This is a continuing adaptation of Judith McNaught's Remember When

Feels Like Home

Chapter 20

And if you knew how I’ve wanted someone to come along
And change my life the way you’ve done

Over the course of an hour and a half, Jax told Brenda the entire story of his family’s past.  He told her about Jerry’s mob dealings and the fighting with his parents.  He told her what drove him to Port Charles and what made him reconcile temporarily with them when he returned to Alaska.  He even told her, quietly, what had made him think he was doing Jerry good to hire him to work for his company three years before.

When the room was silent again, Brenda sighed and placed her hands over Jax’s.  She shifted their position on the bed and lifted her head from where she’d been laying against him.  “I’m so sorry, honey,” she said sympathetically.

“There’s nothing you could have done about it, Brenda,” he responded.

“I know.  I just wish I could have done something.  I wouldn’t have wished this on anyone, Jax.”  She smiled slightly.  “Not even you after you left Port Charles.”

It got a small smile from him.  “I wish I knew how knowing all of this would solve any of the problems, though,” he said.

“I don’t know, but we’ll figure something out.”  They fell silent as they each became lost in their thoughts. 

After awhile, it became apparent to Brenda that there was only one choice.  They had to find Jerry and get him to verify to the police that this was all true.  The idea had her excited as she turned to Jax on their bed.  She stopped short when she looked at his face.

Jax was sleeping peacefully for the first time in days.  He had fallen asleep with his arms around Brenda.  He appeared to be in a deep sleep and Brenda could not remember a time in the last few weeks that she had seen him like this.  Usually, when he fell asleep, it was a painful, restless sleep filled with disturbing thoughts or dreams.  She decided to let him sleep without waking him, but she had to figure out a way to find Jerry as soon as possible.

Ned was still up in the living room when Brenda entered it.  She’d left Jax in the bedroom as quietly as possible.  He’d shifted to lay on the bed as she got up, but he did not wake up.  Her brother-in-law was at Jax’s computer looking through files, looking for any helpful hints, she knew.

“Finding anything?” she asked as she came up behind him to look at the screen.

Ned leaned back in the chair and rubbed his eyes, shaking his head.  “Not a thing.  At least nothing we didn’t already know.”

“I’m sorry.”

He half-laughed.  “Why?  It’s not your fault.”

“I know.  It’s just disappointing, that’s all.  We only have a few days left before the trial begins, you know.”

“I do know, Brenda, but what do you want me to do?”

“Funny you should ask that, Ned.  I want you to find Jerry Jacks.”

“What?!” he exclaimed.  “But Jax doesn’t even like his brother!”

“I know that, Ned, but I think he’s the key to proving the set up.”  She ran her fingers through her hair and went around to the front of the desk to explain her theory.  “Think about it.  Robert Norton has been bought by Stefan and probably threatened that if he confesses to any Cassidine involvement, he’ll be killed.  So we know Norton isn’t going to give us any more information than he already has.  Stefan and Katherine certainly aren’t going to walk into the police station to confess, either.  There was only one other person involved in the whole thing, right?  And that one person was Jerry Jacks.”

“What makes you think he’ll help us?”

“He was willing to turn his back on his brother and set him up for all this for a few dollars.  What makes you think he won’t turn on Stefan for a few more?”

Ned shook his head in disbelief.  “Brenda, are you suggesting that I find Jerry Jacks and bribe him over to Jax’s side?”

She shook her head in reply.  “No, I’m suggesting that you find Jerry Jacks and bribe him to turn in Stefan.  I certainly don’t want him on Jax’s side!”

~~~~~~~~~~

Ned walked along the sidewalk in front of the row of townhouses searching for 4536 Raven Lane.  It was the last known address for Jerry Jacks in Pasadena, California.  The most current phone book still listed a B. Jacks as the resident of the home.  He assumed that meant that at least Jerry’s wife, Bobbie, and her kids lived there.

He stopped in front of the right house and looked up at the blazing lights in the second story window.  The window was shrouded by flowered curtains that looked fit for a twelve-year-old’s room.  “You owe me big time for this, Brenda,” he muttered under his breath as he took the steps two at a time to the front door.  It was eight o’clock the same night.  In New York, it was eleven o’clock and all Ned could do was wonder what his wife was doing at the moment.

The doorbell sounded oddly cheerful when he rang it.  He could vaguely hear the sounds of a radio or television inside the house somewhere.  Shadows moved along the windows as someone came to the door.  The door opened and he looked down to find a young girl who looked to be about seven years old standing before him.  She had long dark hair and freckles covering her nose.

“Hello,” Ned said.

The girl smiled.  “Hi!”

“Is your mom or dad home?”

She nodded her head enthusiastically and shouted, “MOM!  There’s some man at the door!”  With that, she turned and ran back to wherever she came from.

A minute later, a red-headed woman came to the door.  She was a little over dressed for the house and the time of night.  To say she was wearing gaudy jewelry would have been a slight understatement.  The diamond ring on her left hand had Ned wondering how she was able to lift her hand.  She was looking at him questioningly, but had yet to ask him who he was.

Ned held out his hand to introduce himself.  “Hello, you must be Barbara Jacks.  I’m John Davis.  I worked with your husband a few years ago.”  He didn’t know where the lie came from, but somehow it fit.  He figured she wouldn’t let him anywhere near the house if he told her who he really was or why he was there.  Somehow, saying, “I’m here to get your husband to testify against the man who bribed him” probably wouldn’t get him very far.

Bobbie still looked doubtful, but she took his hand and shook it limply.  “Did you want to come in?” she asked out of mere politeness.  She stepped back to let him into the front hallway.

He noticed as soon as he got in the door that the majority of their money was spent on her and not the house.  It was a standard townhouse befitting a middle-income family.  There was nothing special about it.  The little girl who had answered the door was laying on the floor in the living room watching television.  He could hear music coming from upstairs where he assumed the other daughter was in her room, the one with the flowered curtains.

Bobbie prevented him from going any further into the house just by standing next to him.  “You said you worked with Jerry?  When was this?”

“I worked with him at J&J Jacks.  You know, his brother’s company.  I know Jerry only worked there for a short time, but we kept in touch for a time afterwards.  I worked on the same floor with him.”

“Funny he never mentioned you,” she said curiously.

Ned coughed.  “I don’t imagine he had reason to.  We really only e-mailed each other a few times just to keep in touch.  You know, keeping out the feelers for new jobs or whatnot.”  She nodded and seemed to buy his story completely.  She really had no reason to doubt it.  “I don’t mean to intrude, but I was in the neighborhood and thought I might stop by just to say hi.  I saw your lights on and figured it couldn’t hurt to try.  Is Jerry home this evening?”

She shook her head in response.  “No, I’m sorry, Jerry went out of town for a few days.  He’ll be back tomorrow evening.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.  I guess I just had bad timing.  But listen, I’m in town for the next few days, so would it be alright if I stop by another time this week to catch up with him?”  He tried to make it sound like he was in town for a business trip.

“I guess that would be okay.  Like I said, he’ll be home tomorrow.”

She still looked a little uncertain, so he figured that was his cue to get out of there as quickly as possible before she started asking questions.  Better that Jerry ask them instead.  “Wonderful, I’ll be by soon, then.  Thanks for your time, Barbara.  Have a good evening.”  He opened the door and went back down to the street.  He knew she watched him as he walked away.

Ned called Brenda as he was walking away.  He told her that he would be meeting Jerry the next day and would let her know what happened as soon as they were through.

“Who was that on the phone?” Jax asked as he walked into the bedroom from the bathroom where he’d been taking a shower.  His hair was wet and he was only wearing a pair of black silk pajama pants.

Brenda turned to him as she hung up the phone and a flash of heat went through her body in reaction to seeing him.  “It was Ned,” she answered truthfully.  Jax didn’t know what Ned was in California doing.  She didn’t want him to know until she was sure this plan would work.

“Why was he calling so late?”

“He was just checking in since he had to go out of town for a few days.”

“Yeah, it was kind of odd that he suddenly had to do that, wasn’t it?”  He ran his fingers through his hair in an effort to comb the wet locks.  He stood watching his wife, looking for any sign that he should be suspicious.  He had a feeling there was more to what Ned was doing than business.  But he also knew Brenda wouldn’t tell him unless she wanted to or he guilted it out of her.

She shrugged and got up to meet him halfway across the room.  She put her hands on his bare shoulders and stood on her toes to kiss him hungrily.  “I don’t know.  I guess his business is like that sometimes.  I’m sure it’s happened to you more times than you can count.”  She could count the one time right after they’d been married only four weeks before.

He returned her kiss, eager to drop the subject and follow the current path they were on.  “I guess it does,” he admitted vaguely before kissing her senseless.  Within minutes, the few clothes they were wearing were on the floor as they made love.

Ned found himself pacing his room at a local hotel for several hours that night.  He was trying to come up with a plausible story that he could approach Jerry with the following day.  He knew, if Bobbie was there when he got there, he had to get Jerry to buy the old colleague story pretty quickly.  He only hoped Jerry was as apt at lying to his wife as he was at lying to the rest of his family.  He suspected that wouldn’t be a problem.

He tried to think of different ways of phrasing what he wanted to say.  Each one sounder more ridiculous than the other.  It was as if he could come right out and offer Jerry money to testify against Stefan Cassidine.  Jerry might not even know that Stefan was behind the whole fiasco.  It might have been arbitrary contact or it might have been made through Stefan’s alibi, Steven Burrecema.  If that was the case, convincing Jerry would be harder. 

In the first place, he had to get Jerry to admit to being involved in hiring Robert Norton.  Ned needed Jerry to not only remember Norton, but to remember that he’d been used to hire him.  That wouldn’t be much of a problem since it was the only reason Jerry had requested to work for Jax anyway.  Ned doubted Jerry had forgotten that.  Secondly, he had to find out if Jerry knew Stefan’s connection.  If he did, and if he had been paid directly by Stefan, everything would go as planned, Ned hoped.  If not, he had no idea what to do.

~~~~~~~~~~

The following evening, Ned was right back where he started, on the sidewalk in front of the brownstone.  Again, the lights were on inside.  It was earlier, seven o’clock this time.  He could see two shadows in the living room, one appeared to have the build of a man, probably Jerry Jacks.  Taking a deep breath, Ned started up the stairs and rang the doorbell.

Luck was on his side as he watched Jerry Jacks approach the doors from the inside.  He could see the puzzlement on Jerry’s face as he didn’t recognize the man standing at the door.  Opening the door cautiously, he said, “Yes, can I help you?”

“Jerry Jacks, I assume?” Ned asked quietly so as not to attract attention from inside.

“Yes, what is this about?”

He was about the same height as Jax, but he had a larger build.  His shoulders were broader and he wasn’t quite as well muscled as Jax.  His hair was dark brown and his eyes were almost a perfect match.  He looked nothing Jax with the exception of the height.  He also looked to be about eight or nine years older than Jax.

Ned leaned in closer, “Listen, I told your wife, Bobbie, that I was a previous business colleague of yours.  I need to have a moment or two of your time and I’d appreciate it if we could have this discussion outside here.”

“I don’t know who you think you are, but I’m not about to –“

“I think you should listen to me,” Ned said quietly.  The understated threat weighed heavily in the air.

“Ten minutes,” Jerry said quickly.  He turned his head to the inside of the house and called, “I’m going outside.  I’ll be back in a little while.”  It was met with something that sounded like an okay.  Jerry stepped through the door and on to the outside landing with Ned.

They walked a few steps away from the townhouse before Jerry stopped in the light of one of the streetlights.  “Okay, so why don’t you tell me who you really are?”

Ned heard the hostility in Jerry’s voice and guessed that Jerry had figured out this wasn’t a social call.  “It’s kind of complicated,” he started.  “I’m kind of here to ask a favor of you.”

“Why?”

“My sister-in-law is married to your brother.  She asked me to come.  My name is Ned Ashton.”

“Jax’s wife wanted you to come see me?”  His tone was quite disdainful, as if he didn’t believe a word Ned was saying.  “Why?” he repeated.

“I’m sure you’ve heard about the problems your brother is having?”  He asked it as if it was a question, trying to find out just how much Jerry was going to give away.

Jerry shrugged.  “Yeah, so?  What does it have to do with me?”

Ned had always considered himself a pretty good judge of character.  If he wasn’t mistaken, he could detect a hint of smugness in Jerry’s voice.  It was almost as if Jerry thought he had something to be proud of.  He changed tracks for a moment.  “How is your financial situation these days, Jerry?”

Surprised and angered by the question, his face darkened.  “Why would you ask?”

“Because I’m about to offer to make it considerably better for you.  That is, if you take me up on my offer.”

“Where is this going, Mr. Ashton?”

Ned stepped closer to Jerry, forcing him to take a few steps backwards so that they were both now in the darkness.  “You see, Jerry, we know how you’re involved in this whole situation.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Jerry tried to bluff.

“Sure you do.  See, we know you hired Mr. Robert Norton during the one week you worked for Jax.  What we weren’t so clear on was why, but we’ve figured that out, too.  The way we see it, you were hired by Stefan or Katherine Cassidine or both to set your brother up.  You pretended you needed a job so badly that you were willing to ask your brother for it.  We all know you didn’t really want to work for him, but you were getting paid to do it.  You hired the guy they wanted you to so that he would, in turn, set Jax up for this inside trading investigation.  There’s just one thing we still don’t get, Jerry.”

“What’s that?”  He was still trying to stay cool.

“I just don’t understand if you knew what was coming at the end or if you were semi-innocent through the whole deal.”

“I don’t understand the question,” Jerry said, confused.

Ned looked puzzled.  “Well, I know you don’t like your brother very much, but I can’t imagine there are too many siblings out there that want to see their brother go to jail for the next twenty-five years.  I think you were only in on this plan to hire Robert Norton.  I don’t think you knew anything else of what they were planning to do, did you?  You were told to hire this man and that was the end of it, wasn’t it?  They didn’t tell you anything else and you didn’t ask.”  A look of fear had crossed Jerry’s eyes as he was speaking.  Ned had a definite feeling that he had hit home with his theory.  That was a very good thing.

“Are you saying you think I might have been an accomplice to setting Jax up?” Jerry asked for clarification. 

“You might have been, but I have a very strong feeling that you weren’t to the extent that the police might think you were.”  His statement had its effect.  Jerry’s eyes grew wide with complete fear with the threat of the police knowing he was involved.  Just the implication of going to jail was going to get him on their side.

Jerry shook his head vehemently.  “I swear, the only thing they told me to do was hire that guy, Norton.  I didn’t know anything else.”

Ned nodded.  “I understand that, but I need to know something.  Who hired you specifically?  Stefan or Katherine?”

“It was Stefan Cassidine.  He approached me with his plan and told me he would pay me five hundred thousand dollars to hire Robert Norton.  I couldn’t turn that down, regardless of what the reason was.”

“So that’s that price of turning on your brother?” Ned said, not even bothering to hide the disgust in his voice.  “Five hundred thousand dollars?”

Jerry shook his head again.  “You don’t understand.  I was in debt already then.  My wife, my kids, our lifestyle had bled me dry.  I had nothing and I had bills to pay.  I didn’t even think twice.  Besides, it wasn’t like Jax and I have even spoken to each other in the past ten years.  There’s so much bad blood between us it could fill the Mississippi River.”

“So let me ask again.  How is your financial situation these days?”

He’d been honest so far, and hew as again.  “About the same.  Why?”

“What would you say if I offered you another five hundred thousand dollars?”

Jerry sighed.  “What would I have to do?”

~~~~~~~~~~

The following morning, Jax was up earlier than everyone else in the apartment.  He stood at the picture window in the living room watching the sun rise over the New York skyline.  This day was the one week mark to the beginning of his trial.  Nothing he could do was going to stop that now, even though Brenda continued to tell him she was going to get him out of it.  She was bound and determined and he loved her for it.  He was just afraid there was nothing she could do either.

As he stood there watching the sky become a brilliant shade of blue, the door to the apartment began to open.  Ned walked in and closed the door behind him.  “Jax!  What are you doing up already?” he asked, surprised.

“I couldn’t sleep.”  He turned and walked towards Ned.

Upon a closer look, Ned said, “Looks like that’s been the case for awhile now.”  He noted the dark circles that seemed to have taken up a permanent home under Jax’s eyes.  Jax was wearing a pair of black pajama pants and nothing else and his skin seemed very pale.

Jax nodded, sinking onto the couch.  “It has been.  I can’t even remember the last time I slept really well.  I guess impending trials will do that to you, though,” he tried to joke.

“Well, I think I may have somewhat of a solution for you,” Ned said.  He walked over to the door and opened it.

Jax stood to see what Ned was talking about and watched as the brother he hadn’t seen in three years stepped over the threshold.  He still looked the same, if not a little more worn down.

Jerry nodded solemnly at Jax in greeting.  “Jax,” he said.

Jax walked closer.  “Jerry,” he said, nodding.  With that, he punched Jerry in the jaw sending his brother reeling to the floor just inside the door.

 

Chapter 21

 

Song excerpt: Feels Like Home by Chantal Kreviazuk and can be found on the Dawson’s Creek Soundtrack.