Hazard
Had been since they put it on him over twelve hours ago. But he couldn’t escape it, they had removed the cuffs long enough to cuff him to a table in this room and then turned the light on him and left.
He knew they were probably watching him, he had seen enough fucking shows to see what they were trying to do, but he was too tired to care. His head hurt where Kane had hit it off the door and the blood had dried on the side of his face, no one had bothered to clean it up or even looked at it.
A glass of water sat on the table, just out of reach, and Jared had given up hours ago trying to reach it. He had considered knocking against the table to spill the glass but he wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction of seeing him lick it up like an animal.
But he didn’t care, he never had cared much about himself to begin with, and now... now that Jensen....he shook his head. No! No... They were mistaken, they had to be, not his Jensen. They would come in any minute now and tell him it was a mistake, tell him they had found Jensen and he was ok and looking to see Jared. This was a mantra he had been repeating to himself over and over and over.
What Jared didn’t realise was that the whole time he was there he was rocking on the chair, huddled down as small as he could make himself and muttering those words to himself the whole time.
To the three observers behind the glass the scene was disturbing to say the least, this man obviously was not sane.
“Damnit Jim! Lets just go in there and beat the damn confession out of the sick fuck! He keeps going the way he is and Doc here is gonna deem him too unstable to question!”
Kane was frustrated, angry and he needed something or someone to pound on, and the raving lunatic in there was a prime candidate.
“Chris, you have to calm down son.”
Jeff Morgan was concerned, concerned for everyone in this sorry case. Jared was obviously in shock and injured, Jim had been silent for hours now, just standing in this room watching, and Kane, Jesus, Kane was a danger to both himself and to the public in his state of mind.
Kane turned now to Jeff, murder in his eyes.
“Don’t you tell me to calm down, my best friend and Jims son is dead, that....that animal in there, did such a job on his body that it took dental records to identify him! Hell Jeff you said yourself there was so little blood left in his body you were lucky to get what you did to get a match!”
“I know! I’m the one who had to examine him! I’m the one who had to try and find a way of positively identifying Jensen! You think that was a walk in the fucking park huh? You try doing it! You try cutting open a young man who had already suffered a horrific death! You try searching his body for a way to get a sample of blood! You try taking these goddamn awful pictures! You try pointing the finger at the son of a woman I had come to know and regard as a dear friend! You try living with the fact that you are about to break the promise you made to her on her death bed to always protect him! Damnit!”
Jeff turned away then, chest heaving hands braced on a wall, hiding his reaction from the two stunned men watching. In all their years of knowing Doctor Jeff Morgan they had never ever seen him lose it like that, not ever.
Jim Beaver moved finally, and placed a hand on Jeff’s shoulder.
“I’m sorry Jeff. Chris don’t mean nothin’, he is just upset and grieving like the rest of us. I know how hard this is for you, I know how close you and Sharon were and she isn’t dead two months, but, Jeff, my son...” His voice broke then and Jeff turned, “My son is dead Jeff and that man in there very likely murdered him ‘cause Jensen wouldn’t love him.”
Jim cleared his throat and continued, “I called you here to take a look at the mans head Jeff. If police brutality is seen in this case we are finished and we will never get a conviction, just, just go in and clean him up as best you can and leave. I know you want to help him Jeff, but you can’t, not now, my son is dead and he killed him. Please?”
Jeff watched as the gruff speaking, abrupt, tough town sheriff struggled to control emotions that were threatening to overcome him.
“Ok, I will go in, and I will clean him up, but Jim, speaking professionally, I don’t want to see either you or Kane question him you got it? You both are too highly charged emotionally and I can’t in all good conscience let you both do that, ok?”
Kane bristled but a look from Jim halted him in his tracks and he turned to Jeff again.
“Just go patch him up Jeff, and no talking about this case got it? You don’t discuss what’s happening or I will have you arrested for aiding and abetting.”
It was spoken quietly but Jeff knew Jim meant every word and he nodded. Picking up the bag he brought with him, he glanced back at the two officers and left the room.
*****************
The sound of the door opening had Jared snapping out of his thoughts and the tense set to his shoulders relaxed slightly when he saw who it was. He could be seen to visibly unfold himself from the curl he had manoeuvred his body into as he raised a face now filled with desperate hope to Jeff Morgan who gazed at the man with some sympathy.
“Doctor Morgan! Thank god! Jensen is ok right? That’s why you are here right? Jensen is ok?”
Jared’s eyes pleaded with Jeff to answer him with the words he wanted to hear, but Jeff was well aware that they were being observed behind the glass, so, he moved into the room and placing his bag on the table took out what he needed and gently placed a hand under Jared’s jaw to turn his head so he could see the cut better. He hissed softly at how deep the cut actually was, but stitching Jared wasn’t an option right now and he was damn certain they weren’t gonna allow him a trip to the hospital to have him checked out.
“Damnit Jared, he sure did a number on you huh?” He fingered the bruise that had formed on one cheek from the rough slap Chris had delivered. “I’m gonna clean up that cut ok Jared? It’s alright, I won’t hurt you, you know that son right?”
Jared forced himself to relax into Jeff’s touch and stopped his previous instinctive flinch when Jeff had first touched him. He had never been used to a kind touch, only his Mom and then Jensen....No! No thinking, not until Jensen was back, not until Jensen came and sorted all this out. He tightly closed his eyes as Jeff gently used a medical wipe on his face to clean up the dried blood that had stuck to his forehead and face.
“Doctor Morgan?”
“Yes Jared?”
“It’s all a mistake right? What they said...about Jensen? He’s not dead right? He...he’s ok?”
Jeff finished cleaning around the cut and Jared flinched again when he started on the deep cut left behind. He winced in sympathy at Jared’s soft hiss when he proceeded to press the now clean wound closed and applied some strip stitches before covering it with a wide bandage.
“Doctor Morgan? .....Jeff? Please...”
Jeff stilled then, in all the years that Jeff had known him, had known his mother, Jared had never ever called him anything but Doctor Morgan, no matter how many times he had been reassured it was ok to call him Jeff. He had always maintained that distance, that polite but definite distance between them, trusting no one but his Mom, until Jensen.
He finished applying the bandage before placing his hand on Jareds shoulder and squeezing it tight.
“I’m sorry Jared, I’m so damn sorry son.”
“Jeff? Please, don’t be sorry, oh god don’t tell me you’re sorry, just tell me he is ok? Please...please...”
Jared’s voice broke over the words and fresh tears rolled down a broken face as he pleaded. But at that moment the door opened again and Chris Kane stood just inside the door.
“You’re done here Doc, time to go.”
Jeff straightened, squeezing Jared’s shoulder one last time, and not missing the look of panic that crossed Jared’s face at the sight of Kane at the door. He patted Jared once on the shoulder and moved to the door, stopping just in front of Kane and staring him straight in the face and speaking low enough for only Chris to hear.
“I will be back to check on him. I am going to presume no more accidents will befall that kid, and, I’m going to presume that neither you nor Jim are gonna be the ones questioning him. I won’t hesitate to act on his behalf if either of you go near him again.”
His expression softened slightly before he continued.
“Look, believe it or not, I am only thinking of you both, nothing is gonna hold up in court the way you are going Chris, you have to do this right.” And patting Chris once on the chest he moved away and walked out of the room.
***********************
A half an hour later, Officer Tom Welling walked down the small corridor clutching a folder holding the crime scene photos and pictures of the victim’s body. He was heading towards the interrogation room where he had been told to question Jared Padalecki. He was just reaching the room when Chris Kane emerged from a door across the hall and approached him.
“It’s ok Welling, give me the folder, I will take it from here.”
“But, but I was told I was to question him, that neither you nor the sheriff were to be allowed to!”
“I said, I will take it from here, now pass me the damn folder Welling and stop being such an incredible weasel for once!”
Tom regarded the smaller man, he looked like he would happily make someone into mince meat right about now, and there was no way he was putting himself on the line to protect a freak like ‘Dickie’ in there. After all, if the sheriff pulled him on it, even the sheriff knew what Kane was like when he got like this, No one was gonna blame him. He handed the folder over in silence and stepped aside and Kane smiled sarcastically, before moving to the door and opening it and stepping inside.
All Tom could hear as Kane closed the door was his quiet menacing growl;
“Hello again Paladickie, I think it’s time you and me had ourselves a little talk”
As Tom Welling shrugged to himself and headed away from the room, Jim Beaver stood behind the glass, watching in complete silence as his deputy broke every rule in the book.
It was time Jared Padalecki confessed.
Chapter 3
He knew they were probably watching him, he had seen enough fucking shows to see what they were trying to do, but he was too tired to care. His head hurt where Kane had hit it off the door and the blood had dried on the side of his face, no one had bothered to clean it up or even looked at it.
A glass of water sat on the table, just out of reach, and Jared had given up hours ago trying to reach it. He had considered knocking against the table to spill the glass but he wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction of seeing him lick it up like an animal.
But he didn’t care, he never had cared much about himself to begin with, and now... now that Jensen....he shook his head. No! No... They were mistaken, they had to be, not his Jensen. They would come in any minute now and tell him it was a mistake, tell him they had found Jensen and he was ok and looking to see Jared. This was a mantra he had been repeating to himself over and over and over.
What Jared didn’t realise was that the whole time he was there he was rocking on the chair, huddled down as small as he could make himself and muttering those words to himself the whole time.
To the three observers behind the glass the scene was disturbing to say the least, this man obviously was not sane.
“Damnit Jim! Lets just go in there and beat the damn confession out of the sick fuck! He keeps going the way he is and Doc here is gonna deem him too unstable to question!”
Kane was frustrated, angry and he needed something or someone to pound on, and the raving lunatic in there was a prime candidate.
“Chris, you have to calm down son.”
Jeff Morgan was concerned, concerned for everyone in this sorry case. Jared was obviously in shock and injured, Jim had been silent for hours now, just standing in this room watching, and Kane, Jesus, Kane was a danger to both himself and to the public in his state of mind.
Kane turned now to Jeff, murder in his eyes.
“Don’t you tell me to calm down, my best friend and Jims son is dead, that....that animal in there, did such a job on his body that it took dental records to identify him! Hell Jeff you said yourself there was so little blood left in his body you were lucky to get what you did to get a match!”
“I know! I’m the one who had to examine him! I’m the one who had to try and find a way of positively identifying Jensen! You think that was a walk in the fucking park huh? You try doing it! You try cutting open a young man who had already suffered a horrific death! You try searching his body for a way to get a sample of blood! You try taking these goddamn awful pictures! You try pointing the finger at the son of a woman I had come to know and regard as a dear friend! You try living with the fact that you are about to break the promise you made to her on her death bed to always protect him! Damnit!”
Jeff turned away then, chest heaving hands braced on a wall, hiding his reaction from the two stunned men watching. In all their years of knowing Doctor Jeff Morgan they had never ever seen him lose it like that, not ever.
Jim Beaver moved finally, and placed a hand on Jeff’s shoulder.
“I’m sorry Jeff. Chris don’t mean nothin’, he is just upset and grieving like the rest of us. I know how hard this is for you, I know how close you and Sharon were and she isn’t dead two months, but, Jeff, my son...” His voice broke then and Jeff turned, “My son is dead Jeff and that man in there very likely murdered him ‘cause Jensen wouldn’t love him.”
Jim cleared his throat and continued, “I called you here to take a look at the mans head Jeff. If police brutality is seen in this case we are finished and we will never get a conviction, just, just go in and clean him up as best you can and leave. I know you want to help him Jeff, but you can’t, not now, my son is dead and he killed him. Please?”
Jeff watched as the gruff speaking, abrupt, tough town sheriff struggled to control emotions that were threatening to overcome him.
“Ok, I will go in, and I will clean him up, but Jim, speaking professionally, I don’t want to see either you or Kane question him you got it? You both are too highly charged emotionally and I can’t in all good conscience let you both do that, ok?”
Kane bristled but a look from Jim halted him in his tracks and he turned to Jeff again.
“Just go patch him up Jeff, and no talking about this case got it? You don’t discuss what’s happening or I will have you arrested for aiding and abetting.”
It was spoken quietly but Jeff knew Jim meant every word and he nodded. Picking up the bag he brought with him, he glanced back at the two officers and left the room.
*****************
The sound of the door opening had Jared snapping out of his thoughts and the tense set to his shoulders relaxed slightly when he saw who it was. He could be seen to visibly unfold himself from the curl he had manoeuvred his body into as he raised a face now filled with desperate hope to Jeff Morgan who gazed at the man with some sympathy.
“Doctor Morgan! Thank god! Jensen is ok right? That’s why you are here right? Jensen is ok?”
Jared’s eyes pleaded with Jeff to answer him with the words he wanted to hear, but Jeff was well aware that they were being observed behind the glass, so, he moved into the room and placing his bag on the table took out what he needed and gently placed a hand under Jared’s jaw to turn his head so he could see the cut better. He hissed softly at how deep the cut actually was, but stitching Jared wasn’t an option right now and he was damn certain they weren’t gonna allow him a trip to the hospital to have him checked out.
“Damnit Jared, he sure did a number on you huh?” He fingered the bruise that had formed on one cheek from the rough slap Chris had delivered. “I’m gonna clean up that cut ok Jared? It’s alright, I won’t hurt you, you know that son right?”
Jared forced himself to relax into Jeff’s touch and stopped his previous instinctive flinch when Jeff had first touched him. He had never been used to a kind touch, only his Mom and then Jensen....No! No thinking, not until Jensen was back, not until Jensen came and sorted all this out. He tightly closed his eyes as Jeff gently used a medical wipe on his face to clean up the dried blood that had stuck to his forehead and face.
“Doctor Morgan?”
“Yes Jared?”
“It’s all a mistake right? What they said...about Jensen? He’s not dead right? He...he’s ok?”
Jeff finished cleaning around the cut and Jared flinched again when he started on the deep cut left behind. He winced in sympathy at Jared’s soft hiss when he proceeded to press the now clean wound closed and applied some strip stitches before covering it with a wide bandage.
“Doctor Morgan? .....Jeff? Please...”
Jeff stilled then, in all the years that Jeff had known him, had known his mother, Jared had never ever called him anything but Doctor Morgan, no matter how many times he had been reassured it was ok to call him Jeff. He had always maintained that distance, that polite but definite distance between them, trusting no one but his Mom, until Jensen.
He finished applying the bandage before placing his hand on Jareds shoulder and squeezing it tight.
“I’m sorry Jared, I’m so damn sorry son.”
“Jeff? Please, don’t be sorry, oh god don’t tell me you’re sorry, just tell me he is ok? Please...please...”
Jared’s voice broke over the words and fresh tears rolled down a broken face as he pleaded. But at that moment the door opened again and Chris Kane stood just inside the door.
“You’re done here Doc, time to go.”
Jeff straightened, squeezing Jared’s shoulder one last time, and not missing the look of panic that crossed Jared’s face at the sight of Kane at the door. He patted Jared once on the shoulder and moved to the door, stopping just in front of Kane and staring him straight in the face and speaking low enough for only Chris to hear.
“I will be back to check on him. I am going to presume no more accidents will befall that kid, and, I’m going to presume that neither you nor Jim are gonna be the ones questioning him. I won’t hesitate to act on his behalf if either of you go near him again.”
His expression softened slightly before he continued.
“Look, believe it or not, I am only thinking of you both, nothing is gonna hold up in court the way you are going Chris, you have to do this right.” And patting Chris once on the chest he moved away and walked out of the room.
***********************
A half an hour later, Officer Tom Welling walked down the small corridor clutching a folder holding the crime scene photos and pictures of the victim’s body. He was heading towards the interrogation room where he had been told to question Jared Padalecki. He was just reaching the room when Chris Kane emerged from a door across the hall and approached him.
“It’s ok Welling, give me the folder, I will take it from here.”
“But, but I was told I was to question him, that neither you nor the sheriff were to be allowed to!”
“I said, I will take it from here, now pass me the damn folder Welling and stop being such an incredible weasel for once!”
Tom regarded the smaller man, he looked like he would happily make someone into mince meat right about now, and there was no way he was putting himself on the line to protect a freak like ‘Dickie’ in there. After all, if the sheriff pulled him on it, even the sheriff knew what Kane was like when he got like this, No one was gonna blame him. He handed the folder over in silence and stepped aside and Kane smiled sarcastically, before moving to the door and opening it and stepping inside.
All Tom could hear as Kane closed the door was his quiet menacing growl;
“Hello again Paladickie, I think it’s time you and me had ourselves a little talk”
As Tom Welling shrugged to himself and headed away from the room, Jim Beaver stood behind the glass, watching in complete silence as his deputy broke every rule in the book.
It was time Jared Padalecki confessed.
Chapter 3