Elizabeth pushed the door open, and ran straight into the chest of a tall red haired man.
The man reached out to catch her by the shoulders before she could lose her balance.
"I am so sorry," Elizabeth said, attempting to move around him.
With his hands still on her shoulders, the man looked down at her face, as clear shock took over his stern features.
"Elisa?" He asked her.
"What?" Elizabeth said, looking at his face for the first time. She couldn't believe her luck, she'd run into this man a few minutes before, and here she was doing it again. "Oh, God, I am so sorry," she said, breathless. "I didn't mean to run into you again!"
"Elisa," Matt said, still gripping her shoulders tightly. "It's me. Matt. Your partner."
"You know her?" Margaret blurted out, still clutching her bag tightly.
"Yes," Matt said, smiling. He looked his partner in the eyes. "Your name is Elisa Maza, and there are a lot of people looking for you."
Elizabeth suddenly felt a headache bloom behind her eyes. "Partner?" She asked, slowly. "Partner as in… are we dating or something?"
Matt barked out a surprised laugh.
"What's going on?" Margaret asked, suddenly aware of the theater full of people, watching this drama unfold. "Look, uh...Can we take this out to the hallway?"
Matt blinked, seeming to come back to the present. "Sure," he said. He needed to find Maria anyway.
Together, the trio moved out into the quiet hallway.
Matt looked farther down the hallway and spotted Captain Chavez. He motioned her over. Turning back to Elisa where she stood in the oversized plain brown tweed coat and the bright blue stocking cap, He wasn't surprised that he hadn't recognized her the first time she'd run into him in the lobby. She's always been thin, but she'd lost some weight that she couldn't really afford to. Her face was thinner, and her hair was so short that the cap had almost completely hidden it from sight.
"Matt," Maria greeted as she approached the group. He was standing there with two women, both had their backs to her. "Did you find Miss Wheeler?"
The red haired woman turned to face her. "I'm Margaret Wheeler."
Maria held out her badge, "Maria Chavez, I'm a captain with the NYPD. I need to ask you some questions…"
"Maria," Matt interrupted with a smile. Gently, he turned Elisa to face her.
Maria gaped at her god-daughter. After so long of looking for her, afraid to believe that she was still alive yet not wanting to believe that she could possibly be dead, seeing her was a shock.
"Elisa?" She breathed.
Margaret looked from the woman detective to the man who still had a grip on Elizabeth's shoulders. "What's going on?" She asked, completely lost.
Maria shook herself out of her temporary stupor. "I'm sorry, Miss Wheeler, but we need the two of you to come to the station for a little bit," Maria said, noticing for the first time that there was no recognition in Elisa's eyes. "We believe that you can help us piece together some of the blanks surrounding a missing NYPD detective, Elisa Maza."
Margaret looked at Elizabeth, surprised. "You're a detective?"
Elizabeth… Elisa… held a hand to her forehead. "Maybe," She said quietly. Then she looked at the nicely dressed detective in front of her. "But I need to make a stop first," She said, turning to look at Margaret who was the only familiar face that she could focus on. "There's someone at the bookstore with Sharon who is claiming to be my sister."
Margaret blinked at her. Then she smiled. "When it rains, it pours," She said, threading her arm through the crook of her friend's. She glanced at the two detectives. "Can we make a stop first?"
"Of course," Maria said, turning to lead the way to the parked police vehicle in front of the theater's entrance. "If Beth is there, she can come with us."
"Beth?" Elisa said, weakly. She looked at Margaret desperately. She was so confused. Her head was pounding and her chest was feeling tight.
"Officers," Margaret said, pulling Elisa to a stop. She led Elisa to a bench that was lining the theater lobby walls. "We need to stop for a moment."
Elisa collapsed onto the hard seat of the bench, and margaret gently pushed her head down.
"Breathe, Elizabeth," Margaret said softly. "In and out."
Elisa closed her eyes, breathing slow and deep. "My head feels like it's about to explode."
"It's no wonder, with everything happening so fast right now. Breathe, nice and slow. Here, give me your phone," Margaret said. She took the small black phone from Elisa's hands, dialed a number and handed it to the officers. "This will get you to the bookstore. If Elizabeth's… Elisa's… sister is there, can you have her meet us at whatever station we are going? I think it would be best just to go to one place. She needs a little bit to process before any more surprises."
"Agreed," Maria said, looking in concern at the woman who was her Goddaughter. When a voice answered from the other end of the line, Maria spoke, "This is Maria Chavez from the NYPD. Is Beth Maza there with you?"
