3: A Study in Pink - Part III

A/N WHAT! D: No reviews? :'( Well I promised a chapter for Christmas, so here you go.

Up in the flat, Lily was flopped across the couch, occasionally checking her phone for texts. Parker walked in and saw Lily on the couch. "…Well?" Parker asked. Lily didn't respond. "You asked me to come. I'm assuming it's important."

Lily still didn't respond instantly, but after a couple of seconds her eyes snapped open. She didn't bother turning her head to look at Parker though. "Oh, yeah, of course. Can I borrow your phone?"

Parker blinked. "My phone?"

"I don't wanna use mine. Always a chance that the number will be recognised," explained Lily. "It's on the website."

"Elizabeth's got a phone."

"She's on a date."

Parker was reminded of not-Leon and sighed in annoyance. "Mrs. Coleman has a phone."

"Yeah, but she's downstairs," Lily said, whining like a child. "I tried shouting but she didn't hear."

Parker was beginning to get angry. "I was the other side of London!"

"There was no hurry," said Lily in all calmness.

Parker glared at her and Lily gazed serenely at the ceiling before closing her eyes again. Eventually, Parker dug her phone out of her jacket pocket and held it towards Lily. "Here."

Without opening her eyes, Lily held out her right hand with the palm up. Parker glowered at him for a moment, then stepped forward and slapped the phone into her hand. Lily slowly lifted up her arm and put her hands together again, this time with the phone in between her palms. Parker turned and walked a few paces away before turning around again. "So what's this about – the case?"

"Her case," Lily said softly.

"Her case?" Parker asked in confusion.

Lily opened her eyes. "Her suitcase, yes, of course. The murderer took her suitcase. First big mistake."

"Okay, he took her case. So?"

"It's no use," said Lily quietly, as if to herself, "there's no other way. We'll have to risk it." Raising her voice a little, she imperiously held the phone out towards Parker, still not looking at her. "Password protected, Parker, you send it. On my desk there's a number. I want you to send a text."

Parker half-smiled in angry disbelief. "You brought me here…" said Parker tightly, "…to send a text…"

Lily was oblivious to Parker's anger. "Text, yes. The number on my desk." She continued to hold the phone out while Parker glowered at her, possibly wondering if she can get away with justifiable homicide. Eventually she stomped across the room and snatched the phone from Lily's hand. Lily refolds her hands under her chin and closed her eyes but instead of going to the table, Parker walked over to the window and looked out of it into the street below. Lily opened her eyes and tilted her head slightly towards her.

"What's wrong?"

"Just met a friend of yours."

Lily frowned in confusion. "A friend?

"An enemy," Parker corrected.

Lily immediately relaxed. "Oh," she said calmly. "Which one?"

"The one interested in Elizabeth and your archenemy, according to him." She turned towards Lily. "Do people have archenemies?" Lily looked towards her, narrowing her eyes suspiciously. "I mean, Golden Trio has enemies, of course, but not archenemies."

"Did he offer you money to spy on Elizabeth?" Lily asked.

"Yes."

"Did you take it?"

"No."

"Pity. I could have helped you spy on her and split the fee. Let's think it through next time."

Parker was silent before sighing. "Who is he?"

"The most dangerous man you've ever met," she said softly, "and not our problem right now." She raised her voice a bit. "On my desk, the number."

Parker gave her a dark look but Lily had already looked away again so Parker walked over to the desk and picked up a piece of paper taken from a luggage label. She looked at the name on the paper. "Jennifer Wilson. That was…Hang on. Wasn't that the dead woman?"

"Yes. That's not important," dismissed Lily. "Just enter the number." Shaking her head, Parker got out her phone out and started to type the number onto it. "Are you doing it?"

"Yes."

"Have you done it?"

"Ye– hang on!"

"These words exactly:" Lily said slowly. "'What happened at Lauriston Gardens? I must have blacked out.'" Parker John started to type but looked briefly across to Lily as if concerned at what she had just said. Lily continued her narration. "'Twenty-two Northumberland Street. Please come.'"

Now Parker looked across to Lily again, frowning. "You blacked out?" she asked worriedly.

"What? No. No!" She flipped her legs around and stood up, taking the shortest route towards the kitchen – which involved walking over the coffee table beside the sofa rather than around it. "Type and send it. Quickly." Lily walked into the kitchen, and she picked up a small pink suitcase from a chair and brought it back into the living room. Walking over to the dining table, she lifted one of the dining chairs and flipped it around, setting it down in front of one of the two armchairs near the fireplace. She put the suitcase onto the dining chair and sat down in the armchair. Parker was still typing.

"Have you sent it?"

"What's the address?"

"Twenty-two Northumberland Street," Lily said irritably. "Hurry up!"

Parker finished the message, then looked round as Lily unzipped the case and flipped open the lid, revealing the contents. There were a few items of clothing and underwear – all in varying shades of pink – a washbag, and a paperback novel by Paul Bunch entitled "Come To Bed Eyes". As Parker turned towards the case she staggered slightly in shock as she realised what she was looking at. "That's…that's the pink lady's case. That's Jennifer Wilson's case."

Lily was studying the case closely. "Yes, clearly." As Parker continued to stare, Lily looks up at her and then rolled her eyes. "Oh," she said sarcastically, "perhaps I should mention: neither Wonder nor I killed her."

"I never said you did kill her."

"You thought it."

"Oh, so you're the mind reader now?

"Why not? Given the text I just had you send and the fact I that have her case, it's a perfectly logical assumption."

Parker blinked in shock. "Do people usually assume you're the murderer?"

Lily smirked. "Now and then, yes." She put her hands onto the arms of the armchair and lifted her feet up and under her so that she was perching on the seat with her backside braced against the back rest, then clasped her hands under her chin.

"Okay…" Parker said awkwardly. She limped across the room and dropped heavily into the armchair on the other side of the fireplace. "Question. How did you get this?"

"By looking," Lily said simply.

"Where?" asked Parker.

"The killer must have driven her to Lauriston Gardens. He could only keep her case by accident if it was in the car. Nobody could be seen with this case without drawing attention – particularly a man, which is statistically more likely – so obviously he'd feel compelled to get rid of it the moment he noticed he still had it. Wouldn't have taken him more than five minutes to realise his mistake. Wonder and I checked every back street wide enough for a car five minutes from Lauriston Gardens and anywhere you could dispose of a bulky object without being observed. Took us less than an hour to find the case. After all, many hands make light work. Not to mention I have super speed and Liz can fly." She pointed at the case. "Now…Can you find what's missing?"

Parker was startled. "From the case? How could I?"

"…Her phone! Where's her mobile phone? There was no phone on the body, there's no phone in the case. We know she had one – that's her number there; you just texted it."

"Well…Maybe she left it at home," Parker suggested.

Lily put her hands onto the arms of the chair and raised herself up so that she could lower her feet to the floor, then sat down properly on the chair. "She had a string of lovers and she was careful about it. She'd never leave her phone at home." She put the slip of paper back into the luggage label on the case and looked at Parker expectantly.

"Er…" She looked down at her mobile phone which she had put onto the arm of her chair. "Why did I just send that text?"

"Well, the question is: where is her phone now?"

Parker shrugged. "She could have lost it."

"Yes, or…?"

Parker spoke slowly. "The murderer…You think the murderer has the phone?"

"Maybe she left it when she left her case," Lily suggested. "Maybe he took it from her for some reason. Either way, it is most likely that the murderer has gotten her phone."

Parker was shocked. "Sorry, what are we doing? Did I just text a murderer?! What good will that do?"

As if on cue, her phone began to ring. She picked it up and looked at the screen for the Caller I.D. It was withheld. She looked across to Lily as the phone continued to ring out. "A few hours after his last victim," said Lily, "and now he receives a text that can only be from her. If somebody had just found that phone they'd ignore a text like that, but the murderer…" She paused dramatically for a moment until the phone stopped ringing. "…would panic." She flipped the lid of the suitcase closed and stood up, walking briskly across the room to pick up her jacket. As Parker continued to stare down at her phone, Lily put her jacket on and walked towards the door.

Parker eventually looked up. "Have you talked to the police?"

"Four people are dead," Lily said. "There isn't time to talk to the police."

"So why are you talking to me?" Parker asked.

Lily reached behind the door to take her beanie from the hook. As she looked across towards Parker she noticed that something was missing from the mantelpiece. "Mrs. Coleman took my skull."

Parker blinked. "So I'm your last resort? First Elizabeth, then the alien skull, then me?"

Lily putting her beanie on. "Relax, you're doing fine. And besides, your third resort, not last." Parker didn't move. "Well?"

"Well what?"

Lily shrugged. "Well, you could just sit there and watch telly."

Parker sighed. "What, you want me to come with you?"

"I like company when I go out," she admitted, "and I think better when I talk aloud. The skull just attracts attention, not to mention the government tried to take it from me once because it's extraterrestrial, so…" Parker smiled briefly. "Problem?"

"Yeah, Sergeant Donovan."

Lily looked away in exasperation and with a roll of her eyes. "What about her?" she sighed.

"She said…You get off on this. You enjoy it."

Lily shrugged nonchalantly. "And I said 'dangerous', and here you are." She smirked smugly and instantly turned and walked out of the door. Parker sat there thoughtfully for a few seconds, then almost angrily leaned onto her cane to push herself to her feet and headed for the door. "Gosh, dang it!"

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Parker had caught up to Lily in the street and they continued down the road. "Where are we going?"

"Northumberland Street's a five-minute walk from here."

"So you think this guy's stupid enough to go there?"

Lily smiled expectantly. "No – I think he's brilliant enough. I love the brilliant ones. They're always so desperate to get caught."

"Er…Why?"

"Appreciation! Applause! At long last the spotlight. That's the frailty of genius, Parker: it needs an audience."

Parker looked pointedly at her. "Yeah." Oblivious to the implication, Lily spun around to indicate the entire area as she continued down the road.

"This is his hunting ground, right here in the heart of the city. Now that we know his victims were abducted, that changes everything. Because all of his victims disappeared from busy streets, crowded places, but nobody saw them go." She held her hands up on either side of her head as if to focus her thoughts. "Come on, we need to think! Who do we trust, even though we don't know them? Who passes unnoticed wherever they go? Who hunts in the middle of a crowd?"

"Dunno," answered Parker truthfully. "Who?"

Lily shrugged. "Haven't the faintest idea. Hungry?" Lowering her hands, she led Parker onward and towards a small restaurant. A man came bursting out of the door both angrily and smug (but mostly angry). Lily's eyebrows furrowed. "Strange…I feel as though I recognise that man." They strolled into the restaurant and the waiter near the door clearly knew her and gestured to a reserved table at the front window. "Thank you, Tom," Lily said with a nod.

Taking her coat off, she sat down on the bench seat at the side of the table and immediately turned sideways so that she could see clearly out of the window. As Tom took down the 'Reserved' sign off the table, Parker sat down on the other bench seat with her back to the window, and took off her jacket. Lily nodded to a building over the road. "Twenty-two Northumberland Street. Keep your eyes on it."

Parker glanced to the place indicated. "He isn't just gonna ring the doorbell, though, is he? He'd need to be mad."

"He has killed four people," Lily pointed out.

"Okay…Good point."

The man who was both manager and owner of the restaurant came over, clearly pleased to see Lily there.

"Lily." They shook hands. "Anything on the menu, whatever you want, free." He sat a few menus down on the table. "For you and your friend." He turned to Parker. "This woman got me off a murder charge.

"This is Angelo," Lily introduced. Angelo offered his hand to Parker, who shook it. "Three years ago I successfully proved to Lestrade at the time of a particularly vicious triple murder that Angelo was in a completely different part of town, house-breaking."

"She cleared my name," Angelo said to Parker.

"A bit. I cleared it a bit. Anything happening opposite?"

"Nothing." He looked at Parker again. "But for this lady, I'd have gone to prison."

"You did go to prison."

Later, Parker had a plate of food in front of her and is ate as Lily's attention was fixed out of the window and she was quietly drumming her fingers on the table. "People don't have archenemies," Parker said.

It took a moment, but Lily finally looked around. "I'm sorry?"

"In real life," elaborated Parker. "There are no archenemies in real life. It doesn't happen."

Lily was disinterested in the conversation and continued looking out of the window again. "Well who made those doombots during our battle when we were fourteen, hm? Wouldn't they be considered an archenemy to the Golden Trio?"

"Not so loud!" Parker hissed quietly, checking her surroundings. She sighed. "So who did I meet?"

"What do real people have, then, in their 'real lives'?" Lily asked, ignoring the question. "Or would you even know? You aren't exactly normal and there's no denying it."

"Friends; people they know; people they like; people they don't like…boyfriends…girlfriends."

"You're my friend."

"But more friends!" Parker protested. She sighed and shook her head. "Whatever…"

She continued eating. Lily looked at her suspiciously for a moment but then turned her attention out of the window again. However, she then appeared to replay Parker's previous statement in her head and looked a little startled. Turning her head towards Parker again, she started speaking rather awkwardly but rapidly sped up and was almost babbling by the time Parker interrupted her. "Boyfriend? You mean you had a boyfriend? You hooked up with someone and actually got a boyfriend who you actually–"

"No…" Parker interjected, clearly covering up something. "No…I never got a boyfriend…no dates or anything. After the doombot war I became unattached."

Lily turned her attention back to the street. Parker looked away with a bemused expression on her face as if asking herself, 'What the heck was all that about?!' Just then, Elizabeth walked over to them. "I thought I heard your voices," she said with a grin.

Lily looked up. "Elizabeth! I thought you were on a date!"

Elizabeth plopped down next to her friends. "Keyword: were." She sighed and shook her head. "He wasn't right for me…"

Parker then realised. "The man coming out of the restaurant–"

"I knew I recognised him!" said Lily. She peered out the window again. "Look across the street. Taxi." Elizabeth glanced over and Parker twisted in her seat to look out of the window where a taxi had parked at the side of the road with its back end towards the restaurant.

"Stopped," muttered Elizabeth. "Nobody getting in, and nobody getting out. Why?"

In the rear seat of the taxi the male passenger was looking through the side windows as if trying to see somebody particular.

"Why a taxi?" Lily asked to herself. "Oh, that's clever. Is it clever? Why is it clever?"

"So that's him?" asked Parker.

"You two, don't stare."

Elizabeth looked round at Lily. "You're staring. And at what, may I ask?"

"We can't all stare. And I do believe that is our Pink Lady murderer."

Getting to her feet, Lily grabbed her coat and headed for the door. Elizabeth jumped up and did the same. Parker picked up her own jacket and followed…completely forgetting to take her walking cane with her. Outside the door, Lily shrugged herself into her coat while keeping her eyes fixed on the taxi. The passenger continued to look around her, then turned and looked out of the back window. His gaze fell on the restaurant and he looked at it for a few moments while the Trio stared back at him, then the man turned towards the front of the vehicle and the taxi began to pull away from the kerb. Lily immediately headed towards it without bothering to check the road that she was running into and was almost run over by a car coming from her left. The driver slammed on the brakes and stopped the car but Lily, always keen to take the quickest route, allowed her forward impetus to carry her onto the top of the bonnet. She rolled over the bonnet, landed on her feet on the other side and then ran after the taxi. With this and the slightest touch of her super speed, Lily was getting far ahead. Elizabeth ran quickly around the front of the car. As the driver of the car angrily sounded his horn, Parker put one hand on the bonnet and vaulted over the front of the car, apologising to the driver as she went.

"Sorry."

She chased after Lily and Elizabeth, who ran a few yards up the road before realising that neither of them were going to catch the taxi without their exposing powers, slowed to a halt. Parker caught up and stopped beside them. "I've got the cab number," she said.

"Good for you," panted Lily. She turned to Elizabeth. "You've flown over this city several times, surely you can come up with a fast route!"

Elizabeth closed her eyes tightly and tried to remember London from the sky. She shot out the words like rapid fire. "Right turn, one way, roadworks, traffic lights, bus lane, pedestrian crossing, left turn only, traffic lights."

Elizabeth raced forward and Lily was right beside. Lily ran towards a man and grabbed him, shoving him out of the way before charging into the building. "OI!"

Parker hurried after her superhero friends, raising an apologetic hand to the man as she passed by. "Sorry!"

The three of them raced up the stairs and out onto a metal spiral fire escape staircase leading to the roof. Lily, the super speed git, took steps two or even three at a time and Elizabeth used her flight to boost her while Parker struggled to keep up with them as she scurried up behind. "Come on, Nightingale," groaned Lily.

Reaching the top of the stairs, Lily ran to the edge and looked over before seeing a shorter metal spiral staircase leading down the side of the building to another door one floor lower. She galloped down the stairs and climbed onto the railing before leaping across the gap to the next building. Parker scrambled onto the railing and followed. Elizabeth ran across to the other side of the roof and used her flight to get her simply across to the next building. Lily took a running jump and made it perfectly fine. Parker raced after them, but then skidded to a halt as she realised that the gap may be too big for her to jump across. Parker hesitated, looking down at the drop beneath her

"Come on, Parker!" said Lily with no sympathy, but irritably. "We're losing him!" Parker backed up a few paces and braced herself. She took a run-up and leapt the gap. Dropping down onto a walkway along the side of the building, the girls ran onwards. As the taxi continued its journey on the ground, the Golden Trio galloped down another metal staircase, then ran to a ledge and dropped down into an alleyway before running onwards again. Elizabeth was at the front, leading Lily as Parker trailed behind, down the alleyway as her mental map showed their location in comparison to where the taxi would probably be. Their paths were beginning to get closer and closer and they were heading towards a point where the Trio would exit the alleyway onto D'Arblay Street, which the taxi was just turning into. Elizabeth turned the corner and raced down the last part of the alley Lily by her side, only to see the taxi drive past the end, heading to the left.

"Ah, no!" Elizabeth said angrily. Without breaking stride, she raced out of the end of the alley and turned right. "This way, guys!" Instinctively Parker turned left in pursuit of the taxi. "No, this way!"

"Sorry."

She turned and headed back in the opposite direction, following her fellow heroes. In Elizabeth's mind-map, she picked a new point where she and the others could intercept the cab. The girls ran down the street, taking a shorter route than the taxi which was being diverted by various road signs, taking it the long way around. They headed down more alleyways and side streets towards the interception point in Wardour Street and finally, at the precise point which her mental map predicted, Elizabeth raced out of a side street, Lily using some quick superpowers to get ahead. Lily hurled herself into the path of the approaching cab, which screeched to a halt as she crashed hard into the bonnet. Scrabbling in her left coat pocket, Lily pulled out an I.D. badge and flashed it at the driver as she ran to the right hand side of the cab.

"Police!" she panted. "Open her up!"

Panting heavily, she tugged open the rear door and stared in at the passenger, who looked back at her anxiously. Elizabeth ran up. Instantly, Lily straightened up in exasperation just as Parker joined them. "No," she said quietly. She leaned down again to look at the passenger a second time. She looked at something on the floor in front of the passenger. "L.A., Santa Monica. Just arrived." She straightened up again, grimacing.

"How can you possibly know that?" Parker asked.

"The luggage." Parker and Elizabeth's eyes moved down at the suitcase on the floor of the cab and its luggage label showed that the man had flown from LAX, Los Angeles International Airport, to LHR, London Heathrow Airport. Lily turned to the passenger. "It's probably your first trip to London, right?"

"Sorry–" said the passenger, with a definite American accent, "are you guys the police?"

"Er…Yeah…" Elizabeth said. Lily flashed the I.D. badge briefly at the man. "Everything all right?" Elizabeth asked.

The passenger smiled unsurely. "Yeah." The Golden Trio was quiet for a moment as if wondering how to finish this conversation, then Lily smiled falsely at the man. "Welcome to London." She immediately walked away, pulling Parker behind her and leaving Elizabeth staring blankly for a moment before she stepped closer to the taxi door and looked in at the passenger.

"Any problems you just let us know."

As the man nodded, Elizabeth smiled politely and slammed the cab door shut. The man looked round to the taxi driver in bewilderment. Elizabeth walked to where Lily had stopped a few yards behind the vehicle.

"Basically just a cab that happened to slow down," said Parker, "not the murderer."

Elizabeth shook her head. "Wrong country, good alibi."

"As they go," Lily said.

Parker noticed Lily switch the I.D. card from one hand to the other. "Hey, where-where did you get this? Here."

She reached for the card and Lily released it into Parker's grasp. "Right…"

Elizabeth glanced over and looked at the name. "Detective Inspector Lestrade?"

"Yeah," Lily said. "I pickpocket him when he's annoying – which is a lot. Either of you can keep that one, I've got plenty at the flat." Parker nodded, then looked down at the card again before lifting her head and giggling silently. "What?" Lily asked.

"Nothing, just: 'Welcome to London'."

Lily chuckled, then looked down the road to where a police officer had apparently gone to investigate why the cab had stopped in the middle of the road. The passenger had gotten out and was pointing down the road towards the Golden Trio. "Got your breath back?" Lily asked.

"Ready when you are," Elizabeth said. They all turned and ran off down the road.

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At 313G, the girls had arrived back and walked along the hallway, breathing heavily. Parker hung her jacket on a hook on the wall while Lily draped her coat over the bottom of the bannisters and Elizabeth left her's on. "Okay," Parker panted, "that was ridiculous." They leaned side by side against the wall, still trying to catch their breath. "That was…the most ridiculous…thing I've ever done."

"And you climbed into a doombot when it exploded," said Elizabeth.

Parker giggled adorably for a moment before Elizabeth and Lily joined briefly. "Well I wasn't the only one who fought those things," she said, nudging Elizabeth and grinning at Lily. Lily chuckled. "Why aren't we back at the restaurant?" Parker asked.

Lily became more serious and waved her hand dismissively. "Oh, they can keep an eye out. It was a long shot anyway."

"So what were we doing there?" she asked. "Other than Elizabeth, of course. Her and her date.

Lily cleared her throat. "Oh, just passing the time…" She looked pointedly at Parker. "…And proving a point."

"What? What point?"

Lily smirked. "You." She turned and called loudly towards the door to Mrs. Coleman's flat. "Mrs Coleman! Doctor Kiehof will take the room upstairs!"

Parker was taken aback. "Says who?"

Lily nodded towards the front door. "Says the man at the door."

Parker turned her head towards the door just as someone knocked on it four times. She turned back to look at Lily in surprise. Crystal merely smiled. Parker stared at her for a moment, then walked along the hall to answer the door. Lily leaned her head against the wall and blew out a breath, Elizabeth going over to her, wanting an explanation. Parker opened the door and found Angelo standing outside.

"Lily texted me," he said. Smiling, he held up Parker's walking cane. "She said you forgot this."

Parker stared at the cane in surprise, then took it a bit awkwardly. "Ah…" She turned and looked down the hall to Lily, who grinned at her. Elizabeth gave Parker a thumbs-up.

Parker turned back to Angelo. "Er, thank you. Thank you."

As she came back in and closed the door, Mrs. Coleman came out of her flat and hurried over to the girls. She sounded upset and almost tearful as she spoke.

"Lily, Elizabeth, what have you done?" she asked.

"Mrs. Coleman?" Elizabeth asked in concern.

"Upstairs," the elder woman said.

Elizabeth turned and hurried up the stairs, Parker and Lily following her. Elizabeth opened the living room door and went inside, where she and the others found D.I. Lestrade sitting casually in the armchair facing the door. Other police officers were going through Lily and Elizabeth's various possessions. Elizabeth stormed over to Lestrade.

"What is this?" she asked in outrage.

Lestrade shrugged. "Well, I knew Lily'd find the case. I'm not stupid."

"You can't just break into my flat!" Lily protested.

"And you can't withhold evidence," retorted Lestrade. "And I didn't break into your flat."

"Oh? Well, what do you call this then?"

Lestrade looked around at his officers before looking back to the Golden Trio innocently. "It's a drugs bust."

"Seriously?!" Parker asked in outrage. "You could search every crevice and crack – no pun intended – but I guarantee you won't find anything!"

"It's an inside joke between Lily and I," he explained.

"I am not your sniffer dog!" Lily said, turning towards Lestrade.

"No, Anderson's my sniffer dog." He nodded towards the kitchen.

"What? An–" The closed doors to the kitchen slid open and revealed several more officers in there searching through the room. Anderson turned towards the living room and raised his hand in sarcastic greeting. Lily was livid. "Anderson, what are you doing here on a drugs bust?"

"Oh, I volunteered," Anderson said venomously.

Lily turned away, biting her lip angrily.

"They all did," elaborated Lestrade. "They're not strictly speaking on the drugs squad, but they're very keen." Donovan came into view from the kitchen, holding a small glass jar with some white round objects in it.

"Are these human eyes?"

"…No…"

"They were in the microwave!"

"It's an experiment," said Lily.

"Keep looking, guys," Lestrade ordered. He stood up and turned to Lily. "Or you could help us properly and I'll stand them down."

Lily was pacing angrily and Elizabeth spoke up. "This is childish," she said.

"Well, I'm dealing with a child." He turned to Lily. "Lily, this is our case. I'm letting you in, but you do not go off on your own. Clear?"

Lily stopped and glared at him the detective. "Oh, what, so-so-so you set up a pretend drugs bust to bully me?"

"So let's work together," Lestrade suggested. "We've found Rachel."

Lily turned back to him and Elizabeth looked up. "Who is she?"

"Jennifer Wilson's only daughter."

Lily frowned. "Her daughter? Why would she write her daughter's name? Why?"

"Never mind that," said Anderson. "We found the case!" He pointed to the pink suitcase in the living room. "According to someone, the murderer has the case, and we found it in the hands of our favourite freak!"

Lily looked at him disparagingly. "I'm not a freak, Anderson. I merely have special abilities in which normal, boring people lack. Do your research!" She turned back to Lestrade. "You need to bring Rachel in. You need to question her. We need to question her," she said, gesturing to Elizabeth and Parker.

"She's dead," said Lestrade.

"Really?" asked Elizabeth. Parker was startled.

"How, when, and why?" wondered Lily. "Is there a connection? There has to be!"

"Well, I doubt it," Lestrade said, "since she's been dead for fourteen years. Technically she was never alive. Rachel was Jennifer Wilson's stillborn daughter, fourteen years ago."

Parker grimaced sadly and turned away. Elizabeth frowned. Lily, on the other hand, just looked confused. "No," Lily whispered, "that's…that's not right. How…Why would she do that? Why?"

"Why would she think of her daughter in her last moments?!" Anderson said. "Yup – freak; I'm seeing it now."

Lily turned to him with an exasperated look on her face. "She didn't just think about her daughter. She scratched her name on the floor with her fingernails. She was dying. It took effort. It would have hurt." She began to pace back and forth across the room again.

"You said that the victims all took the poison themselves," said Elizabeth, "that he makes them take it. Well, maybe he…I don't know, talks to them? Maybe he used the death of her daughter somehow."

Lily stopped and turned to him. "Yeah, but that was ages ago. Why would she still be upset?"

Parker gaped at her. Elizabeth was shocked and the slightest bit angry. Lily hesitated as she realised that everyone in the flat had stopped what they're doing and had fallen silent. She glanced around the room and then looked awkwardly at her friends. "You know how you think something in your head and it sounds okay but when you say it out loud it doesn't work out the way you thought it would?" Everyone slowly started going back to what they were doing. Lily shook it off and stepped closer to Parker, looking at her intently. "If you were dying…if you'd been murdered: in your very last few seconds what would you say?"

"Oh please, heaven help me, let me live."

"Oh, use your imagination!" Lily said exasperatedly.

"I don't have to," Parker said with a shrug. Lily seemed to recognise the look of pain in Parker's face. The same pain she held when she was rolled away on the gurney after the doombot she was inside exploded. Elizabeth recognised it too and shot Lily a disappointed glare. Lily paused momentarily and blinked a couple of times, shifting her feet apologetically before continuing.

"Yeah, but if you were clever, really, really clever…Jennifer Wilson, running all those lovers: she was clever." She started to pace again. "She's trying to tell us something."

Mrs. Coleman came to the door of the living room. "Isn't the doorbell working?Your taxi's here, Lily."

"I didn't order a taxi. Please leave us be."

She continued pacing as Mrs. Coleman looked around the room. "Oh, dear," she said. "They're making such a mess. What are they looking for?"

"It's a drugs bust, Mrs. Coleman," Elizabeth explained.

Mrs. Coleman was anxious. "But they're just for my shoulder. They're herbal soothers."

So many people were speaking. There was so much talking. Parker heard beyond that though, she heard thoughts. So many thoughts. She couldn't take it. There was so much commotion that no one else could understand.

"Shut up, everybody, shut up!" she yelled. "Don't move, don't speak, don't breathe! Don't even think! Especially don't think! I need silence." She could still hear Anderson thinking. "Anderson, face the other way. You're putting me off."

Anderson was taken aback from mild mannered Parker's outburst. "What? My face is?!"

"Everybody quiet and still," Lestrade said. "Anderson, turn your back."

"Oh, for Pete's sake!"

"Your back, now, please!" Lestrade ordered.

Everyone was silent. Closing her eyes, Parker tried to calm herself. After a moment she opened her eyes again.

"Come on," said Elizabeth, knowing why Parker yelled, "we need to think. Quick!"

"Lily," said Mrs. Coleman, "What about your taxi?"

Lily turned to her and shouted under the stress. "Mrs. Coleman, please!" Their landlady turned and hurried away down the stairs.

Elizabeth's eyes brightened and she looked around as she finally realised something. "Oh." She smiled in delight. "Ah! She was clever, clever, yes! Jennifer was clever!" She walked across the room and then turned back to the others. "She's cleverer than you lot and she's dead. Do you see, do you get it? She didn't lose her phone, she never lost it. She planted it on him!"

She started pacing and Lily caught on. "When she got out of the car, she knew that she was going to her death," Lily said. "She left the phone–"

"–in order to lead us to her killer," Liz finished with a grin.

Lestrade was admittedly confused. "But how?"

Lily stopped and stared at him. "Wha'...? What do you mean, how?" Lestrade shrugged.

"Rachel!" Elizabeth said.

The Duo looked at everyone triumphantly. They all looked back at them blankly, including Parker. "Don't you see?" Lily asked. "Rachel!" Still, everyone looks blank. "Rachel is not a name."

"Then what is it?" asked Parker, getting a bit annoyed.

"Parker," said Elizabeth, "on the luggage, there's a label. E-mail address." Parker looked at the label on the suitcase and read out the address.

"Er…jennie dot pink at mephone dot org dot uk."

Elizabeth had sat down at the dining table and was looking at her computer notebook. "Why didn't we catch this earlier? She didn't have a laptop, which means she did her business on her phone, so it's a smartphone, it's e-mail enabled."
She pulled up Mephone's website and typed the email address into the 'User name' box.

"So there was a website for her account," Lily explained. "The username is her e-mail address…

Elizabeth began to type into the 'Password' box. "And…all together now, the password is?"

Parker walked over to stand behind Elizabeth. "Rachel."

"So we can read her e-mails," said Anderson. "So what?"

Lily sighed, annoyed. "Anderson, don't talk out loud. You lower the I.Q. of the whole street. We can do much more than just read her e-mails. It's a smartphone, it's got GPS, which means if you lose it you can locate it online. She's leading us directly to the man who killed her."

"Unless he got rid of it," Lestrade said.

"We know he didn't," assured Parker.

Lily looked over Elizabeth's shoulder at the screen impatiently. "Come on," she said, "come on. Quickly!" Elizabeth stood and went to talk to Lestrade.

Mrs. Coleman trotted up the stairs and came to the door again. "Lily, sweetie. This taxi driver…"

Lily walked over towards her. "Mrs. Coleman, isn't it time for your evening soother?"

Parker sat down on the chair which Elizabeth vacated and watched a clock spinning round on the website as it claimed that the phone would be located in under three minutes. "We need to get vehicles," Elizabeth said to the Detective Inspector, "get a helicopter." Mrs. Coleman looked around anxiously as a man walked slowly up the stairs behind her. "We're gonna have to move fast. This phone battery won't last for ever."

"We'll just have a map reference, not a name."

Lily joined into the conversation. "It's a start!"

On the computer, a map had appeared and was zooming in on the location of the phone.

"Guys…" Parker said.

"It narrows it down from just anyone in London," said Lily, ignoring Parker. "It's the first proper lead that we've had."

"Guys…"

Lily hurried across the room to look over Parker's shoulder. "What is it? Where?"

The map indicated the precise location of the phone. "It's here," muttered Parker. "It's here in 313 Kaber Street."

Lily straightened up. "How can it be here? How?"

"Well," suggested Elizabeth, "maybe it was in the case when you brought it back and it fell out somewhere."

"What, and I didn't notice it?"

"Anyway, we texted him and he called back," Parker said, confused about the whole situation.

Lestrade turned to call out to his colleagues. "Guys, we're also looking for a mobile somewhere here, belonged to the victim…"

Lily slowly began to tune everyone out as she began to remember everything she said. "Who do we trust, even if we don't know them?" Behind Mrs. Coleman, the man had reached the top of the stairs. He was wearing a badge in a leather holder on a cord around his neck. The badge was for a licensed London cab driver. "Who passes unnoticed wherever they go?" She slowly began to understand. "Who hunts in the middle of a crowd?" Lily turns her head, still putting it all together. On the landing, the taxi driver took a pink smartphone from his pocket and pressed the screen to send a text. A moment later, Lily's own phone trilled a text alert. Taking her phone from her jacket pocket she looked at the message which simply read: COME WITH ME. As she turned her head towards the door, the taxi driver turned around and calmly headed off down the stairs.

"Lily, you okay?" asked Elizabeth, noticing her friend having gone so quiet.

"What?" Lily said vaguely, watching the man go. "Yeah, yeah, I-I'm fine."

"So, how can the phone be here?" asked Parker.

Lily was still watching the taxi driver. "Dunno."

Parker got up to get her own phone out of her jeans pocket. "Lemme try it again."

"Good idea," Lily said quietly. She headed towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Elizabeth inquired.

"Fresh air. Just popping outside for a moment. Won't be long." Parker frowned as Lily left the room, and called after her.

"You sure you're all right?"

Lily started hurrying down the stairs. "I'm fine," she insisted, knowing full well she wasn't.

A/N DUN DUN DUN! One more chapter left then I move onto the Blind Banker. I understand that lots of people don't really like that episode, but boy do I have plans! *evil grin*

OOH! For any Whovians out there I got a 'Keep Calm and Don't Blink' shirt and a book called: Who-ology. Awesomeness!

(Anyone know who the Pianoguys are? I got one of their piano books too :D)