Chapter 9

"This case is starting to have more twists and turns than a soap opera, except there's no debate on who's the father." Vera sighed as he leaned backwards and closed his eyes.

Lily leaned back in her own chair, feeling the team's frustration and awe that so much could have happened over such a short amount of time. True, all the suspected individuals were either working or in post-secondary around the time of the murder but the exact same situation would have probably been labelled classical high school drama. Even Jeffries wasn't too sure if Mike was the doer anymore.

"Josh pretty much admitted to the murder, didn't he?" Vera asked.

"He only said he was there when she died." Scotty clarified. "Told us things we already knew and left them too vague, probably on purpose. We could argue over that statement for hours on end."

But one thing that still hadn't quite sunk in for the team was the fact that Adam had been the "mystery guy". Another twist in the soap opera. They had no idea when Adam first saw Victoria. It was probably when she had been hanging out with Josh at the pool, perhaps even the day that Josh had snapped at her and he had watched on in horror. And to have fallen in love with her…

"Poor kid." Jeffries said. "He was the one that found her dead too."

"Unless he pulled the trigger and forced Josh to watch." Scotty replied.

"But if Josh saw Adam do that, why not say that to the cops?" Jeffries retorted. "What could Adam possibly have over Josh to make him go to jail for murder?"

"And more importantly, what motive could Adam have?" Vera pointed out.

But it was Lily that saw the whole picture. If Mike and Katie had been mistaken about Ryan and Victoria's intentions, there held a good chance that Adam would have also had the same misunderstanding. The more Mike and Katie believed Ryan and Victoria had a thing, the more desperate Ryan and Victoria might have been in trying to keep up the act and keep the secret from getting out of the bag. Ryan was also a student at the University and that would have given them ample opportunities to get together and try and sort out what their next move was. Even if Ryan and Victoria never spent a great amount of time together on campus, Victoria always seemed to have Josh by her side. If Katie had easily seen how infatuated Victoria was with Josh, then the third party, Adam, would have easily seen that too. It was all so simple: Adam could have called up Victoria in a jealous rage, asked to meet her at his work and seek his revenge, knowing Josh would accompany her and somehow take the blame for her death.

Scotty sighed and looked at his watch as the team slowly broke up into their respective tasks. He had called Adam half an hour ago and asked if he could come down to the station and answer a few more questions they had. He had readily agreed, so where was he now? And how long did it take for him to travel from campus down to the station anyways? Maybe Scotty should have found that out.

Another matter was driving him just as crazy. He had put his hand on Lily's shoulder yet a third time, and she hadn't called him up on any one of the incidences. But as the saying goes, third times the charm right? Lily should have said or done something but there she was, racing around the office in the hurried but confident way she always did. It was as if nothing out of the blue had happened.

By chance Lily raced past his desk. Scotty stood up held out an arm and his heart skipped a beat when he realized he had succeeded in grabbing her arm. She stopped out of surprise and took a step backwards so they were facing each other.

"I got a question." Scotty said, dropping his grip.

"Alright." He could see her forehead wrinkle. Why hadn't he just called out her name? Why had he grabbed he arm like that? But just the same, she leaned back and crossed her arms.

"What's going on?"

"What do you mean?"

Scotty gave himself a mental slap for ending the question so vaguely. "I mean with us."

She wrinkled her brow. "You are making absolutely no sense."

Another mental slap.

He took a deep breath and frantically tried to calm his beating heart. Could he make things any more awkward? "I want to know why. Why you haven't bitten my arm off yet."

The wrinkle on her forehead only deepened.

"I've put a hand on your shoulder two or three times in the past." Scotty said quickly before she had a chance to answer or walk away.

"Three."

"Right." Scotty continued.

"There's no law that says co-workers can't touch each other's shoulders."

"Maybe not, but I've never done that before. Not like that Lil, everything's different this time. Not just what has happened in the past to get us to this point, but I can just feel something different between us." The look on Lily's face gave him the answer he was looking for. "I know you feel it too."

"Don't be ridiculous." Lily tried to protest, but he could see it was a battle against herself that she was losing. Losing by the second. He wanted to grab her shoulders, hold her, reassure her. But something held him back. All he could do was bite his lip and try not to stare at the ground like a pathetic school boy.

"Then tell me." He said, fighting desperately to keep his voice even and calm. "Look me in the eye and tell me you there's nothing going on between us."

Lily stared him straight in the eye. It unnerved him a bit, being on the receiving end of the cold hard glare she normally gave guilty suspects. She was still fighting the same battle, fighting hard to follow her head instead of her heart.

"This is not the time for this kind of conversation." She hissed.

"Then when is it?" Scotty wondered as he watched her retreating back.

Scotty took a deep breath before he turned the doorknob and entered the interrogation room half an hour later. If Lily could be cool and collected in an instant, he could sure flip the same switch for himself, if that sort of switch even existed for him. True, they had interviewed hundreds of witnesses and suspects together, but why had Stillman paired them up now? Could no one feel the tension between them?

Think of what Victoria and her family deserve. Scotty reminded himself as he closed the doors and allowed the two seconds for his eyes to adjust to the different level of lighting. He strolled over to a corner behind Lily and leaned casually against it, crossing his arms while she confidently flipped open a file in front of the nervous boy. "I've been looking through the records Adam, all the reports, interviews that you gave to police. Not once did you mention the truth of how you knew Victoria, leading the world to believe you viewed her as just some poor girl that you almost witnessed get shot to death."

"So I knew her a little better than that." Adam mumbled. "I don't see how that would change the investigation. My only regret was the fact that I didn't witness the shooting. Otherwise you guys would have had an eye witness report and we wouldn't even be here now."

But Lily knew it changed a lot. Her sources told her that even if Adam wasn't in love with Victoria, he was probably infatuated with her. Perhaps Victoria rejected him, and he went after her to seek revenge for falling in love with the other guy. It certainly looked suspicious having her shot and killed in the pool, right where he worked.

"She was one in a million though not many people saw that." Adam agreed. "I knew she was in love with the other guy. I just thought…we had made it past the first date; maybe we could make it forever. I didn't care how much baggage she had, I thought I could deal with it."

"But she held back?"

"She had been alone all her life, so she was used to dealing with things on her own."

February 2004

Adam pushed open the door and held it open for Victoria to step through. "Welcome to my world." He did a low and graceful bow as the girl stepped past him.

Victoria let out a tiny laugh as her shoes walked across the marble, the soft pattering echoing through the vast empty space. He knew she had probably seen the viewing balcony of the swimming pool before, but never when the pool was closed for cleaning and nobody else but the workers were around. "Nice." she said with a hint of sarcasm. "So tell me, how many girls have you taken up here?"

He waited until she had turned around and started walking to the railing before he dared to utter his answer. "Counting you…one."

If she did hear his answer she didn't show it. Victoria strolled over to a spot at the railing right next to one of the two brick columns. A moment later he joined her.

"So swimming is part of your life huh?"

"Yes. A part." Adam answered. They gazed down into the pool in silence, watching the light reflect off of the nearly calm water.

"I know it sounds corny. "Adam finally said. "But I love how the light shimmers off of the water."

He could see Victoria try to hide a shy smile. "No…I think it's beautiful too."

Adam fought hard to hold onto his self-confidence. "You know what I heard?"

"What?"

"That some people don't like the way the water reflects light indoors. That they think water indoors should be absolutely still, like a mirror. Otherwise, they chalk that up as imperfections."

"What do you think?"

Adam took a moment to think about that. "Well I don't see those as imperfections. I think those are the things that give the water character. Makes the whole package more beautiful."

In a moment of insanity Adam reached over and grabbed Victoria's hand, entwining her fingers in her own. He could feel her muscles tense, like she was thinking of pulling her hand out of his grasp. But a second later that passed and Adam felt his heart fill with hope.

"Everyone has imperfections." Adam continued. "You…me, everyone. But when I look at you, I don't see that. Just like the water, they give you character, make you all the more beautiful."

"How can you know already?" she whispered. "How can you know?"

He never replied.

He gently pulled on her arm so she was facing him. He took a step forward as she took a step back, so her back was now pressed against the column. Reason and logic were slipping away from him now, replaced only by instinct. He clasped her face with both hands and lifted it up so she was staring straight into his eyes. Without thinking he closed his own and leaned forward. A second later he felt his lips press gently against hers. He was surprised: this time there was no voice in the back of his head warning him about the possible slap to come or the shove away or simply if she thought he was a good kisser or not. For once in his life, he concentrated on the moment.

The kiss lasted a second and a lifetime. When they drew apart Adam could see the lingering look of surprise but happiness in her eyes.

"I can't believe it." Victoria breathed. "My very first."

"You're serious?" Adam asked. How could such a girl, such a diamond in the rough, have not experience her first kiss until now? And more importantly, how had he ended up being the lucky one? "Well that calls for another." He leaned forward and their lips met again. Instinctively he moved his hands from her face and wrapped his arms around her waist. He could feel her arms wrap gently around his neck. His mind was spinning but not just from the reality of being allowed a second kiss. Had he been her very first? He could hardly believe it.

A second later he could feel her push him away. For a second his heart sank, but soon leapt back up again as he heard a bright and happy tone. Her cell phone was ringing. She had pushed him away because her phone was ringing.

"I'm sorry…I'm sorry." Victoria mumbled as she pulled her phone out of her pocket and flipped it open. He could feel her mentally curse as her eyes scanned over the caller i.d. She shut her phone again and the ringing ceased.

"Now, where were we?" Adam leaned forward again, but the bright and happy tone filled his ears once again.

"Arg." Victoria said as she dug out her phone once again. She was in the process of turning her phone off when Adam gently grabbed her arm.

"Answer the phone." He advised her.

She looked at him in surprise. He should have been mad that she had her cell phone on in the middle of their date, but here he was, gently telling her that she should answer the phone. He had to nod at her one more time before she found the courage to move her finger and answer the call.

"Hello." Victoria sighed as Adam took a step back and allowed her to wander away from the column. The voice on the other end of the phone came through so loud Adam wondered how it was possible she still kept the phone right next to her ear. "No he's not here." With every passing second he could see that she was getting increasingly annoyed. She tapped her foot and crossed her arms as best she could. "Look, just because he's not with you right now doesn't mean he spends every other free minute with me. We both have separate lives." A few more minutes and Victoria had enough, telling the caller that she was hanging up on them.

Adam tried to smile as the girl wandered back to him. "Ready to get to where we were?" Victoria smiled, but her eyes told him otherwise.

Present Day

"Stupid phone call spoiled it." Adam sighed. Unconsciously he touched his lip as if he could still feel the kiss.

Somehow Lily knew everything before Adam opened his mouth. After the phone call it was like Victoria had flipped a switch and retreated even deeper into her quiet and reserved manner. After that day she had told Adam she needed some space to sort out the feelings she had. That was when he knew her heart was in another place whether or not she wanted it to be.

"It was my own stupidity too." Adam confessed. "I didn't hear anything from her for a few weeks…so I went and started seeing someone new. She was so hurt when she found out but she blamed everything on herself, saying she should have done something sooner."

"Did you ever find out who the other guy was?" Lily asked.

"Not his name, no." Adam said. "But whoever he was I figured that was his girlfriend that called that day, probably figured out Victoria had the hots for her guy."

"How were you sure of that?"

Adam swallowed and looked at Lily straight in the eye. "Because I could hear her voice before Victoria walked away with the phone. Sounded something like 'stay away from him or else I'll kill you.'"

Author's Note: Thanks to my reviewers for last chapter, jambled and Max Fuchs! I'm so glad you guys like the case!

Please keep the reviews coming! Thanks!