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Tony didn’t know what he expected when he walked through the door, but he knew his son sitting at the dining table with a familiar suitcase was not it.
Tj just glared at his father, waiting to see who was going to break first. Tony stared back, unwilling to be the one who starts it. He walked up to the table and sat on the opposing chair. Tj waited again for a few more moments before sighing to himself,
“I had a talk with Wendell earlier.” He spoke. Anthony tried to keep his tone steady to little avail.
“Oh yea? Well I’d be happy to hear what he’s told you to get’cha this riled up.” Tony scoffed in reply. Tj stared in disbelief at his father. Was the man really going to deny everything? Justify it?
“Joseph Privett.” Was all Tj could muster in the moment. Tony quirked an eyebrow.
“What?”
“Joseph Privett. Does the name sound familiar to you?” Tj inquired.
“I- never heard of the guy. Who’s askin?” Tony laughed as he began processing the situation.
“Oh? Never heard of him? Well then I’m sure you won’t care to know he was found dead under the rubble of a demolished building.” Tj’s voice began to rise against his own will.
“Dead?”
“Yes dad. Dead. You really think I’m stupid? You think I didn’t notice the new injuries? Or how about how you’ve been acting as if you’re hiding something? I just want you to know that Wendell is not a hard man to break.”
Tony stared in disbelief at his son. Privett? Dead? He should be rejoicing but it instead just set a pit into his stomach. His eyes moved to the suitcase resting on the table. The man couldn’t bear to see his son so angry at him.
“I didn’t kill him, if that’s what you think.” Was all he said in response.
“But you tried to.”
“But I didn’t.”
“That’s not the point!” Tj stood sharply from his chair. “Dad, you’re saying this man killed my mother, aren’t you?”
Tony hesitated, but nodded. Tj reached for the suitcase, the lid flying open. He slammed down the photos of Connie.
“Know anything about these?” He interrogated.
“If I did, I wouldn't be here.” Tony snapped back.
“Oh that’s right, sorry, I forgot. You wouldn’t be here. You’d be out killing more people!” Tj shouted, pushing the photos towards his father.
“I didn’t kill Privett!”
“That doesn’t change the fact you tried to, Dad! Where did you even get a gun? You’re not supposed to have one!”
“Yknow what Tj? I know you would’ve done the same exact thing as me! You would’ve made them suffer?” Tony walked past his son and into the kitchen. Tj froze for a moment before following his father.
“What did you just say?” He questioned the man in disbelief.
“I said that if you’d known, you would’ve done the exact same thing as me.” Tony whirled around to face his son.
“How do you know that?” Tj was bewildered by the accusation.
“Because you’re my son. I know you hate to admit it but we’re not all that different, Anthony. You think about what happened more than I do.”
A silence fell over the room. Tj just stared at his father, almost disgusted by the man. He wasn’t him. He will never be Tony. He’s made sure of that. He can’t be his father. His stomach tightened as the thoughts flooded his head. He remembered what he had said to the doorman last week. How he thought about what he would do if he found the man who killed his mother.
“I- uh.. guess we’ll never know what I’ll do know.” Tj choked. He couldn’t deny it anymore. Maybe he was more like his father than he thought, the idea made his blood run cold. Tony closed his eyes, taking a breath.
“Look, Tj. You’re a good man, a good cop, and a good son. That doesn’t change the fact I know you. I know you loved her. I don’t know what’s happening but we can-“ Tony was cut off suddenly.
“I’m sorry- we? No there is no we in this. You’ve broken so many restrictions and regulations I have to…” Tj trailed off at the end, avoiding his father’s eyes.
“You’re gonna what? Turn me in? Get me in trouble?” Tony chuckled.
“…I have too.” Tj spoke no more in response.
“Hm. Maybe we are more different than I thought.” Tony muttered as he walked to sit at the kitchen table. A few minutes ago those words would’ve been comforting to Tj, but right now they just stung. He looked out the backyard, running through his choices. He wasn’t going to back down. He knew what had to do.
“Yknow, you never told me about that case you went on with Cora.” Tony remembered. Tj just sighed, still staring out the back door.
“So are you gonna tell me what happened or what?”
Tj hesitated, but turned to sit across from his father.
“We had to pretend to be married.” He began. Tony couldn’t hold back a small smile at that. “We had just gotten into a fight so it was… not fun to say the least.”
“You two got into a fight?” Tony leaned in.
“She wasn’t happy with the performance evaluation I’d given her. Said it was ‘unfair’” he continued. “I was meant to be the nephew of the woman who’d been murdered. Well we'd run into a dead end with the cast when a snake went into my pajamas in the morning.”
“A snake? How the hell are you not dead?” Tony jested.
“Well I’m smart enough not to freak out first off, Cora got it off me before anything happened.”
“I refuse to believe Cora managed to get a snake off of you? How?”
Tj opened his mouth to respond but paused when he remembered the events of that morning. How she’d sat atop him, unbuttoned his shirt-
“She shot it.” He answered.
“Shot it?!”
“Shot it.”
Tony studied his son’s face for a moment. When he found no sign of a lie he shrugged and motioned for Tj to continue.
“Well we thought we had tracked it back to a Nathan Cobb, but it turns out he still hadn’t returned from a vacation he was on.”
“So someone else let the snake out?” Tony interjected.
“The doorman. He watches Nathan's reptiles when he’s gone. Turns out his..” Tj breathed for a moment, looking away from his father again. “His mother had been killed.”
Tony stared. “Killed?”
“In the courtyard, when he was young. Nobody who saw called for help.. he blamed them.. and tried to kill them.”
Tj’s eyes burned as he held back tears. He didn’t know why he was getting so emotional over this. Well, maybe he had a theory.”
“He had a woman at gunpoint. Cora and I wouldn’t have been able to take him down before he killed her so.. I just.. talked to him.”
“Talked?”
“About.. our mom’s. How much we loved them.. and missed them.” Tj couldn’t stop the tears that began streaming down his face. “I miss her..”
Tony couldn’t stand to see his son in this state. It was one of the few things that broke his heart. He moved over to the chair next to his son, pulling Tj into his arms.
“She misses you too.”