Case by Case Love

Chapter 59: The Parents

Jay looks at the photos on the wall, taking in each of them from the various stages of the Reynolds childhood. He glanced towards the family photos, seeing how the children were with their parents. Did they remind him of images from the past? Did they show signs of what could be?

"We're both so sorry for your loss, but we were hoping to speak to you as well as your daughter," Erin comments as she sits in the chair, facing the pair of grieving parents which sat on the couch. They had reluctantly let the detectives in once they saw the badges, and were introduced. They had been warned about them coming per the mayor in forwarding her request to the family of a change in who was covering the case. "We were hoping you could answer some questions for us, and tell us about Sterling. What was he like as a kid? Was he very social with friends?" 

"He was a small young boy who had a decent friend circle," the father comments as he looks between the pair of detectives in his house. The trading glances were not lost on Erin one bit as she kept her eyes focused in how he answered the question. "He was your typical six year old, enjoying sports and time with friends at the park having fun." 

"Is there anyone in Sterling's life that you think would do this to him? Is there anyone that is in your lives that you think would do this? Is there someone that hates you a lot or you have angered lately? Could someone have hurt your son for revenge? It may help us begin to figure out where to start in solving this." 

"That question is best fit for my husband as he has a habit of angering people," the female confesses, catching Jay's attention. The countless bruises he saw in the images from the file, along with the cause of death. It was fit for an abuse case. Now he heard a confession that the father had anger issues. Anger issues or alcohol abuse, or a combination of both was typically a cause - or at least that's what a therapist had told him once upon a time. "It seems that he has a way of causing things to go badly." 

"Is that so?" Jay questions, as he glances towards Erin in knowing that this was perhaps too soon to be asking this but couldn't resist. The door was opened by the comment and the profile met everything in his mind. He was not about to let it go a moment longer. "Did you ever take that anger out on your son?" 

"Are you trying to imply my husband was abusive towards our son? He loved - loves Sterling!" Jay caught the correction in her wording of the sentence. Of course, a father likes their son at the beginning when they are born in hopes of raising him and times spent together like any fairy tale. However, as the days grow longer, that is where the love slowly begins to disappear. It turns into frustration from them not listening or doing dumb things that you do not like. It turns into anger in them not following the  dreams you wanted for them. It turns into frustration in them taking on a career that you would prefer they did not. It turns into anger and blame when you feel things are their fault. "With all due respect, I know Kenny would never kill or hurt our son to that extent. He's not the person that you need to be asking or accusing right now." 

"The mayor said that your unit was one of the best in investigating crimes and solving them," the father finally speaks as his eyes do not leave Jay's one bit as the words come out of his mouth. They were calculated. They were precise. They were almost laid down in a way that a threat would be. Jay could already see Hank pulling him into the office due to a conversation happening. "Do I need to give him a call and state that I am unhappy with this decision?" 

"They're just doing their job," Sophie Reynolds tries to calm her husband down, placing a hand on his leg. Jay could not help but watch the action, wondering if Sophie truly knew the man that sat beside her based on what he was reading from him as they stood there together. "They have to ask these questions to understand fully what could have possibly happened. They have to suspect anybody and anybody because they are trying to ensure they find the person that did this." 

"Your wife is absolutely correct as that is all my partner was doing with his questions," Erin offers, her eyes glancing back at Jay in knowing he had crossed the line with how he had done that. She knew the question was going to come out, but wanted to cross a lot of other things off the list before they had this very conversation. What if the parents did not offer all the information due to a question of trust now? Even if Jay's suspicions were possibly on point, she was not about to let them know that as the next time they come to see Kenny, he may not be there. "Now as she mentioned, there are a lot of people that you have upset or angered. Could we possibly get a list of those individuals with their phone numbers so we can speak to them?" 

"Oh, so now every person that does business with me is going to be called and accused of murdering my son?" Kenny questions as his eyes finally leave Jay to focus on Erin. "That's a good way to scare away any potential business in the future. Do you understand the damage that could cause? We're already hurting because our son was murdered, and now you just want to dive the nail in the coff-"

"We want to find the damn sick person who did this to your son!" Jay cuts him off, growing frustrated as he could not erase the image of the boy he had seen that morning in the file. "I would assume you want answers as to what happened. To do that, you need to let us do our damn job and look into any lead that may possibly lead us to what happened. Now, are you going to help or not?"