Hi again! Sorry I didn't get to update yesterday; it was my dad's birthday, so I was with my family much of the day. (: But here's another chapter. It's short, but I'm going to upload twice today. (: After I finish this story, I'm going to write some Maltara. :D I'm pretty excited, I got some great things for both the end of this, and the Maltara one. I'm not sure when I'll finish this one; whenever my brain decides, I guess. Not for a few more chapters, though. (: Thanks for the reviews, I really appreciate them! Well, enjoy! (:

Chapter Four - Evidence

Natara shivered at the memory, and hugged herself subconsciously. It couldn't be him, though; he was dead. She had killed him herself. And critically injured Shawn Mallory, she thought to herself.

"Are you okay?" Taylor asked, eyeing her with a look of confusion.

Natara's head snapped up, startled out of her frighteningly realistic flashback. "... What? I, uh... Yes, I'm fine. I just remembered something... undesirable." She shook her head to clear her mind.

"Okay," she replied simply, deciding it wiser not to press. "Did you find anything useful?"

Natara stood. Back to detective mode. "Not much, but I did find a piece of hair, which is why I asked you if anyone had come in here recently. It was bleach-blonde, and obviously not anyone in your immediate family."

"So it could be...?" Taylor didn't finish the question, but again, Natara knew what she was asking.

"Yes, it very well could be. But nothing is confirmed yet, so I really shouldn't say much until there's more evidence."

Natara surveyed the room one last time before picking up her bag, turning, and exiting the room. She heard Taylor walking softly behind her. They walked over to Aaron's room, where Mal was still looking around.

"Hey, Mal, did you find anything?"

"Nothing really of use, no," he replied frowning, "Did you?"

"Actually, yes. I'll fill you in on the details later."

"I believe we're done here, then," Mal announced, bending to pick up his bag.

Natara nodded and proceeded down the stairs followed by Mal and Taylor. "Mr. and Mrs. Wilson, I believe we've found what we can here." She briefly described the small bit of evidence they had found. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson walked them to the door.

"Thank you so much for your work," Mr. Wilson said somberly, "We really appreciate it."

"And if it's not too much to ask, could you please keep us updated on the case?" Mrs. Wilson added hopefully.

"Of course," Natara replied, scribbling down her cell phone number. "Call me here if you have any questions." She smiled and waved to Taylor on her way out, and Taylor smiled and waved back.

"So, what did you find in there?" Mal asked, sliding into the driver's seat. He pulled the seatbelt over himself and started the ignition.

"I found a piece of bleach-blonde hair in Brynne's room. It's very clearly not from the immediate family. Taylor said they had all just cleaned and vacuumed two days ago; they were planning on company... well, today. None of them were allowed friends over until after their guests, so the only people who were in Brynne's room were family... and the murderer."

Mal drove in silence for several seconds, taking all of this in. "So you think the hair belongs to the murderer?"

"As of currently, the evidence we have is certainly pointing to it. Either way, we should get it back to the lab to have some DNA tests done."

Mal nodded in agreement, and a few more minutes of thoughtful silence later, they arrived back at the police bullpen.

Half an hour later, Mal and Natara sat at their desks idly sipping coffee and reviewing notes. Mal was just about to pour another cup of coffee, when Natara's cell phone rang, scaring them both pretty well. Hot coffee splashed out of the mug onto Mal's hand. He yelped in pain.

"Son of a-!" he exclaimed. Natara scrambled to pull her phone out of her pocket, and quickly answered.

"Natara Williams. May I help you?"

"Hey, Natara! It's Amy. We've got the lab results, and..." she paused uneasily.

"And what? Amy?"

"And I think you and Mal need to get your butts down here. Hurry." Without another word, Amy hung up.