A Vow of Silence

Chapter 23.

Nicole

It had been a few days since my debacle with Gemma, and ever since she was determined to show me who is really in control. I haven't had the boys for days since they were spending more time at grandma's. Which in turn, made my job difficult since they were the sole purpose of my employment. So, as a result, I've been placing my attention on other things and people.

For example, my dad. He's only been getting worse, and I had to make the hard decision to put him into a nursing home. It was getting hard for only one caregiver to look after him, and I couldn't stay with him all day because I simply couldn't afford it. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place, and since we had no one else, he simply had to go.

I've visited him every day since putting him there. They treat him right from what I've seen, but getting the best care for him has been expensive and far. This circles back to Gemma not only interfering with the boys but simultaneously affecting my job.

I've tried to make up for their absence in other ways. I've been helping Bobby, assisting him at his own home since his vision was impacted by his kidnapping. He's a very funny guy, very charismatic. I see why the other guys look up to him. He tells me to just wait it out with Gemma. He thinks that her attitude towards me has a lot to do with Tara.

Apparently, they were at odds before Tara passed, and Bobby thinks that Gemma feels guilty. He told me a lot of their arguments settled on the boys and the fact that Tara wanted to leave Charming. I could understand why, the biker life was definitely not for everyone. And ever since Tara's murder case landed in my hands, I've been doing as much digging as I could on the doctor. Most of what I found was just medical records, but I've been poking around with Bobby to fill in the blanks.

Which leads to me now, standing in the middle of Jax's kitchen where she died. I didn't have the boys and Jax wasn't around, so I had the freedom to do as I pleased. I know Jax hasn't given me his full approval to investigate this, but it's killing me not to know. Besides, even though I didn't know Tara, I think she at least deserves justice. And considering I'm dating her husband and watching her children; I think this is a pretty decent trade-off. Out of respect, of course.

According to Bobby, Jax had gone straight to the club when he made the deal with Patterson. It was right on the cusp of tracking down Tara after she left with the boys. Bobby didn't know all that was said, but he did mention that Jax would do anything for Tara, he loved her.

So, given that information, I started to go through the list of people in the club and out. I started with Margaret Murphy, Tara's boss, all the way down to Unser Wayne, retired police chief and trusted friend to SAMCRO. I needed to dissect everyone, one by one, to see who had enough anger toward Tara to act out so violently.

However, after going through the list, and everyone's confessions. The only people I could narrow it down to was Wendy and Gemma. No member of the club would have carried out a hit on Tara without Jax's knowledge, and all members were fully aware of his surrender to Patterson.

Margaret wasn't in Charming when Tara was murdered so that only left Wendy and Gemma as my prime suspects. I chose these women because of their histories with the late Tara Knowles. Wendy was Abel's biological mother. Taking Tara out of the picture was a good way to take her position back in his life. However, despite her history of drug addiction, Wendy didn't have a very violent history.

No charges for battery, aggravated assault, self-defense, nothing. Although, desperation could make anyone act out of character and do things they would have never done otherwise. So, I made a mental note to speak to Wendy and get a feel for her relationship with Tara. I had to be careful when talking with her though, I didn't want her questioning me in return.

Gemma, on the other hand, had a decorated history with different types of aggression. I honestly didn't expect anything less from the biker queen. Choosing her as a suspect felt a bit cliché, but she stuck out like a big, red, thumb. Her relationship with her late daughter-in-law was less than pretty, and towards the end of their relationship things were extremely sour.

I'm sure they butt heads a lot about the boys and Jax. I hadn't been around for that long, but Gemma had a very unhealthy attachment to her son and her grandchildren. Dare I say, some sort of emotional incest on her end?

No one could take care of Jax and the boys as she could, and I'm sure that was a constant theme when Tara was alive.

If Gemma felt threatened by Tara leaving with Abel and Thomas, I'm sure that would make her act out. Throw in the assumption that she was most likely unaware of the deal that Jax made with Patterson, and you have a sloppy, desperate murder on your hands. Gemma worked well for this case, but the only thing that threw me off was the clean death of Sheriff Eli Roosevelt.

There was no possible way for Gemma to have killed him after killing Tara. Gemma was a monster-in-law, I'm sure, but was she cold enough to kill an innocent man in such a cold fashion? And even if she could, the shot came from behind Roosevelt, not in front of him. She couldn't have been working alone, and I needed to find out who helped her before even speaking a word about this to anyone.

Suddenly, I heard the sound of keys jingling in the door. My eyes grew wide as I scrambled to get my miniature crime lab put away. I just barely was able to shove everything into a drawer in the kitchen when Gemma walked in. When she laid eyes on me, I could see her scoff. Obviously not too pleased that I was still around.

"Hey," I said politely.

"Hi," she said walking past me and into Abel's room. I walked behind her out of curiosity and noticed her rummaging through his bookcase. She searched and searched every book and then huffed when she couldn't find what she was looking for.

"Can I help you find something?"

She let out a heavy sigh and I instantly knew she was rolling her eyes. "No, it's obviously not here."

"What's not here? What are you looking for?"

Gemma whipped her head around at me. "Abel asked me to pick up his book here. He said something about a rabbit." I nodded my head as I instantly knew what book she was referring to.

"The Rabbit Listened."

"That one. Where is it?"

I motioned my head over to where Abel's bed was, "under his pillow."

She gave me a look before walking over to the bed and stuffing the book inside her purse. "Thanks," she said shoving her way past me.

"You know, I'm glad to hear that he is asking for it. It shows progress."

Gemma stopped walking and turned to look at me. "What are you talking about? What's the book about?"

"It's basically a book for children dealing with grief. It encourages him to express himself more and forces the adult reading it to listen."

"You've been reading this to my grandson?" Her tone was accusatory. "He's five, he doesn't need to know how to deal with grief. Feeding him this crap will only mess with his head!" she took the book out of her purse and threw it towards the couch. She missed it, so it fell on the floor instead.

"You don't think a child who lost his mother is grieving?" I asked her, trying to compose myself.

Gemma rolled her eyes, "I know what my boys need, and it isn't your little psychological crap." She turned on her heels and walked towards the door, however, she stopped and glared at me before she left. "And stop encouraging Abel's nosey teacher. You are not his mother; you are a hired employee. You don't get to delegate what goes on with Abel."

After that, she slammed the door, hard. I'm pretty sure I heard the glasses shake at the impact. Well, I knew one thing was for certain, regardless of my ongoing investigation. I didn't need a crime lab to figure out that having Gemma Teller as a mother-in-law would more than likely drive someone to insanity.