November, 3 1987
A blond girl of about fifteen years of age walked out into the street with a brand new book in her hand. She hugged it to her chest like her life depended on it. "Nancy!" someone called behind her. She looked to see that it was Miranda.
"Hey!"
"Want to come over to my house tonight?" Miranda asked, finishing the jog over to her.
"Sure," Nancy said happily, "we can discuss our new books."
"Great, see you then." Miranda turned and walked away.
"Bye," Nancy called.
Later that night, Nancy Spencer was found lying in the snow in the middle of an alley, clutching her book to her chest. The lead detective placed her box on the shelf three weeks later.
HD
Lilly walked into the office with a cup coffee in her hand. "Hey, Lil!" Scotty called.
"Hey, Scotty," she replied with a smile. "Do we have a new case?"
"Funny, I was just about to ask you the same thing." That earned a chuckle from Lilly. "Where's Lisa?"
"At school. She's only sixteen, Scotty. Still has two years left of high school."
"Glad you two could make it," Vera said. "Was starting to worry that you two had gotten lost."
"What are you complaining about, Vera?" Kat Miller asked. "It's not like you're always on time."
"Lil's usually here before me," Vera said. "Scotty comes in right after me."
"I had to take Lisa to school, this morning," Lilly pointed out. "The line was a mess."
"She can't take the bus?" Kat asked.
"The nearest bus stop is about three blocks away," Lilly said. "Besides, it's on the way here, so I don't mind."
A woman in her late forties with blond hair and greenish blue eyes walked into the room. "Excuse me," she said. "They said I need to talk to a Detective Rush? It's about an unsolved murder."
"I'm Detective Rush, " Lilly said, indicating that she should take a seat.
"Elenor Spencer," the woman replied. "My daughter was murdered fourteen years ago. Her name was Nancy. She was fifteen at the time."
"Is this her?" Lilly asked, loooking at the picture that Elenor had brought in.
Elenor nodded. "She's the blond. The brunette is her friend Miranda Langton."
"She's beautiful."
"Thank you." Elenor looked into her purse. "Last month was the anniversary of her death. This morning when I walked out on to my porch, this was there." She looked into her purse and brought out a leather book. "It's the last book she bought from the store. She had it with her when she died, but no one ever recovered it."
"Until now."
Elenor nodded. "Do you have children, Detective?"
Lilly nodded. "One. I recently adopted her."
"All I want is for my child's case to be solved, and then, perhaps I'll be at peace."
Lilly looked at Scotty, who nodded. "We'll do our best."
