Chapter 25

Feeling slightly refreshed, Andy pulled into his usual parking bay at the station and quickly locked his car and went on in, hoping for more information on the case. He knew Morris had assigned officers to check out Roger's story about the night of the accident. He wondered if there was anything back from that line of enquiry that could possibly help them.

As he walked through the station, he was aware of people looking at him. He should have guessed that word would have gotten around by now and that the station would be buzzing with gossip and innuendo. He was used to that after what had happened between him and Susan and hadn't let it bother him then. Now though it was, and he knew it was because it involved Prue. Yet another example of the difference between his feelings for his then wife and his high school sweetheart, he said to himself.

Finding Morris pouring over a witness statement, Andy sat at his desk and checked for any messages whilst he waited for Morris to finish reading. Although he was anxious for any news he knew that bugging his partner was not that way to get what he wanted.

When Morris had finished reading, he put the statement down and turned to face his partner, who sat looking at him with an expectant look on his face. He knew Andy wasn't going to want to hear what he had to tell him but he had no choice. He would rather his friend heard it from him and not someone else in the station.

He was all too aware of some of the stories that had been circulating regarding Andy and this case. They ranged from the ridiculous – that Andy and Prue had a secret love child whilst together in high school which is why he was doing everything he could to help her – to the near miss – that Andy and Prue were still in love and had been having an affair behind her fiancé's back. At least with the latter they were almost close. Andy was still in love with Prue but he wasn't sure she felt the same. After all she was engaged to someone else and hadn't seen Andy in years before this mess.

Collecting his thoughts and bringing them back to the statements he had just been reading through he began to speak to his partner.

"I know you're desperate for any information we may have uncovered about the night of the accident so I will cut straight to the chase. The officers spoke to everyone who was working in the restaurant that night, and also collected a list of all those people who were dining there around the same time as Prue and Roger. They are in the middle of questioning them but I can tell you the list reads like a who's who of San Francisco high society."

"The waiter who served them and the maitre d' both gave a similar version of events. They arrived on time for their table and greeted several diners sat nearby. Throughout the meal they were affectionate with each other, holding hands and smiling and laughing. The waiter mentioned that he thought there was a bit of a tense moment during the evening but it soon passed and they were both back to their usual selves. He had no idea what it was about."

"According to the waiter, Prue ordered her own food, which by all accounts was very unusual as Roger usually did the ordering. However, Roger did order all of Prue's drinks. By the end of the night Prue had apparently had 6 double vodka and tonics, which was also unusual as Roger was always the one to drink and Prue the one to drive."

"None of this really gives us much but there was more and I'm sorry buddy, but you aren't going to like this. Apparently after paying the bill and leaving, Roger decided to make a little announcement to their friends who were dining that night. Roger announced that they had finally set a wedding date and that their friends could expect invitations through the post and that the date was 4 months away. According to staff, everyone was happy for them cheering and such and that Prue herself looked radiantly happy. They thanked their friends and then left apparently."

Andy was stunned to say the least. A wedding date had been announced. Prue was actually going to go through with the wedding. Surely this must be a joke. But of course he knew it wasn't. Prue had been planning to marry Roger all along because she was completely under his control. She had been fooling so many people for so long who was to say that she wasn't fooling everyone in the restaurant that night at Roger's insistence.

Recovering from his silence, Andy turned his attention back to Morris and what needed to be done. "Ok well first thing we need to do is speak to the sisters and see if they know anything about the wedding date. After all, this whole thing could have been orchestrated by Roger and his little performance last night could simply have been a part of that."

"We also need the results of the blood alcohol tests that were done on both Prue and Roger and also we need to speak to someone about recreating the accident. After speaking to Piper and Phoebe in the hospital since it happened, I don't believe that Prue was really driving, at least not for the whole journey. Her sisters may not have known what was going on with Roger but they know enough about their sister to know how she feels about something like drink driving. Apparently it was one of the lessons she instilled in both her sisters when they started learning to driving and she was quite out spoken about it."

Morris was slightly surprised about Andy was taken the news about the wedding date revelation. If he was really ok about that it meant one of two things – either Andy really believed it was part of an elaborate set-up and Prue was just going along to avoid another beating – or Andy had buried his feelings and given up hope of reconciliation. Morris believed the former rather than the latter as he still saw that haunted, lovelorn look in Andy's eyes.

"Ok well I have just spoken to Piper and said we would be coming over as soon as you got here and I had brought you up to speed. Apparently they have come up with something but they didn't want to stay too much over the phone"

"Let's go then. When we get back to the hospital later I will track down the blood results. Let's see what the girls have for us first"

Phoebe made her way down the stairs carrying another box load of Prue's things. On the way back from the hospital, Piper had struck upon an idea. Growing up, Prue had always kept diaries and journals. Over the years she had kept up the habit and Piper knew that the majority of her old ones were kept in the attic as Roger complained he didn't have enough room in their house for all of Prue's old things.

Piper was hoping that some of the journals stored there would have some references to Roger. She knew deep down it was a long shot but she had to try. They were now on the 4th box of Prue's things and had already come across about 30 old diaries.

Piper and Phoebe had skimmed through these to establish when they were written. As much as they knew it would be interesting to read some of the entries and find out more about their sister, they also wanted to respect her privacy as much as was possible whilst going through her things.

Many of the journals so far had been written as a teenager and throughout high school, with the most recent one being her first year in college. In the high school entries, they had seen some references to Andy but had not read any further. Whilst they had lived through that particular romance, they didn't know all the details of what had gone on, nor did they want to. They knew how devastated Prue had really been when things had ended, even though she had tried to pretend differently. They now had no wish to read how bad it had been.

Phoebe placed the new box in front of them on the table and they each reached in to being the search again. Whilst Phoebe had been upstairs, Piper had brought in more tea and they each settled themselves down to continue the search.

The box was full of photographs, cards and letters. Hesitantly, each sister took up a pile of letters and began skimming through them to find out when they were written and who by. Many of the letters turned out to be love letters from Andy to Prue when they had been dating. Another pile was letters from high school friends who had gone off to college and kept in touch with Prue. Finally, there was a pile which was in Prue's own hand writing.

Both Piper and Phoebe recognised the writing straight away, and moved to sit closer so they could both see the first letter in the pile.

"Dear Andy, It's been 2 weeks now since you left for college and I am going crazy without you. I am so sorry for saying I thought we should stop seeing each other. I didn't want us to break up. I can't imagine my life without you in it and I love you so much. I know that things have been strained between us for months now. And I know that that is my fault. I didn't explain myself properly that night we argued and I should have done. I should have given you more credit and realised that you would have understood. After all you have always understood, one way or another, and you have always been so amazingly supportive of me. I'm sorry. Please forgive me Andy. I can't be without you. All my love as always, Prue xx"

Piper and Phoebe were stunned. Why was this letter amongst Prue's things? Why didn't Andy have it? Turning the envelope over they found their answer – because Prue had never sent it. As Piper opened her mouth to speak, the doorbell rang and both sisters knew it would be Andy and Morris. Dropping the letter onto the table, they both moved to the front door.

As the door opened, Andy looked up from staring at his shoes and greeted the sisters. Opening the door further for both men to enter, Piper led them back to the dining room where they had been working, offering refreshments on the way, momentarily forgetting that the letter still lay open on the table.

Pulling up a chair as Piper went to get more tea, Andy looked around the items strewn about the table. His eyes fell on a photo that had fallen out of the box and he reached out to pick it up. His fingers shook as he looked at it clearly and realised what it was. Him and Prue. At the Prom. As he looked at it more closely he realised that he had memorised every single detail of they way Prue had looked that night. He didn't need the photo to tell him the colour of her dress, the earrings she had worn, the corsage he had bought her or the way she had worn her hair – it was imprinted on his brain.

Setting it to the side, Andy took a closer look at everything else sitting on the table. His eyes finally fell on the letter and seeing his name, he picked it up and began reading. Phoebe was busy talking to Morris and hadn't noticed what Andy had found.

As Piper walked into the room with the tea, she almost dropped the tray when she saw Andy with the letter in hand. She had wanted to prepare him some way for what they had found, not for him to stumble across it with no warning.

Looking up at Piper, Phoebe and his partner, he directed his question to Piper. "What is this Piper? Where did all this stuff come from?"

"God, Andy I'm sorry I wanted to tell you before you saw it all. On the way home from the hospital I remembered that Prue always kept journals growing up and that all her old ones are stored here in the attic. I thought we might find some of the more recent ones and see if there is anything in there which could be used against Roger."

"We were just looking through this box when you arrived. I think this must be her box of stuff from when you guys were together. There are some letters I think you wrote to her when you were together, loads of pictures and mementos from places and then a pile of letters like the one in your hand. That is the only we looked at but there are a huge pile of them there." Piper explained, wondering what Andy was thinking having read the letter.

"Um, could you guys give me a few minutes? I need some time to, uh, you know, uh…" Andy couldn't even finish his sentence he was so stunned.

"Yes, of course. We'll be in the kitchen if you need us." Phoebe said, as the 3 of them headed out to the kitchen, leaving Andy surrounded by memories and surprises.

Picking up the next letter, Andy braced himself for what was to come.