"Lost in the Night"

Summary: The team reinvestigates the 1990 murder of a hooker, found in a dark alley with deadly hit on the head. Also, Lilly is visited by someone from her past.

Spoilers: Season 1, possibly early Season 2.

A/N: This fic takes place in a happy world in which Christina has never come to Philadelphia. Lilly and Scotty's friendship is as perfect as it used to be.

Thanks to AndreaB for beta-reading this! I love you girl -big hug-.

Chapter 1 – "The Case"

Philadelphia, January 15th, 1990

The night is cold, and so dark one can barely see two inches ahead. In a desert street, a young woman walks by the sidewalk. She's all dressed up, but wearing less clothes than she should in a winter night. A few other girls are there too, and anyone can easily tell this is a hooking point.

She spots a familiar face and runs to the person. "I told you never to come here again."

"You destroyed me." The person yells, between angry tears.

At a close-by dirty alley, a young woman's body is laying dead. Her face is bruised and with dark marks, and the right side of her head is covered in blood.

A few weeks later, at the Police Headquarters, a box is labeled and shelved among the unsolved cases: "Witter, M. - Jan 15th 1990"

Philadelphia, March 2005

Detective Lilly Rush arrives at the Police Headquarters. She's in a hurry, indicating that she's late. She tosses her suitcase on her desk, and takes off her jacket. "The damn alarm didn't go off," she says to her partner, Detective Scotty Valens, who's already sitting at his desk.

He smiles at her, "Good morning to you too, Lil."

Lilly is still so agitated by hurrying up to work, that she doesn't even notice Scotty's little joke. She glances over at Lieutenant Stillman's office and notices he's talking to an unknown man. "Boss got something for us?" She asks, sitting down.

Scotty shrugs and says, "I just got here." He glances over at Detective Nick Vera's desk. "Do you know who Stillman's talking to?"

Nick shakes his head. "Guy came in here 15 minutes ago. Showed Stillman something in a plastic bag, looked like some sort of jewelry, and Stillman took the guy to his office."

Detective Will Jeffries joins them and adds, "He looked pretty shaken up, scared and on the verge of tears."

As the detectives reflect on the possibilities, Stillman and the unknown man come out of the office. Stillman begins, "Detectives, this is Allan Welsh. He's got an interesting new lead on a case from 1990. Mr. Welsh, these are Detectives Rush, Valens, Vera and Jeffries." They all nod as a form of greeting.

"What is the new lead?" Lilly asks, already grabbing her notebook.

"I received this in the mail yesterday – it was my birthday." Allan hands Lilly a plastic bag with a jewel in it.

As Lilly studies it, Scotty asks, "What's that?"

"Looks like a bellybutton piercing," Lilly says, still studying the jewel. Each end of it has an almost blinding shine. She looks up at Allan for confirmation.

Allan nods, "Yeah, it is. It belonged to Mary Witter. She was murdered in January 15th, 1990."

"And your relationship with her was?" Lilly asked, noticing Allan's wedding ring.

"We were lovers," Allan answered, slightly embarrassed. He sighs, and goes on, "Mary was a hooker. I picked her up one day, about a year before she was murdered. I never used a hooker before her – and I never used another one after her."

"You two got emotionally involved," Lilly says.

"We were in love. But I was married and with a kid, Mary had her own kid too, and everything was too complicated. We were trying to work it out." Allan tells, tears dancing in his eyes.

"Any special reason why the case went cold?" Scotty asked.

"They couldn't find any suspects." Allan answered.

"A hooker is murdered, and there's no suspect? Now that's unbelievable." Nick shakes his head.

Allan nods, "I guess no one is really interested in the death of a hooker."

"Well, we are." Lilly says. "Now, tell me Mr. Welsh, can you think of anyone who could have sent this to you?" She asked.

"Or why they waited so long to do that?" Scotty added.

"I was the one who gave this piercing to Mary, so I guess that's why it was sent to me." Allan shakes his head. "But I can't think of anyone who could have done it."

Stillman turns to Allan and says, "It's fine for now, Mr. Welsh. We'll pull out the case file and have the crime scene unit take a look at the piercing, and then we'll probably go back to you with some questions."

"Thanks. You can talk to me at any time." He hands Stillman a business card, which indicates he's a financial advisor. "Please do your best. Mary deserves it."

Later, Lilly and Scotty are looking at the case's file. Lilly stars to read, "Mary Witter, 29 years old, found dead in an alley, near St. James' park. Cause of death, head trauma, caused by a strong hit to the head. Weapon undetermined."

Scotty reads on from another sheet of paper, "Mary had been arrested twice for hooking, and one time for marijuana possession, three years before, but nothing out of the ordinary." He stops for a while, reads a bit more, and goes on, "according to other hookers on that street, it was a regular work night. A stranger was seen talking to Mary a few minutes before she disappeared, but no one could identify the person, not even tell if it was a man or a woman."

Lilly shakes her head, worried with the lack of information to work on. "Mary had one son, Brian, 15 at the time, who believed his mother was killed by one of her clients." Lilly goes through a few sheets of paper, looking for something. "Well, that's weird. I can't find Allan Welsh's statement here."

Lilly and Scotty share a look. "He didn't give a statement." Scotty says, also surprised.

"Probably didn't want his dirty secret to come out." Lilly adds. A sound of footsteps announces that Nick and Will are joining them. Nick has a satisfied look in his face. "What have you got, Nick?" Lilly asks, hopeful Nick has some good leads.

"I looked over Mary's three arrests. In 1989, she was arrested with marijuana." Nick starts. Scotty and Lilly are pleading with their eyes, so he goes on, "She was then linked to a very famous drug dealer of the North area – Dan Smith. Mr. Smith, on his turn, has been also accused of dealing not only drugs, but also girls." He finishes.

"So, this guy is her pimp. She owes him money, doesn't pay, he kills her." Scotty offers.

"And then fifteen years later he sends Mary's piercing to her lover." Will says.

"Maybe to send him some kind of message." Lilly replies, thoughtful. "Let's check if Mr. Welsh was ever involved with drugs. He failed to mention he wasn't interviewed back in 1990, maybe one more thing slipped his mind."

"We'll look at that." Will says, nodding.

Nick and Will start to leave, but Lilly calls out, "Oh, CSU got back to us on the piercing?"

"They only found traces of the victim's blood in it." Will answers. "I'm going to see if someone ever pawned it in these 15 years."

Lilly holds up a picture of Mary. She had long black hair, and sad dark brown eyes. She wasn't stunningly beautiful, but she was far from being ugly either. "The file says if she had any family other than her son?" Lilly asks.

Scotty searches around quickly and answers, "She had parents, but they refused to give a statement. Said they didn't have a daughter anymore. Her neighbor said they kicked her out of their house when she got pregnant, at age 14. The kid's parent is unknown."

"14, pregnant and all alone." Lilly shakes her head, still looking at the picture. "She was lost."

To be continued
A/N part 2: I know, I know, I didn't put anything about Lilly's visitor... it just didn't fit in the story yet. Hang on until next chapter. ;)

I don't think I need to say, but... reviews make me happy!