Hey, guys, this is a new one shot. Since this is so long, I'm dividing it into parts. It may be two parts or three. I"m still working on this one-two shot as we speak, so the next part should be up soon. Maybe later tomorrow.


"Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday, detective Cavanaugh! Happy Birthday to you!"

Toby chuckled as his fellow officers sang to him while bringing in a birthday cake that had two candles lit on top. Joe and Bobby set the cake on top of his desk and slid it right in front of him. The wide grin never left Toby's face. It's a double chocolate cake with white frosting and words made out of blue icing spelled out HAPPY 25th!

"Okay," Sammy said. "Make a wish and blow out the candles!"

Toby thought of something to wish for then blew out the candles. Everyone laughed and cheered as he blew both of the candles out at the same time. Officer Rogers came over and strapped a birthday cone on his head. Toby is happy to be celebrating his 25th birthday with his officer friends. There's Sammy who was an ex-girlfriend of his back in the academy. It was a mutual break up and they both agreed that neither one of them was too into it. They're friends now. Sammy is 5.8, 23, sun-kissed skin, bright green eyes, and light brown hair that's extremely curly all the way down to her mid back. Next, there's Roger who is also an old friend from the academy. Roger is 6 ft even, easily tan from spending so much time working out at the beach, thick brown hair and brown eyes. Then there's Caleb. Toby and Caleb go all the way back to high school. They went to a high school in Ravenswood together and that's how they became friends. They both decided to become detectives so they went to the police academy to start. They both started out as traffic police and worked their way up to detectives.

"Happy Birthday, man," Caleb said while slapping his shoulder.

Toby smiled and said, "thanks, dude."

"The team and I pitched together to get you something," he said. "Bring it in guys!"

Roger and Sammy carried in a decent sized box wrapped with blue and green wrapping paper. They set it on top of his desk where the cake used to be. Caleb moved it to make room for the gift. Toby opened it to find new seat covers for his truck. He just got himself some new seat covers the other day, but he doesn't want to be rude. Instead, he grins up at them.

"Thank you guys."

"It was hard keeping those from you," Roger said. "The boss let us hide them here at the office."

"Detectives," Officer Land skills knocked on the door.

Officer Land skills is a short guy, he's 5.5 and has very light brown hair on the back of his head. They very top of his head has a bald spot. This guy has pale white skin and dark brown eyes. He stood in Toby's doorway earning their attention.

"What is it?" Toby asked.

The guy frowned, "the state police found a body five miles from here."

"Can't Ezra's team take this one?" Caleb asked.

The officer shook his head, "we gave the case to Ezra at first, but he said Toby might want to do this one instead. Supposedly this one is personal for you."

Toby looked at his men before standing up and accepting. He grabs his gun and badge and straps it on his belt. Then he puts on his jacket and heads out to his black SUV. His teammates follow his lead. The crew races off to the location, which is the parking lot of a motel. By the time he gets there, lights are flashing all around. He looked over and noticed a whole crowd of people standing behind yellow caution tape. He turned his head straight ahead at the group of officers and FBI agents looking at the body. One of the FBI agents, Todd Cody walked over to greet him. He's holding a vanilla folder in his hand. Cody reached out to shake his hand while handing him the folder.

"Good evening, detective. The victim appears to be female, she just turned 21. Brown hair, brown eyes, about 5.7. She's very thin almost like she doesn't eat at all. The people in room 214 were coming back from dinner when they found her on the ground with some bloody scissors jammed inside her gut. The police contacted her parents and they're on their way."

Toby got closer to the body and noticed people move to the side so he could get a look. His heart froze and his breathing slowed down at the sight of the victim lying on the concrete. Oh god, no. He knows this woman. He doesn't just know her as someone he's seen on the streets a couple times, he KNOWS this woman. Toby knelt down beside her and got a closer look at the dried up blood on her cheek. As he looked at her, he kept picturing her pink lips folding up into a smile. He could almost hear the sound of her raspy laugh. He could hear her voice echoing inside his brain. What's death anything to be afraid of? We all live, we all die. That's life. He remembers her saying.

1 year ago

The morning sunlight beamed on the front side of the motel building. Cop cars, SUVs, and FBI personnel were all over the place. The police were called in after the maid who works here found a body in one of the rooms. They said the body was found in room 217. Toby stepped out of his SUV and put on his sunglasses. He looked across the parking lot at the open motel door with caution tape blocking the entrance. As he was walking towards the room, he noticed a young girl leaning against a dark gray highlander. Her arms were folded over her chest and her brown waves blew in the wind. Toby noticed the girls pink lips curl up in a smirk as he got closer. Toby couldn't help himself but smile too. There was no mistaking that she is looking at him. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't looking at her.

"What's your name?" Toby asked the girl as he walked by.

"Spencer," her raspy voice makes her sound older than she actually is. Spencer adjusted herself against the car and turned her body to follow him as he walked by. "What's yours?" She asked.

"Toby," he said.

"Toby," she repeated with a smile. She leaned off against the car and followed him. "So, what happened?" She gestured towards the crime scene in front of them.

"I don't know," he smiled. "That's what I'm here to find out."

"Good luck with that."

"Thanks," he stepped in front of the caution tape and stopped to look at her. "Take care," he said then ducked down under the yellow tape and disappeared inside the room.

Spencer stood back with her arms crossed smirking.

"Spencer!" Her mother's voice rang out. "Come help us unload the car."

Spencer rolled her eyes, "coming!"

Toby joined the other detectives inside the room. The body of a male is sprawled out in the middle of the motel floor. He's faced down into the carpet with his legs spread out. His left arm is placed over his back and his right hand is placed in a stopping position above his head. A CSI agent is here taking photos of the body. Toby takes out his camera and snaps a few pictures as well.

"Alright, what do we got?" Toby asked.

Joe walked over to him, "we have a 28 year old, male, heavy set, 5.8, black hair, hazel eyes. One of the maids was coming in to clean the room when she found him like this."

"What maid?" Toby asked. "Was it that one girl who was just standing outside?"

"No," Joe shook his. "The maid was 34, black, with short brown hair."

"Where is she now?"

"Getting questioned by the FBI."

"Have you talked to anybody else?"

"Roger and Sammy are going around now talking to people that live at this motel."

"There was another young girl standing outside, did anybody question her?" Toby asked.

"I-I don't know. A family just moved in here yesterday if that's who you're talking about," Joe said.

Toby nodded, "alright, I'll go talk to them."

Toby walked out of the room just as the funeral home directors came in carrying an empty body bag and a stretcher. He exited the room and walked over to where the girl was standing just moments before. She's now over by another blue car unpacking some boxes. Toby clears his throat and walks over to her. Spencer came back out to her parent's car to carry another box inside. The next box had her father's antique dictionary's inside it, so it was a little heavy for her to carry. She picked it up and turned around almost dropping the box on her foot if it weren't for the strong pair of hands that reached out to steady the box in her hands. She looked up and was greeted by ocean blue. It was the detective that she was talking to earlier.

"Careful," he smiled at her. "Boxes can be pretty heavy."

"Uh yeah," she chuckled nervously.

"Can I help?" He offered to carry the box for her.

"Um, you don't..."

But he was already taking the box from her. She picked up a lighter box and started walking with him towards her room. They walk inside her room and set the boxes on the bed closest to the door. He looked around the room and noticed boxes of different shapes and sizes stacked around the room. Spencer lead the way back out into the sunny, warm air.

"Did you want something, officer?" She asked him, using her hand to shield the sun from her eyes as she looked up at him.

"Yes, actually. Would you mind answering a few questions? And it's detective," he corrected.

"Sorry, detective," she smirked teasingly. "What can I do for you?"

Toby took a notebook and pen out of his back pocket.

"When did you and your family move in here?" He asked.

"Uh late yesterday afternoon. My dad was called for a job as the manager for this motel. The last one was murdered," she said.

Toby stopped to look at her.

"That man inside," he pointed towards the room of the crime scene. "Was that the manager?"

"I think," she shrugged. "His name was Jeff. Supposedly the man was a creep. He used to peek in through windows at the young girls and watch them change."

"Anything else you can tell me about the victim?"

She shook her head, "that's all I know."

"Thank you," he closed his notebook. "That's all I needed."

"So," she smiled at him. "Did you figure it out? How he died?"

"No," he smiled. "Not yet."

"What have you learned so far?" Toby hesitated to say something. She continued, "you can tell me, I'm not scared of that stuff. I'm not scared about death and all that."

"Really?" He sounded amused. "You're not scared of the idea of death? Funny, most people are."

"Not me," she said. "What's death anything to be afraid of? We live, we die. That's life. I'm not scared to die. I know it's coming someday, so the best thing to do is to not be scared of it. If we do fear it, then we live our whole life in fear and have less time having fun."

"Never really thought of it that way."

"One thing I do, do," she said. "I like to picture the way I'm going to die."

"Oh really?" He lifted his eyebrow up in amusement. "And what's that?"

She smiled and said, "a skydiving accident or some kind of accident. I'll fall from the highest spot I can get and I'll look like an angel falling down from heaven. If I'm lucky, I'll be dead by the time I hit the ground."

Toby smiled, "that sounds like a way to go, but let's not let that happen for awhile now," he touched her arm gently. "You're still young and full of life. Live it and enjoy it while you can."

"Well, yes sir," she said.

If Toby wasn't mistaken, he's pretty sure he heard a hint of flirtatious in her voice.

Present Day

Toby stared down into her brown eyes and it felt like she was looking right into his soul. In the back of his mind he can hear her saying, 'what happened?' He's determined to find out what happened to this girl if it's the last thing he ever does. He will find the monster who did this to her. Officer Bobby came up behind him. Toby was still knelt down next to the body as if just being there would bring her back to life. Part of him wished it would. She's too young to die. She had so much to live for. Who would do this to her?

"They want to bag her up now," Officer Bobby said.

"What?" Toby looked at him.

"The girl," he pointed at the body. "They're ready to bag her up."

"Bag her up and take her where?"

"To the funeral home."

He shook his head, "no, take her to get an autopsy."

"An autopsy for what?"

Toby looked at the man in rage, "she was murdered! When people get murdered they get an autopsy!"

"This girl wasn't murdered, the police ruled it as a suicide."

"What?" He felt his heart drop.

"The police think the girl stabbed herself." Bobby held up a piece of paper and said, "we found this in the girl's coat pocket."

He took the note from him and read it. Dear world, I can't go on, because life's too hard. I'm scared to continue living and I'm scared for what tomorrow has to hold for me. I feel useless to my family and I can't do anything right, so I'm leaving this world behind. -Spencer

Toby shook his head and held up the note, "this does not sound like her, at all."

"And you know what she would sound like?"

"Yes," he shouted. "This girl was fearless. She was never scared. This girl used to say that people should never fear life or death."

"Look at her hands," Bobby pointed out. "They're all bloody like she stuck the knife inside of her herself."

"You think she killed herself?" Toby asked.

He nodded, "yes, sir, I do."

"Oh really?" Toby challenged. "You think this girl killed herself and then dragged herself out her in the middle of the parking lot?"

"Now that I think about, that doesn't make any sense."

"Exactly," Toby said. "Now as I was saying, get her to an autopsy right away."

"Yes, sir."

Toby looked down at the girl once more. His blue eyes started watering a little. He pinched his eyes with two fingers to hold them back. Now's not the time to be doing this. Not when he's working the case. He removes the cap on top of his head and runs his shaky hand through his light brown hair. Suddenly this birthday is not turning out so great. The more he scanned over the girls body, the more he noticed a lump in her gray jacket. He knelt back down and unfolded her coat pocket. There's a medium size wine bottle with a red ribbon wrapped long size around it. There's also a note tied to the bottle. He took the note off the bottle and read it. Happy Birthday Detective T. He turned over the wine bottle and read the label. As if he wasn't close to tears already. The label said Butterscotch Wine. That's his favorite. He doesn't necessarily like wine, but he does like this kind.

1 Year ago Later that night

Toby was just finishing up his last investigation as the blue sky turned to musky brown. His hands and feet are tired from walking and writing so much. Now he's ready to get home and relax on his birthday. He's 24 today and he just wants to enjoy some alone time. Caleb was unlocking the door to his SUV when he saw Toby walking out. He whipped his brow then walked over to him.

"Hey," Caleb slapped a hand over his shoulder. "Happy Big B-Day."

He smiled, "thanks."

"Did you get my present? I sent it to your office."

"Yes I got the free entry to a strip club," he said. "But I'm just not interested."

"Aw come on man!"

"No."

"Fine," Caleb sighed. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay," Toby chuckled.

Caleb got in his car and drove away. Toby turned around and walked back to his car. He froze suddenly when he saw Spencer leaning against the butt of his SUV. Her arms are crossed over her chest like they always are. Toby weaves his head left to right as he made his way over to her. He got within a foot of her and Spencer curled up her hand into a fist and punched his chest.

"Ouch!" He held his now throbbing chest. "What was that for?"

"How come you didn't tell me it was your birthday?" She asked with fake anger.

"I-I'm sorry," he laughed. "I didn't know it mattered to you."

"All birthdays matter to me!" She exclaimed. "I would've gotten you a present."

He blushed, "you don't have to do that."

"Yes I do," she hit his chest again. She stuck her hands inside her pocket, "hold on let me see what I have." She pulled a metal flask out of her pocket. She hands it over to me and says, "here."

He gives her a look, "I'm guessing juicy juice is not what you have in there."

She smirked and said, "it's grown-up juicy juice."

"Are you old enough to be drinking?" He asked.

"I'm close to 21," she shrugged.

"What's close?" He asked.

"A year."

"This is crazy," he said, but took the flask anyway.

He takes a drink out of it and swallows. He can tell that it's some kind of wine. It took him a moment to figure out what flavor. Then it came to him.

"Butterscotch wine?" He asked.

She nodded.

"That's my favorite," he smiled before taking another big drink.

"Hey, don't hog it," she took the flask from him and took a drink. He looked at her and she smiled. "What? You didn't think I'd give you the whole thing?"

"The thing about a birthday present," he said while taking it back from her. "You don't share," he said then took another drink.

She took it from him again and said, "your birthday present is getting the chance to drink with me."

"Oh and you think that's a good present for me?" He joked.

"It's a good present for anyone."

They smiled at each other and continued sharing the flask. They drank out of it until it was bone dry.

"Are you okay to drive home?" The girl asked.

"I think, but probably not."

"Why don't you just get a room here," she suggested.

"I think I will do that. I'll have to be back here tomorrow to talk with the family, so minus well. Which way is the front office?"

She giggled and pointed to the left. Toby nodded and headed for the office to check in.

4 Months Later

The air felt colder than it's been. August is coming to an end and September is approaching. That means school will be starting back for teens and little kids. Toby found himself back at the same motel complex he was at four months ago.

Another body had been found in the crawl space in one of the rooms. The body was found when neighbors started noticing an awful smell coming from one of the rooms. They said the smell was coming from either room 219, 220 or 221. The manager called in someone from the bio unit to check it out. They ended up finding the body of a 34 year old male.

"Who kills a person then stuffs them in the crawl space?" Joe asked.

"Someone who doesn't want the body to be found," Toby said.

"Can I talk to you for a second?" A voice behind him said.

Toby turned around and saw Spencer standing there with her arms across her chest. She was shaking some and her clothes looked a little wrinkled. She was dressed in a plain gray t-shirt, a black jacket, black jeans, and a black beanie. Her eyes are slightly red. He excused himself from the crowd and lead her away from everyone.

"What's wrong?"

"I-I'm the one who found the body or I think I did."

Toby crossed his arms, "you think you did? Spencer how did you find the body when it was stuck in the crawl space?"

"Well, 219 isn't too far from where my motel room is, which is 215. No one stays in that room so I thought that would be a good place to hid my 'stuff'" she quoted.

"By stuff you mean weed?"

"I went there to hid my stuff and got freaked out by a hand. I didn't say anything for a few days, because I was scared the cops would think I did it," she said not answering his question.

"A few days?" he questioned. "How long ago did you find the body?"

"I don't know, two-three days ago. I was kind of out of it when I found it."

"Spencer where you high?"

"I was speeding, but it was for school. Even though my father is the manager my parents still have high expectations set for me."

"Spencer you have to tell the FBI what you told me," Toby said.

"No," she grabbed his hand and turned him back around. "I can't tell anyone. If my parents find out, I'm dead."

"Spencer this could help them figure out what happened and how long that body was there."

"I'll tell you what I know, but only you. I don't trust anybody else with this information. Some how I have a feeling that you won't judge me."

"Alright," he wrapped his arm around her and turned her away from the scene. "Let me finish up here then we'll talk, alright?"

She nodded and walked back to her motel room. Toby stood back and watched her walk away. He sighed and walked back over to his crew. Sammy who noticed the two talking leaned against the SUV.

"Does she know something?" Sammy asked.

"Uh," he looked back at Spencer and watched her watching the scene play out from her front stoop. "She thinks that she has some information that could help."

Sammy laughed, "yeah, more like a way for her to get some attention out of this."

"What is that suppose to mean?"

"It means she's just trying to earn some screen time. That's all teenagers ever do."

"She's not a teenager."

"Yeah I forgot," Sammy rolled her eyes. "Eighteen is not a teenager."

"Just worry about your job, Sammy," I snapped.

"Sure," she crossed her arms and turned to walk away. "You should follow your own advice."

Toby sighed and got back to work. He knows keeping this from his boss can get him into a lot of trouble, but he can't betray Spencer. He doesn't know why, but he feels like he owes her his trust to keep quiet. So what if she made some mistakes? Don't we all? The important thing is she knows something that could help them solve this case and the good thing is, she's willing to talk. Most people would keep quiet.


If you like it so far, review and tell me. Like I said, I'll have the next part up soon, so keep a look out for it.