Disclaimer: I don't own Cold Case.
"Where is she? Where's my daughter?"
That's the greeting I got from John Stillman as he walked up to my desk at Philly PD this morning. He was upset and for good reason. The events of the past forty-eight hours have shaken up both our worlds and in our line of work, that's quite an accomplishment. It all began on Tuesday morning, which started out pretty well. I had just woken up next to the most amazing woman I've ever known. Lilly Rush and I had been dating for almost a year now and I still found myself staring in wonder at her, like a fool caught in that first flush of love. She had been spending more time at my place and had even left some of her things here. We had talked about moving in together but she wasn't ready for that yet, which I was fine with; she was a strong independent woman and I respected her for that. Besides, we had all the time in the world for that, right?
We had taken a wonderful hot shower together and had some breakfast. I offered to drive her to Jones's Tavern for her shift at the bar, we were both running a little late that morning and she agreed. The drive over was a pleasant one, the sun was shining and there wasn't much traffic either, made me think I might actually get to work on time. Hell, it was turning out to be such a perfect morning I half expected the birds to break out into a chorus! Half way through the journey, Lilly gets a text on her cell phone. "It's from Will," she says, referring to the man who had taken care of her since she was sixteen. "He's going to be in a little later today, he's got some personal stuff to take care of."
"I guess that means you're in charge then?" I asked her. She smiles and my heart skips a beat. Damn, that smiles could melt glaciers!
"I guess so," she replies but then goes all silent on me.
"Somethin' the matter Lil?" I ask.
She shakes her head, "No, not really, it's...he's been pretty distracted lately, I hope nothing's wrong."
"What do you mean?" I could tell there's something specific on her mind.
"Well, you know, health wise...he's been taking a lot of secret phone calls lately and when ask him about them he just shrugs it off, says it's nothing."
"I'm sure it is nothing Lil, it's probably a business thing, you did say he was trying to expand the bar?"
"You're probably right, I just worry about him sometimes."
She drops the subject then but I can see it's still eating away at her and I make a mental note to myself to try and cheer her up this evening.
We arrive at Jones' Tavern about twenty minutes later and I drop her off outside the door. She leans in and kisses me. "I'll see you tonight," she says and then winks at me before walking inside. I turned around and walk back to my car and drive over to PPD Central. I look at my watch as I get into the elevator, I'm only ten minutes late. I sneak into the break room to grab a quick cup of coffee and luckily my boss doesn't notice when I sit down at my desk to look at the cold case file I put there last night. This was a depressing one, a story of twisted love back in nineteen seventy-six which ended in a child being kidnapped. They always suspected that the mother had run away with her daughter but last week they came across a makeshift grave with both her and her daughter buried there and both their heads had suffered blunt force trauma.
That afternoon my partner was in the interrogation room with the father and husband to the victims and I was about to go and join him when my cell phone rings. "Hey Lil," I greet her but my smile fades at the tone of her voice.
"Scotty, Will hasn't been in all morning and I can't get hold of him on his cell…"
I sense her panic and automatically try to calm her down, "Lil," I begin, "just calm down for a minute, I'm sure everything's fine, the battery in his cell could have died…"
"No, Scotty you don't understand, I'm at his apartment now, the door was unlocked and the place is trashed and there's blood on the floor; Scotty, I think something's happened to him!"
"Okay, stay there, I'll be right over." I tell her and then take down the address and head out there. When I arrive at the apartment I find Lilly sitting on the sofa in the living room, staring at the floor. "Lil," I begin and she looks at me, her eyes all red and puffy and it breaks my heart. "I got here as soon as I could, CSU are on their way, are you okay?"
She nods, "I didn't touch anything, this is how I found it. I knew something was wrong...we have to find him Scotty!"
I step toward her and reach out for her hands, she reaches back. I help her up and pull her close, "We will, I promise. It's goin' to okay." A thought crossed my mind then, "He and your father are pretty close, do you think he would have any idea about what could have happened?"
She looks at me and for a moment there I swear I can see a flash of anger cross her face, "My father does not have anything to do with this!" she insists and I know that I'd better ease her mind fast, I don't want a repeat of the last time we had this conversation. "No, Lil, I didn't mean it like that," I tell her. "Will might have told your father about what was going on - you said yourself he was having secret conversations on the phone, could have been with Stillman?"
That seemed to make her relax a little. She sighs, "I'm sorry Scotty, this whole thing has just got me on edge."
"I understand Lil, it's okay."
"You might be right, my father might be able to help, I should go talk to him."
"You want me to come with you?" I ask but she shakes her head.
"It's probably best if I go alone, I mean, he likes you but you're still a cop…"
I nod, "I get it, okay you go, be careful Lil."
She tries to smile but it doesn't reach her eyes and then she turns around and walks out the door.
That evening I'm sitting on my couch looking at photos of the crime scene of Will Jeffries' apartment. I note the droplets of blood on the floor that were leading out the door, looked as though he might have been wounded but left on his feet, which was something at least. CSU didn't find any bullet casings either so my guess is that he could have been stabbed and seeing as a knife was missing from the knife block in the kitchen that was likely to be the weapon. Suddenly my cell phone rings and I freeze for second when I see who's calling. Stillman! My instincts tell me this isn't a social call and the tone of his voice when I answer the phone confirms it. "Stillman," I greet.
"Detective Valens, I think you know why I'm calling."
"This is about Jeffries," I tell him.
"I had a visit from Lilly this afternoon, she was under the impression that I might know something about this."
"Do you?" I ask.
"I told her that I will look into the matter."
"And she bought that?"
"Not at first," I could almost here him smile down the line, "it took some persuading but I convinced her that it would be better to leave this to me to deal with."
I smirk a little at that. The guy clearly knows something and there's no way in hell he's gonna blow me off like that. "What's really going on Stillman, I know you know something?"
"One of these days Detective you will learn to show me some respect, it would be in your best interests!"
"You may be right, but right now I got a missing person on my hands and I have no time for this; if you know something now's the time to tell me!"
He pauses then and for a moment I thought he had hung up but then he says, "There is one possibility. Jeffries had been telling me about someone from his past, an acquaintance of his when he was a teenager. It seems that he owed money to the wrong kind of people and Jeffries was trying to help him."
"So you think that whoever this guy owed money to could have taken Jeffries?"
"As I said, it's a possibility." Stillman replied.
"Did he give you a name?"
"He only mention the name of his friend - Watson, Shaun Watson."
"I gotta say, you don't sound too upset, I thought that you and Jeffries were tight?"
"I don't believe in letting personal feelings get in the way of what needs to be done Detective. Will Jeffries is like a brother to me and I assure you I have a vested interest in finding out who did this and dealing with them accordingly. You know full well I don't like to be crossed!"
His voice was as cold as ice and I knew that he meant it as a veiled warning to me. Point taken. "I know." I reply, remembering that last time a guy had betrayed him had ended up with three bullets to the chest.
"I will be sending someone to work with you on this case, he will meet you at the diner near the police department. You are to brief him on everything you know so far."
"Now wait a minute," I tell him, "I'm not working this case with your guy!"
"Not officially, but you will share what you know with him. I have resources you don't Detective and there is also the fact that I saved your life last year. You owe me...a favor."
And there it is. For months I had waited for this and just when I thought he'd let it slide, he calls it in. I should have known better. Lilly warned me about Stillman, hell, he probably has half of Philly PD in his pocket and I wasn't about to let myself be another one of his minions. "Alright Stillman, I'll do this, but after that consider the debt cleared," I tell him, "for good."
Stillman smirks, "Don't be so hasty Detective, a good friend is very hard to find and in your line of work you'll need a good friend."
"I'll manage!" I reply.
"We'll see, Detective, we'll see. You will meet him at nine o'clock at the diner tomorrow, don't be late!"
I'm about to hang up when he adds, "Oh and I trust you will keep this between us. I don't want Lilly to worry unnecessarily about things that don't concern her."
"You think they might try to go after her too?" I ask, concerned.
"No...but my daughter is a very headstrong woman and when she gets it into her mind to do something she will usually do it. I have told her that this is out of her hands and I trust you will tell her the same thing. Neither of us wants any harm to come to her. You must promise me you'll keep my daughter safe!"
I gotta admit I am surprised to see this side of Stillman. The way Lilly tells it, she and him were never really that close. "I understand and I will. I promise." I assure him.
"Good." He says and then he hangs up.
Lilly arrived at my apartment a little while later and we had some dinner. She was quiet the whole evening and although I knew why, after the conversation with Stillman I was afraid to ask her about it. Turns out I didn't have to, she brought it up first. "Scotty," she says as we're cuddling on the sofa, "you never asked me about what happened with my father today."
"Mmmm...sorry Lil, I guess I'm just tired."
She turns around and looks at me, her big blue eyes peering into my soul. "He contacted you today didn't he?" she asks.
"No."
"Don't lie to me Scotty, I can see right through you!"
"Okay, yeah he contacted me." I relent.
"What did he say?" She asks.
"Seems to think that you wanna peruse this on your own. Is he right?"
"I can't just do nothing Scotty, Will has been like a father to me."
"Lil, I know Stillman ain't exactly the best role model but he's right, there's nothing you can do."
"Well I was thinking about that…"
"Lil!" I stop her before she can finish that train of thought. The path she wants to go down is a dangerous one. "Please, just trust me, we'll find whoever did this, okay."
She looks at me and I can see some undefined emotion flash across her face for a second. "Okay." She says and I lean in to kiss her. "Thank you. Now how 'bout we finish what we started this mornin'?" I suggest and she climbs onto top of me and kisses me again. I stand up and carry her to the bedroom, hoping to both cheer her up and take her mind of this whole case.
I wake up the next morning feeling relaxed and happy as I recall the events of the night before. It was starting to feel like another perfect morning. As I begin to wake up more fully I realize I can hear the shower running in the bathroom. Smiling, I get out of bed and it's then that I realise the time. "Damn it!" It's eight thirty-six, I'm supposed to meet Stilman's guy in half an hour. "Lil," I call as I pick out some clothes from the closet, "you gonna be long?" It was a good thing the diner was only a fifteen minute drive from my place, enough time to grab a quick shower. "Lil?" I call again but there's no answer. I walk towards the door only to find she has left it unlocked. "Lil, you nearly done?" Still no answer. I'm starting to get worried I walk towards the shower curtain and pull it back only to find there's no one there. I turn the water off and search the apartment, calling her name all the while but when I get no answer I try calling her cell but it just keeps going to voicemail. I'm worried now, Lilly always waked me up before she leaves, the fact that she didn't this morning tells me that she is about to do something stupid and she didn't want me to know. I quickly get dressed and hurry over to the living room to get my car keys but when I look in the bowl I had left them in they are gone too, and in their place is a note.
Dear Scotty,
I know you mean well, but this is something I've got to do. Please don't be mad!
Lilly xx
I walk outside and find my car is no longer parked there. "Shit!" I swore and then I remember Stillman's words. I better find her quickly or I'm a dead man!
A/N: I hope you liked this start. Please feel free to leave a review and let me know what you thought : -)