2019-07-15 - Does it all Connect?

With the morning off, Andi is at home for most of the day. Until the evening, likely, when she takes the overnight shift. She's on call though, especially with all of the murders and deaths lately. At the moment she's seated inside her living room just reading from a case file. Someone brings home their work with them. The squad car is in the driveway.

BANG BANG BANG. Alexander hits the door with his fist, a quick triple rap. And then, after a few seconds, another of equal intensity. He's standing outside her house, fidgeting on the doorstep with a few file folders tucked under his arm. He walked here, of course, and briskly enough that he's still breathing quickly. His hair is mussed, the circles under his eyes are dark, and his clothing is more than usually rumpled. Like he either slept in it, or didn't sleep at all.

There's a physical jump from Andi from her relaxed seated place to her feet and she's reaching at her lower back for her gun before realizing it wasn't there. Her offduty wear didn't consist of her weapon. Not inside her home. So she walks over to the door and peers out. Alexander. He looked like he had a rough night. Reaching for the knob she tugs open the door, concern already on her features.

"Is everything alright?" Andi takes a step back, "Come inside, you look like you've been through hell." She'll close the door behind him and motion towards the same chair he'd sat in last time. "Come tell me what's up," she invites in a rather solemn tone.

"No," Alexander says, curtly. "Not yet." Even with fairly vibrating with some strong emotion, he pauses at the invitation, studying her, then the inside of the house with that feral animal suspiciousness. But it IS why he showed up, so he slides in, eeling past her and walking into the room. He ignores the chairs, prowling instead around the outer edge of the room, his eyes flicking here and there. "You've heard about Dr. Faust? And her brother?"

Ah, there it was. Andi steels herself from the memory of the crime scene photos and gives a brief nod. "Yes, as far as I know she's still fighting for her life at the hospital, but I've not called to check in this morning. And you've heard about Robert and Isabel Addington? Parents of one Erin Addington?" Just to make sure each were up to speed on everything for equal footing.

"Yes. And yes. And the other Addington woman. From Bayside." Alexander shifts, pivoting on his heel for a brief moment to stare her in the face. "There is a possibility that it is related, all related, to the research I began to do, and that I asked you - and others - to help me with. And a skeleton. Possibly of a man named Billy. Possibly a Baxter." He starts pacing again. "I am going to look into the matter. I would like help. Captain de la Vega has said no. But I will find this person." His voice is sharp, but not loud, just a staccato burst of words that feel like they're being hurled at the world.

The reason for the agitation is clear to Andi at least, "The issues were there already before you started your investigation. It looks like people who may know something are being murdered then? Is that what you're thinking? I can't see how the Addington pair that were here knew anything. They left about the time their child was born and never looked back as far as I know." Andi walks over towards the couch, mostly pacing though as she doesn't take a seat. "What did you ask the Captain for? And is there anything I can do instead to help? I have only a bit of information. Starting with, my sister is a Baxter and not my sister at all. And I've still got no idea why they'd cover that up."

"Because Baxters die," Alexander says, simply. "Maybe hiding her. Protecting her." The information does seem to draw his attention away from his urgent need to investigate and/or kill things. His pacing slows down. "There is a something. Looking for someone called 'Billy', and the something or William or both might be involved with the Baxters. But people found William's bones - maybe William's bones - and we met a melted face Archivist who offered to tell us of the town's history if we gave it one of the bones. We haven't done that yet. But we divided the bones, so they couldn't be found. Dr. Faust had some. I have some. Thorne has some. He owns Bayside." He recites this at speed. "Faust and the first Addington both involved stabbing? Blood? The first Addington and the Addington couple share blood. I thought that meant it couldn't be the bones. It must be the blood. But if the Addington couple IS an accident, then the pattern changes. It could be the bones. I asked her to look at the bones. She wouldn't be involved if I hadn't asked."

"Baxters die. Addingtons die. I'll be keeping Krissy as a Johnson and let only a chosen few know that I'm in the know. My parents didn't make the short list." Andi presses her lips together and tries to make sense of what Alexander is telling her. "Billy or William? Have you got a last name?" This is when she relays what she knows about the preacher they'd considered before. The shadow man who burned the witches. "Wait you found someone's bones? Where were they? I'm sure it was a crime scene unless it was in a cemetery, And that's even more sacred. You can't be telling people about the bones though. Word may get to the wrong people. Just make sure you can trust them." Then reassures softly. "You can trust me. I'm as deep into this as you are. Or I feel like I am. You can't blame yourself for the coroner, she makes her own decisions. But we do have to figure out if the bones bring death or almost death with them. And if so, what we can do about the curse, if that's what it is."

"I didn't find them," Alexander says, with a shake of his head. "Other people did. They found them in the lost places and they brought them back. The bones /want/. They want to be buried. I don't think they're cursed. I don't even know if the murders have to do with the bones, or just - something else. Addingtons and Baxters. Baxters and Addingtons. Fuck them all." He hugs his file folder to his chest and paces faster. "And I CAN blame myself. I am perfectly capable. I need to see the crime scene. Photos, case files. I need to find out who did this. I need to find them." He turns back to her. "Do you know anything?"

"Who found the bones then? Who doled them out? If the bones want to be buried, why aren't they being buried? Or at least cremated?" Andi has zero answers and she looks really regretful of that. "You tell me what you want me to look for and I'm good with finding specifics. You asked about the preacher, I got his info. You asked me about Baxters, I gave up my own sisters name. Anything you ask of me, I research through the department and give back what I can. You've got me on your side, but you've got to include me in this too. It won't all be one sided. I'll tell you anything I know when I know it. I've not got to see anything but the crime scene photos, but those weren't given to me. The coroner had her throat cut across. She was stabbed in the back from someone inside her home and the attack came after the one on her brother. All we can do is wait for her to come to and ask her questions. If she's ever able to answer them, we may find who we were looking for all along, for all of this."

"No one doled them out." Alexander runs his hands through his hair, after tossing his file folder on the side table. "They were found. By people. I don't know all the people. They got /lost/ in a place where the city was fleshy and they found the bones. They were going to burn them. Dr. Glass suggested an autopsy, so we could see, we could see if we could find out who they belonged to. I reached out to Dr. Faust. You're not being LEFT OUT! I just don't know what to say!" His voice is spiraling upwards, not quite yelling, but louder than it hardly ever is. "I didn't want anyone to get hurt! I just wanted to know!"

Andi flinches and holds up both hands. "Poor choice of words. My apologies." There's a glance towards the bedroom, or at least the door where the bedroom is. "You're going to wake him if you keep raising your voice." Alexander was getting more volatile and again, she glances towards the door before looking back to Alexander. "You mentioned some of those who have a bone each. One of those people was the coroner and she's been attacked and left for dead. If we're going to assume the bone brought the attempt on her life, then it's up to use to warn the others that do have a bone and let them choose for themselves if they want to keep it."

"They already know. Except Miss Reede - I must text Miss Reede. Ensure she knows." He pulls out his phone, begins to fire off a text. Hey, it's rude as hell, but at least it seems to calm him down a bit. "And I'm not assuming the bones have anything to do with it. It is a possibility. There are other possibilities. For all I know, the Hendersons have Addington blood, and this has no-fucking-thing to do with the bones at all! It is the most logical assumption. Because if it is the BONES, then why the Addingtons? They did not have any of them, know about them, have any contact with them. The bones being the key doesn't make sense, if the three cases are related. And if they aren't, then there are a hundred other possibilities for why Dr. Faust was attacked. She said her fiance came back from the dead. Maybe he has something to do with it." Alexander's rambling picks up speed again, even as he jams his thumbs on the phone, texting away. "I don't know!" The warning about waking someone up seems to sail right over his head.

"Maybe the Addingtons is pure dumb bad luck. Dead man's curve is called that for a reason. A broken guard rail at a pivotal point in the road? An area where there is a steep cliff drop off? Maybe the Addingtons have nothing to do with it at all. Three Addingtons dead recently though.. it's brought questions. Does this William or Billy have anything to do with the Addingtons? If we could find out that, it may answer a lot." Andi hesitates and shakes her head. "Her fiance came back from the dead?" It's not as surreal as it would seem in any other town but this one.

That door, to the back or bedroom perhaps, does eventually open. Out from which come Jack. Jeans on, and pulling on a white t-shirt as he enters, his bare feet barely make sound on the floor. Catching a few words in the rants and ramblings, its clear, as his t-shirt falls into place, he wasn't expecting this. Bones and cases gets a hand on his brows to tug down, like its pulling away tension, and that hand just carries through along his whiskers and beard even. A grump of some sort issues from the man, perhaps a sigh even. "Things okay out here?" He asks, sort of skirting near the area they are in, but passing for kitchen area. Probably to start up some coffee. If he's up, might as well be up, and he doesn't want to intrude on company, though make sure things are okay, raised voice(s) and all still in his eyes as he looks out while passing for the coffee maker.

"Two front tires blowing out at the exact same time, on a car like an Addington would drive, right in front of the most dangerous part of the curve, where a guardrail just happens to be missing?" Even in his agitated state, Alexander manages to sound dryly amused. "Unless they touched the wrong ring, THAT MUCH coincidence beggars belief, under the circumstances. What were the forensics on the tires? Puncture--" his mouth snaps shut as the door opens. He spins around, as if completely surprised by this development and falls into a defensive - or potentially offensive - stance, the phone hastily shoved back into his jeans.

But he blinks a couple of times. "You're the man from the bridge. Jack. The mechanic." He starts to straighten, his eyes flicking back to Andi. "You're sleeping with a mech--ah. Ex-husband." He's not oblivious to town gossip. Not entirely, anyway. "Ex no longer applicable?" Easily distracted and not very tactful, thy name is Alexander Clayton.

"I agree, it's the reason I texted you as soon as I knew what had happened. Coincidence? Not likely. Which may mean all of the Addingtons are in danger. But why? Are the Baxters back and getting even? Is the Matriarch of the family tired of spending so much money on everyone? Maybe there's life insurance policies on each? We have to find these things out. I'll definitely try and find out who stands to gain monetarily. That's where the trail usually leads." Hearing the door rather than seeing Jack at first, Andi hesitates in her explanation and a smile is already in place as she turns to acknowledge him. A quick and appreciative once over as she watches him go start coffee. "Good morning." Her eyes follow him a moment before she looks back to Alexander. "I don't know the nature of the punctures of the tires. What I do know, is when this happens, there's never any evidence to find. It's like a deliberate set up to make every officer, detective and captain in this town to look inept and incapable and it's pissing me off!"

The stance taken by the other man gives Jack enough pause before he completely heads for that coffee maker. A pause, and then a nod, "Aye, from the bridge that day a few months back." As if Jack can't put that out of his mind, a look of concern or scrutiny for the moment, then his eyes shift to Andi, she can explain the situation, perhaps. "Morning, and its no longer applicable." The title of ex. Seems they're both heated about the same thing at least, he concludes. He mutters something about, "Told that girl not to poke around." Or something, and shambles into the kitchen proper. Cupboards opening as they talk, he does call out, "Y'all want a cup of joe?" Then after a moment or two, perculation begins, how long it lasts depends on the number of takers for some black coffee. IF they don't know he makes it that way, they'll find out soon enough.

"Margaret Addington isn't stupid enough to kill three family members in so short a time, if she was hoping to benefit from some insurance scam. Erin would be the obvious suspect for her parents, but I assume you've already checked her out," Alexander says, "and I don't see it. She didn't mind that I ruined her Mazarati interior with sewer slime gunk. If she were murderous, I think that would have been the time." A touch of wry humor, although he's still stalking back and forth. His gaze flicks to Andi. "Gray Harbor protects its secrets."

A curt nod to Jack, about the bridge. His gaze sharpens. "What girl? What poking? Coffee, yes." Even though he looks like the last person on the planet who needs caffeine.

"Please, yes. Coffee would be great about now. Thank you, Jack." Andi looks his way and offers a softer smile but she was mid talk about everything so she gets right back to it. After backing what Jack said. "Ex no longer applies. You don't know what you've got till it's gone." Okay, now she goes back to the talking. "The Captain is questioning Erin Addington, you know family is always looked at first. The person or persons who stand to gail the most from their deaths. I've not talked to her and likely I won't have the opportunity. The Captain will be very thorough. I'm sure." There's another look towards Jack before she smiles, "Jack, I believe, is repairing the upholstery on her car. It's currently in his shop as far as I know."

"Yeah, that gunk, not a pleasant job, redoing her interior," he comments, muffled from the kitchen, so hard to tell if that was standard grump noise or actually more grumpy for having to work amidst that glorious smell. Ceramic clinking sounds, cups retrieved from cabinets as the smell of black coffee wafts out towards the other two most likely. And he brings three cups, they can grab one they like. He sets two down on a table or end table or shelf for them to easily grab from. Another temple rub, one hand or finger is looped in the holder for his coffee cup. Another sigh from the man, he must be tired, "Nothing." About the girl or poking around, but offers some insight regardless. "Was odd, like literally hadn't thought of her in years, then after a dream she showed up in ... she showed up in the shop. Asking about Tommy and asking if I'd go get him if someone thought they could find him. Nonsense talk. I told her not to go poking at the past like that." He sort of shakes his head a little in agreement with his thoughts on the topic.

"They paved paradise, put in a parking lot," Alexander mutters, apropos of absolutely nothing rational in the conversation. "Captain de la Vega is competent," he allows, voice low, "but he is BUSY, and he doesn't want me involved." Which immediately, in Alexander's mind, makes all his choices suspect and clearly suspicious. Then the upholstery is mentioned, and his head ducks down. "Sorry. Sorry. I didn't mean to. It was the sewer monsters." His brow furrows, and he stares at Jack. "Who's Tommy?"

The coffee is taken up, the ambrosia of the Gods and Andi inhales the aroma before lifting it for a sip. That was comforting. Moving over to the sofa, she sinks down to concentrate on the coffee for a moment, still listening in. The mention of a dream and Erin Addington her her looking towards Jack though. "That couldn't have been pleasant." Assuming the worst. And Andi knows who Tommy is but that's Jacks story to tell, so she leaves it for him to tell. "Captain de la Vega is very competent and I trust him even if I rarely see him. I admit to not knowing him so well. We've never had a real conversation. But he is captain for a reason, I guess."

Give a blow over the rising steam, Jack takes a sip of the hot coffee and nods. Another look of perhaps scrutiny as Alexander mentions monsters, but Jack lets it ride. He didn't want to know the origin of the sewer gunk it seems, not in the moment. "Some kid I was in boy scouts with, he .. disappeared, lost in the woods while we were up river on a little outing. We were getting firewood, me and him, he just never came back." The pause is clear indication Jack may not agree that it was a disappearance or lost in the woods. "I believe in letting that skeleton live in the closet, she mentioned someone else disappearing and some way to find them. I told her I don't want to poke at that sleeping bear, just let it lie." A shrug though, some stubborn people may just be stubborn, or his take on not suprising some stuff is coming about aroud Addingtons maybe.

Alexander takes his own coffee, although he doesn't really drink it. Just walk with it, sipping just enough to keep it from imperiling Andi's rug. "Gone is dead. Or so I've always thought. Maybe not so, though. The metaphysics of the lost places aren't what I thought they were. They can be created, invoked, so perhaps they can be sustained. It's not impossible. Nothing is impossible. Before a few weeks ago I would have said. Highly improbable. But." He shrugs. "More things under heaven and earth, Jack." To the rest, he just shakes his head. He suddenly stops, looks down at his coffee, then at the two of him. A moment of confusion. "I have...practically broken into your house and started ranting. I'm sorry. That was rude."

Andi mostly protects Jack from that glimmery side, even though he has a bit of it, he opts to ignore it so she doesn't force it. An indulgent smile is given his way and she doesn't explain on the sewer since she's not really in the know either. As for Tommy, her eyes flash sympathy towards him as he is having to relive it all over again, but she adds nothing and instead sips on her coffee. "You say gone is dead, shortly after saying Penny's husband came back to life? I'm not sure about almost everything anymore. There may be answers but I'm not finding them because I don't know where to look." Andi shakes her head, "You're always welcome here, Alexander. I'm a friend." A cop that he doesn't bother so much apparently.

A slight brow raise, some sign of emotion that isn't a grump at least, is Jacks response to metaphysical or physical pondering. ALmost an eyes glazed over thing. Though he nods to Alexander, and turns to respond to Andi. "Yeah, I mean, assuming the best or worst, 20 years gone is gone for me." A pausse with a ship, he finds a doorframe to lean into. "But just what Alexander here said, More things under heaven and earth, I'm not looking to dig under anything. I don't look for trouble." A shrug, at least with the hand holding the cup, as it is not the prop for that door frame.

"I said she said," Alexander points out, brow furrowed. "I never got the chance to ask for clarification. I should have." He stares at Andi for a long moment, then there's the slightest hint of a smile. "Thank you. I promise not to show up with coffee at odd hours of the night." He glances at Jack, seems to recognize the eyes-glazed-over look. He gets it a lot, perhaps. His head ducks, and he nurses his coffee. "Anyway. I didn't mean to interrupt. That's what I know. Really. Aside from some things that people have asked me not to share. I need to investigate."

"It's a safe assumption Jack. Things happen, accidents happen, especially in this town." He had his own demons and Andi wasn't going to extend them for him. Though Alexander knew the shots and was more receptive to talking about it, so she opens up more to him about it. "Maybe. Hopefully it's not too late to speak with her as long as she heals. Being cut across the throat it's iffy but possible." Her coffee is sipped again and she lowers it. "Anything you need me to research in the department, let me know. I want answers too. We need answers." Then she adds once more for clarification. "Krissy is in fact a Baxter from my Uncle Mitchell and Aunt Suzanne;s line, That would be Suzanne's line." Taking a breath, she goes on. "Lindon Baxter, the preacher from the article, was born somewhere in Walla Walla Valley in or around 1840 and eventually headed to this area, before it was Gray Harbor. He had a sister named Elizabeth and one child. I don't know the age or gender. That's all that I could find in my digging."

A slight shake of his head as he looks over his coffee, nearing half-drank/drunk, even if still a bit warm. "Nah," retorts Jack towards Alexander, "You're good. Only interruption was my sleep, and its time I got to getting up anyways." A hand wave, as much Jack might be inclined to give at least. He seems ready to turn and go, but stays propped in the door frame as Krissy comes up. The only sign of possible leaving was lowering his cup to give a pause to his drinking of it. No comment so much but a look to Andi, as if curious himself a little. But ehs concludes that's all she found in her digging. "She good where she is," he asks, more for Andi, as in a quiet invite, does she need to come visit them for a bit, stay with them, or who knows what. He plays by ear mostly, but its an offer out of curiousity for the moment. Otherwise, silent Jack

Alexander's head comes up. "I should know more. Soon. Trying to arrange a meeting with," a glance towards Jack who clearly Does Not Need This Shit, "an archivist. Seems to know a lot about family trees. How is Krissy?" He glances back to Jack, then to Andi. There's a brief, slight nod, a silent agreement that the quiet invitation may not be the worst thing in the world.

"The archivist you mentioned earlier?" Andi won't repeat the melted face part for Jack's sake. "Thank you for keeping me involved, Alexander. I'll do all I can and as always when I know something, I'll either text or call. Krissy is fine right now. My parents have doted on her always. I'll go over and have a conversation with her, but I'm not telling her anything she doesn't need to know. The less she knows about it the better too. I like to think she's safer not knowing her own history right now." Andi gives a grateful look to Jack at the offer, but she shakes her head. "She needs someone with her always and my mother fills that need so she's best there. We both have to go work here."

Listening, Jack takes it all with a nod, "Works for me, she has our numbers." Her mother that is, Jack doesn't much know about the research side of things or how much farther they can go. While he's not interested in the crazy side things so much, he can give them room to talk too. "Good luck with whatever you two are looking into, I should freshen up." Half a grumble, normal waking up Jack has returned. He eyeballs his coffee though, as if contemplating, a refill or brush teeth and freshen up for real first. "I honor her offers, Alexander, you're welcome around here." Or wherever for that matter, seems he decides on a cup of coffee first, his feet turn to the kitchen, plod a little when not on carpet as one might suspect.

Alexander makes a noise of agreement to Andi's question, and ducks his head. He finishes off his coffee in a few gulps, looking visibly uncomfortable with the welcome given by both of them. But he trails Jack into the kitchen just far enough to place the cup neatly on the counter, and then back away to gather up his file folders. "Thank you. For the coffee. The talk. Not arresting me." He bobs his head to both. "Sorry for the interruption. I'll keep you informed. If not me, talk to Thorne." He backs towards the door. "It was nice to see you both."

"I may talk to Mr. Thorne, I haven't since that murder in his apartment building, but I wasn't assigned that case. I'll still have a talk with him. Thank you for coming around, I do appreciate that." Andi won't keep him any longer, "I'll see you soon, take care." And with her cup she'll follow along to the kitchen, letting Alexander see his own way out for now as she goes for another refill of coffee. "I really think Krissy is fine over there. Dad is retired police, he'll keep her safe." Reassuring Jack or herself, it's not clear.