Here we go. The big one. Hope it doesn't disappoint.

When asked how it was to work with Lilly, Scotty had once said that she had a mind like a mousetrap. When she got hold of an idea, she would never let go of it until it made complete sense to her. That was how it was now. There was some correlation, some case breaker that existed only in fragments now in her mind. She needed to go out and string the pieces into a tangible, accessable theory. Easier said than done.

She'd defied all speed limits to get to the coffee shop on the corner of some Center City back street. Lilly knew that she'd pass at least three more to get to Renee's school, and so she had to wonder, why this one?

The guy behind the counter was reluctant to give her the 03 employee list, mumbling something about rules and protocol. It was only when Lilly said that she was investigating a murder case that the man pricked up. The binder was in her hand in fifteen seconds flat, and he leaned in way too close and way too interested to hear all the gory details.

Lilly, in the meantime, was murmuring indiscriminate case details to herself. "Hated coffee, late September, James, family issues, mystery guy, myspace, Jefferson high." What did they have in common? And then, the people she had met so far, "Jayla moves away, Ryan boy toy, Dante feels guilty, reluctant mother Kate, insistent sister Laina." Come on. Think.

A name on the page jumped out at her. James Anderson, 17.

She vividly remembered Eli's interrogation, and him mentioning who he thought was a date, James, by name. Another love interest? But she was emotionally connected to mystery guy, in an almost soul mate kind of way. Why then would she continue to date Ryan and Dante? Jeffries voice sounded in her ear. "When did kids start drinking coffee?" But Renee had hated it. Then why the coffee shop? James. It was the only thing that made sense. But who the hell was James, anyway?

A further entreaty into James's file revealed a copy of his student ID, birth date November 6th, 1985. Math in Lilly's head showed that he had been a senior when Renee died. The school was printed on the top right corner of the ID, and Lilly's eyes nearly doubled in size.

Jefferson High.

Not concerning herself with social grace, she shoved the binder back into the cashiers hands with a quick nod, and flipped open her cell phone to dial Scotty.

"Going to the Records building."

"Wait for me, I'll get my coat and meet you."

"Stay. I'll be back."

Scotty could tell she was still in what he called "a space". It was when she completely forgot everything around her but the case. Usually, after the spaces ended, she would come back to the rest of the world with a brilliant theory, but during them, Scotty was nothing but dead weight when around her.

So, he simply replied, "Be quick. The boss wants you to have a go at the guy."

He could hear her groan into the phone. "Tell him I'm checking something out. It'll be worth it. I think I found mystery guy."

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Back at the precinct, Scotty was getting bored of watching Eli's interrogation. He hadn't gone in yet, and now doubted he would, considering that he had nothing to say. And so he was left to wonder what epiphany Lilly was having now, and when she would let him in on it.

There wasn't much to do to make himself useful, so Scotty grabbed his jacket off of the back of his chair, and headed down to the ME's office to push to get the residue on Renee's cheek tested. It was a task that all of them hated, but Scotty decided it was time to do what he did best—charm a woman to get what he wanted. In this case, he wanted the results back, and fast. It sounded tawdry, but being charming was what he was good at. Call it a leftover effect of being a mama's boy.

Rush was going to come back with some huge case breaker. The least Valens could do was find something to bring to the table.

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Lilly had been wading through papers for thirty minutes before she found the gold—the adoption papers.

"Born November 6th '85, adopted ten days later. No wasted time."

Beneath that, was James's original birth certificate. Mother maiden name… she did a double take. Father not listed.

And Lilly knew that she had finally found what had been haunting Renee during her final three weeks of life.

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On her way back from the records building, Lilly just about collided with Stillman. He gave her a 'where the hell have you been?' look, and she rushed to explain—incoherently.

"Well mystery guy, you see—he worked in this coffee shop, and, her brother…"

Stillman cut her off, deciding that this was something that the detectives should hear all at once. Lilly lead the way into the precinct, blonde hair coming completely undone from having been running around all afternoon with no mind for cosmetics. She reached back, pulled the clip from the coil, and clasped it to her button down shirt.

Scotty, recently back from the medical examiners office, glanced up, and then stood, upon seeing Lilly being escorted in by Stillman. Vera and Jeffries soon followed from inside the box. Jeffries handed Eli his card, and sent him on his way.

"So, Lil, you gonna tell us where you've been all afternoon?"

Lilly sat down and lounged in Scotty's rolling chair. She always playfully whined about how it wasn't fair that his chair was better that hers, and he always let her sit in it. It was one of their things, and she liked it.

"So, I was listening to the interrogation."

Stillman nodded, and asserted quietly, "I didn't get that he did it."

Lilly raised her eyebrows to say that she agreed. "But what jumped out at me was something he said about the coffee shop… something Will said, actually, about when did kids start drinking coffee--"

Scotty finished her sentence, as he was accustomed to doing. "But he said she hated it. What's the point, Lil?"

"Well, why would she go if she hated it? She wanted to meet someone there. James."

"The kid she wasn't on a date with," Vera responded sardonically.

"She wasn't. I looked him up on the coffee shop, and he was a senior in '03… went to Jefferson high."

Jeffries was starting to connect. "Where Mystery Guy's profile originated."

"Right. So I ran off to the records building, because his file was missing a birth certificate… and I thought that was weird."

"He could have been working under the table."

"And he probably was. But, I don't know, something told me to check it out. So I went into his records, and I found adoption papers. He was adopted in November '85 from DC."

"I'm still waiting for a point, Lil," Stillman said.

Scotty looked voraciously at Lilly, waiting for the big bang sure to some next. She reached into a manila folder and pulled out a copy of the birth certificate. Scotty grabbed it from her hands and read it out loud.

"Born November 6th, 1985. Mother…." Scotty's mouth began gaping open and closed like a fish. "Mother's maiden name, Kate Rochelle Johnson. Renee's mother."

Jeffries distantly remembered meeting Kate and Leroy. "Kate went away for a journalism job in '85. Took up being a minister in '87."

Lilly nodded. "They got married in '81. She went away for a year, and came back having been pregnant and having the baby adopted. Never said anything about it."

Scotty nodded, understanding. "So Mystery guy wasn't a love interest… he was her half-brother."

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