Disclaimer: I own nothing recognized only the plot and my ocs.
"Suddenly I turned around and she was standing there
With Silver Bracelets on her wrists and flowers in her hair"
June 1974
Lily paced back and forth in front of the door wringing her hands nervously. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all she sound of Westminster chimes echoed throughout the house.
Lily took a steady breath placing her hand on the doorknob opening the men stood on the doorstep dressed in suits. They both appeared to be in their mid twenties,
"Hello, Are you Mrs. Morgan?" The first man asked smiling warmly.
Lily nodded shyly. "Good, I'm Detective Bryan Hayes" The man replied showing her his badge.
"Yes We spoke on the phone" Lily recalled the Man's voice.
"And this is my partner Detective Tobias Clark" Bryan added gestured toward the second man.
Lily felt herself begin to feel at ease in the Detective's friendly presence. She could recall now why she had agreed to this meeting earlier.
Lily invited the two detective's inside, "That's a lovely painting over there" commented Tobias as he placed the tape recorder on the coffee table. Lily smiled tightly, "Thank you, I painted it myself" she said "I studied Art in college". Her heart gave a painful tug as she gazed at the painting depicting a young couple standing on a stormy beach. It had been one of her earliest works after that fateful night. Painting had become her way of coping with the grief of losing her best friend.
Lily sat down stiffly chewing her lip nervously she hadn't spoken about that night in nearly fifteen years unwilling to relieve the pain. It was just supposed to be a fun last road trip before they started the next chapter in their lives.
"Recorder's ready" Tobias told Bryan breaking the silence.
"Today is June 19th 1974, I'm here with Mrs. Lillian Morgan formerly Ms. Lillian Collins, I'll be interviewing her regarding the Stoker cold case" Spoke the young detective into the microphone.
"Could you call me Lily please?" Lily requested.
Bryan nodded "Of course whatever will make you comfortable".
He continued on, "Now, Lily can you think back to August 28th 1960, Start small Where are you? What do you see? What do you hear? Who's with you? Are you alone?".
Lily closed her eyes slipping back to her eighteen year old self, "I...I'm on a beach, I smell salt and coconut oil".
"You're doing so good Lily! "Bryan praised.
"I'm...I mean we're all alone just the four of us, I can hear the waves and Charlie's got his camera, he's taking pictures of everything-" Lily stopped a sob caught in her throat.
"We were so happy, so carefree" She whispered tears sliding down her face.
Bryan grasped her hand and Tobias looking extremely uncomfortable passed over the box of tissues from the end table.
Public relations was not his strong suit unfortunately it was a big part of his job but he had Bryan as a partner so it worked out all right so far.
"Enough with the bright lights already" Mike complained attempting to dodge away from Brackett's flashlight.
"I need to look at both your eyes" Brackett insisted.
"Why? You already looked in the right one and now I think I'm blind, Sorry to break it to you doc but I need my eyes to drive the fire engine and who knows who drove her back to the station, I bet it was Chet crafty bastard always eyeing her up-" Mike ranted.
Johnny chuckled from his spot against the wall he'd never heard Stoker this talkative...and colorful.
Brackett placed his hands on his hips, narrowing his eyes into his patent bitch face, "Mr. Stoker unless you let me finish this examination you won't be behind the wheel of anything in the near future".
Mike rolled his eyes, "Fine, the sooner I'm out of here the better" he huffed.
"I wouldn't count on leaving so soon Mr. Stoker judging from you're out of character behavior, I'd like to keep you overnight for observation" Brackett commented while beaming the light into the other eye.
Mike glared in response, "Paint's probably scratched by now" he muttered under his breath.
"I was burned out from exhaustion, buried in the hail"
Bryan Hayes rubbed his eyes tiredly frowning at the paperwork scattered around the motel room. The sloppy police work of the original investigators was truly alarming.
There was far too leads that hadn't been pursued and corners that had been cut. But to top it all off two polaroids of the wrecked car after it had been removed from the site was all that existed of the crime scene.
The lead investigator's notes leaned heavily on the theory that either narcotics or alcohol had intoxicated the young adults and things had gotten out of hand. The theory was solidified when the coroner found trace amounts of an unknown substance in the victim's blood.
The case had been dismissed shortly afterward and left to be stored among the boxes of unresolved cases. Still something nagged Bryan about the case there was something missing, something right in front of him that he just couldn't put his finger on.
Bryan and Tobias been combing through every lead and re interviewing all witnesses during the past month confirming their previous statements…. well minus the elusive Michael Stoker whom they still had yet to get in touch with.
Time was running out if they didn't have this case solved in the next ten days, they'd never be able to prove to their bosses that a cold case could still be solved years later. Nobody deserved to be forgotten and Bryan would be damned if he'd let it keep happening.
Bryan groaned in frustration and walked over to the window to stretch his sore sun was just starting to peek out around the clouds painting the sky with oranges and pinks, Bryan sighed tiredly they'd pulled an unintentional all nighter...again.
Outside the motel room a tourist couple hurried noisily between their car and motel room, hoping to get a head start on their plans for the day.
"Honey don't forget the camera" The wife called over her shoulder to her husband locking the door.
Bryan's eyes widened the gears began turning. 'Camera! Why hadn't it occurred to him before!'.
He practically sprinted across the room and began vigorously shaking his snoring partner awake.
"Tobias! Where's the tape from the interview with Lily Morgan yesterday" Bryan demanded the minute Tobias's eyes fluttered open.
"It's in my briefcase" Tobias yawned sleepily.
Bryan flung open the briefcase and put the cassette tape into the recorder punching the play button then fast forwarding past the introductions.
"I can hear the waves and Charlie's got his camera, he's taking pictures of everything" came Lily's voice from the tiny speakers.
Bryan fidgeted restlessly looking at Tobias expectantly, Tobias raised his eyebrow at his partner it was too early in the morning to be playing mind games.
Bryan rewound the tape playing the same section. "You going to elaborate?" Tobias asked wearily.
"So there's no photos of the crime scene right" Bryan explained.
"Lily spoke about their friend Charlie Terrance, about how he always had a camera and was taking pictures of everything so-".
"So there's a chance Charlie Terrance might have taken photographs that night" Tobias finished a grin spreading across his face.
Bryan nodded his green eyes twinkling this was the biggest break they'd had in the case yet. tobias clamored out of the chair he'd spent the night in stretching sleepily.
Then he paused mid stretch as a frown filtered across his face "Bryan" he said slowly "We've never re interviewed Charlie Terrance before...because he's dead".
Bryan froze his face falling he could now recall reading that Charles Terrance had committed suicide in 1961 on the one year anniversary of the victim's death.
The two young detectives looked down at the scattered paperwork 'how did we forget that' they both thought ruefully.
But still nevertheless they would still pursue the lead hoping that someone had saved Charlie Terrance's belongings.