Part 21

"So this is?" Gail asked Detective Wilson as she watched Detective Moore interview a young man in the room she was looking through the glass into.

Emily grinned. "That is Patrick Reed, the boy who offered Casey a ride home from the party at the weekend. He also plays on the school basketball team and is Robert's best friend."

Gail turned to the detective and raised an eyebrow because that still didn't explain why she was here.

Emily shrugged and looked back at the scene in front of her. "He claims to have been invited into her house, and he has willingly admitted to sleeping with Casey."

"Oh." Gail took a closer look at the kid. "So she was lying."

Emily turned back to the blonde. "Apparently it's an open secret at school, we interviewed a bunch of kids from the party and a few of them saw Casey leaving with Patrick and according to them she didn't seem upset when she got into his car, in fact several claim she was laughing and joking with him."

Gail thought about that as she kept watching through the glass. You couldn't look at a person and spot a rapist they were harder to see than that. "Doesn't mean she wasn't raped." She said quietly as she eyed the boy nervously talking away to Duncan. Robert had told her Casey had been drunk when she approached him, so it was still possible that she had been raped.

"No, of course not." Emily admitted. "But we have looked at his cell phone and from his messages to her he was hoping they could start dating, she only sent one reply back. It said 'what about Robbie?'"

"Then why accuse her ex in the first place?" Gail turned to ask with a frown. She'd seen the impact that had had on the young boy.

Emily sighed. "We're not completely sure but the working theory right now is that she was hoping Robert would have found out about it by school on Monday and maybe tried to get her back?" She shrugged at Gail. "We sent McNally to bring Casey to the station and then we'll try and sort this mess out."

Gail shook her head and blew out a breath. "Poor kids, either way this will be all over school by tomorrow. And false accusation or not, those kids are going to have to live with this." Rumours like this could destroy Robert's chances of a scholarship if scouts were to hear about it, and from the looks of it he might not have done anything wrong beyond moving on with his life.

"Well the only people that know about the rape allegation besides us, the school and the parents are those two kids." Emily told Gail.

Gail gave the detective a look. She didn't believe for a second that it would stay that way.

"We'll do what we can, you're right though, Casey's parents have probably told half the school board already trying to get Robert kicked out while this gets cleared up." Emily conceded.

Gail pushed herself away from the window. "Well good luck." She then moved for the door needing to get back to her paperwork if she was going to get out of here on time for her appointment with her shrink.

"You don't want in on interviewing Casey when she gets here?" Emily asked, it had been the main reason she had pulled Gail from her desk moments ago.

"No." Gail wasn't sure how she felt about the possibility of the girl having lied but she wasn't in a hurry to sit in on the interview. "Let McNally do it." She offered the detective. Generally it was never a good idea to refuse a detective but Gail just wasn't interested. The more she learned about the case the less she wanted anything to do with it.

There was no good outcome, either the girl was raped or she wasn't. But so far they were sure she had lied about the last person she was with that night, and she hadn't mentioned having sex with Patrick. If she had been raped she wasn't making it an easy case for prosecution.

Gail doubted it would ever get that far. And that just made her feel sad.

"You sure?" Emily was surprised Gail was letting the case go like this without having further involvement. The detective had been certain that with Gail in the interview room Casey would have come clean quicker, from what she had seen of Andy McNally, the police officer would go out of her way to listen to anything the girl said.

Emily watched Gail nod. "Okay, well… I'll let you know how it goes."

"Thanks." And with that Gail left the room and a slightly confused detective.

It took Gail almost an hour to finish off her work before she could hand it in and head for the lockers. She was still running late and only had fifteen minutes before she was due across town for her appointment.

"So, what's with you and the detective from special crimes?" Nick asked as Gail emerged from the female locker room.

Gail scowled at her ex as she walked past him to head for her car, she didn't want to get held up talking, and especially not with Nick. As he trailed after her she gave him a sideways glance, wondering what he was up to.

"It was about a case? I'm not sure if you understand the role of a police officer but we do play a part in arresting criminals." She told him as she made her way out into the lot.

Nick frowned and walked with her to her car. "You don't think it's weird that Wilson's came up to you twice in the last couple of days?" He asked her.

"What? No," Now she was getting annoyed. "What's it to you anyway Nick, go find out how she's treating Andy if you're so concerned." She told him as she opened her door and got in.

Nick pulled up short. "Andy?" He hadn't seen the detective and Andy together.

Gail snorted and lowered her window as she turned over the engine. "Yeah, I saw them head into a little dark room together, maybe you should go check it out." She said as she pulled away. As she was turning out of the lot and onto the street she couldn't stop herself from checking her rear view mirror and she was a little disturbed by Nick heading back into the station.

But she would rather leave Andy to deal with him anyway so she didn't feel too bad about sending him her way.

xxxxxx

"I could cancel you know, just stick around, help with dinner?" Elizabeth said as she sat at the breakfast bar watching her sister move around the kitchen as she made something that smelled delicious.

Holly smirked at her sister. "Nice try, but I made a promise to Gail that it would just be the two of us. Unless you want to eat across from a very annoyed police officer who not only owns a gun but is prepared to use it if need be, then by all means stay." She offered, wondering if her sister had the guts.

Elizabeth shifted in her seat as she recalled what having a gun pointed at her was like. She may have been drunk at the time but the image was still there. "No thanks, you're right, Becca's expecting me, and I wouldn't want to get in Gail's way."

Chuckling Holly continued preparing the dinner she planned to share with Gail in an hour or two. "Wise decision."

Elizabeth pouted, she missed her sisters cooking, in fact these last few days have made her realise just how much she's missed having Holly around. "Hol?"

"Hmm?"

Elizabeth bit her lip, wondering if she should even say the words.

Holly frowned as her sister failed to continue the conversation making her turn and stare at the younger girl. "What's up?" Seeing the serious look on Elizabeth's face made Holly move to stand across the table from her. "Eliza, what's up?" She asked softly, her tone worried.

Elizabeth raised her eyes and stared at Holly for a long moment. "You're not ever coming back to Boston, are you?"

Holly shook her head. "Not likely no, I'm settled in this job and Toronto's Gail's home town, I think we both plan on staying here for a long time." Possibly for the rest of their lives if things worked out between them.

That was the answer Elizabeth had been expecting but it hurt to hear it.

Elizabeth nodded slowly.

"Hey, it's not like I'm a million miles away, it's less than an hour." Holly explained as her sister started to look teary eyed.

"I know." Elizabeth replied. And she did, and her parents were even further away than Holly but that wasn't the same, Elizabeth had always been closer to Holly growing up. Seeing her with Gail now felt like she was seeing her sister starting out on her own life the way Jason had with Kelly. It would leave Elizabeth on the outside of both her sibling's lives.

"But?" Holly said as she came around the counter to stand beside her sister.

Elizabeth shrugged. "It's just not the same anymore."

Holly frowned and rubbed her hand up and down Elizabeth's arm, not liking how down her sister was starting to sound. "You know you can visit as often as you want to right? You don't even need to ask, I promise I'll make Gail lock her gun away as well." She added with a grin that got a chuckle out of the younger girl.

"Come on sis, what's really going on in that head of yours?" Holly asked, wanting to get at the heart of the problem, and from the way Elizabeth was talking there obviously was a problem.

"Wouldn't we all like to know?" Gail says as she enters the room and heads over to switch on the coffee machine. She then turns to the two sisters and realises she's probably interrupted a pretty serious conversation if the looks on both faces are anything to go by.

Elizabeth looks at the blonde then shakes her head at her sister. "It doesn't matter."

Gail watches Holly frown as Elizabeth gets out of her seat. Taking a chance Gail rushes over and pushes the girl back down into it. "Stay." She tells her then she glances at her girlfriend, sending her an apologetic look for her bad timing yet again.

"Holly is going to make me my coffee because without it, well, let's just say it won't be pretty. And you are going to sit here and wait until she has finished and I am going to wander off out the back and enjoy it while you two finish talking about whatever it was that I just interrupted, okay?"

Holly grins and goes to make the coffee. She'd make it extra sweet because she knew it had to be cold outside and Gail hated the cold, but she'd stand out there for as long as need be if it gave Holly a chance to get her sister talking.

Elizabeth shook her head again. "It's fine, really." She tried to tell the blonde but the hand holding her in place didn't budge.

"Uh huh, yeah, that's exactly what your sister's face was telling me moments ago." Gail replied, she then tilted Elizabeth's head towards Holly. "That there is your awesome sister, who god knows why, seems to like you, so if there is anyone that can help you sort out whatever it is, it's her. Take it from someone that knows okay?"

Elizabeth swallowed then nodded because she knew Holly was a great listener and she could always offer some words of advice even if she tried her best not to straight out tell you what to do.

"Great. Good." Gail replied as it seemed like she had averted Elizabeth's escape. She eyed her girlfriend and Holly mouthed the words 'thank you' at her which made Gail grin.

"Thank you." Gail said as she took the offered mug of coffee and exchanged it with a kiss which was gladly received. Gail then took a sniff at the pots on the stove. "And that smells wonderful." She eyed it for a while, enjoying the aromas before sipping her coffee and heading for the back door just past the dining table. She paused just as she turned the handle and looked back at Elizabeth. "You're staying for dinner right?" She asked.

Elizabeth blinked and then looked at Holly who smiled encouragingly back at her, she shrugged at Gail and replied with a hesitant, "I guess so."

Gail smirked and opened the back door replying back into the room, "Great, then you're on dishes." And then she disappeared out back, closing the door behind her.

Elizabeth scowled after her but knew she'd just lost. On the bright side her sister was a great cook so she was sure it would be worth doing a few dishes for.

Holly chuckled at the way the pair interacted. "Don't you hate that she always has to have the last word?"

Elizabeth grinned to herself then, thinking maybe she was about to get the ultimate payback on the blonde, and Gail had no idea she was partly responsible for it by making her talk to Holly right now.

The younger girl turned to her sister, who was watching her carefully, waiting for her to let her in on what was troubling her enough that even Gail had picked up on it in a few seconds of being in the same room.

"What would you say if I told you I wanted to move here, not after grad school but as soon as I can get transferred?" She asked Holly.

"Ugh, well," Holly was stunned, the medical school Elizabeth was in right now was one of the top in the States, no one in their right mind transferred out of the school. She eyed her sister very closely, did Elizabeth really understand what that could mean for her career, the opportunities she could lose by leaving.

Not to mention how their parents would react to the news.

Holly watched the smile fade on Elizabeth's face as she stumbled over her answer. It snapped Holly out of her thoughts and centre on what really mattered and that was her sister's happiness.

She shook her head and pulled Elizabeth into her arms and hugged her as tightly as she could, then she eased back a bit and gave her sister the biggest grin she could.

"God, Elizabeth, of course I would love it if you moved here!" She told her and slowly the smile reappeared on her sister's face.

"Really?" Elizabeth said only to get rapid nodding from Holly. "Okay, that's great." She then spotted Gail looking miserable through the glass of the back door. It made her realise she had no idea how the blonde would take the news of her being around longer than a few days.

Suddenly she wasn't feeling as happy about Holly's response as she was moments ago.

She swallowed and gave Holly a desperate look. "But you'll tell Gail right? Maybe you could even leave it until I'm back in Boston?"

Holly laughed and went over to check on the food. "Sure, on one condition." She replied.

"Name it."

Holly turned and smirked at her sister over her shoulder just as she heard the back door opening, Gail had lasted longer than she thought she would have. "I'll tell Gail, and you can explain it to mom and dad."

Elizabeth paled a little, recalling her father trying to convince her to move closer to home. There was no way he was going to take the news well.

Gail was stood as far from the pair as she could as she rubbed her cold hands together, but she couldn't help but overhear her name. She took a few steps closer and eyed Holly before looking questioningly at Elizabeth. "Tell me what?"

Elizabeth hopped out of her chair. "You know, second thoughts, Becca's expecting me so I should probably get going." She said before scurrying from the room.

"Hol?"

Holly wasn't stupid either and there was no way she was going to broach the subject of Elizabeth moving to Toronto with her sister still in shooting range. So she used what she knew to buy her some time.

"Come taste this, I think it needs more spice, what do you think?" Holly said as she gathered some meat and sauce from one of the pots. Gail had already made it over to her before she was ready to offer the spoon. It made her grin even as Gail glared at her for taking advantage of her love of food.

When Gail refused the mouthful and pouted at her, Holly wondered how she was going to cope with the pair in the same city together. "We'll talk over dinner."

Gail snorted then accepted the mouthful as Holly offered it again. It was better than it smelled and of course it didn't need anything added to it, Holly knew what she was doing.

"We'll talk after dinner, there's no need to ruin a perfectly good meal."