A Jewel Whodunnit...
BLAST FROM THE PAST
PART THREE: ENCORE
Chapter Three: Alex and Sadie

"Feels good to get a bit of space."
Sadie Monahue sprawled out on the big picnic rug, lighting a cigarette and exhaling a cloud of smoke. "It's felt rather oppressive at home with everything that's been going on."
"I know what you mean." Sylva sighed. "I'm not being the best of company either, I know. I'm sorry, Sadie, but I'm torn between thinking about Jetta and thinking about Zoe."
"Zoe?" Sadie looked startled. "Still no luck in finding out who her dad is?"
"Nope. Nothing." Sylva frowned. "And she's more than a little fixated with the whole business. I went and asked Mom this morning if she had any ideas, after all, Mom knew Connie when they were both younger, but Mom said she wouldn't have a clue. Apparently the Misfits as such didn't have much to do with Connie after she went into business with her cousin and all of that. Mom didn't know Connie even had a daughter till she moved back to Los Angeles."
"It's kinda sad for Zoe." Sadie said reflectively, flicking ash from her cigarette. "It's important to know who you are, after all." She grimaced. "Even if who you are is no picnic."
"Don't get like that. You know we love you." Sylva managed a smile. "Even if you do smoke those stinky things. You're a Jewel, so you rock."
"Well, nice you think so." Sadie remarked.
"Hey, you don't talk about your Dad much."
"Nor do you." Sadie shrugged. "It's not something that I tend to think about very often. I mean, I love Dad, of course I do, but after Mum died he more or less left us to our own devices and buried himself in his military work. It's not the same kind of relationship as Nancy has with her dad, say, or Copper had with hers. He's not in the same world."
"Mm." Sylva looked thoughtful. "I guess I feel a bit like that. Dad and I settled our differences after the divorce, of course we did, but I guess I've always been more Mommy's girl than Daddy's."
"Me too." Sadie observed sadly. "I thought she was the world...you know how you do, when you're young."
"Yeah." Sylva nodded. "Hey, we see it every day with Hollie and Topaz. That kid thinks the earth revolves around her Mama."
"And that's how it should be." Sadie responded. "Hey, what did you make of Copper's call?"
"That Jetta's awake?" Sylva asked. "Dunno. Hope it's gonna continue I guess."
"Me too." Sadie agreed. "I wish this whole business had never happened. For the first time since I joined the group everything's been unstable. The company is floundering, because Phyllis doesn't want to revive it without knowing if Jetta will recover, and everything is kinda messy. I just want to go back to before."
"Don't we all." Sylva rolled her eyes. "Ah well. Life officially stinks sometimes, and that's a fact."
"Interesting philosophy of the world, Miss Martescu."
A fresh voice interrupted their conversation and both girls turned, eying the speaker with some surprise.
"Agent Bray!" Sylva was the first to recover herself. "What do you want?"
"I was hoping to speak to Miss Monahue, actually." Alex cast Sadie a smile, which for some reason made her fidget slightly and avert her gaze. "I have a question that I forgot to put to her yesterday, and it's rather important. May I join you?"
"I guess so." Sylva shrugged, but her keen gaze had taken in Sadie's unusual reaction, and she eyed her friend thoughtfully. Well? What was that about? Was Sadie uncomfortable because she was afraid of the agent? Or the total opposite?
Alex too had noticed the slightly anxious look enter the English girl's blue eyes. He sat down, making himself comfortable on the cloth, then turned his attention fully to the guitarist.
"Miss Monahue, I'm sorry for intruding on you this way, but Agent Nicholson and I were going through our interview information and we realised we'd not asked you of your movements on the night that Misfit Music was sabotaged."
"The sabotage?" Sadie spoke in soft tones, barely above a whisper. "I don't remember what you mean."
"You know, Sadie, when our studio was wrecked." Sylva put in.
"Oh!" Sadie's blue eyes lit up with remembrance. "Oh, yes, I do remember that. Where was I? At home."
"Can someone confirm this?" The agent seemed almost too urgent to find her an alibi for that night, Sylva decided. What was his game? What was he trying to prove?
Sadie looked troubled for a moment, then,
"I was with Nancy." She said slowly. "We were writing music, I was asking her opinion on something that I'd scrawled down, and we got to working it through. I'm sure she'll tell you the same, though."
"She did." Alex seemed relieved. "I wanted to be sure your stories tallied, but they do. It's no more than routine, but it has to be done."
He went to get up, then paused.
"Can I ask either of you, are there only the five of you living at Starlight Mansion?"
"Yes, generally, unless you count Topaz's baby. Why?" Sylva looked startled. "We have various staff who come in to do jobs, but none of them sleep there."
"Do you know a girl called Cynthia Benton? She's mentioned in the company files, but as yet we've not encountered her, and the only address we've managed to find for her is yours."
"Cynthia?" Sylva and Sadie exchanged anxious looks.
"She stays with us sometimes." Sadie said at length. "But Agent Bray, I...I promise you that she'd have nothing to do with any of this. She couldn't have done. She's not that kind of girl."
"Besides, Cynthia was with Topaz and I the night the place was sabotaged, trying to get Hollie to sleep. She'd had a tooth coming through." Sylva remembered. "And on the morning of the fire she wasn't there, it was her day off and I think she was at the Starlight Foundation helping Kimber Harrison with the girls there. She often does that on her free days...she's very fond of them."
"If you could ask her to come speak to me, I'd like to hear her give her whereabouts for myself." Alex said quietly. "But I've no doubt you're right." He sighed. "The only lead we seem to be able to conjure up is this man, Jake Barren. We've traced his real identity, he's a small time crook generally employed for a wage by people looking to utilise his skill with electronics. His real name is Adam Blakeney - does that mean anything to either of you?"
"Nothing." Sylva shook her head. Sadie followed suit.
"We only saw him once or twice at Misfit Music." She added. "He wasn't working there for long before the fire."
"His prints match the half print that we found on one of the cut wires at the music company." Alex explained. "But we're sure he had an accomplice. This was not a solo crime, and someone must have been paying his wages. It would help if we could find him, but he seems to have disappeared. Most likely he's skipped state and changed his name again, though we're doing all we can to track him down."
"Creepy." Sylva shivered. "So there are definitely two of them in this? You're sure?"
"We believe so." Alex frowned. He cast a glance in Sadie's direction, reading her body language carefully. She was nervous, he could tell that, once more on edge, but it was not the type of nervous tension he generally associated with a guilty woman. More likely she was nervous because of her past experiences with law enforcement, he mused, remembering the police record. He had meant to discuss this with her, but, finding she was not alone, he had decided to keep it for the time being. After all, he told himself, she had given him an alibi for both the night of the sabotaged studio and the fire itself. It probably wasn't even important.
And yet he knew it was. Something about this nervous, shy English girl had caught his attention, and he had barely stopped thinking about her since their interview at Starlight Mansion. She was very pretty, that much was clear, but it was more than that. Her prettiness had something else to it - a wary, unsure edge which suggested she had been through much in her short life, and, once Raymond had gone home for the evening, he had begun some research of his own. His hunt had pulled up several more bits and pieces, news articles, accounts of a court case, and finally, transcriptions made on the witness stand at the hearing of a girl accused of manslaughter. The girl's name had been Georgia Monahue, and Alex had surmised this to be Sadie's sister. Thanks largely to Sadie's emotive testimony, the girl had not been sent to prison, and Alex had not been surprised. Upon reading the heartfelt speech the Jewel had made in court, his desire to protect her had only grown stronger.
And then it had hit him - was she nervous of him because he was a law enforcement officer? Or was it because he was simply a man, and a man had hurt her before?
"I understand there's been better news from the hospital this morning?" He said now.
"Yes, it looks that way." Sylva smiled. "Jetta's regained consciousness."
"Let's hope she makes a full recovery." Alex observed. "We don't need a murder charge added to the mess we already have here."
"Noone wants her to die." Sadie said quietly. "Especially not us. Jewel are like a family, and Nancy's part of that family. As I'm sure you've noticed, it's affected her badly."
"It'd be most unnatural for it not to." Alex agreed. "But yes, I hope there is better news now for the Pelligrinis."
Sadie put out her cigarette, resting her chin in her hands and meeting the agent's gaze rather hesitantly.
"Do you think you will catch whoever did it?" She asked softly.
"I hope we do." Alex replied. "We're not giving up, if that's what you mean."
"Good." Sadie smiled. "I hate all this...I don't feel that any of us are safe while whoever did it is still on the loose."
"Well, we'll do our best to make sure you are safe." Alex spoke gently, and there was something in his gaze that made Sadie blush violently, clearly uncomfortable. Sylva eyed the exchange thoughtfully, then,
"I'm going to get an ice, if that's okay, Agent Bray." She said, her tone deceptively innocent.
"Of course. Miss Martescu, you're not a suspect." Alex offered her a smile. He reached in his pocket, producing a five dollar bill and handing it to her. "Would you mind getting me one too? The weather's hotter than ever today."
"Sure, no problem." Sylva dimpled, taking the money. "I'll give you the change, don't worry!"
"I'll treat you both, if you like." Alex said with a smile. "It's hot and I did intrude on your picnic."
"Sadie?" Sylva asked. Sadie seemed beyond words, but she nodded mutely, and Sylva grinned. Then she was gone across the grass to the ice cream kiosk, leaving her friend and the agent alone.
At first, there was silence, and Sadie would not meet the officer's gaze. It was Alex who spoke first.
"Are you afraid of me?" He asked quietly.
"Should I be?" Sadie did not sound defensive, only fearful. Alex shook his head.
"You're not a suspect in my book." He said gently.
Sadie sighed heavily.
"Well, that's something." She murmured. "Agent Bray, what do you want with me?"
"You know, I'm not sure I know the answer to that." Alex admitted. "I've been in this business a long time, I've met a lot of people, guilty and innocent alike. Pretty girls among them. But none of them have had the effect you had on me when you opened the door the other afternoon."
"I didn't mean to have any effect on you!" Sadie looked startled. "What do you mean?"
"You seemed half afraid I'd come to drag you off to jail there and then for not coming to answer our questions when we called you."
"I think maybe I was." Sadie coloured. "I'm sorry about that. I...I should explain. You see, when...when my mother died, the police, they...they weren't very nice, one or two of them thought Dad had been the one who shot her and that the street riot business was all some lie we'd been brainwashed with. It wasn't that way, I mean, I was there, I saw it. But they never caught the guy who did it. They bullied my sisters and brothers and I for information, and harassed Dad into the bargain when he was barely coping with the grief...but they never found her killer. We buried her without being able to say that the man responsible had got his just desserts...that's why."
As she finished speaking, she frowned. Why had she told him that? What had possessed her? She barely knew the man, yet she was confiding deep and painful memories in him already?
"That must've been hard." Alex said gently. "I understand in a way. I decided I was going to be a Federal Agent when I was sixteen. You see, my brother was killed in a gang shooting and it was a horrible time for all of us. I decided I wanted to be a part of stopping this kind of pain for families...I wanted to help bring justice to those who'd lost like I had. And I believe I've done that." He smiled slightly. "I think he would be proud of me."
Sadie returned the smile.
"I think so too." She responded. "Were...were you close?"
"Very. He was only two years older than me - and a lot brighter." Alex agreed. "He was the family shining light, got accepted to Harvard, you know. Me and my younger brother, we looked up to him like anything. It was a huge blow to us all to lose him. He was an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire, like your mother."
"Yes." Sadie agreed softly. "Wow. Maybe we do have something in common."
"Guess so." Alex nodded. "Sadie...can I call you that, by the way?"
"I suppose you can." Sadie nodded. "I...I don't feel like I want to be called Miss Monahue anyhow, and Garnet, well, that's for the press."
"Okay. Then Sadie, I know you're a little unnerved by what I am, my badge and all that." Alex said slowly. "But are you afraid of Alex the man? Because behind the uniform and the job I'm a human being the same as you are. I'm not some weird monster."
"I guess I know that." Sadie looked startled. "I don't know as I understand, though..."
"Well, perhaps I can help you understand." Alex said softly. "Can I take you out?"
"What?" Sadie sat up in a hurry, almost overbalancing the picnic basket as she did so. "You're asking me out? Why? You said I wasn't a suspect, what possible use could I be to you?"
"I don't want to ask you out because of this case. If you like, we won't even mention it." Alex said quietly. "If there's someone else, Sadie, I understand, but I've not been able to get you out of my head, and I had to try."
"I...I don't know what to say." Sadie looked stunned. "You're serious?"
"Yes."
"Where...what did you have in mind?"
"Dinner, perhaps? Somewhere public, with plenty of boltholes?" There was an amount of humour in his tone at this and despite herself Sadie smiled.
"You already know me too well, and we've barely spoken more than twice." She remarked. "I...I'm flattered, Agent..."
"Alex."
"Alex, then. I'm just not sure what on earth you could see in me, that's all."
"Come out with me, and we'll find out." Alex suggested. Sadie bit her lip. Then, she shrugged.
"You only live once." She said slowly. "All right. But only one meal, nothing more. I don't want to get into something I can't control."
"I might be a special agent, Sadie, but I'm not a magician. I can only be on one date at a time, and I can certainly only eat one evening meal per night." Now his eyes were laughing, but for some reason, Sadie felt they were laughing with her, not at her, and she smiled again.
"You know what I mean." She murmured.
"I think so." Alex relented. "And that's fine. Are you free tonight?"
"Free every night, with Misfit Music up the creek." Sadie sighed. "I miss work...it's stability, you know?"
"Yes." Alex nodded gravely. "And we're doing our best to put it back to how it was, I promise you that. Still, even hard working agents need a night off. Tonight?"
"All...all right." Sadie faltered slightly, then nodded. "Okay. Tonight is fine."
"Great. I'll pick you up at the Starlight Mansion at eight, all right?"
"Sure." Sadie ignored the alarm bells in her head. "Eight it is."




BLAST FROM THE PAST
PART THREE

Chapter One: A Confession
Chapter Two: Jetta's Mind
Chapter Three: Alex and Sadie
Chapter Four: Jetta Speaks
Chapter Five: A Problem For Sadie
Chapter Six: Answer To A Riddle
Chapter Seven: Zoe Acts
Chapter Eight: A Shock For Stefana
Chapter Nine: Some Truths
Chapter Ten: Zoe Takes A Chance
Chapter Eleven: Truth Will Out
Chapter Twelve: A Close Shave
Chapter Thirteen: Zoe's Father
Epilogue

DISCLAIMER: PLEASE NOTE
Copper, Nancy, Sylva, Anna, Blade, Raesha, Sirena, Topaz, Aaron, Sophie, Justin, Elliot, Rosita, Luis and any other characters in this fiction which do not appear in the animated Jem series are copyrighted to me (E.A Woolley) as of January 2002 <unless otherwise specified> and are not to be reproduced without permission ANYWHERE. Jetta, Pizzazz, Stormer, Roxy, Raya and all other original Jem characters are the copyright of Hasbro Inc, Sunbow, Christy Marx and the other writers of the Jem series. The future world of Pizzazz, Raya, Jetta, Roxy, Stormer, Clash, Synergy, the fate of Jem and her memorial are all copyrighted to me. The future world of Kimber and Shana is copyrighted jointly to myself and Gemma Dawn.
The concept of 'Jewel' is entirely my own, and any apparent link with any fictional or actual person or persons of this name is entirely coincidental. Equally the characters in this fiction are not based on any real life individual.
The concept behind the future world of Danse, Aja and Craig, the idea behind Jerrica's futureworld and the split of the Holograms is copyrighted to Gemma Dawn, whose Teenangel Outsiders fiction is directly twinned with Just a Dream. The character Sammi and any of the other Teenangel Outsider characters mentioned in this fiction are entirely copyright to Gemma Dawn and appear here only with her permission.
Pay her page a visit!