Chapter 65

Detective Kellogg blinked in shock. A pretty mild reaction, all things considered. Her partner seemed even less shocked - but maybe it was just a guy thing. Billie looked from one to the other, finally forcing herself to break the awkward silence hanging heavily in the room.

“You don’t need to know anything more about that, right? I mean, the hows and whys…….”

“Not germane to the case.” Kellogg replied swiftly. No, not germane to the assault, just a serious case of ‘what the fuck?’. All these years he’s been lauded as this perfect rockstar husband and father, yet all these years……

“Jon never knew. Not until Jay came to try out for the Soul.” Billie said, somehow feeling - even now - the need to protect Jon. It was the male detective who spoke next, though.

“And every Soul fan is glad he did.” He said brusquely - typically male - let’s move off this emotional stuff - we can talk football! Or at least Arena Ball, which was the red-hot favorite sport of most Philadelphians he knew. “He could be our next Graz.” He looked at the two surprised faces. “What?! Kid’s a great player! I’m just sayin’……”

Rolling her eyes, Kellogg turned back to Billie, a silent exchange of ‘men!’ passing between them before she retrieved the recorder and clicked it off.

“So what now?” Billie asked nervously.

“Now…..now we interview Mr Fabian, find out what he has to say for himself.” Kellogg flashed a glance at her partner, seeing no sign of a ‘shut up’ signal, so she carried on. “But, I have to say, with your statement, and what Mr Sambora has said - though we still need to interview him properly - plus the evidence collected by your doctor…….I really don’t see how he could even try to deny it.”

Billie smiled gratefully at the two cops as they got to their feet.

“If you remember anything else……” Kellogg proferred a card. “Give me a call.”

Billie took the card, nodding, and the detectives said their goodbyes and left the room. She sighed, laying her head wearily back onto the pillow. Idly, she lifted the card, now seeing that Kellogg had penned a short note on the back. It simply said ‘He’s done it before’.


Stephanie and Jon were still sitting close together on the couch - Steph trying to process everything she’d been told, while Jon sat silent, afraid of saying the wrong thing at this critical time. Their solitude didn’t last long, though, as Jesse and Jake wandered into the room, slightly hesitant but with that streak of Bongiovi stubborn running strong and true.

“Hi guys.” Jon said carefully as they stopped in front of him.

“Hi dad.” Jesse appeared to be the designated spokesman for their party of two. “Mom said we should come see you.”

“She did?” And what else did she say? ‘Just remember to go straight for the groin, where you can do the most damage’?

But he should’ve known her better.

“She said we shouldn’t be mad with you for something you did twenty years ago. Said we should let you explain what happened.”

Movement out in the hallway caught Jon’s attention, over the boys’ heads, and he saw Dot there, holding a near-sleeping Romeo in her arms. She smiled at him reassuringly, and Jon smiled back, mouthing a silent ‘thank you’ to the woman he’d loved for more than half of his life.

Steeling himself to repeat the story - deciding that the boys would get a somewhat abbreviated - ‘censored’ - version, Jon smiled at his two sons.

“Come sit down here with me.” He invited.

So Jon went over the story again, missing out the detail of the attack on Billie, seeing a hint of approval in Stephanie’s gaze, her silent agreement to not mention the attack or the blackmail that had led to it. Even Jesse was just a bit on the young side to hear that kind of thing.

Jon ended his explanation, telling the boys - and Steph - that none of this changed how he felt about them. Telling them that he could never be Jay’s dad, the way he was their dad. Too much time had passed with neither of them knowing the other existed, and he could never get that time back.

“I’m Jay’s father, but I’m not his dad, if you can understand that?” He said cautiously. The three of them seemed very calm, very accepting of this new situation, and he braced himself for the floodgates of Bongiovi temper - times three - being opened.

But it seemed he’d misread his children almost as badly as he’d misread his wife, as Jesse shrugged, Jon suppressing a smile as Jake almost instantly copied his brother.

“I get it, dad. Kinda like Kevin Parsons’ stepdad - he’s not Kev’s real dad, and he doesn’t try to be - he just tries to be his friend.”

“Yeah, I guess it is kinda like that, Jess.” Jon cleared his throat. “You know I love you, don’t you? All of you. And I’d never do anything to hurt you.”

“We know, dad.” Steph spoke for the first time since the boys had entered the room.

“C’mere.” Jon reached out his arms, gathering all three of them - with some difficulty - damn they were getting so big - into a hug. Mainly to give himself a chance to blink back the tears of relief clouding his eyes. Thank you, God.


Still sitting on the hard floor, Richie shifted uncomfortably, glancing at the heavy watch on his left wrist. They’d been sat here for better than forty minutes - surely by the time they fetched Billie’s all-important coffee, surely by then the cops would be done? What was to say, really? ‘Sick fucker blackmailed me, beat me, raped me, turned me over and…….’ Richie stopped the thought, sickened by the memory of how he’d found her, battered, torn and bleeding in her hotel room.

Forcing his mind off those images - though he was pretty sure they were indelibly etched onto his memory - he turned to Jay.

“So - we goin’ to get that coffee or what? ‘Cause I don’t know ‘bout you, but my ass went numb a half hour ago.”

Jay laughed as he realised he felt the same numbness.

“Yeah. And the cops should be just about done, too.”