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Bo's Journey Home - Chapter 11   Wednesday, June 25th, 2003 1:00 PM Llanview Hospital Rachel was standing at the podium, reading from her prepared statement. Antonio and Bo were standing next to her. She finished and the reporters starting shouting questions at her. Bo stepped forward, holding up his hand and Antonio stepped forward speaking softly into the microphone. The only details he gave were where Matthew was found, the time, and that the Commissioner of Police had found him. The media pressed him and Bo for more details. Antonio held up his hands as the reporters tried to shout questions. “Please, ladies and gentlemen, I cannot comment on anything else. This is still an ongoing investigation. When I can give you more details, I will.”   With that, Bo, Rachel and Antonio left the podium area, the reporters still calling out questions after them. Rachel went to see her mother and Matthew and then Bo had an officer take Rachel back to her mother’s house. Bo went to Matthew’s room. There was a uniformed officer standing by Matthew’s door. The officer nodded at Bo as he entered. Nora was sitting next to Matthew’s bed and Matthew was now awake. Nora smiled at Bo and then looked at Matthew. “Look who came to visit, Matthew.”   Matthew looked at Bo and then turned his head away from him.   Bo smiled softly, walking towards the bed. “Hey buddy. How you feeling?”   Matthew continued to look away from Bo and his mother.   Nora rubbed his arm gently. “Matthew, aren’t you glad to see Bo? He brought you home to me.” Still Matthew didn’t say anything.   Bo reached over and patted Matthew’s shoulder gently. Bo felt him tense under his touch. “You had us really worried, buddy,” he said, pulling his hand away. There was still no response from Matthew. “I’ll let you visit with your mom and come see you again real soon.” He motioned Nora to follow him out of the room.   Nora stood and kissed Matthew’s forehead. “I’ll be right back, okay sweetie?” Nora followed Bo out of the room. Bo was very concerned. “What’s wrong with him? Why is he so distant?”   Nora frowned. “I don’t know. That’s how he’s been since he woke up. He hasn’t said more than two words to me or his doctors.”   Bo was surprised. “Nothing at all? Nothing about where he’s been for two days?”   Nora shook her head, folding her arms across her chest. “Nope. I got one “hi mom”, “no, not hungry”, “yes, I feel fine”; that about sums up his conversations with me.”   Bo was trying to understand. “Maybe he’s blocked it out. What does Larry say?”   “The same thing, maybe he’s blocking it out.” Nora looked back towards Matthew’s room. “I just want to get him home, Bo. Once he’s in his own bed, familiar surroundings, I’m sure he’ll start to feel better and talk to us.”   Bo reached for and squeezed her arm gently. “Probably. But I still have to question him about where he’s been.”   Nora looked at him alarmed. “Not today, okay?”   Bo nodded his agreement. “Okay, not today. But definitely tomorrow, when you get him home, all right?” She nodded. “Are you staying here tonight?” he asked her.   Nora let out a small chuckle. “Like you need to ask me that?” She looked towards Matthew’s room again. “I may never let him out of my sight again, or, at least until he’s married.”   Bo returned her chuckle. “Not even then,” Bo muttered.   She hit his arm playfully and smiled that smile at him. “I heard that.”   Bo smiled back; glad to see she was almost back to her old self. He had missed that confident smile of hers. “I’m gonna head back to the police station. I have a lot of follow up to do with this investigation and a few others.”   Nora reached out and touched his cheek. “You look so tired. You’ve spent the last 2 ½ days looking for Matthew and keeping me sane. You need to get some rest. Besides, you and I need to talk about some things, too.”   Bo reached up and placed his hand over hers. “Soon,” he told her. She didn’t know if his answer was for his rest or for them to talk. He squeezed her hand gently against his cheek and then released it, continuing. “If you or Matthew need anything, you call me.”   Nora shook her head. “I will try not to do that.”   He watched her return to Matthew’s room. He exchanged some last minute instructions with his officer at Matthew’s door and then left the hospital. He stopped by the Garrett. He was relieved that Gabrielle was not there. He was in no mood for any confrontations with her at this point. He was way too tired. He had already figured out she had left the phone off the hook on purpose the night Matthew disappeared. “To give them privacy, I’m sure” he thought. But she also had turned off his cell phone. That was unforgivable and he would definitely take that up with her and some other things regarding their relationship, or lack of it. But not until he had more sleep. He grabbed a quick shower, dressed in a clean suit and headed to the police station. Antonio and he met in his office and they went over Matthew’s investigation. Bo told Antonio what Larry had said about the cut over Matthew’s eye and about Matthew’s behavior. Antonio had no insight to add.   Bo spoke thoughtfully. “Antonio, maybe you should go over to Nora’s tomorrow and question Matthew.” Antonio was surprised. “Really? I just assumed you would.”   Bo shook his head, looking up at him from behind his desk. “You’re the lead detective on this case. I think you should try and question him.” After seeing Matthew’s behavior at the hospital, Bo had come up with some other ideas and wasn’t ready to share them with anyone just yet. “I’ll meet you there.”   Antonio nodded, watching Bo, thinking he wasn’t telling him everything. “Sure thing.”   Bo tapped his pen on his desk absently. “I’ll set it up with Nora. She’s bringing Matthew home tomorrow.” Antonio left and Bo stayed at his office late. He was sitting on his small office sofa, going over his notes on Matthew’s disappearance. He read them over and over and couldn’t get things to add up. Could Matthew have run away? His instincts weren’t kicking in on this one. Maybe he was too close to this investigation. Maybe his feelings for Matthew and Nora were clouding his thinking. He sat back, resting his head on the back of the sofa. Maybe if he shut his eyes for just a minute, he might be able to think clearer.   Bo woke when he heard the voices from the detectives in the outer office. He realized he had slept in his office. He sat up gingerly, rubbing the tense spot that seemed to be a constant on the back of his neck. He really wished it would loosen up. Nora used to know just how to kneed that spot. He stopped short in his thoughts. He had no idea where that thought had come from, or did he? Why was it that Nora was his first waking thought every morning and his last thought before closing his eyes every night?   He shook his head of sleep and thoughts, his arms stiff. His body would make him pay for sleeping on that sofa. He looked at his watch and saw it was almost time to meet Nora to bring Matthew home. He grabbed his suit jacket off the coat stand and went quickly to his car. He arrived at the hospital and went directly to Matthew’s room. Rachel had arrived just before him with a change of clothes for Matthew. Nora helped Matthew change and the orderly wheeled Matthew down to the exit area. As Nora, Bo, Rachel and Matthew left the hospital, Bo had a police escort to keep the news reporters at bay, who were snapping pictures and shouting questions. Once they got Matthew back to Nora’s house and settled in his room, Bo told Nora he would send Antonio over after dinner to speak with Matthew, and that he would be back as well. Nora insisted that Rachel head back to Chicago and after much kissing and hugging; she was on her way, courtesy of Asa’s private jet.   Bo headed home to the Garrett to take a hot shower and grab a few more hours of sleep. Gabrielle was there when he arrived. She hugged him but felt him tense under her touch. She could see that he was exhausted. But there was something else. Gabrielle was cautious as she spoke “How’s Matthew?”   Bo was extremely tired. “Appears to be okay. Not saying much though about where he’s been.”   Gabrielle sighed a little too loud. “Oh, I’m so glad he’s all right.” Then she thought to herself; if Bo only knew what she had done. She tried hugging Bo again, but again, she felt him tense. She pulled back from him and looked at him. “Is everything all right? You haven’t been home in 3 days.”   Bo sighed, rubbing that tense spot in his neck. “I fell asleep at the office last night. Exhausted, I guess.”   Gabrielle reached behind him to try and rub his neck for him. “You’ve been working nonstop for 3 days looking for Matthew. Now that he is home, maybe you can take a few days off and you and I can go away.” Bo moved away from her touch, interrupting her abruptly. “Take a few days off and go away? There’s no way. Matthew and Nora need me here. Matthew’s case is still an ongoing investigation. There’s been a string of robberies in the Angel Square neighborhood, there’s rumors of a gambling ring originating out of Atlantic City and affecting some of the businesses here in Llanview and I don’t know how many other cases back logged on my detectives desks because we spent 3 days looking for Matthew. Right now, I want to take a hot shower and grab a couple of hours of sleep before I have to meet Antonio at Nora’s.”   Gabrielle was now angry. “You’re going back to Nora’s?”   Bo just stared back at her. “Yes. We still have to talk with Matthew, see if he remembers anything about the time he was missing.”   Gabrielle was glaring at him. “Why can’t Antonio do that without you?”   Bo was losing his patience and his exhaustion was not helping. “Because he’s my son and I want to be there. Not to mention that I am the Commissioner of Police and I had my entire police force involved in the search.” He quickly added, “Oh, and leave the phone on the hook and don’t touch my cell phone.” She looked at him with guilt all over her face. “You think I don’t realize what you did that night?” he asked her. Gabrielle stuttered over her excuse. “Bo, I, I, just wanted…   Bo interrupted her. “I know what you wanted. But Nora tried reaching me about Matthew and I never got that call. And worse, my detective had to send an officer to this house to contact me about a missing child; MY missing child, because they could not reach me by phone. How do you think that looked for me?”   She tried again to make an excuse but Bo stopped her again. “I’m really too tired for any of your excuses right now. And that’s what it is, isn’t it? An excuse? Not even an apology?” He shook his head and stormed into the bedroom, slamming the door. Gabrielle was nervous. What if Nora told him she had come by that night? And what if Matthew tells Bo what she had said to him at the diner? She had to try and reach Max and work out a story with him. She left the Garrett quietly.   When Bo arrived at Nora’s, he let himself in. Antonio was all ready there. Nora had brought Matthew down from his room and she was sitting next to him on the sofa. Antonio was sitting on a small footstool in front of them. Antonio looked up and greeted Bo, who was standing by the door. “Evening, Commissioner.”   Bo nodded towards Antonio. “Evening.” He looked over at Matthew. “How you doing Matthew?”   Matthew darted his eyes towards Bo and then looked back at Antonio, shrugging. Antonio brought Bo up to speed. “Matthew and I were just talking about baseball,” he looked back at Matthew, “…weren’t we?” Matthew nodded. Antonio spoke softly to Matthew. “I need to ask you some questions, all right?”   Matthew didn’t respond and Nora pulled him closer to her. “Remember, I told you that Bo and Antonio wanted to talk to you about the day you disappeared.” Matthew looked up at her, his tone almost angry. “I don’t remember anything, mom. I just got lost.”   Nora squeezed his shoulders. “Just tell them what you do remember.”   Antonio nodded. “You were at your baseball game, right?” Matthew nodded. Antonio continued to talk gently to Matthew as Bo observed. He walked quietly from the door where he was standing, and leaned against the window that was facing the sofa; Bo never took his eyes from Matthew. Matthew appeared uncomfortable, distant, and would not make eye contact with Antonio. He hadn’t looked Bo’s way since that first quick dart of the eyes when Bo had first come in. Bo’s instincts told him that Matthew was hiding something, but “what?” was the question.   Antonio continued to ask Matthew about his time in the diner and the two people who were in there, but Matthew continued to shrug, insisting he couldn’t remember anything; not about the diner or the people in the diner, or why he had left, or where he had been, until Bo had found him. Antonio asked about the cut over his head, and who bandaged it. Matthew opened his mouth and started to respond, but stopped quickly, touching his forehead. “I don’t remember. I don’t remember anything.”   Antonio sighed, smiling at Matthew. “Its okay, little man. You’re home, now, safe.” Antonio stood and looked at Bo. “I think that’s everything.”   Bo looked to Nora. “I’m gonna walk Antonio out, I’ll be right back.” Bo and Antonio walked outside, and then turned to him, asking, “What do you think?”   Antonio hesitated before responded. “Not sure.”   Bo stared at him, raising his voice. “Come on Antonio, you’re a detective, tell me what you think!”   Antonio was taken back by Bo’s slight outburst. “All right.” Antonio looked right into Bo’s eyes. “I think he’s not telling us something.”   Bo nodded, walking away from Antonio, trying to regain his composure. “So do I.”   Antonio was interested. “Do you think he’s afraid? Do you think he was threatened?”   Bo turned and looked straight back into Antonio’s eyes. “No. I think he ran away.”   This revelation caught Antonio off guard. “What? Why would he run away?” He looked back towards the house. “He loves Nora.”   Bo looked away from the house, staring far off. “Yes. He loves his mother.”   Antonio was still in disbelief at Bo’s suggestion. “Have you told Nora your suspicions?”   Bo shook his head no. “Not yet. I want to work on it a little more. Did you find out anything else about the people in the diner?”   Antonio shook his head no. “We have the composite sketches from the descriptions that Roxanne gave us, but they are exactly that. Sketches. They’re not great. We had been showing them around, but since Matthew showed up, I don’t think we’ve continued that angle.”   “Get them on my desk, first thing,” Bo demanded.   “Yes sir.” Antonio took that as his dismissal and turned to leave. Bo reached for him and padded him on the back. “I never did thank you for tracking me down that night and being there for Nora.”   Antonio shrugged, a bit embarrassed. “Just doing my job.”   Bo swore softly heading back into Nora’s house. “I owe you.”   Antonio was confused. “Sir?”   Bo spoke quickly. “Just get me those sketches.” To be continued...