Alone In Love

Norman

"What?"

Beckett nods and shrugs his shoulders.

"Why-why are we hearing about this now? I'm on his emergency call list and so is Norma. I never received a call."

"His doctor wanted to deal with it before saying anything."

"Deal with it?" Dylan chimes in, stepping around Emma and standing next to his furious stepdad.

"Apparently this is not the first time that he's done a stunt like this," Beckett explains. "He did it back in December and Dr. Edwards found him that same night. He stated he didn't report this because he wanted to deal with it himself the way he's done in the past."

"You talked to him? How do you know this?" Dylan asks.

"He called us, actually. He said he's been trying to reach Norma but he hasn't succeeded."

"What does this mean?" Emma marches up to them, standing next to Dylan, reaching for his hand.

Alex's mind is going a hundred miles per hour. As much as he tried to not go there, to the bad place, he couldn't help it. He couldn't help but think that Norman had something to do with Norma's disappearance. He remained silent as he tried to tie the loose ends, the gut feeling he had confirming everything he needed to know.

"It depends," Beckett starts. "It depends on what we're really looking at here."

Alex looks at him, a death glare that almost forced Beckett to keep his mouth shut.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Alex is spitting fire. "What are you implying here?!"

"Alex, we're just looking at the facts," Beckett answers in a monotone voice.

"The facts!?" he exalts through gritted teeth and steps closer to the Detective.

"The facts," he is quick to agree without breaking eye contact, not ready or even afraid to back down. "This could have been their plan all along. I know that your wife agreed to bring Norman home after two weeks of being admitted, isn't that right?"

"I'm sorry?" Dylan interjects with disgust.

Beckett looks at him and blinks, turning back his glare to the furious Sheriff he had standing in front of him. "How sure are we that she didn't just take off? How do we know that this wasn't planned?"

"She would never take off like that. She was afraid of Norman," Emma jumps in and every single person inside the office turned her direction. She glanced back at them in bewilderment and it was then when she recognized that she had spoken a bit too soon.

"What are you talking about?" Dylan questions.

Emma takes a deep breath before responding. She needed a minute to figure out the right words to use in a circumstance as such.

"We-we talked... Well, she talked, I listened."

"What did you talk about?" Alex demands with utter frustration.

"Norman, mostly. Gosh, it was all about Norman, but I was able to differentiate her change of tone every once in a while, you know what I mean? Like she was finally at peace. She said she was glad that Norman was getting the help that he needed. That she was enjoying being on her own and how she always needed this break."

"Needed this break?" Beckett echoed in a high pitch voice.

Alex was the first one to look at him, recognizing that specific tone of voice and its significance.

"Yes. From all the chaos Norman had been dragging along with him all these years," Emma stated defensively. "I know you don't know this, but Norma was devoted to Norman. She always put him before her own needs and I understand that it's what a mother is supposed to do, but Norma was willing to go the extra mile for her son. And that's exhausting. Dealing with everything she had to deal with, never mind the fact that her own son tried to kill her six months ago, if you don't recall. If Norma is with Norman, I can tell you right now that it wasn't consensual. Norma was taken against her will if it came to that."