White Space Season 1

Cassidy said with a smile, “I can see that. He is pretty scary.”
    “I think he’s nice!” Emma said, smiling a big smile at Jon.
    “Well, my audience has spoken,” Jon said to Cassidy, and then stuck his tongue out playfully at her, “so, there!”
    Jon laughed. “Tell you what, Emma. I promise I’ll make a kid’s movie someday if you promise to make Cassidy watch it.” He winked at Cassidy.
    Cassidy rolled her eyes, “Sheesh, thanks.”
    Jon looked at Emma, “What kind of movie do you think I should make?”
    Emma said, “Something in the future, definitely.”
    “Like with robots?”
    “No, there doesn’t have to be robots. It doesn’t even have to be that far in the future. Just not now. And it can’t be stupid. No flying cars or anything like that.”
    “Can’t be stupid. Cars don’t fly. Got it,” Jon said.
    As Emma’s voice grew louder, Jon’s heart had to grow larger to fit more of her inside. She must have been as dehydrated as the doctor had said, because she talked herself right into exhaustion, practically falling asleep mid-sentence.
    “Not often someone can do that,” Cassidy said.
    Jon looked at Cassidy. “Do what?”
    “Verbally beat the girl into sleep.”
    Jon smiled. Cassidy grabbed the TV remote from the bedside table with her left hand, while her right twitched like it was missing a cigarette. She clicked on the TV, then flipped past Dr. Phil’s son to Chief Brady, holding a press conference outside of the police station.
    “We’d like to thank private investigator Brock Houser for his help on this case. Mr. Houser, of Houser Investigations in California, was instrumental in this happy ending. Thank you also to Mr. Jon Conway for bringing Mr. Houser here and footing the bill. And I would like to thank Paladin Security for working in conjunction with the Hamilton Island Police Department to locate the missing child.”
    A shout from the crowd: “Since Jon Conway hired the detective, what is Mr. Conway’s connection to this case?”
    Brady said, “I don’t know of any prior connection between Mr. Conway and Mr. Houser, but Jon once called Hamilton home, and he’s a good man. A child went missing, and he wanted to use his means to help, however he could.”
    Another shout: “Is it true that the suspect you had in custody killed himself?”
    Brady nodded, “That appears to be the case.”
    Cassidy looked at Jon, her eyes wide, “Whistler killed himself?”
    Jon stared at the TV in disbelief. “Wow.”
    “He must’ve been guilty!” Cassidy said, balling her fists, as her face turned red. “What the hell did he do to her?”
    She looked at Emma, eyes starting to well up again. She reached out and caressed the girl’s hair. Lip trembling, Cassidy said, “I’m so sorry.”
    Jon wondered why Cassidy had felt so guilty. Did she feel like she’d let her sister down? Or had she really been out that night, partying, and using drugs. He hoped she wasn’t using. While he didn’t want to break up Emma’s family if things were working, he’d change his mind if he discovered that Cassidy was still using.
    He made a note to have Houser look into the matter, and hoped not to find anything damning.
    “We don’t know that Whistler did anything,” Jon said. “The doc said there were no signs of trauma, right? Maybe he was just disgraced by whatever all the police found in his home. The man worked at a church and he was recording little girls on the church playground! Even if he never touched a one, even if he had nothing to do with Emma’s disappearance, there’s no way his life isn’t over. I’m not surprised at all he did this. And if he did do anything to anyone, let’s just say it’s best that he went out like this rather than force the victims and their families to live through a trial, right?”
    Cassidy nodded, wiping the tears from her eyes, hands shakier than before. “I guess so. But if he’s guilty, he ought to suffer, not take the easy way out.”
    Jon found himself looking at the scars on Cassidy’s wrists again, and wanting for the millionth time to ask her how they got there. But he couldn’t bring it up now. One more thing for Houser to look into, perhaps.
    After Brady talked a bit more about the suicide, parsing out as few details as possible, the reporters were again asking about Jon and his connection — digging for any dirt they could find.
    As cameras flashed, Cassidy killed the image. “Fucking vultures,” she said.
    “You