Andy Barber - Duplicity 💜

Chapter 3

"Did you know he had this in his room?" Andy looks at Laurie as they frantically look at the knife on the kitchen counter.

"No! Of course not! Where did you even find that?"

"In his room! In his nightstand. Tell me you didn't buy it for him."

Laurie scoffed, "of course I didn't Andy, why would I?"

"Why would you what?"

They both turned around to find Jacob standing there in the doorway. Andy noticed Jacob notice the knife on the counter as he looked at his mother.

"You went snooping in my room?"

Andy scoffed, shaking his head, "no. I went snooping and that's not really what's important here at the moment. What's important is why the fuck you would have a knife in your nightstand? What are you thinking Jacob?" He sees the panic wash across his son's face as he regrets his jump so quickly to anger but he can't help it as he stands and waits for a response.

"I don't see the big deal. I only hid it because I knew you guys would freak out."

"Where did you get it?"

Andy looks at Laurie and hears the panic in her voice that matches the one on his son's face.

Jacob becomes quieter, "I got it at an Army Navy store. And I bought it with my own money."

Andy took a deep breath, trying to maintain his composure, "when? Have you ever brought it to school?"

Jacob shrugs with his hands lazily in his pockets, "a few months ago. And maybe once to show some people. Like Derek, Dillon."

Andy crosses his arms over his chest as he prepares himself to ask his son the question he was dreading. "Have you ever used it?"

Jacob seems offended, rightfully so, at the question posed by his father. "Used it for what?"

Andy shakes his head as his voice escalates once more, "for whatever you use a knife for!"

Jacob nods, suddenly realizing what he was really asking him. His father was asking him if he had killed his classmate, if he had killed Ben. How could he have thought that? Jacob's voice cracks at the betrayal he feels from his father as his voice also raises in decibels, "like to stab someone? How could you even ask me that?"

Andy points angrily at the knife, "because I have to ask it! Because I have to know with absolute certainty that this isn't the knife they're looking for!"

Jacob's voice gets soft again, "I can't believe you would even think that about me."

Andy sighs, staring at the ground, embarrassed that he even had to ask his son these questions in the first place, and for hurting him in doing so. "I'm sorry Jacob. I shouldn't have yelled at you." He turns to Laurie after Jacob saunters off to school.

"Well what do we do with it? Do we turn it in?"

Andy looks at his wife as if she is crazy, "what? Why would we do that?"

She shrugged, "because we know about it? Because kids are saying stuff about Jacob online."

Andy shakes his head, "no. Of course not. He's just a stupid teenager, no need to bring everything down on him because he made stupid choices. Stupid choices are all teenagers know how to make." He watched Laurie, seeing the panic still inhabiting her face before she rushed off upstairs, leaving him alone in the kitchen with the knife.

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After Andy drops the knife off in a random trash can, he lets himself into Allison's apartment as she's pouring herself a cup of coffee.

Allison looks up to see Andy is upset as he makes his way to her. "Baby, what is it?" She sets the coffee pot down in time to feel his arms around her, sighing as he rested his head on hers. "Andy?"

He groaned, "just let me hold you for a minute before I have to go to work. Please."

"Of course." She hugged him tighter as she heard a small moan from him. She felt him pull away a bit as she looked up at him. He brought his hand up to her chin, bringing her lips delicately to his as his phone rang.

"Fucking hell."

She sighed as he pulled away and she poured him a cup of coffee in a to go cup, putting lids on both their cups. She handed him one when he turned back to her.

"Thank you so much. There's a guy we might like for the murder that the cops just picked up, so I have to go and talk to him. I'll call you later."

Allison smiled, kissing him once more as he leaned down to her, "yeah. Of course. Go Barber. I love you."

Andy turned back to her from the door of her apartment, giving her a small smile, "I love you too Allie."

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Andy watches Leonard Patz fiddle nervously with his hands on the table as he watches the interrogation. He covers his face with his hand to avoid being seen by the camera. He sighs, sending Peterson and Duffy in to interrogate Patz once more even though neither of them believe he is the killer. He stares at the ground, if it wasn't this guy, then who was it? He wanted more than anything to find the killer quickly and put everything behind him, the case, his marriage. He was starting to feel burnt out and rundown. The job was taking just as big an emotional toll on him as his failed marriage. His one light at the end of the tunnel was Allison, but he knew even she couldn't wait for him forever. He's brought out of his thoughts by Joanna Klein, Patz stand in attorney. He sighed, letting her in to see Patz, knowing that it was all over for him.