this town just won’t let go of her past, and I admit for a while I forgot how important she was to me cause I was so angry at her. So anyway, she probably figures you’re just another person who sees her as Nicole the Super Shredder and just between you and me, that probably cuts her deeper coming from you than from the people who get under her skin about it every day.”

Chloe nodded. “You’re right. I’ll call her. You… you really care about Nicole.”

“One of the best friends I’ve ever had, and I gotta live with the wrong I’ve done her.”

“Just friends?” Chloe asked.

“If you’re worried about Parker, believe me, Chloe, I’m very careful about having any type of relationship--including a friendship with a woman--around him. I don’t want him to get attached to someone who disappears.”

“No, it’s not that. I was… I guess I was just curious.” Chloe played with her phone, wanting to text Philip back but not wanting to do it in front of Daniel. Daniel gave her a puzzled look but said nothing.
 
Kayla knocked on Dr. Collins’ door. “You wanted to see me?”

“Mmm hmm.” Dr. Collins didn’t look up from her tablet. “Come over here and look at this.” She shut the lights and pressed a button to project the x-ray images onto the wall.

Kayla looked. The x-rays showed Parker’s chest; from both angles, his heart looked a little larger than most four-year-olds’ hearts did, and there were dark patches in his lung area. “Enlarged heart, fluid in the lungs,” Kayla said under her breath. “Does that mean what I think it means?”

“I don’t know, what you think it means, but I’m sorry to say that yes, it probably does. The size of the heart plus the backup of fluid suggests to me that this little boy’s heart is not pumping hard enough to meet his needs.”

“What’s his prognosis?” Kayla asked.

“Hard to say. A lot of children with pump failure do well with medication, but eventually, we’re probably going to have to replace either his valves or the heart itself.” Dr. Collins glanced at Kayla. “You know the parents better than I do… do you think there’s any way you could soften the blow ahead of my giving them the news?”

“I’ll do my best,” Kayla promised. “They’re already on edge now that they know that something’s going on with his heart, but maybe getting a definitive answer will in some way be a relief to them.”

“You always were the eternal optimist,” Dr. Collins said. “But thank you. I’ll wait for your all-clear before I ask the parents to come in.”

Kayla left the room. Dr. Collins looked at the x-rays again, shaking her head sadly, before she turned off the projection.


JJ kicked out his seat and plopped down into it. “Sorry I didn’t see you over there,” he said, glancing at Marissa. Her eyes looked bigger than usual and were red, as if she had been crying recently. JJ sighed. “Great. You’re upset too.”

“Not exactly.” Marissa pushed her coffee aside. “Not with you, anyway. But I don’t really feel like talking about that, okay?”

“Whatever. Look, it wasn’t what it looked like, I swear, Marissa. That girl - ”

“It’s not about her! Aren’t you listening?” Marissa crossed her arms. “I just came from therapy, okay, and the last thing I want to do is talk about it and get upset all over again!”

“Oh.” JJ glanced down at the table, embarrassed. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled. “I… I guess neither of us is at our best right now.”

“You can say that again.” Marissa sipped her coffee. “Do over?”

“Yeah.”

They didn’t talk for a second, each of them lost in their own world, breathing deeply, trying to calm down. Then Marissa asked,
Marissa took a deep breath. “At the risk of starting World War 17, who was that girl, anyway?” JJ gave her a weary look and she added, quickly, “I’m not upset about her. I’m just curious cause she just moved in down the hall from me. I almost introduced myself last night but I changed my mind. Guess maybe that’s a good thing.”

“She’s living in your dorm?” Fear shot through JJ. He didn’t think Paige could handle it if what happened to Marissa happened to her.

“Yes, I just said that. Why?”

“Cause…” JJ didn’t want to worry Marissa with his fears. “Well, the thing is that Paige… she’s kind of… my ex-girlfriend.”

“Oh.” Marissa stared down at the table.

Here we go, JJ thought. “What?” he said aloud.

“Nothing. It’s just... “ Marissa sighed. “It’s not like I thought we could ever be… or that you wanted to be… or that I wanted… God I sound like an idiot!” She took a sip of her coffee. “Okay, another do-over. What I’m trying to say is, it makes sense now that you’re not all that into us becoming friends or whatever. You’re still holding out hope that you’ll get Paige back.”

“No, Marissa. I swear, it’s not like that at all.” JJ pushed his water away. “Look, things ended with her really badly, and I - “

“You don’t owe me an explanation.” Marissa blinked hard. “I don’t care that you’re still into her, it’s really understandable, actually. She’s really pretty and… and she probably doesn’t have baggage from being tied to her bed or anything. I just wish that instead of trying to avoid me, you’d have just told me that.”

“I did,” JJ protested. “Don’t you remember me saying I just got out of a really bad relationship?”

“I guess.” Marissa sighed. “Look, I... I have to go now.” She pushed her chair away from the table.
 
“Hold on!” JJ shouted. People turned and stared at him. Marissa flinched, but she turned around. “This is why I didn’t want to get involved with you, or with anyone,” JJ said, his voice slightly quieter. “The reason things went bad with me and Paige, it’s cause she thought things about me...cause of my past...and I just got so sick of trying to straighten out what she thought was going on. And now you… we don’t know each other but you’re already doing the exact same thing.”

Marissa sank down into her seat again. “I’m not doing anything,” she said weakly. “I just see what I see. Look, JJ, I’m not saying I don’t want to get to know you or be your friend or anything like that.”

“Then what are you saying?”

“Nothing. I don’t know.”

“Neither do I.”

“All I do know is, from the second we met you’ve been trying to tell me that there’s something in your past that makes you no good, and for some reason that made me want to know you more when maybe I should have run away screaming. I don’t know why, maybe I should have brought it up to my therapist because it sure as hell doesn’t make any sense, especially when so far the only thing you’ve told me about yourself is that you have a gorgeous ex-girlfriend who I don’t think you’re over, and that’s only because I found out by accident. I want to know you, JJ Deveraux, God help me, no matter how many signals you give off that you’re not interested, I can’t stop wanting to know you. So even though my brain says I should just take you at your word and walk away from whatever nightmare you’re harboring, my heart says differently.” Marissa played with the cardboard around her coffee cup. “So please, would you stop telling me how horrible you are and just tell me what the hell your secret is so that I can decide for myself whether or not I’m crazy to want to know you?”



When Roman and Rafe got back from Salem U, Hope stuck her head in Roman’s office. “Got a minute?”

Roman nodded. Hope came in, closing the door behind her. “Please tell me you got good news,” Roman said.

“Sort of,” Hope said. “I have some updates, anyway. First of all, I think I might have figured out the link between the victims.” She opened her tablet to show Roman something. “Every one of the victims, except for Rory, said that the attacker followed them into their dorm room after class.”

“Yeah, I remember reading that in the reports.”

“Right. So maybe Jeff, or whoever the attacker is, goes to class with his victims. While everyone else is focusing on the lecture, he’s looking around, seeing who looks tired, who looks like they’re not surrounded by a ton of friends.”

“Looking for targets, you mean?”

Hope nodded. “Then class ends, the kids who have plans head out to the student center, but one of the ones who doesn’t gets followed home.”

Roman nodded. “Makes sense. But what about the kid in the woods?”

“He deviated from his standard M.O.,” Hope said. “From the way he reacted during the interview, I’d say Jeff has something against Rory. This one wasn’t just a crime of opportunity--not that the others necessarily were, either. In this case, it was definitely personal.”

Roman thought about it for a minute. “Any ideas how we can proceed?”

“I’ll fill Rafe in, for one thing. Then after that… I think we should see if we can get access to the class lists so we can make the connection. Reinterview the victims, ask them about their classmates. Also, I’ll mention it to Marlena. If we want to do cognitive reenactment with any of the victims, she’s willing to supervise.”

“I don’t know. That seems like some kind of psychological mumbo-jumbo, but I know firsthand that Marlena knows what she’s doing, so I’m willing to give it a shot. My bigger concern is whether the victims are gonna put up with any more questioning. Have you got ahold of that one who seemed to be refusing your calls?

“Marissa Hunter?” Hope shook her head. “I hope she’s all right.”

“Me too. Tell you what. I’ll let Rafe in on our new theory. In the meantime, you go find that girl and try to convince her to cooperate with the re-enactment. Since she was the first victim, there had to be a reason he chose her. So her cooperation is vital.”



Nicole sat at her desk, flipping through photos on her phone while she waited to hear from JJ. She ran across some photos of Eric, which she promptly deleted, then found one of her and Daniel and Parker from last Christmas. She remembered helping to zip up Parker’s coat before the three of them headed out for hot cocoa soon after she had moved in. Poor kid, she thought. Maybe I should call Daniel and see if there’s any update… but no news is good news, right? Besides, he’s probably reconnecting with Chloe right now.

Her mind went automatically to the time last year when she and Daniel had kissed, which of course led her to last night and this morning. She threw the phone down. If there was one thing she’d learned, it was that dwelling on what she couldn’t have would just get her into trouble.

“Slow news day?” Sally asked from across the room.

“Isn’t it always?”

Miles stuck his head in. “Glad to see both of you are so dedicated to this job. Nicole, where’s my intern?”

“He’ll be here soon. Right now you’re only the second most important person in Salem--he’s covering a bail hearing and he’ll be here as soon as it’s over.”

Miles looked at his watch. “Better be soon, or I’ll start assuming you’re making things up just to stop me from hiring Jeff Adkins.” He left.

Nicole sighed as she picked up the phone again. Sally said, “So this new intern… is he a hunk too?”

“He’s practically Daniel Jonas’ step-kid!”

“Ah, so that’s why you’re distracted. Don’t worry, I’m sure he’ll put in a good word for you with Dr. Jonas even after he sees what you do for a living.”

“Ha ha,” Nicole said. She stared into the phone, trying to decide whether to call JJ. There was no way she was working with Jeff Adkins, no matter what Miles had to say. You’d better come through for me, JJ Deveraux, Nicole thought.
 
“Okay, look,” JJ said to Marissa, “I don’t even get why you’re so upset. You said yourself you don’t know anything about me. What the hell do you see in me that makes you think I’m even worth your time?”

Marissa sighed. “I… I don't know. I guess.. your eyes, maybe?”

“My eyes?”

“T-the first time I met you, I saw so much in those eyes… so much passion, yet so kind… like you were at war with yourself… and for some reason that fascinated me… And then there’s your loyalty to your friend… wow, I’ve never met anyone like that.”

JJ shook his head.

“Like I said,” Marissa said quietly, “I have eyes. But if I’m wrong about any of that, just tell me.”

“You only know what you see in front of you. Paige, she said she wanted my passion too, after she heard me playing the guitar… but it was too much for her to handle, and you know what? I don’t blame her. Marissa, I’ve done things I’m going to regret my whole life… you just don’t know the whole story.”

“Then tell me! Don’t you get it? I want… no, I need to know your darkness. I know it’s scary and it’s weird but I have to… I have to know. Please.”

“Okay.” JJ took a deep breath. “I’ll tell you everything, Marissa, I swear. But just promise me, you’ll listen to it all before you decide about me.”

Marissa nodded.

“Okay.” JJ drank some more water. “Wow, this is harder than I thought it would be. I don’t know where to begin.”

“Well,” Marissa said slowly, “you can start with the answer to my question from the other day. Do you smoke weed too?”

JJ looked down at the table, then back up at Marissa. “Not anymore.” Marissa nodded and JJ asked, “Does that bother you?”

“Nah. I mean, that was never my thing, but if it did something for you, more power to you. Go on.”

“It was stupid, and I never want to touch it again. When I was stoned, it was like nothing mattered, like everything that happened to me was just...okay. And I did a lot of stupid stuff when I was on it. Rory too, but it was mostly my idea. I didn’t just smoke weed. I, uh… I sold it. And other stuff. And, that’s not all. Besides doing drugs, I… I messed with people’s stuff, I broke a lot of things that didn’t belong to me, stuff that belonged to my mom’s boyfriend and his kid, his three year old kid… I broke his train set on purpose.”

Marissa’s eyes widened and JJ said, quickly, “I swear, Marissa, I was a different person then. I don’t do any of that stuff anymore. I know there’s nothing I can say that’ll make it make sense, but I was really messed up after my dad died.” He played with the underside of the table and went on, “You wanted to know about me. Well, now you know.”

“No,” Marissa said after a long time. “This is just the beginning of knowing.” She smiled at him. “If you want to get to know me, too, I can tell you. Ask me anything.”

“I… I wouldn’t know what to ask.”

Marissa sighed. “My life probably isn’t as interesting as yours, but - “

Just then, Hope came up behind them. “I’m glad to see you’re alive and well,” she said to Marissa. Turning towards JJ, she added, “I’m sorry to interrupt, JJ, but I need to borrow your friend for a minute. It’s about her case.”



Eve scowled, but she made sure to wipe the scowl off her face before she turned back towards Jill. “You’re right,” she said, projecting as much sweetness as she could stand. “I just didn’t have the heart to call the police on you, not without giving you one more chance.”

“I knew you’d see it my way,” Jill said. “So I can stay?”

“Maybe. I called a friend who works for St. Lukes. He’ll be more than happy to get you set up with that shelter the church runs.”

“I told you, I don’t want to stay in a shelter.”

Eve laughed. “You are so much like me that it’s just like looking in a mirror. My Paige wasn’t planned, you know. But as soon as I found out I was pregnant with her, I understood that it wasn’t just about me. There was another little human being in the picture, and I just couldn’t keep doing these awful things to myself and not be able to provide a life for her. Now you may not want to stay in a shelter, but your baby will thank you someday for giving her a better start in life than you would have on the streets. And incidentally, my friend is the kind of priest who doesn’t take no for an answer, so you’d better pack your bags.”

Jill got up as quickly as she could in her condition. “I have something to do,” she said, “but I’ll be back later and I’m going to expect a copy of my key.” She swung her bag over her shoulder and headed for the door. “Oh, Eve?”

“What?”

Jill’s eyes were steely. “You don’t want to mess with me. I don’t look like much, but I’ve been on the streets long enough to know what you have to do to survive.” She left, slamming the door behind her.
 
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“So what did that lawyer dude want?” Kurt asked Rory. He and Rory and Bev were sitting perched on the top of a park bench, sharing a joint.

Rory giggled as he took the joint from Kurt. “Can you believe it, man? He’s gonna take my case in exchange for me emptying the trash. I’m gonna be a janitor.”

“What a loser,” Bev said. “Of course he’s associated with JJ, so he’s bound to be.” She took a puff from the joint and held her breath for as long as she could before letting it out. Coughing, she passed the joint back to Kurt and said, “If you ever get arrested again, don’t send JJ to tell me.”

Rory scowled. He had hoped JJ would be here by now, and he hated that Bev was so anti-JJ these days. “Maybe I should send a real prize like Cole.” Kurt laughed at that, but Bev’s eyes widened. “Shut up about Cole,” she said. “I’m done with him anyway.”

“Yeah, right,” Rory said, “and JJ’s mom’s through with Dr. Dan.”

“Hey,” Kurt said spacily. “Why are you two so mad? This is supposed to be fun.” He took another hit off the joint. “You’re really… you’re really gonna be a janitor?”

“I don’t have a choice.” Rory giggled. “JJ went and hired me a lawyer behind my back, so I guess I got a job out of it.” Bev started to walk off. “Hey!” Rory said. “Where are you going?”

“Somewhere where nobody’s going to kill my buzz. If I hear JJ’s name one more time…”

“It’s like Betelgeuse,” Kurt said. “Maybe if we say it enough, he’ll show up. RAWR!” He jumped at Bev playfully.

“Not funny,” Bev said, “but pass me the joint anyway.” Her phone buzzed; she pressed the button to silence it, scowling, as she took the joint from Kurt.


Eve was sitting on the couch drinking a glass of wine and worrying about Jill when Eric knocked on the door. She sighed as she went to get the door.

“Thank you for coming over,” Eve said. “I’m afraid the girl has up and left, but if you come in I’ll tell you the entire story, and maybe there’s some way you can help.”

“I think I can spare a few minutes.” Eric came all the way in. “Are you all right, Eve? You seem flustered.”

“It’s sweet of you to ask, but I’ll be fine. Would you like something to drink?”

“Water, please,” Eric said as Eve took out a second wine glass. She pouted but she filled the glass with water from a pitcher that she got out of the fridge. As she handed him the water, he said, “Now, what happened?”

Eve sipped her wine. “A couple months ago I tried to help this poor homeless girl turn around. You know, I went through my rough period where I lived on the streets and I don’t want anyone else to suffer the way I suffered, so I thought I was doing a good deed by giving this girl a little bit of money to get back home to her family. Only it completely backfired, Eric, and I mean completely, to the point where I think she might make my life--and Paige’s--a complete nightmare.”

“Does this have something to do with the danger you said you were worried your daughter was in?”

“In a roundabout way, yes. You see, when Paige decided she wanted to move into the dorms, I put out an ad for a boarder. I wasn’t expecting to get any responses until the end of the week--in fact, I was toying with the idea of having you take some photos once Paige emptied her room this afternoon. Anyway, this girl--the one I told you about that I was trying to help--somehow she got wind of the fact that there was an empty room for rent. Now, she’s shown up here twice and both times I’ve tried to kindly direct her towards St. Luke’s shelter, but she won’t have it. And she’s got a baby on the way and everything, and she’s convinced her best option is to stay here.”

“I see. So you thought maybe I could convince her of what you could not?”

“It was probably dumb, but I panicked, and I didn’t know who else to call. I mean, I really don’t want to call the police on her, though I will if I have to. You know they won’t care about getting her and her baby the help they need; they’ll just stick her in a cell for a few days, and then back to the streets.”

Eric nodded. “Well, I don’t really have any affiliation with St. Luke’s anymore, as you know. But I do know a few people who work for the shelter. I’ll see if I can get you some information to pass on to this girl the next time she shows up at your door.”

Eve’s face fell as Eric got up. “Leaving already?”

“I’m afraid I have another appointment. But don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten that I owe you a night out.” Eric put his hand on the doorknob, then turned back. “I do want to say one more thing. I hope, Eve, that this experience hasn’t turned you off from trying to do the right thing. I think it’s wonderful that you want to reach out to this young girl, and other girls like her. If you’d like, I can put you in touch with the volunteer coordinator at that shelter--maybe you’d like to reach out to others in similar circumstances.”

“I don’t know,” Eve said, playing up her hesitation to make it look more endearing to Eric. “After what happened with this girl, I’m not sure I’m good for much of anything.”

“I can assure you that that’s not the case.” Eric’s phone beeped. “I really do have to run, but let’s talk soon.”

Eric left. Eve closed the door and threw herself against the wall. I really must be losing my touch, she thought. Either that or all those years in the church has made Eric Brady immune to flirtation.
 
When they got tired of the park, Rory took Kurt and Bev to Horton Town Square. The people milling around seemed to amuse him. “You know what’s great about this square?” he said, laughing. “You can come here every day and never see the same people twice.”

Bev giggled. “And if we’re lucky there’ll be some drama.”

“Save the drama, it hurts my head,” Kurt said, spacily. “Ooh, the square’s spinning.” He grabbed onto a wall to balance himself. “Shouldn’t it be a circle?”

“Here,” Bev said. “Let’s sit down and rest a minute.” She and Rory helped Kurt onto a bench. “I never knew your brother was such a partier,” she said to Rory.

“Yeah,” Rory said flatly. “Hey, who’s that?”

Bev looked. Cole was coming towards them. He was holding a bouquet of flowers tightly in one fist. She could feel her high shrinking to nothing. “Nobody important,” she said, and tried to laugh.

Rory laughed for real. “It’s Cole, isn’t it? What’s he doing with flowers?”

“I don't know. Is there any way we can scram?”

Rory glanced at Kurt, who was leaning back on the bench, staring at something in the sky that only he could see. “Nah, he’s out. Don’t worry, though. I took that robber when I was more buzzed than this. If he starts anything…”

“Bev!” Cole said. He glanced at Rory and Kurt, his eyes narrowing. “So this is what you’ve been doing instead of taking my calls. Hanging out with these losers.”

“What do you want, Cole?” Bev tried to sound stronger than she felt. Cole glared at her; she swallowed a fit of giggles at how ridiculous he looked.

“Um,” Cole said, “I was going to give these to you and apologize for the other day, but if you’re going to act like you deserved the way I treated you, forget it.”

“Yeah,” Rory said, advancing towards Cole. “Forget it, dude.”

“I guess you liked that jail cell,” Cole told him. “Can’t wait to start something so you end up back there, huh?” Rory started to make a fist but Cole went on, “Go ahead and punch me. When the cops come, I’m sure they’ll love to bust you for whatever you’ve got on you.” He laughed.

“I’m not a fighting man,” Rory told him, “so why don’t you go ruin someone else’s high?”
“I don’t think so.” Cole turned towards Bev. “So what’s it going to be, Bev? Me, or this loser?” He moved closer to her and said in a low voice, “I’ll make up for what happened the other night if you ditch them.”

Bev glanced at Rory, then back at Cole. “I-I’d like that,” she heard herself say. Her ears were ringing and she was feeling pleasantly buzzed now; why let Rory and Cole ruin it when she could keep the peace just by going with Cole?

“Bev - “ Rory said.

“Guess you don’t own her like you think,” Cole said. He put his arm around Bev. “Come on, baby, let’s show them what freedom looks like.” He and Bev walked off.

Rory glanced at Kurt, who was still staring at nothing. He elbowed him. Kurt sat up. “What...what’s the matter?”

“Way to back me up,” Rory said. “Now we’ve lost Bev to that idiot Cole again, and you can bet that’s not the end of trouble with him.”

Kurt giggled. “What, do you...do you like her?”

Rory plopped himself down on the bench. “Gimme what’s left of that joint,” he said. “All this just ruined my high.”



JJ glared at Hope. “Why?”

“Remember what we talked about,” Hope told him, making him feel like he was about five years old.

JJ crossed his arms. “Fine, but maybe later you can explain why you’re getting my mom all riled up.”

“I’ll be happy to explain why I felt a need to talk to your mom,” Hope told him, “when I’m done here.”

Marissa touched JJ’s arm. “It’s all right. We seem meant to have this conversation in pieces, but sooner or later we’ll get it all in.”

JJ’s phone rang. He glanced at the display, then picked it up. “Nicole! Hey, I’m on my way. I’ve got something for you.” He walked off, still talking on the phone.
 
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“Can I sit down?” Hope asked.

Marissa shrugged. “Do I have a choice?”

Hope took her time pulling out her chair. Marissa glared at her. Hope said, “You’re angry. I get it. But why?”

“Take a guess,” Marissa said. “Look, I didn’t ask to be attacked, Detective Brady, but since I was, I’d appreciate it if you’d just do your job and catch the guy who did it. Instead, you’re calling me constantly and chasing off my friends so that you can ask me a bunch of useless questions and arrest random people who have nothing to do with what happened.”

“Believe me, this isn’t fun for me. I am so sorry you were attacked, and I wish there was something I could do besides continue to hound you.”

“Yeah, well, it happened.”

“Yes. It did, and that wasn’t your fault, but your reaction to me is on you. I know that it’s stressful for you to continually deal with this investigation when all you want to do is forget what happened. But the more you cooperate, the more likely it is we’ll actually catch this guy.”

Marissa’s eyes widened. “Do you even have a suspect? Besides Rory, I mean?”

“We’re not pressing charges against Rory, partially because of your statement.” Hope sighed. “And yes, we do have another suspect in mind, but we don’t have enough evidence to even make an arrest.”

“I don’t suppose you can give me a name.”

“What good would that do? We can’t arrest him right now, and if we do make an arrest, you really might have to view suspects in a lineup. I can’t prejudice your responses by giving you extra information.”

“I guess that makes sense.”

“I’m glad to hear it.” Hope smiled slightly. “You know, Marissa, I didn’t just come looking for you because I needed your help with this investigation. I was worried about you.”

Marissa’s face hardened. “Well don’t! I keep telling you, you’re not my friend, and you’re not my mother either.” She sipped her coffee as she tried to get back in control of herself. “Just… just ask me your questions and I’ll answer them.”

“It’s not so much questions this time, Marissa, as it is a request.”

Marissa crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows at Hope.

“I’d like you to participate in something called cognitive reenactment.”

“What’s that?” Marissa asked wearily.

“Basically, we’d act out what happened to you. We’d go to your room and one of the officers will pretend to be your attacker. The idea is that by acting it out, you’ll remember something that can be helpful for us.” Marissa’s eyes widened and Hope said, “I know the idea can be upsetting. Dr. Evans will be there too. She wants to make sure that you--and the other victims as well--are okay throughout the entire process.”

“And this is really the only way you can catch the guy who did this to me?”

“Detective Hernandez is looking at putting some undercover officers in the dorms, but honestly, this is our best shot.”

“I’ll think about it,” Marissa said.

“That’s all I ask. That and please, from now on, answer the phone when I call.” Hope got up. She watched Marissa as she walked away. Marissa took out her phone and played with it, but didn’t call anyone.
 
Sally was showing Nicole some pictures on her phone when JJ walked in. “Um, hey, I’m here,” he said, not sure whether or not to interrupt.

“Come on in, JJ.” Nicole waved him over. “Sally and I were just killing time til you got here with your big story.” JJ gulped and Nicole said, “We’re still working on that relaxation thing.” She turned to Sally, who put her phone away, and said, “This is JJ, our new intern.”

“Nice to meet you,” Sally said. “Nicole’s been talking you up all morning. That’s why I felt a need to distract her with photos of my dog.”

“Uh huh,” Nicole said. “And here I thought it was my sparkling personality.” She and Sally both giggled.

Miles stuck his head in. “If the two of you are finished having a slumber party - “ He saw JJ standing there and said, “Oh, hello, I see the intern’s finally found his way to the office.”

“Sorry,” JJ mumbled. “I, uh, I was covering a hearing for Nicole and I didn’t realize - “

“From now on all stories go through me,” Miles said. “But I’ll let Nicole show you the ropes today.” He left.

JJ’s eyes widened. “I’m sorry, Nicole,” he said. “I don’t know I had to be here at a specific time. I swear, I won’t be late again.”

“Don’t worry about him. You’ll learn pretty quickly to tune Miles out, won’t he Sally?”

“Mmm hmm. About half this job is letting what Miles says go in one ear and out the other.”

“Anyway, whatcha got for me?” Nicole asked.

“A couple things,” JJ said, talking quickly to try to cover up his nerves. “First of all, the judge was something else. He was *bleep* that this case was even in front of him, and he was like, totally on our side, he didn’t even try to hide it.” Nicole didn’t look particularly interested. JJ bit his lip and went on, “The other thing was, you’ll never believe who showed up there.”

“Well, don’t keep me in suspense! Who?”

“A certain fake intern who you wanted me to track down.”

“Whoa, Jeff was there? Pretty brazen. Though on second thought, I’m not surprised. He probably thought he was going to scoop you.”

“Yeah, pretty much. I told him you were looking for him, by the way, and he practically wet himself with excitement.”

“That’s a visual I will never get out of my brain now. He say anything else?”

“Yeah.” JJ hesitated, fearing he was wrong, then said slowly, “I think, um… I think he gave away… I think he’s the guy the cops are looking for.” Nicole’s eyes widened and JJ said, “I can’t prove it or anything but he was talking up a storm about how Rory attacked him and he was *bleep* Rory was getting off easy. He didn’t know that I already know for a fact that Rory’s innocent.”

Nicole looked pleased. JJ said, “And there’s more. The reason I was late, um… the second the judge let Rory off with $500 bail, Jeff disappeared. So I followed him. He was telling anyone who would listen about how unfair it was. Nicole, he was bothering Paige.”

“Your ex, right?” JJ nodded and Nicole said. “Let me guess the rest. You tried to warn her, she told you to stay away from her, and you briefly considered drowning your sorrows in… well, soda I guess… but decided to come to work instead.”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

Nicole sat down on the edge of the desk. “Take it from someone who’s been there, JJ, she’s not going to listen to you. In her mind, she’s such an amazing person that she can’t believe you’d ever move on from her, so anything you do to try to help is just going to make you look like a crazy person in her eyes. I’ve learned the hard way, sometimes you have to let someone you love go completely, or at least make them think that’s what you’re doing. Don’t worry, the work we’re doing here will be enough to save her from herself. But no more conversations about Jeff. It’ll just get her talking to him about you, and you don’t want to be on his radar.”

“I--I don’t love her. Not anymore. I just can’t let…”

“I’m in a giving mood, so I’ll give you another piece of advice for free. Lying to yourself only gets you into trouble.”

JJ looked down at the ground for a second, embarrassed. “So, um,” he said, recovering, “what’s our next step?”

“For right now, we’re going to run this story like it was a typical bail hearing. I’ll show you how to write it up, and I’ll stick it at the end of my broadcast when nobody’s paying attention anyway.” JJ’s face fell and Nicole said, “I know, excitement of the century. But the first thing you need to learn, JJ, is never tip your hand too early. So just go to class, act like you’re Jeff’s friend, and see what else he tells you about himself.”

When Daniel and Chloe got to Kayla’s office, they found Elizabeth Harper there. Daniel scowled; he didn’t like being tricked. “Where’s Kayla?” he demanded. “I thought she had news about Parker.”

“Oh, she does,” Elizabeth said. “She wanted me to make sure you guys were ready to hear it.”

“Well you can tell her,” Daniel said slowly, “that we are more than ready. Both of us, we’re on pins and needles waiting to hear what the full story is with our son. I’ve been doing a ton of research and Chloe, she talked to her dad to get additional information. So we don’t need a shrink right now--we just need Kayla to cut to the chase and tell us what needs to be done for our son.”

“Chloe, you feel the same way?” Elizabeth asked.

Chloe shrugged. “I just can’t take any more waiting.”

“All right. I’ll hang around then, in case anyone needs me afterwards.” She pressed a button on the phone. “They’re ready for you, Dr. Brady.”

Kayla came in, followed by Dr. Collins. Daniel scanned their faces; to most people, they would have just looked like two doctors getting ready to make a diagnosis, but he could tell that it was more bad news. “What’s going on?” he asked, uncertainly.

“I don’t know how to say this,” Kayla said. She glanced at Dr. Collins. “We… we’ve gone over Parker’s xrays, and his echocardiogram… and, well, no matter how we look at it, it’s pretty clear.”

“That?” Daniel asked impatiently.

“That Parker’s heart is not pumping efficiently. The good news is, the heart itself is mainly fine--minimal damage--but it’s working overtime to get his blood circulating, and so it’s… it’s starting to give out.”

“So it’s what you told us last time, right?” Chloe said. “This isn’t anything new?”

“Unfortunately, yeah, this is just additional information. Now we can try him on medication, but…”

“Sooner or later..” Dr. Colins said.

“He’s probably going to need some or all of his heart replaced,” Kayla finished.
 
Soon after JJ had gone to class, Nicole heard a commotion in the front of the station. Miles said, “I think Ms. Walker is busy with a story,” and Jeff’s voice rang out loud and clear in response, “Oh, she’ll want to see this. I can guarantee it.”

Nicole busied herself with some things on her desk, wishing Sally hadn’t gone out. She would have loved to have seen this. Jeff stormed into Nicole’s office. “Ms. Walker,” he said. “Jeff Adkins, remember me?”

“I think so. Yours was one of the first applications I threw in the trash.”

Jeff scowled. “Well, that was a mistake, but I’m sure you’ll see that for yourself in a minute. He came over to the desk and tossed a pile of papers on it.

“What’s this?” Nicole asked, still not looking up.

“You might not know this, but I was attacked in the course of getting a story for you the other day.”

“Such dedication. Is this the story?”

“No, I abandoned it because something better came along. See, the guy who attacked me… he had a bail hearing this morning. And I just knew he was gonna get off easy. So I made a point of being there and taking notes. Sure enough, the judge is biased, maybe even crooked… they didn’t even charge the suspect with robbery, and they let him off on some stupid piddling drug charge with only $500 bail.”

“Yes, I heard,” Nicole said. “Don’t look so surprised. I have eyes and ears everywhere.”

“So do I. That’s why we’ll work together so well. So, now that I’ve taken initiative, can I have my job?”


“Let me think about that. You came in with a large pile of unsolicited garbage, so… I think that’s a no.”

“Why?” Jeff’s eyes blazed and he smacked the table.

Nicole stared at him. “Violence on your own time is one thing--I’ve gotten into plenty of catfights in my day--but don’t bring it into my office.”

“Sorry. I just...that threw me off. Why wouldn’t you hire me?”

“Well, let’s list the reasons. We can start with the fact that you used my name to try to get a story, and not only did it blow up in your face, but it blew up in mine. Thanks to you, what few sources I have at the police station won’t talk to me at all. I can’t have someone in here who’s going to drag what’s left of my reputation through the mud and stop me from being able to get the news.”

“Oh, come on. Like you’ve never done anything like that. It was a classic trick, one you should be proud of. If anything, it proves how right I am for this job.”

“Okay, fine, your judgment is questionable, not completely nonexistent. But it doesn’t matter. You’re not getting this job, and in fact, I hired someone else.”

“Who?” Nicole shrugged and Jeff advanced towards her. “Who is it who took my job?”

“It wasn’t yours to take,” Nicole said calmly, “but anyway, I hired someone who can cover hearings objectively, as opposed to this hack job you just gave me. And you can find out who it is at the same time as everyone else--if and when we choose to announce his name on air. Now I’ll need you to leave my office.”

Jeff crossed his arms, thinking. JJ had said that Nicole had run into him. JJ was at the bail hearing. JJ had been talking to Marissa--one of Jeff’s victims--a lot. “It was JJ Deveraux, wasn’t it? Oh my God, I can’t believe you hired that guy over me. He’s not even a journalism major, he has no instincts… and he knew I wanted this job… he wouldn’t have… he couldn’t have…”

“Oh, are you still here?” Nicole reached for the landline. “Miles, can you get me the extension for security?”

“I’m going, I’m going.” Jeff glared at Nicole. “But you...and he...the both of you...are going to be very sorry!”
 
Once they’d gone to Cole’s apartment, one thing had led to another, and before Bev knew it, Cole had ripped off her blouse and was sliding his hand down towards her jeans. Bev wasn’t sure whether or not she wanted this. Something felt wrong about it. But still, this was better than the last time, when he had held her down in anger, and Bev had learned a long time ago it was better, when it came to Cole, to just go along with it if she didn’t happen to be in the mood.

Cole was kissing her hard so she kissed him back equally hard. As he slid down her neck, kissing her over and over, someone pounded on the door. “Damn it,” Cole said under his breath. The pounding continued, and a voice Bev thought she recognized from somewhere called, “Cole! Open up man!”

“Stay right here,” Cole snapped at Bev. “I’ll be rid of this guy in a second.” He jumped up, pulled his pants on and ran out of the room.

Bev wrapped the blanket around herself as Cole went into the other room. She heard the front door creak open. “Hey,” Cole said, “this isn’t a good time, dude. I’ve got - “

“He took my job,” the other person said. “He took my job and his friend got out of jail and the two of them… they’re probably laughing right now, probably laughing at how they got one over on me after all…”

Bev dressed quickly and slid to the bedroom door. She opened it a crack and stared out.

The other guy was pacing back and forth. Bev recognized him as the guy from the woods, the one who attacked Rory. She slid back as he glanced at the door so he wouldn’t see her.

“Who?” Cole asked.

“JJ Deveraux, of course… who else?” Jeff paced back and forth. “You were right, man, those two losers have to be stopped,” the guy said. “They’re ruining everything.”

“So what do you want me to do?” Cole asked.

Jeff turned towards him. He had a cold, hard look in his eyes that scared Bev worse than Cole at his angriest.

“Another robbery?” Cole asked.

“No.” Jeff’s voice was eerily flat. “Bigger than that, man. Way bigger. I haven’t got the details yet, hope you can help me work them out. But you and me, we’re gonna get JJ Deveraux and Rory Adams, for once and for all. And that *bleep* who works at the station, too… if I can pull it off… but definitely JJ and Rory...”

Bev’s mouth dropped open. She leaned against the door by accident; it squeaked.

Jeff flinched. “You’re not alone, are you?” he said, advancing on Cole. “Who do you have in there? You didn’t set me up did you?”

“No, man, I swear. Look, it’s nobody. I mean, nobody important.”

“Who is it?” Jeff pulled his knife out of his pocket. The blade gleamed; what little light was in the living room reflected off it. “Who?”

“It’s just… just some girl I was gonna score with,” Cole stammered.

“Go get her.” Jeff held up the knife. He tried to hand it to Cole, but Cole shook his head. “Do it, " Jeff said, "or I will. Unlike you, I’m not afraid to insist on my way.”

Bev looked around, quickly, as she backed away from the door. Cole was up on the fifth floor, too high to jump out the window, and there was no other way out besides through the living room.

The door flew open. Cole stormed into the room. “You screwed up, *bleep*,” he said under his breath. “Didn’t I tell you to stay out of my business?” He grabbed Bev’s arm and twisted it behind her.

“Ouch! Cole, you’re hurting me!”

“Shut up. You wanted to be involved so bad, well now you are. Someone wants to meet you.” Cole put his hand on her shoulder and pushed Bev towards the living room while holding one arm tightly against her back. Bev struggled, then gave up. She had no choice but to let Cole take her into the living room, where Jeff and his knife were waiting.
 
Jeff turned as Cole forced Bev into the living room. “So,” he said, “this is the eavesdropper.” He paced back and forth, holding his knife. “I can’t believe your girl would try to bring us down. Or maybe the two of you planned it together, I don’t know. I mean, things started going wrong when you sent that stoner my way.”

“Dude!” Cole said. “Come on, man, you know that was a fluke. Besides, didn’t you say if I messed up you’d make the cops think I did it? So why would I - “

“Shut up and handle the situation.” Jeff tossed Cole some rope. “I wasn’t planning on things going this far, but your girl screwed up.” Bev’s eyes widened but she otherwise refused to show any fear as Jeff advanced towards them, holding the knife in front of him. “If you didn’t put her up to it, you’ll do exactly what I want you to do about her.”


“So what happens now?” Chloe asked.

“Let me show you exactly what’s going on,” Dr. Collins told her, “so that I can explain how we’re going to treat it.” She turned on the X-ray projector. “You see these dark spots in his lungs here?” she asked, pointing towards them. “That’s blood and fluid.”

“Oh God,” Chloe said. “My angel has blood in his lungs… what does that mean?”

“It means something’s going on in the left side of his heart, and it’s messing with his circulation.” Dr. Collins sighed. “What happens is the blood and fluid get backed up because of whatever’s going on there, which is what’s causing him to have respiratory troubles. In the meantime, the heart starts pumping harder to try to get things going again, which leads to heart damage. Now, before we can schedule surgery we need to get in and do one more test to see exactly what’s damaged, and I’m afraid it’s one he’s going to have to be sedated for.”

“No,” Chloe said, “no more tests. All we’ve been doing is putting him through one test after another. He can’t take it and neither can we. If his heart is so weak, he doesn’t have time for all of this anyway. Stop testing him and just fix it.”

“Chloe - “ Kayla began.

“No. I don’t want to hear it.” Chloe blinked hard. “All I want to hear out of either of you is what you’re doing to make Parker’s heart work right again.”

“The test, and the surgery, are the second phase of the plan,” Dr. Collins said. Her calmness infuriated Chloe, who gave Daniel an exasperated look. “Before we can even consider it, we need to reduce the pressure on the heart. So first, we’re going to give him some medication to help lower his blood pressure and get the blood flowing more normally. He’ll also need a diuretic so that all that excess fluid can drain.”

“How do you know that the medication won’t be enough to get his circulation under control?” Daniel asked. “From what I read last night, 9 times out of 10, that’s all that’s needed to get the system functioning properly again.”

“We don’t know that,” Dr. Collins said, “but with all due respect, Dr. Jonas, I’d take my 12 years of experience with pediatric heart disease over the homework you did last night.”

“Excuse me?” Daniel crossed his arms. “You think I, what, just Ewe Searched heart disease? I may not be a cardiologist, but I’ve researched treatments for plenty of patients over the years. I think I know how to find out what I need to know, and I certainly know how to read a medical journal article.”

“Of course you do,” Dr. Collins said in that same pseudo-soothing voice. “All I’m saying is that I’ve seen many, many cases like your son’s, and in almost all of them, medication was just the first step.”

“And all I’m saying is - “

“Excuse me,” Chloe interrupted, “but are you two done with your battle of egos? I’d really like to get back to understanding what you’re doing to help Parker.”

“Chloe’s right,” Kayla said softly. “Let’s get this conversation back on track.”

“Thank you.” Dr. Collins smiled slightly. “Now, as I was saying, we’re going to start him on these medications and monitor his heart function for a little while. Then, we need to do a heart catheterization test. We’ll sedate him and put a little tube into his heart so that we can take a movie of how the blood and oxygen are flowing, which parts of the heart are working well, and which aren’t. After that, depending on the results, we will discuss surgical options with you.”

“So he has to have surgery,” Daniel said slowly, “to find out if he needs surgery? No. He is not… he is not going through that…”

“We’ll revisit it when the time comes,” Dr. Collins told him. “In the meantime, Dr. Brady will take care of prescribing the medications for him so we can get started.” Dr. Collins put her purse over her shoulder. “I have to get to another consultation, but I do want you both to know… I hope for the very best outcome for your little boy. Take some time to digest this news before you decide about the catheterization. And hang in there--as scary as it is having a severely ill four-year-old, I can almost guarantee that if we follow the plan I’ve outlined, he will make it to five.”

Dr. Collins left. Daniel and Chloe looked at each other.

Daphne put her hand on Paige’s shoulder. “Hey. Don’t let JJ ruin your morning like this.” Paige looked up, blinking back tears. Daphne handed her a tissue and said, “I guess you’re not as over him as you thought.”

“It’s not that. It’s just… JJ isn’t at all who I thought he was. I saw the proof right in front of my eyes. Jill’s pregnant.”

“JJ seemed shocked,” Daphne pointed out. “So either he’s the world’s best actor or, Paige, he didn’t know.” Paige shrugged. Daphne went on, “Look, none of us knows what happened except that girl and maybe JJ. But it doesn’t matter. You guys broke up a long time ago. Unless... “

“What?”

“Paige, are you thinking about forgiving him so you can get back together?”

“No!” Paige made a disgusted face. “Even if I wanted to do that, which I don’t, there’s no way I can until he owns up to what he did. He’s still insisting he never touched Jill.” She dabbed at her eyes with the tissue. “I’m sorry I messed up our morning with all this drama.”

Daphne shrugged. “It happens, Paige. That’s what friends are for.”

“I guess.” Paige played with her phone. “I think I want to just go to my mom’s and get my things, and maybe restart this day.”

“Okay. Want me to drive you?”

“Um… I think I’d rather be alone, if you don’t mind.”

“You won’t be able to carry all that stuff on the bus. Here.” Daphne took a key off her ring. “Take my car. I’m planning on hanging around campus today, so I won’t need it.”
 
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