"Detective Monroe?" the face of a tear stained girl came into view as she Lindsay turned around.
"Can I help you?" Lindsay asked. She tried to ignore the watery eyes and shaky voice of the girl. She couldn't be more the 13.
"You were working my dad's case?" Big blue eyes stared up at her.
Lindsay nodded. "You must be Anna." The girl nodded. "I'm sorry for your loss."
The big innocent blue eyes suddenly turned hard. "Do you ever mean it?"
Lindsay blinked in surprise. "Of course I mean it."
"Do you? How many people have you told the same thing to?" She chuckled. "I'm probably just a nameless face in the job you do. Will you even remember me tomorrow?"
Lindsay was silently staring at the girl. This wasn't unusual. The victim's family usually took it out on the cops.
"I remember all of my case's and the victim's family." Lindsay winced. She realized how impersonal that sounded.
"Is that what I am? Just another victim's family?" the girl sneered in pain.
Lindsay sighed. She wished she could help this girl. Wished she could bring her father back. But she couldn't the only thing she could do was solve his murder. She didn't think she could deal with this girl. Her eyes were like a mirror showing all of the emotion when the cops in Montana told her the same thing when she was younger.
"I'm sorry. Anna, is there something you need?" Lindsay asked sympathetically.
"Wow." Anna said, her voice was thick with tears. "Something I need? I just lost my dad to some idiot college kid with a gun permit who was drunk out of his mind. I want my dad back."
Lindsay looked at her. "I know you did. And I know how much it hurts. To lose someone you love. I've been there. And I know how frustrating it is, that cops don't seem to care. But we do. We are just so used to it, that we can't show it the same way. I can't or I'll break down." Lindsay teared up a bit.
Anna looked down at the ground. "You asked if I needed anything."
Lindsay nodded. "Anything."
"Look over there." the girl asked, pointing to a small child holding a stuffed rabbit.
Lindsay closed her eyes. She had a bad feeling about this.
"Do you see her?" Anna asked. "That's my sister. She's 6. How am I supposed to tell a six year old, that the daddy who she adores, isn't coming home? How do I tell her." Anna started crying.
"My mom died when Dana was one." she continued. "Our dad is all we had left. Now, I am going to have to be the one to tell her daddy is dead. Then what? I'm not stupid. I know what will happen to us. We'll go into foster care and never see each other again. I'd never get place a good home. I'm to old."
She started full on crying. Lindsay felt her eyes get heavy with tears. And her lip started to tremble.
"Please." Anna finally said defeated. "Just make sure that my dad gets justice."
"I will." Lindsay promised. "I'll make sure." Her voice was trembling.
Anna nodded drained. "That's all you can do, I guess."
Without another word, Anna left and sat down with her sister.
"Dana, we need to talk about daddy." That was all Lindsay heard before she started cry and had to jog to the bathroom.
When Lindsay got home that night she went straight into her bedroom and found Danny with Lucy.
"Montana? What's wrong?" Danny said, immediately alert and concerned.
Lindsay merely hugged him and Lucy. And she cried.
"I love you both so much."
The next day she was supposed to work. She didn't. She called Mac and asked for the day.
Danny leaned on the door frame of the room where Lindsay called Mac.
"You want to go out today Linds?" Danny asked.
"Actually, there's somewhere I need to be. I'll call you okay?" Lindsay told him.
He nodded. "Are you sure your ok?"
"No. But I will be."
The funeral was small. The sky was cloudy. Gloomy. Much like the mood of the cemetery.
The casket was a pretty brown color. The flowers were both beautiful and somber.
Lindsay saw the two sisters almost immediately. They were both dressed in black. The small one, Dana, was looking around confused. Like she didn't understand how this could happen.
Anna was there too. Holding Dana's hand. Anna knew that after the funeral, the chances of the sisters staying together was slim.
Lindsay carefully sat down. The priest said his words and the casket was lowered into the ground. Right before it hit the bottom, Lindsay caught the eyes of Anna from across the lot.
Anna nodded at her.
After the funeral, Anna came to see Lindsay right as she was leaving.
"Thank you. For coming. I know I wasn't the nicest yesterday." Anna remarked.
"You had a right to be."
"This is Dana." She said pointing to the little girl.
"Hi." Lindsay said to the little girl. Then she turned back to Anna. "I talked to the judge. He's going to come down hard on the man who killed your dad. He's not going to get away with it."
Anna smiled. "Thank you detective Monroe."
"And I talked to your social worker. I made her promise that wherever you go. Dana is coming with."
Anna hugged Lindsay. "I owe you a lot."
hope you enjoyed.