A/N: So here it is - the last chapter of the story, I really hope you like it. This has been an interesting story to write, playing with the characters in a different setting. I would like to thank everyone who has reviewed, followed and favourited this story and to those who have stuck with it to the end. It means a lot to me :-)

Disclaimer: I don't own Cold Case

I could see the questioning expression on Lilly's face as she watches her father. Miller and Vera both have similar expressions on their faces but to be completely honest with you, I'm not really surprised to see Stilman here. As I stand up from my crouching position near Maria Garner all the pieces are finally starting to fall into place. Stilman motions for the four of us to move over to the side and away from Ms Garner, which we do, slowly, all except Lilly, who just stands still. "What are you doing?" she asks.

"Lilly, come over here." Stilman tells her, but his voice has a gentle edge to it, as if he's trying to protect her. She refuses to obey him, moving closer to me instead. "Lilly!"

"No!" she tells him.

I watch his face carefully and his reaction confirms my suspicions. "Lilly come over here now!" he presses a little harder.

"No!" she insists.

"Lilly, that woman is dangerous! She is a private investigator who has been hired to kill you!"

"You got it wrong!" Miller cuts in and Stilman quickly shifts the gun in her direction.

"Be quiet!" he tells her, his voice raised. "Mister Robertson, bring Miss Miller over here!" Robertson does as he is ordered. Miller tries to fight him but he restrains her arms. There is a terrified look on her face as she realises that Stilman intends to kill her.

I'm not about to just stand by and watch this lady's execution. "No!" I shout, "Leave her alone!" but seconds later I too am restrained by mister Martinez.

Stilman's eyes darken as he looks at me, "Do not interfere detective. I told you before, I will have my revenge!"

Miller struggles against Robertson's grasp, "You've got the wrong person, I'm trying to protect her!" she insists.

"I don't think so. I know that it was a detective who killed David Garner and it is the same person who is trying to kill Lilly. At first I thought it was detective Valens, so I asked him to do a background check on you, if he was guilty it would have been a good way to throw suspicion on someone else, but his reluctance to do so and the way he put himself in harm's way to protect my daughter changed my mind. And then you show up at the club…" Stilman counters and aims his gun getting ready to exact his revenge.

"She's telling the truth!" I shout and Stilman looks in my direction.

"And how would you know that?" he asks.

"Cos I know who the killer is!"

I can feel everyone's eyes turn to me and my heart is beating faster. There's a few seconds of silence before Stilman speaks, "Enlighten us detective." I could tell he was just humouring me and that he'd already made up his mind, but I had to make him see who was really behind all this.

"It wasn't Miller," I begin and then turn to Lilly "and it wasn't your father either Lil." I tell her.

"But you said…" Lilly says but I cut her off.

"I know, and at first I believed it was him; all the evidence pointed to it. But you were right, if he wanted someone dead he would have found a way to do it without drawing suspicion upon himself. No, this was not his style and he certainly would not have left any clues behind."

"Then who did it?" asks Vera.

"The killer had to have been someone who spent a lot of time around both Stilman and David Garner, someone who knew that Stilman had given a gun to him for protection." I pause, slightly relieved that I have got everyone's attention and for the moment Miller was safe. "Vera was a likely suspect but after the way that Stilman got the charges dropped for him I realized that it didn't make sense for him to have killed Stilman's future son in law. Stilman is a good friend to him, too good a friend for him to lose if he was found out, and there's no doubt in my mind that Stilman would have found out. One look at his file told me he was reckless, there would have been evidence of his guilt left behind."

I could hear Vera sniff in agreement behind me, "Thank you! Err..I think?" he says.

"Which means that this crime had to have been committed by someone much more careful and meticulous." I could feel Martinez's grip loosen on me as he listened to me speak. "When Ms Garner first came to me, she mentioned that whoever killed her brother may have been after a ring. It later occurred to me that this could have been the engagement ring he was going to give to Lilly."

I can hear Lilly gasp quietly at this.

"What I could't understand is why David Garner's killer would be after this ring. Maybe they wanted to sell it? Or maybe, just maybe, there was an emotional motive behind it!"

Stilman's eyes are fixed on me and I can tell I'm getting through to him. I let out a silent breath and continue. "Jealousy, for instance. This means that the killer had to be in Stilman and Lilly's inner circle, someone who was close enough to Lilly and David to know that he was going to give this to her. Someone, who didn't like the idea of her marrying David."

"Could have been Windsdale?" Vera said.

"I thought about that. The way he homed in on Lilly after David's death made him a good suspect, but Windsdale is not the brightest bulb in the box, if it were him, Stilman would have found out. But someone really wanted to pin this on him, even left me clues as to the location of the gun. Which brings me to my next point."

"Go on detective." Stilman tells me and I do.

"We found out that the gun that was used to kill Garner was the very same gun that Stilman himself gave David to use for protection. I gotta say, that was smart. As I said, the person who did this had to be someone who was meticulous, someone who would make sure that the evidence wouldn't point to them. Mister Stilman, how many people knew you gave the gun to David?"

Stilman paused before saying, "Just Lilly, David and…." I could see his eyes widening in realization.

"That's right. The one person who keeps track of things like that, your record keeper, mister Robertson!" I look across at Robertson and I can see fear and surprise cross his face which is then quickly replaced by anger.

"No, it can't be!" Stilman says, but I can see part of him believes me.

"How did you find out that it was a detective that killed David? I'm willing to bet someone left an anonymous message for you." Stilman's expression confirmed my guess. "He must have panicked when he found out I had re-opened the case and when he realised I was getting close, he tried to frame you, Windsdale, Miller, Vera and even me!"

Stilman takes a step towards him but before he could reach him, Robertson pulls out a gun and points it at Miller's head. "Take another step and I'll blow her head off!" he says and Stilman backs away. Robertson drags Miller to the opposite end of the warehouse.

"Shit! Never saw that one coming!" Vera says.

Martinez has now completely let go of me. "Robertson," I begin as I instinctively move in front of Lilly, "put the gun down. You don't want to do this."

"Why?" Lilly asks, "Why did you kill him?"

"Because he is in love with you!" I explain and she is visibly shocked. "I realised this when I saw the way he looked at you at the club. The jealousy on his face when you were at the bar with Martinez was obvious. That's why he tried to frame me too. He wanted me out of the way. I even got a threatening phone call from him warning me to stay away."

"You think you're so clever!" Robertson sneers at me. "You come in here and think you can just take away my girl, now you want to put me in prison and take away my life! You first!" He aims the gun at me but before he can pull the trigger someone gets to him, shoots him three times in the chest. He falls to the ground and Miller runs over to us.

I turn my head and there Stilman stands with the smoking gun in his hand. He looks at me, his eyes still cold. "One for David, one for Lilly and one for you, detective."

I stare back at him, realising what he has done.

"There is one thing I don't understand," Vera says, "who hired Miller?"

"I did!"

We all turn around and there is Will Jeffries standing in the doorway. "Will?" Lilly walks over to him. "When detective Valens told me he was looking into the Garner shooting again, I had a feeling someone would come after you. I always believed it had to be someone close to Stilman but I just couldn't prove it. So I saved the money I made from the bar and hired a PI."

"How did you know we'd be here?" I ask.

"Lilly told me." he replies.

"He worries." Lilly adds.

"I'm just glad you're okay." He tells her and they hug. They really seem like father and daughter.

A few minutes later the place is filled with police cars and techs from the coroner's office. There were also a few paramedics looking after Maria Garner. After recounting everything that had happened to my partner I walk over to Lilly who is standing outside the warehouse, getting some air. "You okay?" I ask.

She turns around, smiles and pulls me into a warm hug. "Thank you Scotty. Thank you for catching David's killer."

"They're releasing Windsdale too." I tell her, "He'll be glad to see you again." I tell her and she sighs.

"That's good. Poor James, I hope he can move on with his life now."

"Do you think he can?" I ask.

"He has to. I can't be there for him like that anymore now." She smiles and it lights up her beautiful blue eyes, "I'll be busy getting on with my own life." She holds my hand and pulls me into a tender kiss.

"I was thinkin', how 'bout you and I go out to dinner tonight, celebrate?"

"That sounds perfect." she replies and kisses me again.

I turn my head back to the warehouse where I can see Stilman and Will talking to each other.

"Will and your father seem to be getting on well?" I tell her.

"Didn't you know, they're old friends." I look at her surprised. "How do you think Will ended up taking care of me after my mother left?" she giggles a little at my reaction and then whispers in my ear, "told you my father loves me!"

I occurs to me then that I should keep expecting surprises from this wonderful woman, and I look forward to it. "Scotty," Lilly begins, her tone more serious now, "you know he saved your life."

I nod my head, "I know."

"He'll come to collect on that debt someday. Just be prepared."

She was right. I knew it the moment he gave me that look after he shot Robertson. He did save my life and I now owed him a favor and something told me that it wouldn't be too long before he came to collect on it. But that was another day. Right now I was looking forward to going home and getting some sleep, followed by a nice evening with the woman I loved. But first I had to head back to PPD. There was a box on it that needed to be filed away with those six letters that were so satisfying to write.

Another case closed.

I hoped you liked the ending. Thanks so much for reading! :-)