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Bo's Journey Home - Chapter 2 Monday June 23rd, 2003, Early Evening 6:30 PM Nora’s House Nora arrived home from work. She opened the door and walked into her office, throwing her keys onto her desk and dropping her briefcase on the floor next to the desk. She was looking for the mail. Nora casually called out for her son and housekeeper. “Matthew? Maryann?” She received no answer, still looking for the mail. She headed back towards the front door, calling out again a little louder. “Matthew?! I’m home!” Nora reached the front door and found the mail still in the mailbox. This was strange. MaryAnn always got the mail when she arrived with Matthew. Nora stopped and looked up from the mail in her hands. She was now noticing that Maryann wasn’t here as well. Nora headed back to her office, perusing the mail. She reached her desk and picked up the phone. She called Maryann at home.   Nora cradled the phone in the crook of her neck as she continued to peruse the mail. “Hi Maryann, its Nora. I’m home now, do you want to bring Matthew by or would you rather I come get him?” Nora hesitated, as she listened to the voice on the other side of the phone, dropping the mail onto the desk absently, and taking the phone from the crook in her neck to hold it fully in her hand. “Matthew never got off the bus at your house after camp?” she asked, into the phone. She hesitated again to listen to the response. “No,I didn’t get your message. My cell phone battery must be dead.” Nora continued, listening. “Yes,” Nora answered into the phone, “maybe Bo did pick him up.” She paused again, listening “No Maryann, no need. I am sure you’re right and he is with Bo. I will call you later. Bye.”   Nora hung up the phone, not quite panicked, but a little concerned. It wasn’t like Bo to pick up Matthew without letting her know first. She spoke her thoughts out loud. “Did I miss his voice mail or an email?” She checked her cell phone, but she had been right. The battery was dead. She called her voice mail at the DA office, plenty of messages, none about Matthew. She called her cell phone messaging center and the only message was the one from Maryann. She hesitated, then picked up the phone again and called Bo’s office. She got his voice mail. “God,” she thought, waiting for his greeting to finish, she loved the sound of his voice. She allowed herself a memory and a smile. She shook herself back into reality at the sound of the beep. Nora spoke into the phone, a slight edge in her voice. “Bo, its Nora. Can you and Matthew call me when you get this message? And in the future,” she added, “Will you call me first when you decide to pick him up. Thanks.”   Nora hung up and grabbed the back of her neck, massaging it. She felt uneasy. It just was not like Bo to take Matthew without checking with her first. She called his house next but the line was busy. “That was odd,” thought Nora. Bo and Gabrielle had an answering machine, why would the line be busy. Nora carried the portable phone upstairs to her room, dialing Bo’s home again. Busy. Nora changed quickly into a pair of jeans and a pull over, dialing Bo’s number a third time. Still busy! “Must be out of order,” she thought. She dialed his cell phone and got his voice mail. “Where the hell is he?” she thought. “And where the hell is my son?” She threw the portable phone down onto the bed, slipped on some loafers and went back downstairs. She grabbed her keys, quickly changed the battery of her cell to the spare, and was out the door. It was 6:45.   Monday, June 23rd, 2003 Early Evening 6:15 PM The Garrett Bo arrived home early for the first time in weeks. “This should get Gabrielle off his back.” He hesitated for a minute. “That wasn’t the right way to think about it.” He had been spending a lot of time with Matthew the past few weeks. And if he wasn’t with Matthew, he was working. It was time to give some of his time to Gabrielle. He went into the Garret he shared with Gabrielle, the smell of something healthy greeting him. Gab really hated his eating habits but what could he say; he loved pizza. He threw his keys onto the side table by the door, his badge and cell phone next to them. Bo called out from the door. “Gabrielle! Are you here?!”   Gabrielle came into the living room, greeting him passionately with a kiss. Bo pulled back from her with a bit of a laugh. “Whoa! What was that for?”   Gabrielle smiled at him. “For coming home early to have dinner with me. I made you something special.” Bo hesitated, seeing the table set with candles. “You didn’t have to go to all this trouble. I’m just a simple guy with simple tastes…” his voice trailed off.   Gabrielle cut him off, seeing his tiredness reflecting in his eyes. “I wanted this to be a special evening for us.” Gabrielle undid his shirt at the neck, kissing him gently. “Why don’t you take nap for a half hour while I finish making dinner? I’ll come wake you when it’s ready. Then I can help you undress and we can take a long, hot shower together.” She smiled at him.   Bo reached up and massaged the back of his neck with his hand. A hot shower sounded good about now. Maybe he would do that first. “Okay,” he said to her.   He headed towards the bedroom and the bathroom beyond. Gabrielle checked the phone again, making sure she had left it off the hook. “No calls from Nora tonight,” she thought. She went to his cell phone and turned it off. The police department could get voice mail for a while. She went back into the kitchen to check on dinner. She continued with her dinner preparations. When she glanced up at the clock, the half hour of rest she had promised to Bo had past. She headed into the bedroom to wake him and he was already in the shower. She started to undress when she remembered the appetizers in the oven. She went back to the kitchen and turned the oven off, allowing the appetizers to cool. She checked the pots on the stove. Everything was almost ready. She headed back to the bathroom to join Bo. There was a knock at the door. Gabrielle stopped short at the bedroom door. “Now who could that be?” She walked over to the door and checked the peep hole. Upon seeing the red hair, she hung her head, leaning it against the door for just a second, and then opened it. She stepped out into the hall, closing the door slightly behind her. Gabrielle’s voice was filled with sarcasm. “Nora, what a lovely surprise.”   Nora tried to keep her voice controlled, trying to look beyond Gabrielle into the apartment through the small opening of the partially closed door. “Hi Gabrielle, can I see Matthew or talk to Bo?”   Gabrielle paled somewhat at her mention of Mattthew. “Matthew?” she echoed her. “Matthew’s not here. And Bo is…”   Nora cut her off, her voice a little raised. “Matthew’s not here?”   Gabrielle shook her head, looking quickly over her shoulder towards the door and lying quickly. “No, Bo called just a little while go, saying he would be home late.”   Thinking only of Matthew, Nora turned and left, her mind racing: “Where could Matthew be?”   Monday Evening, June 23rd, 2003, dusk The Waterfront Matthew walked slowly along the pier, listening to the foghorns, watching the buoys flickering. He had been walking for hours, not even realizing it. His gait was masked in dejection and sadness with an overwhelming pain in his heart that even he didn’t understand. The air was slightly cool for this late June evening, the sun setting later and later. It was still visible just above the horizon. Matthew barely noticed as he looked out across the river. He walked to the edge of the pier, looking down into the water. He could still hear Gabrielle’s words, “Bo is your father and he abandoned you, he abandoned you, he abandoned you.” They echoed over and over in his head. He couldn’t shut the sound of her voice out, and it was making his head pound with pain. “Don’t think,” he told himself. Don’t think.” As he looked down into the river, he could see ripples fanning out from raindrops hitting the water. He looked up towards the horizon, saw the sun, and looked back down into the water. The ripples were not from raindrops, but from the tears he hadn’t realized he was crying, falling into the water. He saw his mother’s face through the ripples, calling for him. Slowly her image faded into Gabrielle’s, her voice ringing out “he abandoned you!” Gabrielle’s voice became louder and louder, drowning out his mother’s voice. The pain in his head began to pound harder and harder, the ripples in the water starting coming faster and faster, and he slowly fell in behind them. To be continued …