“Yeah I bet you got that MVP plaque hanging in your den at home right? Tell your son all about your football glory days? Try to mold him into someone you want him to be?” Damien asked. “Push him and pressure him endlessly? Criticize him and shut him out when he doesn’t do things your way?” he asked. out of the corner of his eye, Kyle saw the back door slightly open, he saw Adam creep in, putting his finger to his lips. “They think you don’t remember the way they treat us, how harsh and cold they were” Damien said trembling “How empty they make you feel inside like nothing you do is ever good enough for them and they somehow make it your fault” Damien said.
Adam crawled behind one of the lab stations, grabbing a glass beaker.
“You know what Damien? I would rather die, then let my son become anything like you” Kyle said getting in his face.
Adam threw the beaker against the wall, Damien’s head turned, Kyle delivered a hard punch to his face, knocking the gun to the floor, he then picked it up and held it on Damien.
Damien laughed “Really? Again?” he asked amused “You’re not going to shoot me, you don't have it in you, you never did" Damien said taunting him.
"Try me" Kyle said to him smiling, the door flew open
“Kyle drop the gun” Bradley said to him drawing his weapon “Kyle!” Bradley said to him.
“He’s all yours” Kyle said dropping it to the floor, he and Neilson pulled Damien up from the floor.
“I’ve been waiting forever to do this” Bradley said pulling Damien’s arms behind his back “Damien Winchester, you are under arrest…you have the right to remain silent…” Bradley said putting handcuffs on him, he and Neilson then dragged him from the room.
“Here” Bradley said handing Neilson a bag of ice.
“Thanks” he said as they sat in the squad room he pressed it to his shoulder.
“You okay?” Bradley asked.
Neilson hissed in pain “Ah, god this hurts” he said.
“Try it without a vest sometime” Bradley said to him.
“So…you going to tell me how you knew?” he asked.
“What makes you think I knew anything?” Neilson asked.
“You were wearing a bulletproof vest!” Bradley said to him.
“Alright well…while you guys were at the pep rally…I did a little digging of my own” Neilson said to them “When we were at Darren Winchester’s house I noticed some mail on his dining room table with a return address to a C. Winningham” he said “I had the name traced, then I looked into the lab where you had the ashes sent to, the lab administrator had just deposited a fifty thousand dollar check the day before they ran the test” he said to him.
“Damien paid him off, he knew we were on to him” Bradley said.
“Yep, that’s when the trace results came in and who should pop up but Damien Winchester, alive and well” Neilson said.
“How’d you even recognize him? It’s been over twenty years since we last saw him, I didn’t recognize him at first” Bradley said.
“When you put the pictures up side by side, it’s not hard to tell, sure you add 25 years and a dye job but…aside from that he didn’t do much else to change his whole appearance” Neilson said to them. “Also…I checked the photos of Coach Reinhart’s funeral” he said pulling out a stack of pictures from his desk drawer. He picked up a magnifying glass “see there? Behind the tree?” he asked handing it to Bradley.
“Oh my god” he said “He was there the whole time, how come we didn’t notice?” Bradley asked.
“We were too busy keeping an eye on Wexler” Neilson said to him
“Well I’ll be damned Sherlock” Bradley said to Neilson.
“Pretty impressive huh?” Neilson asked.
“Very…so you figured all of this out by yourself Yet you didn’t feel the need to share any of this your partner? Who also happens to be your best friend?”
“I was going to but we got sent out on that call, I knew something had to be up, Dean doesn’t send seasoned detectives out on disturbance calls, you know that” Neilson said.
“I guess not” Bradley said.
“Detective…we put Winchester in interrogation 1” an officer said to Bradley.
“Thanks” he said “Here we go” Bradley said.
An officer sat Damien in a chair and handcuffed him to a table “I believe I am entitled to a phone call” he said.
“You’ll get one, don’t worry” he said.
“I got it from here” Bradley said coming into the interrogation room.
“Thanks” he said.
“No problem detective” the officer said leaving the room.
“Well well…would you look at this” Bradley said “So...Damien” he said “Or do you prefer Chad Winninham?” he asked.
“You’re enjoying this aren’t you?” Damien asked.
“Oh yeah” Bradley said nodding “I’ve been a cop a long time Damien, I’ve made my fair share of arrests…but this one…this one is probably my favorite” Bradley said.
“And do you usually cuff all your suspects to the table?” Damien asked.
“What can I say, I like a captive audience” Bradley said “Not to mention, you’re a fugitive and a known flight risk, so I can’t really have you running off on me, now can I?” Bradley asked.
“You’re looking good yourself there Littrell…although I must say, I’m shocked in the change in your wardrobe” Damien said as Bradley sat across from him.
“I see the heavy metal concert tee shirts, ripped jeans and converse lost their appeal” Damien said.
“Course not, I wear those on the weekends” Bradley said picking up a file folder “Now let’s take look here” he said “you know in all my years as a police officer and I don’t think I’ve ever seen your rap sheet before” he said “let’s see what we got here, assault with a deadly weapon, attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder…need I go on?” Bradley asked.
“Enough about me, let’s talk about you” Damien said to Bradley “You’ve been busy since high school, police detective, beautiful wife…speaking of which, I was lucky enough to run into your lovely daughter the other day” Damien said. Bradley’s eyes shifted upward towards him “Oh I’m sorry, one of your lovely daughters, you have 3 correct?” Damien asked.
“Don’t talk about my girls” Bradley said sternly.
“Rachel, she’s your oldest right? Beautiful girl, and imagine my surprise when I found out that she’s dating Neilson’s son” he said laughing. “Did you guys plan that? So that hopefully one day you and your bestie would become in-laws?” Damien asked.
“You know what? I actually hope that does happen, Joey’s a good kid, my daughter could do a lot worst” Bradley said “And in case you didn’t know, my daughter Libby actually has a little thing going on with Adam’s youngest son, Harry’s daughter is dating Adam’s oldest son” he said.
“Keeping it all in the Backstreet family huh?” Damien asked.
“See, I know what you’re doing, this thing right here? Talking about my girls, trying to get under my skin? Not working” Bradley said. “You’ve already done your worst on me, but please, you want to continue on with the mind games, be my guest…your crazy father was actually a little bit better at it than you are” Bradley said crossing his arms and putting his feet up on the table. “I wonder what bowels of hell he’s haunting these days” Bradley said.
Damien smiled “Yeah you made sure of that huh?” he asked “Guess I owe you one” he said. “You know the law still hasn’t changed, I believe I’m allowed a lawyer and a phone call.”
Bradley sputtered and began to laugh “No lawyer alive is going to be able to defend you, and as for your phone call, I don’t know who’d be dumb enough to help you” Bradley said. “But you’re right, I’ll be damned if I’m going to end up with a procedural violation because of you” he said bringing a phone over to the table “Knock yourself out” he said leaving the room.
“Hey” he said approaching his desk seeing Sydney standing there “I thought I told you to go home?” he asked.
“You did but you scared me tonight I don’t want to let you out of my sight” she said as they hugged.
“Don’t worry, everything’s okay now” he said Bradley said as the door to the interrogation room opened and an officer stepped out with Damien in handcuffs.
“You’re Damien Winchester?” she asked “Well no wonder you had so much information about the Winchester family, he was the one who gave Barry the idea” she said.
“I can see where you daughter gets her good looks from” Damien said.
“Alright, take him down to holding” Bradley said to an officer.
“Yes detective” the officer said to him “Let’s go” he said pulling on Damien’s arm.
“What was he talking about?” Sydney asked.
“Don’t pay any attention to him alright?” Bradley said to her.
“Can we please just go home now?” Sydney asked.
“I would love to but it looks like I have a long night ahead of me here” he asked.
“Okay, wake me when you get in” she said kissing him
“Night Neilson, make sure he gets home alright” Sydney said to him.
“Oh I will” Neilson said to her as she left the station.
“Long night ahead of us huh?” Neilson asked Bradley sat at his desk.
“Yep…so what else aren’t you telling me?” Bradley asked.
“How do you always know?” Neilson asked “Damien wasn’t the only one who had a new name…” Neilson said to him.
Bradley looked at him “You mean…?”
Neilson nodded and handed him a piece of paper “Charles Winningham aka Derek Winchester has been in a long term care facility for the last 25 years on life support” Neilson said.
“He’s still alive?” Bradley asked in disbelief.
“Medically, yes” Neilson said “But there’s no brain function he’s basically just a shell at this point, the machines are living for him” Neilson said to him.
“Why would you keep a guy on life support for 25 years knowing he’s never going to wake up?” Bradley asked.
“No idea, in fact I got a look at crazy papa Winchester’s will, in no uncertain terms did he want to be kept alive, medically or otherwise” Neilson said.
“So Damien did it for his own sick amusement?” Bradley asked.
“Looks like it, the doctors have talked to Damien numerous times over the years about terminating all life sustaining measures but he declined” Neilson said.
“No wonder he had that stupid smile on his face when I mentioned his crazy father” Bradley said.
“Yeah his brother’s been trying to get Damien to take him off life support for years but Damien refused” Neilson said.
“You talked to Darren?” Bradley asked.
“He was brought in for questioning earlier, seems like he was dumb enough to make the same mistake twice” Neilson said.
“Okay so if crazy papa Winchester never wanted to be kept alive that means Damien violated the terms of his will” Bradley said.
“Yeah?” Neilson asked.
“I think I have a solution to everyone’s problems” Bradley said smiling at Neilson.
Darren sat in an interrogation room a man sitting next to him, Kellie came into the room, Bradley and Neilson behind her.
“Detectives” Darren’s lawyer said “It’s 1 am” he said.
“I’m here to offer your client a deal” Kellie said sitting down “we know your father is still alive” she said.
“Well…only technically” Darren said to her.
“We will drop all charges against you for aiding and abetting” she said.
“In exchange for what?” he asked.
“Your signature” Kellie said sliding over a stack of papers.
“What’s this?” Darren's lawyer asked.
“Consent forms to cease all life sustaining apparatuses” she said handing him a pen.
“Let me get this straight, you’re going to drop the charges for aiding and abetting in exchange for him committing murder?” his lawyer asked.
“It’s only considered murder if the patient retains brain function that’s beside the fact that your father has explicitly stated in his will that he did not wish to be kept alive, doing so is direct violation of that will” Kellie argued.
“I’ll do it” Darren said.
“Darren, perhaps we should discuss this first?” his lawyer said.
“No…I want to do it, there’s no use keeping his body alive anymore, I’ve been trying for years to get Damien to let him go…please I want to let him go, it’s time” Darren said “Where do I sign?” he asked picking up the pen, he scribbled his signature on a few pieces of paper.
“Alright, you’re free to go” she said to him “Pleasure doing business with you” Kellie said putting the papers into her briefcase.
Damien lied back on the cot in his cell.
“Damien” Darren said approaching the cell door.
“Oh here we go…the big ‘I told you so’ right?” he asked amused “You’re free to go huh?” he asked.
“That’s right” Darren said.
“Let me guess, all you had to do was give me up and they cut you loose right?” he asked.
“No Damien” Darren said.
“Really? You didn’t trade my freedom for yours?” he asked.
“No…I traded our father’s life or lack thereof for my freedom…and now he’s finally going to be free too” Darren said.
“What?” Damien asked “You did what?!” he asked angrily.
“Goodbye Damien” Darren said leaving.
“Traitor!” Damien yelled after him.
