DISCLAIMER: THIS COLD CASE SHOW AND CHARACTERS DON'T BELONG TO ME EXCEPT MY OWN CHARACTERS THAT ARE NOT IN THE SHOW.

I know there are some grammar errors. If you find some errors, please let me know. I would be happy to change that.

Please no rude comments. Thank you. Hope you enjoy it :).

The Phantom

October 9, 1997

The entire day was filled with the spirit of Halloween. The spooky decoration were already set up outside on their houses. There were two or three craving pumpkins on every front porch of houses. The entire trees were bare. The chilling wind blew the leaves off the roads and streets. It was nearly three o'clock in the afternoon. The teenagers and kids already went home after school. Some children and teenagers had to stay after school for activities. At University of Columbia, some young adults were on the stage, performing out. The two young woman and man in their late teens were acting while other colleges kids sitting around on the stage and watching behind them.

"Oh, where art thou, Romeo!" Caroline Jones spoke as she pressed her back hand on her forehead. She let out a huge dramatic sigh.

"We are in the play of The Phantom, not Romeo & Juliet." The great-looking blonde guy, who went by Luke Campbell, rolled his eyes. He shook his head.

"Well, I don't know any lines. Don't blame me. I'm just an extra." Caroline said, held her hands up. She looked little young for her age. She nearly looked sixteen instead of eighteen year old. She had a long black ponytail. She wore a striped shirt with a blue denim overall shorts.

The auditorium door opened. All people' heads turned toward the door.

"I'm so sorry that I am late." The blonde girl said as she hurried down the aisle to the stage. She dumped her backpack down on the floor.

"Eliza, where had you been?" The director, Mason Caldwell asked impatiently. He glanced at his watch. "You are twenty minutes late! We all were waiting for you!"

"I'm so sorry. I had to pick up my little brother at school. My mom is busy right now, can't take off her work to pick him up so I had to do her favor."

"Well, next time, make sure you won't be late again. We need to prepare this right now. We can't waste our times. The play will be coming soon next two weeks. This is very important. I'm telling you. We have to be prepared. Understand?"

"I won't let that happen again." Eliza promised.

Mason let out a deep sigh. "Go get your script paper and work."

Eliza obeyed.

"Thought you were going to skip that part where you are supposed to give Luke a hot lip to lip." The short guy with the long wavy hair teased. The other college kids snickered behind them.

"Don't be jealous, Zach. At least Luke is sexier than you." Eliza said haughty. She received 'Ohh' sounds and laughter from them.

"Nice..." Zach said sarcastically.

"In your dream, man. She wants me." Luke laughed as he smacked Zach's back. He walked over to Eliza where she stood in the center of the stage. She already had script papers.

"Come on, guys. Let's go! What are you waiting for? Let's move." Mason ordered. All the actors and actresses groaned but obeyed the direction. They moved around to their place where they were supposed to belong to.

Mason turned to the plastic folding table, fumbling around for the script papers.

Two weeks later, it was two days before the play opens. The school inside was dark and empty. The auditorium door was left opened like someone forgot to lock the door.

On the stage, the body was levitating above the floor. Mason Caldwell's neck was tied up with the long rope. His eyes were opened with lifeless. His entire body moved around a bit with the airs pushing him around.

Meanwhile, a thin detective walked into the storage, carrying a brown box and placed it on the shelf. Then he walked away. The box read:

Caldwell M. along with his case number and it sat on the shelf, waiting for collecting dust.

16 years later…

It was October 23, eight more days until Halloween. Lilly Rush was pleased to have a last coffee with a caramel flavor. It was like a lucky day to her. She exist the coffee shop and went back to her office.

By the time, Scotty walked out from an elevator. He went to his desk. He placed his suit jacket on the chair. He sighed heavily.

"What's the matter?" Lilly said as she took a sip from her coffee. She was sitting in her big black chair.

"Our date plan was cancelled. I wasted my money on orchestra tickets. It cost almost hundred bucks and we are not going."

"Bummer?" Lilly tried to concentrate on her friend's problem but she can't help thinking about the delicious caramel coffee.

"And there is no more caramel coffee. They said someone took the last one today." Scotty murmured.

Lilly glanced at her coffee and said nothing.

"Anyway, thankfully, we are not going to see that dumb Phantom play." Scotty waved the tickets in the air. "I'm not interested."

"Hey, I love the Phantom of an Opera." Lilly said as she snatched one ticket out of Scotty's hand.

"Really? You do?" Scotty made a face.

"Yeah, when I was in high school, I was an outcast. I really didn't have many friends. I was pretty lonely. I always hid in the auditorium during the study hall and gym. I sat in the back row where no one sees me. Once I sneaked out of the gym to the auditorium, watching their play. I had a passion to see the play. See them singing. I sometimes I wanted to be Christine but I was too shy."

"Oh, I didn't know that you really wanted to be Christine. Plus, you wanted to sing?" Scotty made a face again.

Lilly rolled her eyes but playfully.

"Alright. If you are interested, why not come with me?" Scotty offered.

Lilly returned the ticket back to Scotty, "Sorry, I love to but I can't."

"Why not?" Scotty said as he took it.

"Because I already have plans." Lilly said.

"Oh… what plans?"

"I have a coffee date with Eddie."

"Eddie?" Scotty looked puzzled.

"Yeah?"

"The one who you were together with him last year?"

"Yeah?"

"I thought you guys broke up."

"We did." Lilly said, and then she saw a tense look on his face. "Look, it is just a coffee date. Eddie said he just wanted to be friends with me again."

"Uh-huh, okay?"

"You sound like you have a problem with that."

"No, no. Not at all. I was just— I was just looking out for you. I-I just don't like to see you to get hurt again." Scotty stammered.

Lilly smiled at his response. "Thanks, Scotty."

"Yeah." Scotty murmured. "That's what friends are for."

"Hey! I'm back!"

Both Lilly and Scotty looked up at the same time. Detective Will Jeffries walked in, his long brown jacket dangling over his arm while he held a briefcase in his other hand. He had a wide grin.

"Ho, ho. Look at Jeffries. Welcome back." Nick said gleefully.

"How was Hawaii?" Lilly asked Will.

"Man, was that a good life." Will said. "I had a blast time. I enjoyed spending time with my great family. It was nice and relaxing. Man, wish we stay there for a while more."

"Yeah, maybe you should have because so you don't have to do all paperwork like that." Kat pointed at Jeffries's desk which it was filled with a load of paperwork.

William sighed heavily. "Oh lord..."

"Look like the hell is beginning…" Nick smirked.

"Yep, welcome back to hell." Scotty chuckled, patting on Jeffries's back.

"Detectives..."

The four detectives turned to John Stillman who had a serious look on his face. His hands were tucked in his pockets. He fixed a gaze at them.

"We got an opened case for you." John said, turning to the red-haired woman who was with him. She looked in mid-thirties. She wore a professional suit, looking like she was a lawyer.

"This is Julia Smith. She was a good friend of Mason Caldwell who died at college. He was known as the director for the Phantom play. She has information for you today. You may find this interesting." He told them.

Julia began to speak. "I got new information about Mason who appeared as a suicide victim at University of Columbia back in October 1997."

"What is it?" Scotty said.

"I still can't stop thinking about him. He was my good friend. He was a headstrong person but with a good heart. I kept wondering why he committed suicide. He seemed fine to me that same day he hung himself two days before the play opened. He was excited to forward to show us his play. That was his dream. I just didn't understand why he did do that. That didn't make senses at all. I feel my guts that something's not right. It has been sixteen years since Mason's death. And I am a medical examiner now. So I decided to take a look on Mason's report sheet and photos. Then I just noticed that there was a small bruise on the back of Mason's head in the photo. I asked some people to bring up Mason's coffin so I can re-examine him. I just found a skull fracture in his back of his head. I looked at the report again. Guess what... they failed to mention it."

"So it wasn't a suicide?" Lilly said.

"I don't think so." Julia replied.

Lilly said to Scotty. "Either it was a mistake for missing evidences or just cops were too lazy to find evidences."

"You bet." Scotty said. "You know what, thanks to them because I believe this case will be interesting since I like the whole mystery thing, I'm forward to be in."

"Yea, let's find out who is the killer." Lilly remarked.