2005, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:
Detectives Jeffries and Vera walked through the office doors of the Philly Police Department. They saw Rush and Valens talking with the Boss.
"What do you have?" Lilly asked, referring to their investigation.
"We talked to Tom Rubens. He said he was Laura's lover. Then he put us onto Marcia Harding, Laura's old friend. It seems they stopped being pals when Laura tripped a poor girl at school who had Polio". Vera said.
"Did you say Polio?" Lilly asked.
"Yeah, does it mean something?" Jeffries asked.
"When we examined the body we found bits of metal stuck in the skin. The kind of metal used to make Polio braces," Valens explained.
"Marcia said that the girl's name was Mitchell, Miriam Mitchell".
"Maybe she's a relative of a Rose Mitchell. A Grandview local said Rose came into her store asking if she could help her find Laura's killer". Lilly said.
"Did you catch her name, the owner?"
"Yeah, her name is Melinda Gordon. Her business partner is a Delia Banks".
Lilly turned to the Boss.
"Did you get anything on Laura's siblings, Francine and Robert?"
"Not yet but they should be here any minute now… ah, here they come".
The squad turned and saw an older man and woman come in through the front office doors. The woman was wearing a peach dress and the man was wearing a suit. The woman also had on her wrist a silver bracelet.
"I got it," Lilly said as she went to meet them.
"Hi, I'm Det. Lilly Rush" she said showing her badge and shaking their hands.
"Hi. I'm Francine Gainer and this is my brother, Robert".
"Francine, I'm gonna need to ask you some questions about your sister's murder, if you could wait in here please" Lilly said, motioning towards the interrogation room.
"Det. Valens will do the same to Robert. They'll just be next door".
Francine nodded.
Valens led Robert into the alternative interrogation room. Before entering himself, he turned to Lilly. "Good luck" he said.
Francine took a seat in the first room. A light shown brightly above her. Det. Rush leaned over the table with various papers. Lilly noticed Francine's bracelet.
"I like your bracelet" she said.
"Thanks. I made it myself from lightweight metal and Ivory".
"Where would a woman such as yourself obtain those materials?"
"My parents worked in a factory that used it. They made Polio
braces".
"Where are they now?" Lilly asked.
"Oh, they died in a fire that struck the factory. One of the machines went haywire. They rebuilt it a couple of years ago and Robert and I own it now," Francine explained.
"I see. Francine tell me, what was Laura like as a child? Was she happy?"
"I guess. I don't know. She used to always run away".
"From what?" Lilly asked.
"Robert I suppose. He had a slight temper problem. I tried to keep Laura away from him as much as possible".
"Did Robert ever get physical with Laura?"
"Only once when she was 10. She was supposed to feed his frogs every two hours. She fell asleep on his bed that day. He came home to find his pets were dead. He woke her up and nearly killed her. Almost strangled her actually. If I hadn't walked in…" Francine stopped there.
Lilly said she'd be right back. She knocked on the door of the 2nd interrogation room. Scotty opened it.
"What do you got?" he asked.
"Apparently Robert almost strangled Laura two years before her murder. And get this: both he and Francine had access to the same material found on Laura's skin" Lilly said.
"Great, there's only one problem. Robert said that the night Laura died, he wasn't in Dayton, Ohio".
"Where was he?" Lilly asked.
"Grandview, New York".
"So a young girl is killed in Ohio but found in New York, where her brother happens to be on the night she dies. Maybe he saw who dumped the body," Lilly said.
"Or maybe he dumped it".
"Are we saying the person who killed Laura isn't the one who moved the body?" Lilly asked.
"As of now detective, that would be a yes".
