The Final Shot

“His 17th birthday I can’t believe it.”
“How time flies. It still feels like just yesterday you were 17 and running all over the world with James and I.”

As Jason spoke my eyes filled with tears. I had been trying all day not to cry, I wanted to be happy for Jay Jay. I did not want to remind him that it was yet another birthday his father would not be here for. I wanted him to celebrate and party with all of his friends.
“Jessica, James would be so proud of Jay Jay… and you. He would have done anything for the two of you. All he ever wanted was for the two of you to be happy.” Jason put his hand on back knowing exactly how I was feeling and why I was so upset. I was glad to have him here, he became like a father to Jay Jay and my biggest supporter. I don’t know how I would have survived without him by my side, he knew exactly what to say and what not to say.

We both made our way to the back yard where Jay Jay was about to do a cannonball into the pool, all his friend treaded water eagerly awaiting the epic splash of his arrival. I looked around and took a deep breath, Jason was right if James had been here he would be so happy and so proud of his son. As I looked around the yard I could feel James presence. This house was his dream; we were all going to be a happy family living in this amazing house he was building for us. I could see James now standing by the gazebo that overlooks the lake. He would be lounging there with a pen and a notebook; he would be scribbling away writing about how proud he was of Jay Jay. Despite all of the horrible things he was put through as a toddler he grew up to be a great person. Jason led me toward the long picnic table that was covered with different kinds of chips and dips for Jay Jay and his friends to devour. As we came closer and closer to the table I felt my heart rate start to race as I realized everyone who was sitting around the table. At the head of the table was my mother, Debbie. I was surprised she had even bothered to show up, and from what I could tell she brought my entire family along with her. Knowing my mom the only reason she brought them was so she could use them to hide behind or to make her look like the great loving mother and grandmother for Jay Jay’s birthday.

It had been several months since I last talked to my mother. After James’ death we had a major falling out. She never supported our relationship and gave us more to try and overcome. After he died I went to her for support and comfort, but she was not much help. She felt bad that he died so tragically but it wasn’t enough. She was glad that now he was out of my life. In her mind now that he was gone Jay Jay could go live with James’ mother, Diane and I could go back to my normal life. When she realized I had no intentions of forgetting James or anything we went through she became angry. All we ever did was fight, until I just decided to get away from her and all the negativity.

So with the awkward way things were left my mother was the last person I wanted to be around today. She would have no problem bringing up James and making everyone feel uncomfortable, just to rub it in and prove she was right from the beginning. It was bad enough James was missing his son’s birthday, and even worse James died when Jay Jay was only three years old. So Jay Jay barely remembers his father, whenever someone brings him up Jay Jay becomes really uncomfortable and unsure what to say. It was if he felt bad for not being able to remember his father. Jay Jay knew how his father and I met and Jay Jay knew about the different things we overcame to be together, but he still grew up in the middle of a very awkward and tangled web of relationships.

“Mom! Ma look!” I turned to Jay Jay who was about to do a back flip into the pool. While I watched Jay Jay I took a seat in between Diane and Jason. I was hoping by sitting at the opposite end of the table my mother would not say anything for a while. Unfortunately that put me next to Diane who was not my biggest fan either, but at least I knew she would keep her mouth shut in front of Jay Jay and all of his friends. A little while later my mother finally decided she was going to say something to me.

“Jessica, I put Jay Jay’s gift inside on the counter.”

“Oh, ok thank you Mom.”

“So what were you going to ignore us all day? We have all been sitting around this table in silence for over an hour. Jay Jay’s friends have all left already.”

“I am not ignoring you.”

“Well this is the first time I have seen you in how long, and you have not said two words to me all day. I know you don’t like to hear it, but things would be so different if you listen to me and never got involved in any of the drama between Jason and James.”

“Yeah mom your right, it would be different! It would be completely different; I would be a different person. I would have never had an amazing son and lived an amazing life! I do not regret one moment of my life!”

“Even your wedding?”


I knew I was being harsh and I was trying to ignore her, but still I could not believe she went as far as to bring up my wedding. Everyone knew I made a lot of mistakes especially after I met James but I would never take back my wedding. My wedding was supposed to be the absolute best day of my life, instead it become the most heart breaking day. My mother knew how much heartache that day brought me. She knew that it was because of that day my son grew up without his father. When I saw that my mom came to Jay Jay’s birthday party I assumed she would bring James up, but I never thought she would be so cruel about it. Jason put his hand on my shoulder to try and calm me down as my face turned bright red. My mom noticed that I was becoming upset and decided to change the topic. She took a sip of her water and turned to talk to my brother and sister who also remained quiet all afternoon.

“Are you ok?” Jason whispered to me when my mother finally looked away.

“Yeah… I am fine, I just wish I did not have to go through this. I should not be afraid every time my family comes around.”


After everyone left and I was able to relax a little bit I found Jay Jay upstairs in the office. James built the office as a room for both him and I to be able to write and paint. James was always very creative and artistic; it was something we both had in common. The room was very spacious, had floor length bookshelves. James bought a long dark mahogany desk to put in the middle of the room and antique lamps. Jay Jay was sitting in an oversized leather chair in the far corner of the room. The floor lamp next to him was the only light on in the whole room, around him were stacks of books that I wanted to read at some point but never seemed to have the time. I slowly walked over to him and found him focusing very hard on the book he was reading. I was not surprised to find him curled up in the corner reading. Reading was something both Jay Jay and his father enjoyed doing, so it made sense that Jay Jay also enjoyed reading. But once I was close enough to see what book he was holding I was stunned. I immediately recognized the small brown journal; I thought that I had packed both of the journals away after the wedding. I thought if I left them out it would just be another reminder of what I lost.

“Jay Jay… what… what are you reading?”

“Mom… did you and dad write this? When did you write this?”

“Jay Jay where did you find that?” I was so surprised and confused I could barely form words. Every time I tried to say something the words would fall apart on my lips. My hands were shaking as I reached out for the small leather book.

“Grandma Diane gave it to for my birthday. She said she found it in a bunch of Dad’s boxes and thought I would want to read it. She said that you hid them from me when I was younger, but now she thought I was old enough to know everything. Mom why did you hide this from me?”

“Oh my, Jay Jay … I was not trying to hide it from you. After your father died I wanted to pack up everything that made me think of him. I could not handle it, the constant reminders and all of the memories that things like that one little book had. I did not realize I left the boxes at Diane’s, I thought they were up in the attic somewhere. I guess I did want you to see them when the time was right, but I did not deliberately keep them from you.”

“Then did you really tell me everything about dad? And everything about what happened when you guys met?”

“Yes! Jay Jay I never lied to you, I always wanted you to know the truth and to know what a great person your father was despite what everyone else said. You were so young when your father died I knew that someday you would have a lot of questions for me. The first time you came out and asked me how your father died you were only five years old. I was so surprised that you asked me I did not know what to say or how to explain everything to a toddler. So I told you what I knew you could handle and as you got older I began to tell you more and more, if there was anything I left out it was not because I did not want you to know about it.”

“Will you tell me again? Everything, without trying to protect me. I want to know what happened to my Father, I hear so many different stories about him and even about you but I do not know what is true and what is fake.”

“I do not think this is a good time. It will take while for me to explain everything and it is already late…”

“Mom, please? If you won’t tell me I will take the journals and find out for myself, but I would rather it come from you.”
I did not have anything to hide Jay Jay already knew everything he needed to know, but maybe he just needed to be reassured. So I sat down on the sofa next to the window and began to tell him the story of how a simple klutzy teenager fell in love with a crazy and dangerous celebrity.…..



It was twenty years ago, I was sixteen and just finished my sophomore year of High School. I felt completely unreachable; overall it had been a really good year. I was doing great in school and having a blast with all of my friends. The only downside to the entire year was that my parents were separated and my father moved out, but even that did not seem to be a big deal. To me it did not make much of a difference. I still saw my father pretty often and at least once he moved out it meant that there would be less fighting in the house. Summer was quickly approaching and I could not wait! My mother finally agreed to let me go on a road trip with two of my closest friends. We were going to drive from New Jersey all the way down to South Carolina. Our main purpose for the trip was to start touring college campuses. I was planning on going away for college and so were my friends, Christina and Amy. We were so excited to go on this trip. It would be so much fun and such a great adventure. My mother’s only condition was that her close friend, Jason Morgan goes with us to sort of supervise the trip. My mother was not totally sure she was ready to go so far away without her yet. I did not mind having Jason tag along with us to keep things under control, and Christina sort of had a crush on him anyway so she loved the idea of spending several days in a small car with him.


Amy came over early to help me pack the car, while we waited for Christina to show up I heard my mom talking to Jason and his girlfriend, Kelly Meens. My mom was clearly upset by something Jason was telling her. She was rolling her eyes and waving her hands around. Occasionally she would raise her voice and I could hear her saying things like, “Jason! This is crazy!” Then she would shake her head some more and say something like, “I am not comfortable with this.” I had no idea what she was talking about but I assumed she was talking about Kelly. Jason and Kelly had been dating for several months and did almost everything together. From what my mother had told me the two of them met through a job Jason had. It was not totally clear what Jason did for a living sometimes I thought he was a police officer, but then my mom would mention something about Jason being in trouble again and that he was always getting into trouble because his boss made him do all the dirty work. Just as Christina pulled up I heard Kelly answer my mom and say, “Debbie, neither one of us are thrilled about this. If there was another way around it Jason and I would find it, but we don’t have a choice.” I still did not know what they were talking about, and I really did not care at that point. So Christina, Amy and I continued to prepare for our road trip.


A few hours into the trip Jason’s phone began to ring, Kelly answered it and the entire car became silent. Christina was lost in a silly daydream and Amy was falling asleep. The car was tight and cramped; the air was stiff and stuffy. Kelly sat holding the phone up to her ear; she nodded her head every few seconds. Jason looked over to her waiting for her to tell him who was on the phone and what they were saying.

“We understand. Sir we have a slight problem though…. We are not alone.” Kelly turned to look at the three of us in the back seat. When she hung up the phone she looked to Jason and shook her head. Jason sighed and pulled the car over to the side of the road. He slammed his fist against the steering wheel.

“Jason, Bo said that it should not be an issue.”

“Not an issue!” Jason yelled waking up Amy and distracting Christina from her daydream. He took a deep breath and stepped out of the car. Christina and Amy looked to me waiting to hear what was going on, but I had no idea. I was just as confused and unsure as they were.


My mother was very good friends with Jason. She was friends with his mother, and when his mother moved to California Jason stayed with my mother. Until he could find a place to live on his own. Jason stayed on the east coast and went to school to become a doctor, but ended up dropping out to pursue his current job. Jason was 38 years old, and I practically grew up with him around. Not once could I remember ever seeing him lose his temper or become really angry like he was as he got out of the car. Both Jason and Kelly stood outside the car shaking their heads trying to decide what to do.

“Jason we don’t have a choice. Bo insists that we go pick up Franco and have him help us. I tried to tell him that you and I could handle it. I tried to explain that we both know Luck and Sam well enough to stop them. I mean Bo knows what you are capable of, and he knows you can catch a bad cop and his girlfriend. But apparently if Franco helps with this case he will be released from jail. They don’t want him in Jail anymore; it is causing the press to go crazy. Headlines are going out of control about how you helped to put a celebrity behind bars. I heard them say on the news this morning, “One killer to catch a celebrity killer?” Bo is trying to keep it under control but apparently people are telling him to release Franco. The best way to do that is to clear his reputation.”

“I don’t care Kelly! Franco is an insane murder, and there is no way I am helping them put him back on the streets after we all worked so hard to put him behind bars in the first place. Don’t they see if they let him go he will just start his crazy mind games all over again. He will start killing more innocent people just for fun. I know what people say about me and the horrible things I have done, but I have never killed anyone just because I felt like it.”

“I know that Jason. We all know that you are nothing like Franco. That is why he wanted to mess with you in the first place. I agree it is a bad idea to let him go, but it is not our place to say anything.”

“Well who says we have to listen to Bo anyway. I am not a cop why must I follow his rules? That is the whole reason he asked us to stop Lucky and Sam. He wanted some who is not bound by the law to stop them from their robbery spree. If he keeps telling us what to do it defeats the point of hiring us.”

“I know, but it is not the law that he is worried about. You know Bo is a good guy he has done a lot to help keep you out of Jail. The least we can do is get the reporters and other officials off his back.”

“Kelly, It is not that I don’t want to help Bo but we also have Jess and her friends in the back of the car. The deal was that we were going to find Lucky and Sam, leaving Jess and the girls in the car. We would tie things up so that by the time the police came we could leave. That way the girls would not get mixed up in any dangerous situations. If we get Franco involved that is putting them right in the middle of a dangerous situation. “

“I told you though; Bo assured me that Franco would not be a problem. Plus I will be there to help keep an eye on the girls. I mean Bo does not want civilians involved either, so he is going to want us to do whatever we can to keep them safe.”

Jason shook his head and made his way back inside the car. I looked over to Amy and Christina to see their reactions to what we just heard, but they were both asleep. I wanted to ask Jason what was going on but it was obvious that he was still upset about the whole situation. I looked out the window and tried to figure everything out myself. Before we left I heard something about a police officer who took his girlfriend and started robbing a bunch of local stores. The police station was having a difficult time tracking them and was asking for any kind of information. I did not know if that was what Kelly and Jason were talking about when they said they were going to catch Lucky and Sam, but if it was then I could see why Jason was so upset.

Then I remembered the other thing I heard Jason say. He mentioned something about killing people. He kept saying that Franco was a crazy person who had been put in jail for murdering two people. I knew about that, a few months before there was a story all over the news about how a famous actor was going to jail. Apparently when the police found out it was him who committed the murders Franco went crazy and ran from the cops. He sent them on a wild goose chase and then ended up having to enlist help from outside sources to try and catch Franco. After listening to what Jason said to Kelly I wondered if Jason was the outside source. But if Jason was the outside source wouldn’t he have to have some kind of training or something to know how to catch criminals? I was so confused, I thought I knew Jason really well, granted I never really knew what he did for a living I did not think he was a killer or anything crazy like that. Nothing was adding up, if Jason was helping the police try and find this Lucky person then why would the police want Franco, another criminal out on the streets. Even if he was supposed to help Jason how could they possibly think this was a good idea.

The car started and we pulled back on to the road. We drove for another hour or so and Jason pulled the car over again. This time he turned around to face me and the girls. Christina and Amy had just woken up and were both still dazed and a bit out of it. Jason seemed much more like his normal self as he smiled at Christina who was trying to quickly fix her hair and makeup. We all shifted and readjusted as Jason waited patiently I saw that Kelly had also fallen asleep.

“Are you guys hungry?” Jason asked us once we were all settled. I looked over at Christina and Amy to see if either one of them wanted food. But they both shook their heads, they had been sleeping all afternoon so they did not finish the sandwiches we brought to eat for lunch.

“Ok, well that phone call I got earlier was from the police commissioner, Bo. He asked if Kelly and I would help him with a case. Jessica I told your mom about it when we picked you up this morning. You know how protective she is of you so she did not really like the idea, but I told her it would not be an issue if you girls all stayed in the car. When Bo called me a little while ago he told Kelly and I that we were going to needed help from a man named Franco.”

“As in the crazy actor Franco?” Amy asked me. She looked around worriedly as she grabbed her cell phone. Knowing her she was probably trying to figure a way of getting home. I did not blame her, everyone know who Franco was. He had gone from being an amazing actor to serial killer.

“I am talking about James Franco. Yes he was convicted of killing to men, but the police commissioner promised me that we had nothing to worry about. He is going to keep his mouth shut; the only reason he is going to be with us is to help us with this case. Once we take care of all of this he will be gone and we can go back to our road trip.”

Jason turned back towards the steering wheel, and Christina grabbed my arm. She looked extremely worried and wanted to know if we really were about to meet a serial killer. I did not know what to tell her. I completely trusted Jason, and I knew my mother did too but still was this really a safe idea? Would Jason really be able to protect us from the situation we were about to enter. I just looked at Christina and smiled. I did not know what to say to make her feel safer, I just knew that no matter what things were about to change.