Written in 65 minutes.

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Monday, September 16, 2024

Webber House: Aiden’s Bedroom

Chase knocked on Aiden’s partially open door, stopped at the threshold. “Hey. Your mom said you were expecting me?”

Aiden sat up, closing his Chromebook where he’d been staring at his math homework for nearly twenty minutes, tossed it aside. He cleared his throat. “Um, yeah. She said you were, like, redoing the investigation. Because the feds screwed it up. I said that last part,” he added when the corner of Chase’s mouth curved in a half-smile. “Not her.”

“I figured.” He gestured to the desk chair, half pulled from the desk in the corner. “Can I sit?”

“Yeah, okay.” Aiden slid to the edge of the bed, dangling his legs over the side. “How does this work? Do I repeat my statement? I don’t remember what I said the first time, like in exact words. Does that matter?”

“All you have to do is tell me what you remember honestly. It’s natural if you don’t use the same words or if some details shift,” Chase said. He pulled out his phone, tapped a few screens. “I’m going to record this so that I’m not worried about taking notes, is that okay?”

“Yeah. Um, do you start? Or do I—”

“It’s okay. Relax, Aiden. We’re just having a conversation, okay?” Chase shifted so that he faced Aiden fully. “You were going to the Quartermaine barbecue with your family. Do you guys go every year?”

“No. I mean, Jake usually does, but I don’t. Mom didn’t used to go, I guess, because of Franco. But we started going after…after Jason went away. Mom wanted Dr. Quartermaine—Jake’s grandmother—to have her family close.”

“Is there a reason you went this year?” Chase wanted to know. “Anything special?”

“I guess because Danny was coming with us. His mom was being, like, super strict,” Aiden said, “and said Jason could only see Danny with my mom around. We’re in the same grade, and we hang out a lot.”

“So you went to keep company with Danny?” Chase asked. “What about your brother?”

“Oh, Jake went because Mom told him to, and he likes his grandmother. But he doesn’t really have any close friends in the family. I mean, we’re friends, but—I mean, you have an older  brother. You get it.”

“Yeah, I do. When you were at the party, were you with Danny the whole time? A group of you?”

“Um, I guess all the kids our age were down at the lake. The Qs hire a lifeguard for big parties like this. And it was, like, the last party before school started. But he was done at six, so a lot of people left.”

“What time did you start up towards the house?”

“I don’t know really. The sun was still up, I guess, but it was kind of getting a little pink. I We were the last to walk up to the house and we went to the terrace. We were drying off when my mom came out. She was collecting damp towels. Jake’s grandma always told her to leave those or use the family ones, but Mom’s weird about things like that.”

“Your mom came out to you guys? Who was with you?”

“Yeah, she came out after we were already there for a few minutes, I think. It was me, Danny, Rocco, Georgie, and Jake. Georgie’s brothers went in before us, they wanted to get cookies from Sasha in the kitchen.”

“Okay, just the five of you then. Then what?”

“Michael came out and asked to talk to my mom, so they went to go take a walk, and we—me, Rocco, and Georgie decided to go inside. Jake and Danny stayed.”

“Do you remember why you didn’t all stay together?”

Aiden hesitated, then nodded. “Yeah, I mean, I don’t really remember what anyone said, but, like, Jake was in a bad mood. He’s been like that since Charlotte and her dad left town. They were sort of dating last year, and he was hung up on her for a while. He was kind of a jackass to my mom, who was about to kick his ass when Michael showed up. And he and Danny were fighting about their dad. I didn’t really wanna be around it, and I guess Rocco felt the same way.”

“Fighting about what?”

Aiden pressed his lips together. “Does it matter?”

“Is it a secret?” Chase asked  instead of answering.

“No, but, like—it’s over now. Jake and Jason are cool now, and Danny—well, Danny’s okay, too. I don’t wanna it written down in a report somewhere because maybe someone will think Jake liked it better when his dad was gone, and he didn’t, he just—”

“Was unhappy that he’d been gone at all,” Chase finished, and Aiden nodded reluctantly. “So things were still a little frosty with Jason and his boys.”

“Not Danny. Not then. Just Jake. And it’s just stupid stuff. It has nothing to do with the gunshots. Which I never heard.”

“I know.” Chase picked up his phone, then hesitated just before he stopped recording. “You know what your mom’s accused of doing, don’t you?”

“She’s accused of killing that FBI agent and hiding the gun in her car. She wouldn’t. She didn’t.”

“I didn’t say she had—”

“She’d never do that to us. I mean, she’d never do it at all,” Aiden added in a rush, “but, like, she’d never do anything that would take her away from us. She promised. After everything that happened with Esme, she said she made mistakes, and she promised she’d never do anything that might separate us. She’d never hurt that agent.”

“I believe you—” Chase hit stop on the recording. “And I know she didn’t, Aiden. It’s up to me find out who did.”

Webber House: Jake’s Bedroom

Dante knocked lightly on the open door, and Jake barely grunted from his spot by the window where he was bent over his artist’s desk, a piece of charcoal in his hand. “Sorry to interrupt—”

“It’s fine. I can work while you ask your questions. Mom said I had to cooperate, and I guess I trust you not to twist anything I say like that guy from the FBI.” Jake looked at him. “But there’s nothing I’m gonna tell you that’s different from what I said that night, so this is a waste of time.”

“Humor me,” Dante said. He sat on the bed, took out his phone and set the recording up. “You went to the barbecue, right?”

“Yeah,” Jake said, and reluctantly let Dante guide him through the day — admitting to arguing with Danny prior to leaving, spending the day mostly tucked away in his phone, thinking about Charlotte, and then being on the terrace. “Mom was asking about towels, I think, and Michael came out. He wanted to talk to her.”

“Okay. And then it was just the kids again out there, right? What made you and Danny stay outside?”

Jake hesitated. “I was being an asshole. To everyone. Rocco was over it, and so was Aiden. Georgie just went with them. Danny and I weren’t out there long before we heard the gunshots.”

“How many?”

Not expecting that, Jake frowned. “I don’t know. Definitely more than one. We heard the first one, and then there was, like, some space. Long enough for us to look at each other. I wanted it to be fireworks,” he admitted. “But then we heard more. I don’t remember—it might be have been two or three. But at least three altogether.”

“A hesitation between the first and second shot?” Dante asked, lifting his brows. “You said it was long enough for you to notice. Was it long enough for a conversation? Did you and Danny say something to each other?”

“I—I think maybe one of us said something about being fireworks. I don’t remember who. Then we heard the shots again. My dad came out right after. Like literally the gunfire stopped, and the door was opening, and he was running over to us.”

“What did he do after that?”

“Made sure we were okay. When we told him Michael and Mom were down in the gardens—in the direction that the shots came from, Dad got scared. Like really scared, I guess. He jumped over the railing and took off running.” Jake looked at Dante. “He was scared she’d been hurt. Or that Michael was. He wasn’t down there shooting anyone. And neither was my mom. He was in the house when the shots were fired. And my mom didn’t have a gun. She was wearing a stupid sun dress and heels. Where would she have put it? How would she have made it back to the house with it? Everyone is being so stupid.”

“Your dad wasn’t scared because maybe your mom was getting in the way of something that might be going on? Something he’d set up?” Dante prompted, and Jake’s nostrils flared.

“You really think my dad would set up someone to get murdered on Grandma’s property? With all those people around? You’re supposed to be smart. Michael got shot in the head when I was a baby because he was standing too close to his dad. Dad would never, ever put me or Mom or my brothers or anyone else he cared about in that kind of danger. I don’t want to answer any more questions.”

Dante sighed, clicked off the recording. “I have to ask questions, Jake. And I can’t go easy on you because I believe you or like you,” he added, and Jake grimaced. “For what it’s worth, your statement largely matches what you said that day and it matches the evidence. Chase and I eliminated your parents the first day. Just like the FBI did. They only came back to her because they were out of leads, desperate, and someone dropped a false tip in their lap.”

“It’s not stopping them from trying to put her in jail. They’re going to keep trying because they want my dad, don’t they? They think she’s covering for him.”

“I think that’s their working theory, yes,” Dante said.

Jake scoffed. “Well, they’re stupid. Mom might lie for my dad, but he’d never ask her to. And he’d never put a gun in her car. In the car me and my brothers use. Whoever is trying to frame her — they’re trying to get Dad, too, aren’t they? They don’t even care about my mom or me. Or my brothers. She’s just a pawn.”

“Right now, yeah. That’s how it looks.”

“Well, it looks stupid,” Jake bit out. “So don’t be stupid, too. Mom’s innocent, and so is my Dad. Go find out who did this and leave us alone.”

Webber House: Cameron’s Bedroom

“I should wait downstairs,” Elizabeth said, pausing just before they reached the bedroom across from Jake. “You and Danny don’t need me hovering around—and I should check on Aiden. He has math homework he’s avoiding—”

“He’s fine,” Jason said, snagging her by the elbow as she headed towards the steps towards the second floor. “I checked on him after Chase left, and it was just a question about inequalities. I took care of it.” She made a face, and he was oddly amused. “Didn’t you have to pass science and math classes to get your nursing certification?”

“I did. Twenty years ago,” Elizabeth added. “I don’t use ninety percent of it now, so it’s—” She made a gesture. “Just gone. How do you keep all of that in your head?”

“I like math. Now who’s procrastinating?” he asked, and she sighed. “You don’t have to come in if you don’t want to. I just thought that since you’d made the appointment for him and talked to Dante, he might have questions you’d be able to answer better than me. And—” he stroked his jaw, a little embarrassed. “We just seem to communicate better when you’re in the room.”

She softened, touched his forearm, just above his elbow, her fingers lightly tracing one of the lines on the tatoo that wound around his arm, disappearing beneath the sleeve of his blue t-shirt. “You’re doing fine with him. You’re doing great with Jake, too. And Aiden. But all right, I’ll come in with you. Even though you don’t need me.”

“Good.” Jason knocked lightly on the door, and Danny jerked it open a second later. “Hey—”

“My homework’s done,” Danny’s said, pulling it open all the way to reveal a room that was still sparsely decorated. Cameron had taken most of his things with him, and boxed others, telling his mother to use his room for visitors, though Elizabeth had refused until Danny.

The duffel bag Elizabeth had picked up the night before sat by the closet, open with clothes spilling out of the top. And his backpack rested against the desk, with a Chromebook and a textbook open on top.

“That’s good. I wasn’t checking on that, but—” Jason paused. Cleared his throat. “Elizabeth found a counselor. If you still want to do that.”

“Oh.” Danny looked at her, then back at his father, a bit surprised. “I didn’t—you did that already?”

“You don’t have to go,” Elizabeth said. “It’s up to you.”

“I guess I didn’t think about…” Danny sat on the desk chair, which spun slightly from the force of his body hitting it. “How does it work? Do they tell you everything?” he asked his dad. “Like, I’m a kid. I don’t have any rights, do I?”

“Everything you say in session is private,” Elizabeth assured him. She sat on the edge of the bed. “But as a minor, yes, there is some level of parental involvement. Your dad — and your mom — will go to a presession Thursday so the therapist has some history to work with, and then you’ll go on Friday. If you think it’s working, you’ll keep going. And occasionally, your parents will meet with him to talk about generalities. Goals, themes. But everything he says to them would have to be approved by you.”

“Mom—Mom is going?” Danny asked. “She knows?”

“Dante’s talking to her tonight. She needs to sign some paperwork because you were with her until this weekend. Danny, there’s no pressure here. You don’t have to go on Friday. Or if you do go, you don’t have to go back,” Elizabeth said.

“But—but the reason you didn’t really flip out on me is because I said I’d go to this,” Danny said to his dad. “If I say I don’t want to, are you gonna ground me? Or make me work like Rocco?”

Jason sat on the other side of Elizabeth, between her and Danny. “Something has to change,” he said. “What happened this weekend—what’s been going on for months — we have to address it, Danny. If therapy isn’t the way, we’ll find another. You seemed interested in this yesterday. What’s changed?” he asked.

“I dunno.” Danny used his feet to gently push the chair back and forth, staring at the floor. “I guess maybe I think about telling someone the dumb things I did or said, and then they just look at me like Mom did. Or—” he looked up, met his father. “Like you did. You were so mad. And then you were disappointed. Dante’s mad, too. And Mom’s—” His voice faltered. “She’s so mad she left me with you. And she used to think me being with you was the worst thing ever.”

“I’m disappointed, Danny, in what you did because it was risky and you could have gotten hurt. You and Rocco. And the three of you could have gotten into real trouble. You’re getting old enough so that the choices you make now could affect you the rest of your life,” Jason told him, and Danny nodded, his head still bowed. “I want you to make better choices than I did. I want better for you. You deserve better.”

“I guess. I just—” Danny shrugged. “I dunno. I guess I could go. And try it out. So you’d know I was serious about being sorry and wanting to be better. So Mom just has to sign paperwork, and…that’s it? I’ll go on Friday?”

“Yeah. And if it doesn’t work, Danny, or you don’t want to keep going, we’ll figure out something else. We’re in this together, and I’m not going anywhere.”

Penthouse: Living Room

Sam threw the forms back on the desk, scoffed. “There is no way in hell I’m signing papers for my son to go to a therapist that Elizabeth Webber picked for him.”

Dante rubbed his forehead. “I’m going to regret asking this, but why does it matter who found the guy?”

“Danny already blames me for everything. Jason thinks I’m a terrible mother — and you think there’s a chance that some doctor Elizabeth found isn’t going to make all of this my fault?” Sam shook her head. “No. If Danny wants to do therapy, fine. But I’ll find the doctor. He’s my son, not hers.”

“He’s Jason’s son, too, Sam,” Dante called even as Sam headed for the stairs. “And—never mind,” he trailed off when she disappeared around the corner. He looked at Rocco, sprawled on the sofa. “You didn’t hear any of that, got it?”

Rocco sat up. “I’ll make you a deal. Five minutes on my phone, and I’ll forget that entire conversation like it’s history class.”

Dante hesitated, then nodded. “Deal. I’m serious—” he said as Rocco came towards him. “Danny’s got enough going on, and so does Aiden. He doesn’t need to know things are bad with his mom and Elizabeth.” He pulled the phone from a drawer, handed it to Rocco who immediately started scrolling.

“Dad, I hate to break it to you, but Sam hating Aunt Liz and Jake isn’t news. But your secret is safe with me.”

He told Danny the next day at lunch.

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