Quagmire: Day 19

Word Count: 114,041

Summary of Events:

Jesse woke up to find his clothes missing and found Rose was washing them at the boys' behest; she ordered him to have a bath, which he obliged to, only to have his mother intrude on him and embarrass the daylights out of him. He went to the speakeasy again to find it empty before being confronted by the gangsters, who'd been at their man's funeral, and who told him they'd upped their reward for his capture as Jesse Haden to $600,000 for the latest articles he'd written. Jesse was in his room talking with Georgia when Rose came in, frightened about men with guns stopping at the door . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

""I'd started down the stairs to answer the door when Mr. Nichols got there," Rose replied. "They left him with a paper and I heard him tell Mrs. Nichols what it said."
"What did it say?" Jesse asked.

"You said you were in danger," Rose said. "But you said you didn't want to tell me what kind of danger until you were safe. I don't care if you're safe. I want to know what the danger is."
"Rose, I asked you a question first," Jesse said.

"It said that there's a six thousand dollar reward for any information on the whereabouts of Jesse Haden," Rose replied. "And Mr. Nichols said he was of a mind to call the number on the paper and tell them your whereabouts are here, upstairs."

"They're getting downright desperate," Jesse muttered.

"This is about that money in your drawer, isn't it?" Rose demanded.

"I told you, that isn't money," Jesse replied.

"And you lied to me!" Rose snapped.

"You looked in the drawer, didn't you," Jesse asked flatly.

"Yes I did," Rose replied.

"You didn't find–" Jesse caught himself before he finished.

Rose tilted her head to the side and raised her eyebrows. "What?"

Jesse dropped his shoulders. "It's my own fault, Rose, all of it."

"What is?" Rose asked, her coyness disappearing at once, replaced by concern.

"I ended up being mistaken as a gangster," Jesse replied. "And I had the ability to tell them about their mistake right away, but I didn't."

Rose looked almost ready to faint.

"I played along, I thought I'd keep it up a bit, and I got secrets and published them, so now they want me — dead or alive — for a million dollars," Jesse said.

Rose's eyes widened.

"They don't even know they want me for that much," Jesse added.

"What do you mean?" Rose asked.

"Very few of them are convinced that I'm a gangster, especially being as I lied that I look a lot like Jesse Haden," Jesse replied. "And they want Jesse Haden for six hundred thousand dollars."

"So what's the four hundred thousand then?" Rose asked.

"That's what they want me for as Hawkeye," Jesse replied.

"Hawkeye?" Rose asked.

"My nickname from the army," Jesse replied. "I used it when I encountered a man in the dark and deliberately shot him to wound him at the back of the head. I later found out he was a gangster from the gang I've been pretending to be a part of."

"Jesse, you said you swore to Da you wouldn't get into the gangs," Rose said.

"I know," Jesse replied. "That's why I should've gotten out of it right away, and I didn't. I'm pretty sure what cover I have is falling to pieces, and I need to keep it from killing me."

"Jesse, why did you do this?" Rose asked, tears in her eyes.

"I don't know Rose," Jesse replied. "But it's all going to end, some way or another.""