It's Ok to Cry

“Ok…so let me get this straight, you two went out last night because….just because she was out of beer?” Luke asked for the probably the 12th time since Kevin was back at the house.

Everyone was seated around the living room, while Kevin and Luke were both sitting on the wooden coffee table in the center.

“Yes. She said…she said something about a phone call and then she caught herself and I didn’t want to push it anymore, and that’s when she got up and went to get a beer, but she didn’t have any. So we went out for a beer.” he explained exasperatedly.

He didn’t understand why he had to tell the same story over and over again when they should be about trying to find her and Frankie. Who knew what this guy was going to do now. Sure, it’s daring to kidnap a famous child star, but to steal a member of the Los Angeles Police Department, that’s just ballsy.

“And that’s when this picture was taken? At the bar?” Luke asked, holding up the piece of paper Kevin had given to him, when he thought it was ticket in the first place.

“And then you went over to her place, after reading this, and realized she was missing?” Luke asked while writing down the information, yet again, on his notepad.

“Yes!” Kevin yelled while getting up from his seat and gripping his hair. “He staged a fake fight last night, that’s how he got into the apartment. The woman let him in, thinking that maybe him and Michelle were in a relationship, and he waited for her in her apartment. She didn’t lock her door before she left because, well…I don’t know. I shut the door and yeah…I don’t know. But that’s what happened.” he said while pacing the room, his hands going through his hair. “Shouldn’t we be out looking for them or something?” Kevin asked, his voice desperate for an answer since he was getting so emotionally drained from what had been going on the last three days.

“Well, umm….” Luke trailed off, looking down at his notes on his notepad and then back up at Kevin before looking around at everyone’s questioning faces. He grabbed at his head, now that he actually had a moment to process the fact that Michelle was indeed gone and he felt himself about to crack.

Michelle was like his daughter, he’d known her since she was born since her father was one of his good friends. He promised her father, and her mother since Michelle refused to leave the Police Department after her fathers death, that he’d take care of her and make sure nothing happened to her. And yet here he was, a year after her father’s death and she’s missing.

“Agent Cavallini…” one of the phone technicians voiced up, bringing him out of thoughts of Michelle and her father. “Lt. Allister is on his way.”

“Shit! How the hell did he find out she was missing?” Luke asked, getting up quickly from his seat and pacing the room where Kevin was moments before, who was now seated back down on the coffee table.

The tech shrugged his shoulders slightly while saying, “I’m not sure Sir. But he’s bringing Agents McNabb and Orphil with him as well.”

Luke let out small huff and then said, “Well of course he’s bringing them. They’re going to get this case now along with Michelle’s because this is too ‘personal’ for me!” he said, using air quotes around the word personal.

“What?” Mrs. Jonas asked while getting up from her seat on the couch, everyone looking over at her since she wasn’t yelling or screaming or crying. “That can’t really do that can they?”

He turned to look at her, his eyes tearing up from everything hitting him hard and quickly, and nodded his head. “Yes. Yes they can. I’m emotionally invested in Michelle and the kidnapper could come after me next or my family and by jurisdiction, I probably won’t be on the case anymore.”

“But that’s….” she trailed off while making her way around the coffee table to get to Luke. “That’s so unfair. This is your case as much as it is Michelle’s. If anything you should be able to keep this case and they get Michelle’s, even though it’s the same guy behind the whole thing, but still, if anything, that’s the way it should be!” she said, grabbing Luke and pulling him into her to give him a hug for his loss.

“I know Mrs. Jonas…but….it’s just the way the system works.” He said, barely hugging her back.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to, but he had other people from the Police Department watching him at the moment and one of the first rules that they teach you is that you never get attached or emotional with the victim’s family. It’s a huge no-no. But it hurt so bad thinking that Michelle was gone and in the same situation as Frankie was at the moment. Plus, the Jonas’ were so nice and comforting. He couldn’t help but want to show emotion since he was experiencing what they were going through the last three days.

“We need to think about this with a clear mind and clear head.” Kevin voiced up from the coffee table, as his mother and Luke disengaged themselves from each other and looked at him, everyone else doing the same.

“Let’s see. What did you say you had a lead on before? You had something about a lake and umm…a van….and what about the guys that we didn’t hire?” Kevin listed off while Luke started at him in disbelief.

“How do you know about all that?” he simply asked, eyeing Kevin suspiciously for a few seconds as he wiped at his eyes.

“Well, umm….well I overheard you and Michelle talking about the van in the kitchen a couple of times. And she asked me about the guys we didn’t hire.” He explained, his cheeks turning slightly red.

“And the lake?” Luke asked, noting the way Kevin’s cheeks were flushing a dark crimson red and that could only lead to one thing.

Michelle.

“Well, umm…when Michelle and I went out to the bar, she kinda got onto a rant about the case and….” he trailed off, seeing how upset Luke was getting at the fact that Michelle would spill such important information to a member of the victim’s family. “Ya know, I don’t think she even knew she was talking about it. She was kinda just…in her own little world and that’s when we started talking about lighter stuff.” he said, trying to explain himself a little better.

“So you guys knew about a lake and you didn’t tell us?” Mr. Jonas’ voice boomed from his seat on the couch that was next to his wife and second youngest son, Nick.

“Well, not exactly. We didn’t want to trouble you guys with the information. You’re already going through so much and we didn’t want to-”

“You mean you didn’t want our help unless it was to help you. That’s what you meant!” Mr. Jonas accused while pointing his finger at Luke.

“Dad, calm down ok. It’s their job. If we were to help, then we would just be getting in the way of their job. They were only trying to make it easier on themselves!” Kevin voiced up, coming in between his father and Luke.

“I swear Mr. Jonas, that’s the honest to God truth. Most of the time, if you tell a victim’s family about a lead, they are going to want to help and ultimately, they just get in the way and move things more slowly than actually helping at all because they are so desperate to find their family member. They want to get their two cents in, in hoping that their help, will be the one that helps us find them when in reality it slows us down. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but I just didn’t want to get you guys overwhelmed with the information.” Luke explained.

Mr. Jonas took a deep breath and studied his eldest son and Luke for a few seconds before sitting back down on the couch and saying, “I don’t agree with it, but I understand where you’re coming from.”

“Thank you Sir.” Luke said while giving a head nod to Mr. Jonas and then a quick side smile to Kevin to show his appreciation.

“But you’re son is right, I need to think about this with a clear mind and-wait!” he stopped and looked at Kevin. “You said she slipped and said she had someone call her?”

Kevin nodded his head and thought back to the scene playing in his head.

He was sitting on her couch, water bottle in hand and she was laying on her floor, venting slightly when she let it slip that the guy had called her.

“Yes! He called her. The guy called her.” Kevin said upon remembering hearing her say that he did in fact call her after they were done questioning the bum who didn’t know anything.

“Well…” Luke trailed off, his heart beating harder as the seconds ticked by, pencil and notepad in hand.

“Well, what?” Kevin asked, slightly confused as to what Luke wanted out of him. He told him that the guy called her, what more did he want.

“What did the guy say to her?” Luke asked after rolling his eyes.

Kevin stood there for a few seconds, thinking back again if she ever said and after about 5 minutes of thinking he shrugged his shoulders and said, “She cut herself off when she said that he called her. I wasn’t going to push it because, well, I didn’t want to push her into telling me anything she didn’t want to tell me.”

Luke nodded his head and looked at Kevin who had an ever so small smile come onto his face after that statement, as if he was thinking about something. He could already conclude, that even though Kevin hadn’t known Michelle for a very long time, him and her were already connected on some level, and that Kevin was attracted to her. It didn’t surprise him though, Michelle was amazing, after she let you in, and she didn’t do that to just anyone. You really had to know her for a long time before she even opened up to you and told you about her past. But something about the way Kevin had a small smile on his face when it came to thinking about her, and from seeing how they interacted together with pats on the shoulders and small smiles here and there, he knew something more was there, he just didn’t know what or how it was even possible that something so quickly could’ve happened between them. It wasn’t Michelle’s style to let a complete stranger into her personal life. She didn’t even let her own family into her personal life, at least, not after what happened a year ago.

There was a knock at the door just then, making Kevin’s ever so small smile disappear while everyone jumped and Luke made his way towards the door, already knowing it was going to be Allister along with the other two agents.

“Cavallini, how you holding up?” Allister immediately asked once the door was open.

“Fine. Just trying to think clearly and follow up on the leads that Michelle and I had before she went missing.” Luke explained while he lead the three newcomers into the living room to be introduced the to the Jonas’.

“Yeah, that son of a bitch had a picture of Michelle and sent it to us in an unaddressed envelope. He only had my name written on it along with yours, and then called me not even 5 minutes later to let me now that he had her. He used a payphone, probably somewhere near to the police department so he could see that I got the picture when he called, so I couldn’t trace him or anything.” Lt. Allister explained and then turned to the Jonas’. “Hello Jonas family. I’m truly sorry for what happened to you, but don’t worry, we will get your son back to you. These here are Agents McNabb and Orphil and-”

“Not to be a bitch or anything…” Mrs. Jonas voiced up while getting up from her seat on the couch and made her way towards Luke and Lt. Allister. “But we’re perfectly comfortable with Mr. Cavallini working on the case. We’d rather not have to answer the same questions over again and go through all that pain when we have to explain everything to these two new agents. Is there anyway that Mr. Cavallini could stay on the case?”

“Ma’am, jursi-”

“Jursidiction my ass. Cavallini has been doing a fine job!” she said, raising her voice slightly. “Just because his partner gets kidnapped as well as my son, means that he’s kicked to the curb because now he’s ‘involved’. I’m sorry Sir, but he’s been involved from the very beginning when he was first assigned this case.”

Allister looked slightly taken aback by how forward Mrs. Jonas was with her words, and he simply looked over at Luke who shrugged his shoulders, trying to hide his smug smile, and then at the other two agents that were to his right.

“Umm…Agent Cavallini can…” he trailed off as Mrs. Jonas raised her eyebrows at him. “He can stay. These two agents will just help him along and keep his mind clear. Is that understood?” he asked, trying to keep some sort of power over the situation in his favor.

She smiled sweetly up at him and extended her hand towards him and said, “I completely understand Sir. Thank you for laying down the law.” and then went and sat back down next to her husband while all three of her remaining sons tried to stifle their laughter at the fact that their mother just scared the crap out of the Head of Police.

“Alright McNabb and Orphil…” Luke voiced up after laughing quietly to himself. “We’ve got work to do.”