Disclaimer: I don't own Cold Case

I reach out to shake her hand and she smiles back at me. "Pleasure to meet you." I tell her.

"This is detective Scotty Valens." He introduces me to Miss Miller and I flinch internally at his use of my first name. I'm not used to this level of familiarity and I think that Stilman knows it, as I swear I can see him take some degree of satisfaction at my apparent discomfort.

"Detective." Miller greets me graciously.

"You have a beautiful voice." I tell her and she smiles.

"Thank you."

"How long have you been singing professionally?" I inquire.

"Not all that long," she tells me.

Just then Stilman takes out his cell phone and makes a call. He walks away from us, leaving Miss Miller and I chatting. He's only gone about a minute and then he returns. "Excuse us," he tells her and then pulls me away to have a private word. "So, you and Miss Miller seem to have hit it off." He begins, "Tell me detective, what do you think of our newest talent?"

I can feel my eyebrows furrow at his question, not sure as to what he is actually asking. "She seems...nice." I reply, hedging my bets.

Stilman frowns a little and he glances at her. "I would like you to do me a favour detective. I need you to run a background check on her."

"Why?" I ask, cautiously.

He turns his head back to me and smiles, "I'm...concerned she's not whom she claims to be."

"I'm sure a well connected man like yourself has the resources to do something like that without my help?" I ask.

"Believe me detective, if I could have done this through my own people I would not be asking for your assistance. I like to know exactly who it is I employ. You can't be too careful these days."

I smile, guessing at what he means. "Look, I'd like to help you but I'm not in the habit of running background checks for anyone who asks for them."

He grins slyly at me "now detective, I'm asking a personal favour off you. It would be in your best interests to oblige."

I raise my eyebrows at that. "Oh really? And just why is that?"

"He leans into me slightly and says quietly, "Let's just say that if you do this for me, then I will owe you a favour. And a man who has an interest in my daughter should realise what that means."

I mull this over in my head. "Okay," I relent in the end, "but just this one time."

His smile broadens, "Excellent detective. I'm glad we seem to have started off on the right foot."

Just then Lilly walks over to us. "what are you guys talking about?" she asks.

"Nothing you need to concern yourself with," Stilman tells her, "the good detective and I were just discussing business."

Lilly gives him a skeptical look which I could have sworn was also laced with concern. She then turns to me and smiles. "Scotty," she says as she takes my hand, "let's dance." She pulls me onto the dance floor near the stage as the saxophonist plays a slow ballad. Once we are out of earshot of her father she moves close to me and I put my arms around her as we begin to sway to the music. "So tell me, what were you and my father really talking about?"

I look at her and I can see the concern back on her face. "He wants me to run a background check on the singer, miss Miller." I tell her.

She pauses, as if contemplating something before saying, "Be careful Scotty."

I look at her and smile, "It's only a background check Lil."

"My father's a very powerful man, Scotty, don't let that charm fool you. He's dangerous."

"Oh I'm very much aware of what kind of man he is."

"I'm just saying, don't let your guard down with him, not even for a moment. He has a talent for finding people's weaknesses and exploiting them to his advantage."

"Lil…."

"I'm serious Scotty."

"I'm a cop Lil, I can take care of myself."

"Did he tell you that if you do this one thing for him he would owe you a favour?" she asks me, raising her eyebrows as if she already knows the answer.

I have to admit, I'm feeling a little like a fool now. "Yes,"

"That's how it starts." She says. "When you are in trouble or you need some information you'll remember what he told you and you'll call in that favour. He'll then start to make you trust him. He'll talk to you and find out how else you could use his help and he will freely give it until you eventually don't realise how dependent you have become on him. That's when he'll ask you to do him some favours."

I laugh incredulously, "Seriously Lil, that ain't gonna happen."

"I hope not Scotty," she tells me, her voice now tinged with sadness, "but I've seen it happen so many times before. How do you think he has so many of the cops you work with running round doing favours for him? How do you think he got the commissioner to drop the charges against Vera? He obviously has something on him. I….I just want you to be careful. If you are right and it was my father who killed David...just be careful Scotty." She says, whispering that last part.

I look into her sad blue eyes and I realise she's being deadly serious. I make a mental note to myself never to let my guard drop in front of Stilman, then hold her closer to me as the music plays on. "I will be Lil. I will be."

…

It's almost nine thirty when Stilman and his associates finally decide to leave. The five of us had spent the evening talking. Lil was right; the guy was sneaky, but I managed to keep my guard up the whole evening, much to the frustration of Stilman. Somehow though, I had the feeling he wouldn't give up so easily. It wasn't a total loss however, I had managed to get a good idea of what the guy was about. He projected an image of being calm and in control which belied an undercurrent of darkness. As he spoke it became all too apparent that he had a ruthless streak, and I was becoming increasingly certain that he was the guy I was looking for. Unfortunately, I had nothing in the way of evidence to support that theory. I had decided to walk Lilly to her room at the club. I was pleased that I had got to spend some time with her this evening. "Here we are," she says as we arrive at her door. "You wanna come in?"

I look around to see if anyone is watching us. "It's late and I should be getting back to the station, reports to write."

"Oh come on Scotty, the reports can wait, stay with me a few minutes more?"

She's making those eyes at me and I find that the word 'no' has been erased from my vocabulary. I nod and follow her inside. Once there, I take my jacket off and throw it over the back of a chair as she hands me a scotch. She sits down on the edge of the bed, holding a glass of wine. She has a faraway look in her eyes. "Penny for your thoughts." I tell her. She turns to me, but says nothing. "You were kinda quiet tonight." I set my glass down on the table and move to sit next to her. "You okay?"

"No." she says. "I've been thinking about it over and over again, and it doesn't make sense. I thought my father liked David, so why would he kill him?"

"Maybe he found out something that he shouldn't have?"

"And to think that he gave him the gun that killed him.." A single tear began to fall down her cheek. I reach out and gently brush it away with my thumb.

"Hey," I whisper, "if he did do this I promise he will pay for it."

I can see a sliver of doubt cross her face and it breaks my heart. "I told you before, he has connections, even if you did find proof that he did it, you won't be able to make the charges stick. So please Scotty, don't make promises you can't keep. I've had enough of that already."

This woman has been let down so many times in her life that she expects it. "You mean David?"

"David, my father, my mother," she laughs bitterly, "you know that Will is the only one in my life who hasn't left?"

"The bartender?" I ask and she nods. "You're a little like him you know? A good, decent man."

I smile at the compliment as I watch her finish off her drink. "Lil," I say as I place my hands on her shoulders and turn her so that she is now facing me, "I swear to you, if he's guilty, he'll pay!"

"Scotty, you can't…."

"Shhh, I mean it Lil, he will pay. I'll make him pay for hurting you like this!"

She reaches out to touch my face, her hands trembling, but from anger or sadness I couldn't say. I then place my own hands on hers and softly stroke them with my thumbs. She leans closer to me and her face is so close to mine I can feel the warmth of her breath on my lips. Her sad blue eyes, the scent of white wine and the heat emanating from her body push all rational thought out of my mind as I too lean forward and kiss her. The kiss is soft but meaningful and I pull back to look at her, wondering if this is what she wants too. Her eyes are closed and she is smiling. Those beautiful blue orbs then open and she gives me a such a look of longing that it's all the confirmation I need. The next kiss is more intense and my head begins to spin. I can feel my heart racing and the electricity flow through my body as we fall onto the bed. I can feel her arms wrap around me, tighter, before travelling up and down my back. My hands are in her hair when we break apart for air. God she's beautiful. I realise at that moment that I want nothing else than to hold her in my arms, to make love to her over and over again and to keep her safe. As we continue, I can feel my mind change gear, there are no more thoughts getting in the way, no doubts, no regrets, I could hardly think at all, there were no more words. It was all raw emotion, honest, succinct. I let my feelings take over and smiled at the loss of control as our bodies joined, becoming one entity.