Chapter Nine- Michael Forbes
Derek pushed the car horn, and Casey reluctantly came out of the house.
She sat in the passenger seat quietly.
"What do you wanna eat?" Derek asked.
Casey shrugged, "Doesn't matter."
"McDonalds?"
"Sure."
Derek parked his car.
The two ordered, and Derek paid.
Then they sat down at a table.
"What did you wanna talk about?" Casey asked, getting to the point.
"Michael Forbes."
Casey froze.
"He abused you, didn't he?"
Casey didn't say anything, and just dipped a fry into the ketchup.
Then she looked up, "Who told you?"
"Does it matter who told me? When did you go so low just for a boyfriend?" Derek asked her.
"He accepted Emma. Unlike you."
"Casey. First off, I do accept Emma. She's my daughter. Secondly, he could care less about Emma. He's not the father of her, so why should she even matter to him?"
"Hi guys!" Lizzie chirped, appearing by their table with Edwin at her side.
Casey ignored her, "Yeah right. You accept Emma as your daughter," she scoffed.
"Yeah that's right. I say that I'm okay with her being my daughter. You're not me. So you can't say that I'm not okay with it. Because you're not me."
"Did we miss something?" Edwin said.
Casey finally acknowledged the two, "What are you two doing here? Together?"
"I had lost a bet against Liz---"
"No need to brag about who you got your lying skill from, Ed," Derek said in a bored tone, arms cross over his chest.
"We're kind of...dating. But mom and George don't know," Lizzie said sheepishly.
"As long as you don't get pregnant, I'm fine with that. Because the Venturi will regret it," Casey said coldly, looking at Derek.
"You're pushing yourself to belive that I'm ashamed of her. I'm not. And if you think that, that's your problem."
"My problem, yeah right."
"Actually, you have lots of problems, Case. Let's start with an abusive boyfriend," Derek said sweetly.
"You had an abusive boyfriend?" Lizzie said shocked.
"You must be a very secretive person, Case. Not telling me I'm a father. Not telling the family that you had an abusive boyfriend. What's next? Not telling them you're getting married?"
"Michael would have done a better job raising Emma than you," Casey hissed.
Derek snorted, "Have you seen where he lives?"
Casey didn't say anything, and that answered Derek's question.
"Should I show you?"
Even thought Casey didn't say anything, Derek knew that she wanted to see, "Let's go. Edwin, you can have the leftovers."
Derek drove down the road of Michael's home.
"The number of the house is 25," Derek said.
"How can you tell what house is what number?" Casey asked, looking at him.
"You can't."
Casey stared at each house.
"Now you tell me, Casey. Who would be a better father?" Derek said, turn off the road.
Casey didn't say anything, and Derek didn't expect her to say anything.
Casey leaned her head against the window.
Derek turned to back to their parents' house, but Casey spoke up.
"Can I stay at your house tonight?" Casey said quietly.
Derek was surprised she'd want to stay at his place, "Are you sure?"
Casey nodded, and Derek turn onto the highway bridge.
When they reached his house, Derek told Casey to ring the doorbell, since Maria should still be there.
Once he saw Casey go in, he drove back to work.
Sabrina met with him one he got off the elevator, "We have a problem."
Derek sighed, "What is it now?"
"The person who's fingerprints were all over the place..."
"Yeah?"
"Is Mark Phillip."
"But isn't he in jail?" Derek said confued.
"That's our problem. It doesn't make sense, because that one print that is all over the place belongs to someone in jail."
"Have you talked to Mark yet though?" Derek asked.
"Not yet, I already called security there and told them that we were going to go over, and be there at around five."
"Let me grab a water bottle, and we can get going."
They took Derek's car to the building.
Flashing badges, they entered.
They waited for Mark Phillip in a room that Sabrina sprayed with Febreze.
Mark came into the room in bright orange.
"Hello, Mark. I'm Derek Venturi, and this is my partner Sabrina Teller."
Mark mumbled something incoherent.
"We have a case, and your fingerprints are all over it," Derek started.
Mark looked up.
"We know that you were here in jail, because there were no break-ins or outs that night. So we were wondering if anyone had taken your fingerprint before?"
"The police," Mark said dumbly.
"Besides the police."
"Well a few years ago, my cousin took my fingerprint," Mark said, thinking back.
"Did he say why?"
"Well he said that he was going to get revenge on some girl he dated because she broke up with him. He said that he was going to take the most precious thing she ever had."
"What's your cousin's name?" Derek asked.
"Michael Forbes."
"Bingo," Derek muttered with a smile on his face.