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The story broke just after six o’clock and all of the news stations ran wild with it for their morning reports. Jon sat on the couch, leaning forward while sipping a cup of coffee. His eyes were glued to the footage. Behind him, in the kitchen, Sansa moved around, preparing things for breakfast. Upon returning into the house from doing their business outside, Lady was sticking with Sansa, happy to clean up anything from the floor that might fall from above, and Ghost had gone to Jon, jumping onto the couch and going back to sleep next to him.
“The car was discovered earlier this morning by the property owner, noticing the tire marks leading into the lake. Authorities were called who confirmed that there was, in fact, a car in the water. Crews are currently working on raising it out and no one is confirming if there was one, or more than one, body found inside.”
Jon’s cell phone began vibrating on the kitchen counter. Sansa heard it before he did and taking it, she brought it to him. She was not surprised in the least that her husband was getting a call this early in the morning even though the car had been found on the city outskirts and not out in the county. He also was technically off for the next few days. His boss, Sheriff Giantsbane, had all, but demanded it of him. Jon had just closed a case – a domestic that had been easy enough to solve, but the amount of blood (and body parts) had rattled him. Tormund had told him to take a few days just to give his mind a break whether Jon actually thought he needed a vacation or not. Since moving out here, his schedule wasn’t nearly as demanding and erratic. He was home most nights for dinner and helping their daughter with her school worksheets and then getting her off to bed. Most mornings, he was there for breakfasts and didn’t have to rush out the door or he wouldn’t be just walking in the door after working all hours. They were able to take weekend trips without worrying about his cell going off. Jon didn’t think he needed to take these days off, but Sansa was glad for it. The case had weighed on him whether he admitted it or not.
But now, this car had been found in the lake and Sansa remembered the last one. And to no surprise to her, Jon’s cellphone was ringing with the downtown department’s number this early morning because everyone there remembered it, too.
“Jon,” she said and he instantly turned on the couch to look at her.
“Thanks, love,” he smiled, taking the phone, and Sansa smiled, too. She returned to the kitchen and Jon turned back towards the television. “Snow,” he answered and then paused. “I’m watching right now. Know anything yet?” Another pause. “Same as the others?”
Sansa actively made the point of not listening. She didn’t want to hear. She could still see the crime photos of the past ones spread out on their coffee table. Plenty of murders went unsolved. Too many. The investigations started very fast and then all at once, everything slowed down or stopped completely and there wasn’t anything more to do. Jon had the case back in the city and it was one of the ones that kept getting pushed further and further down the pile because there was nothing to help solve it. Three different women with absolutely no connections to one another found in the trunks of three stolen cars from three different areas of the city. All found in three separate bodies of water. All with the same rope tied around their ankles and wrists and it was rope that could be purchased in any hardware store in the city. Jon and his partner, Jaime Lannister, had chased down every lead they came upon, but nothing led to anything. They were nowhere solving the cases and everything had gone ice cold. And when they moved out here, Jon left it behind.
Three years had passed since the last one.
Hearing little feet coming down the stairs, Sansa moved to the cabinet and retrieved a pink plastic bowl and a matching spoon from the drawer just in case. The Snow family generally were early risers, but they weren’t “eat breakfast as soon as they wake up” kind of people. Ros entered the kitchen, still looking half asleep, but she had an incredible nose on her and had been able to smell the fresh coffee brewing even from upstairs in her bedroom, fast asleep. She wasn’t necessarily ready to be awake yet, but she knew her parents were awake so she would be, too.
“Good morning, Panini,” Sansa smiled and Ros came right for her. She bent down and hugged her tight and kissed her on the head. “Are you ready for breakfast?”
“Not yet,” Ros shook her head. “Good morning, mama,” she then remembered to say. She left the kitchen to go to the couch in the family room.
Jon was still on the phone, but he smiled when he saw Ros come around the couch. He opened his arm and she beamed, happily going into him for a hug. He squeezed her and kissed her on the head. The news had finished their reporting of the breaking story and was now reporting on the expected weather of the day. Ros sat down on the couch on the other side of Jon, who was still leaning forward and talking on his phone.
“I remember the name,” Jon said with a nod. “I didn’t think he was too much of anything.” He paused and listened to what was being said to him. Sansa assumed that it was Jaime he was talking to. While Jon had transferred out here, his old partner was still in the city’s homicide department and if this car in the lake was the same situation as the previous three, it would make sense that Jaime would be in charge of picking up this case in relation to those old cold cases.
The news returned from a commercial break and as soon as Jon saw that they had cut back to the breaking story, footage of the car beginning to be raised from the water, his hand shot out and he held it in front of Ros’s eyes so her view of the television was blocked.
“Earmuffs, Rosie,” he whispered.
Ros didn’t argue. Sometimes, daddy made her do this when he didn’t want her to hear something or see something that had to do with his work. Daddy never got too mad at her about a lot of things, but she knew that if she tried to sneak in seeing something about his work, he would get furious with her so she never tried. Ros never even thought to try and sneak a peek. She didn’t know everything about what her daddy did, but she knew enough and it scared her. She didn’t like to be scared. With her eyes and ears both covered now, Ros began to hum for good measure. It was too early in the morning for daddy’s work.
Sansa and Ros went to church every weekend for service. Usually, they went on Sunday mornings, but sometimes, they went on Saturday evenings instead because Sansa could just feel like she didn’t want to get up and rush around in the morning. This weekend was such a weekend. Sansa and Ros went to the Presbyterian church in town on Saturday evening and then stopped off, bringing home Chinese takeout for dinner. This morning, she heard thunder rumbling off in the distance, slowly drawing in closer and she was thankful for her intuition.
She glanced to the television across the room. The breaking news story had already been updated. The car had been reported stolen yesterday morning and now, here it was, being lifted out of a lake. Sansa cut her eyes away and went to the cabinet. Maybe she would make a big breakfast today. She was going to just make Ros some oatmeal, but now she wondered if she should make something more for all of them. She had a feeling that Jon would be going into the city later that day. This wasn’t his case anymore. He had left it behind and Jaime was a good detective, too. He didn’t need Jon. There were other homicide detectives who could help him. But Sansa knew how her husband was. He was able to move on from cases he wasn’t able to solve, but for something new to pop up in one of his cases? Jon would chase leads until he reached the end of the world. A big breakfast before he went to work back at his old department with this new case was what Sansa could do for him.
“I thought he only had a connection to the second vic,” Jon was saying into the phone. The news changed to sports coverage of scores and highlights from last night’s game. Jon moved his hand down from Ros’s eyes and then playfully took hold of her foot, shaking it.
Ros giggled, dropping her hands. He smiled at her, too, and she slid down from the couch again. Sansa watched as she returned to the kitchen. She didn’t ask her what she was doing. Ros might have been five, but she liked to remind her parents that she could be independent, too. Sansa had taken out a loaf of bread and was mixing an egg with dashes of cinnamon into a bowl as Ros dragged a step stool over to the appropriate cabinet. She chose a white plastic cup and carefully climbed back down. She then went to the refrigerator. It was only when she reached for the gallon of milk did Sansa intervene. She did not need Ros to drop the carton and have the milk explode all across the floor at this still early hour. Ghost and Lady would love it, but Sansa would not. Ros waited as Sansa poured her a cup and then passed it down to her.
“Thank you, mama.” She held it with both hands and took a sip.
“You are very welcome,” Sansa smiled. “I have a taste for French toast for breakfast.”
Ros instantly gasped at that and her eyes widened. “Me, too!”
“Huh. No shit,” she heard Jon saying, still on the couch. The interest in his tone was evident.
Sansa couldn’t help, but release a soft sigh. So much for his next few days off. But this was who her husband was and she was very well aware of that. A case he hadn’t been able to solve before they moved here suddenly had a jolt of new life. Jon would, of course, be more than ready to jump back into it and help Jaime with working it out. She went into the butler’s pantry and returned to the kitchen a moment later with the griddle. She got everything set up on the counter and smiled as Ros dragged her stool over so she could stand next to her and watch. She held her cup and sipped her milk as Sansa rubbed the griddle surface with butter. She liked to watch mama cook – especially when it came to big breakfasts. The Snow family loved big breakfasts on the weekends and with it thundering outside with a light rain falling, it was even better.
“Do you need any help?” Jon suddenly appeared on the other side of the island and Sansa jumped like an idiot in surprise. He had just been on the couch. When she looked at him, he was grinning because he knew exactly what he had done to her and Sansa narrowed her eyes at him in a glare, which only made him grin wider.
“I’m making you a big breakfast before you head into the city to help Jaime,” she told him.
Jon’s grin disappeared and he shook his head. He had immediately been able to read his wife’s mind and he knew why she was thinking what she was thinking. “Jaime has plenty of other detectives who can help him. And I’m on vacation for the next few days.”
Sansa felt completely ridiculous doing so, but that didn’t stop her from turning and holding out her arms. Jon was back to smiling as he came around the island and hugged her, Sansa’s arms tight around his shoulders. She wondered if he had any idea how happy he had just made her. He seemed to have some idea. Ros watched them and giggled around the rim of her cup. Jon kissed the side of her throat as they stepped apart.
Sansa turned back to the griddle and began flipping over the slices of bread to their other side. “Well, what can we have with French toast?” She looked to Ros and smiled. “Bacon?” She suggested her daughter’s favorite food and sure enough, Ros’s response was instant.
“BACON!!”
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