Chapter 2
Flack headed up to the lab shortly after returning. Something about the carers at Oaktree had irked him. He went into the break room where Danny was sipping coffee and engrossed in a file.
"Hey man." Flack said as he walked in.
"She get home ok?"
"Yeah." Flack said.
"Is somethin' up?" Danny asked noticing his defeated look.
"The carers at Oaktree asked some weird questions. Like she was a trouble maker, hell they even asked if she was a suspect."
"Well she's been in care. It messes kids up; though she didn't seem like that from what Lindsay said."
"I'll look into it, just in case we're missing something." Flack said leaving Danny confused.
Before he had time to think Lindsay and Stella entered and stood in front of him.
"Bunking off again Messer?" Lindsay said teasing him.
"Caught red handed eh?" He said holding his hands up in mock surrender.
"So have you done any work?" Stella said playing along.
"As a matter of fact I have. Peyton gave me the preliminary autopsy report. COD was severe head trauma which is obvious but she also had all of her fingers broken before she died."
"So someone attacked her, broke all her fingers then bashed her head in. Nice." Stella said sarcastically.
"This guy's brutal. We need to find him quick before he tortures anyone else." Lindsay said determinedly.
"I'm gonna go check in with Flack. I'll catch you guys later." Stella said and left the room.
Danny noticed Lindsay was staring into space.
"Hey Montana, you with me?"
"Wh…What?"
"Somethin' botherin' you?"
"Just a tough case you know." She said smiling weakly at him.
"The girl really got to you."
"It's just been a long day. We should get back to work." She said walking out the door.
Danny was getting worried about her; he hated it when she was so secretive. They had only been dating for about a month but he knew he was falling in love with her. Throughout that month they had become closer but sometime she would keep him at arms length. He was determined to find out what was up with her.
Lindsay walked along the corridor to the locker room. Her eyes started to fill up with tears not now she thought. She knew Danny was concerned but she couldn't tell him he would hate me. Only her family and best friend knew what happened and of course Mac as it was in her file. She prayed this case would end soon so she could try and forget about it. She hadn't noticed that Danny had followed her; he was standing in the doorway. Seeing her tears he sat down next to her, she instantly looked up the shock visible on her face.
"Danny…I…" She stuttered looking down.
"Look I'm not gonna force you to tell me but I want you to know that when you are ready I'm here to listen." He said looking at her.
"Thanks." She said not meeting his gaze.
He stood up and pulled her up with him, wrapping his arms around her small frame. She relaxed into him wrapping her arms round his waist as the tears continued to flow. Danny didn't know what else to do so he held her whilst stroking her hair until her sobs subsided.
Meanwhile Lizzie was lying on her bed; she turned her head slightly and saw it was only 10.30am. When she sat up she felt as if her head was about to explode. She walked over to the mirror and saw dried blood on her face coming from a cut on her forehead. Her back and stomach were badly bruised but her ribs didn't feel as if they had been broken or cracked which was one thing to be thankful for.
Back at the lab Flack was on his way to see Stella; he got some interesting information on Lizzie.
"Hey Stel." He said as he entered her office.
"Hey." She said smiling at him.
"You really need to hear this."
"Ok." She said looking a bit confused.
"I looked Lizzie up; you know to see if she'd been in any trouble at all. She's a straight A student, popular with teachers and other students. The carers at Oaktree are Melissa Stanford and Eric Hayes. When I took her back they acted like she'd been in trouble before but I found no police records on her at all."
"Well Melissa and Eric are obviously overstretched they probably see the kids as a nuisance."
"I think it's more than that. It was they way the looked at her that got me. They glared at her and didn't even ask her if she was alright. They've both been working there for over ten years; in that time you think there would be some emotional attachment but clearly not. Something's not right there."
Stella nodded in agreement it did sound slightly strange. Just then Lindsay walked in.
"We're hitting dead ends here Stel; this evidence is going nowhere."
"Peyton is still working on the skull impressions; so hopefully we'll get lucky."
Danny came striding in looking rather pleased with himself.
"I found out a bit more about her vic. She had a baby at 17 who was adopted. It gets better; the little girl is aged 8 and lives in New York."
"Where?" Lindsay asked hopefully.
"Park Avenue but she previously lived at Oaktree House."
"I knew it." Flack said looking at Stella.
"Danny; you and Lindsay go to Park Avenue and talk to the parents. Flack and I are going back to Oaktree House."
Danny and Lindsay drove to the house in silence. They would occasionally glance over at each other. When they were walking up the pathway Danny decided to break the ice a bit.
"Fancy a house like this Montana?"
"Nah, doesn't appeal to me in the slightest." She said jokingly smiling at him.
They knocked on the door and a tall blonde woman answered it.
"Can I help you?" She asked
"I'm Detective Monroe and this is Detective Messer; we're from the crime lab." Lindsay replied as she and Danny showed their badges.
"Please come in." She said stepping aside. After they passed her a look of worry clouded her face for a split second.
"We want to ask you a few questions about your daughter." Danny stated.
"Is she alright?"
"Yes ma'am she's fine."
"We wanted to ask you about her adoption."
"As far as we are concerned she is our daughter, no one else's."
"Have her biological parents ever contacted you or your daughter?"
"No. What's this about?"
"Her biological mother was murdered."
"I'm very sorry about that but it has nothing to do with our family." She said looking out the window; seeing her daughter and husband exit the car. Danny and Lindsay followed her gaze.
"We'll need to speak to your daughter. She may have spoken to her mother and not said anything." Lindsay said.
"I told you already I'm her mother not that tramp. Now I suggest you leave." She said coldly.
On the way back to the lab Lindsay was thinking about the way Mrs Daniels had acted. She didn't seem to be concerned that she was giving herself motive but did that mean she was innocent or guilty? The only thing they could do now was find the evidence that would give them their answers.
Stella and Flack were back at Oaktree questioning Melissa and Eric.
"It appears the victim that Elizabeth found was Sophie Andrews. Does that name ring a bell?" Flack said trying to hide his contempt for these two.
"It does sound familiar but we meet a lot of people in this job." Eric said nonchalantly.
"This may refresh your memory." Stella said handing over a photo from missing persons.
"Yeah on second thoughts I do remember her. Kid was Bethany; she was adopted by a couple who lived in Park Avenue."
"Seems a little odd that folks like that would come here." Flack said
"Look around Detective. We have too many kids who all need homes. It's easier and faster to adopt a kid from us."
"Yeah I'll bet." Flack replied.
"Have you seen Miss Andrews recently?" Stella asked
"She was here two days ago. She wanted to know where Bethany was. Of course we didn't tell her. I told her she would have to get a lawyer and the adoptive parent's permission first and she left." Melissa replied
"She didn't say where she was going?"
"No, I assumed she would drop it."
"Can I ask where you both were last night?"
"We were here doing our jobs."
"Can anyone vouch for that?" Flack asked
"Yes Elizabeth was up. She had a restless night." Eric said smiling.
"I'll go and get her." Melissa said disappearing upstairs.
Lizzie was on her bed sleeping when Melissa came bursting into her room. Lizzie sat up and was petrified that she had done something else wrong.
"The cops are back again. Come on, don't say anything stupid." Melissa hissed leading her down the stairs.
Lizzie's heart sank when she got down the stairs. Knowing who she had to lie to made it more difficult but she had become expert at it over the years.
"Hey." She said softly.
"We just need to ask you a couple of questions. That ok?" Stella asked.
"Sure." Lizzie replied smiling.
"What time you were you awake until last night?"
"It was late, about 2.30am."
"Eric and Melissa were up with you were they?"
"Yeah. I watched TV with them until I fell asleep." She said convincingly.
"Thank you."
"We'll be in touch." Flack said as they headed for the door.
Put the last nail in the coffin why don't you. Lizzie thought as they left.