"Lost in the Night"
Spoilers: mid-Season 2.
A/N: As I've mentioned, Christina hasn't come to Philadelphia, but it doesn't mean I can't play with any info she gave on the show.
Again, thanks for AndreaB for beta-reading.
Chapter 2 – "The Son"
A little later that morning the detectives were finishing the reading of the case's file, and going through the statements from 1990. Then, they would start visiting the people related to the case.
"We have very little to work with, Boss," Scotty said, leaning back on his chair. "Nothing is very useful from these statements."
"We could toss all those papers in the garbage," Nick began. "I mean, the girl is a hooker, and her fellow workers only say nice things about her? I don't buy it."
"It was definitely not a random murder." Will said, getting off the phone. "No one tried to pawn the piercing in all those years. An ordinary thief wouldn't miss the chance of making a few bucks out of a jewel like this." He said, pointing to the evidence bag in which the piercing was.
"She lived in a dangerous world." Scotty said. "People can't speak the truth or don't want to be related to her."
Lilly just watched their discussion, analyzing each of her co-workers thoughts, along with her own.
"You got any theories, Lil?" Scotty asked.
"She was living a life of lies," Lilly began. "Neighbors, her son's teachers, friends... no one knew what she did for a living."
"Probably someone couldn't deal with the truth." Stillman finished her thought. He nodded, "We need to compare the stories she told around. Lil, Scotty, you go talk to the son, see where he leads us. Jeffries, Vera, you go pay a quick visit to Mary's parents. Don't push them, and try to read something from their silence. And then, go have another talk with Allan Welsh."
The detectives nodded. Lilly got up and started putting all the papers back into the case's box. Meanwhile, her desk phone rang, and Nick answered it for her. "Rush, it's the reception. There's someone here to talk to you." He said, holding the phone.
"You expecting someone?" Scotty asked, putting on his coat.
"No." Lilly answered, and turning to Nick, "Nick, can you say I'm leaving and I'll meet this person on my way out?"
"Sure," Nick said, going back to the phone.
Lilly grabbed her coat and started to leave with Scotty. Then she quickly turned back and said, "Nick, did you get a name for that person?"
"Yeah," He answered. "Patrick Anderson."
Lilly had no reaction for a few seconds. Then, her eyes widened and her whole body tensed up. "Lil," Scotty called, surprised with the effect that name had on her. "Shall we go?"
"Yeah, yeah," Lilly answered, faintly. She began to walk to the elevator, "Let's go."
The ride on the elevator was incredibly quiet. Scotty figured he shouldn't ask anything yet. Maybe it wasn't anything serious or bad, and Lilly was just surprised. It wasn't like he could expect her to react like most people when she was surprised. Or in any other situation.
As they left the elevator, Lilly headed to the reception. Her eyes wandered around, looking for a familiar face. But the last thing you could say was that was an eager search.
"Lilly!" A voice called out from near the entrance door. A tall, dark-haired man, apparently in his mid-thirties, walked up to Lilly. "Hey," he said. Out of his green eyes came an undecipherable glow.
"Hey," Lilly said back. She was trying to sound normal, but a more perceptive observer would notice the brush of sadness on her voice.
An uncomfortable silence came next. "I'm going to go get the car," Scotty said, thinking maybe he was standing in the way of their conversation.
"Oh, sorry," Lilly said, and sounding a bit more like her usual self. "Patrick, this is Scotty Valens, my partner. Scotty, this is Patrick Anderson."
Scotty kept his eyes on Lilly for an extra second; hoping to hear Patrick's qualification, like his own was given. As this wasn't going to happen, he shook Patrick's hand, and left.
After Scotty left, Lilly turned to Patrick and gave him a cold look, "What the hell are you doing here?" All her sadness seemed to have been replaced by anger.
A little shocked by Lilly's words, it took a while for Patrick to formulate an answer. "I wanted to talk to you. I moved back to Philly," He said, offering her a tiny smile.
If the news affected Lilly, you couldn't tell. "And?" She shrugged.
"And I was hoping we..." He hesitated at Lilly's persistent cold stare. "...that we could talk." After a silent pause, he added, "After all, we never did."
Lilly sighed. Dealing with her past wasn't in her plans for the day. Or for her whole life. "I don't think this is a good idea." She took a few steps around, and glanced outside, where Scotty was already waiting for her. All this time she could feel Patrick's eyes all over her.
"Look, I can't..." His pleading, puppy dog eyes. "I have to go to work." Patrick took a step closer to her, but Lilly took one step back. "There's a cafeteria at the end of this street," she said. "I usually go there for lunch around 1 p.m." She then walked to the doors and left the building.
Patrick stood there at the reception, smiling like we do when we look at an old picture, from a happy moment of our past.
Scotty was very curious about Lilly's visitor. But she, as usual, wasn't really open for personal questions. Maybe, if the interview with the son was productive, she'd be in better mood later.
They parked the car in front of the house. Brian still lived in his mother's house. The house was now looking old and neglected, contrasting with the fresh painted houses around it. It was a low class neighborhood, but it didn't look like a bad place to live.
Lilly and Scotty walked up to the door. They knocked, and as they waited they noticed the lawn that probably hadn't been mowed in a long time. Lilly's attention was caught by the black drapes on the living room windows, which were all closed up. She felt the sunrays on her skin and imagined how hot it would be inside that house.
Brian opened the door, seeming surprised that he had any visitors. Lilly and Scotty flashed their badges and Scotty said, "We're Detectives Valens and Rush, Homicide. We want to talk about your mother." Brian looked extremely bothered, but let them inside.
According to the case file, Brian was 30, but if Lilly and Scotty didn't have that information, they'd say he was at least 40. He wore and old jeans and a t-shirt, and he had an irregular grown beard. His eyes bore the same sadness that his mother's eyes did.
"I can't believe someone remembered a poor hooker, after all this time." Brian said, sitting on the couch, and grabbing a can of beer. "You guys are thirsty? I got more in the fridge." He offered.
"Thanks," Lilly shook her head, and so did Scotty. Lilly then began, "Brian, we re-opened your mother's case, and we want your help."
"It's been 15 years...what happened?"
"New evidence came along," Lilly said. She wasn't going to let him know about the piercing.
"What can I do?" Brian asked.
"Let's start with enemies. Did your mom have any?" Lilly asked, grabbing her pen and notebook.
"Not that I knew of."
"What about a boyfriend?" Lilly asked.
"Again, not that I knew of."
"Did you notice any changes on her behavior or on her routine, on the days prior to her death?" Scotty asked.
"No, nothing special." Brian answered, taking another gulp of beer.
Brian's nonchalant attitude was starting to get on Scotty's nerves. "Are you sure you lived on the same house as your mother? Did you at least say good morning to her when you woke up?" He asked in an angry tone. Lilly looked at him, ready to intervene if he crossed the line.
"Look, my mother lived a double life." Brian asked, putting the beer can down. "She could be acting weird, she could be normal, I can't tell. I don't feel like I really knew her."
"Just give us anything, Brian." Lilly said, trying to get his attention off Scotty. "A name, a strange fact, anything."
Brian thought for a few seconds. "In the last two weeks before her death she was strange, I guess."
"Strange how?" Lilly asked, her attention totally focused.
"Too happy," Brian answered.
Flashback to 1990
Brian is arriving home from school, while Mary is at the kitchen, making lunch. She's singing a song, happily. She's so caught up in her thoughts she doesn't notice Brian walking in.
As he enters the kitchen, he's about to say something but he glances at few papers on the table. Among them, there's what looks like to be two passports. He walks near the table but as he's about to pick them up he kicks the chair in front of him, and the noise brings Mary back to earth.
"Bri!" She says, quickly picking up all the papers from the table. "You're already home, honey, how nice." She finishes to put everything in an envelope. "We'll have lunch together."
"What are these papers, Mom?" Brian asks.
"Oh, nothing important, honey...work stuff." Mary says, checking up the food, and not letting go of the envelope.
"But one of the passports had your picture in it." Brian pushes.
Mary laughs. "Oh, Bri. That would've been nice, I'd love to go on a vacation. But you know we can't know, with the house mortgage to pay." She smiles at Brian. "These are the passports of Mr. Smith and his wife."
Mary then puts the lid on the pot and says to Brian, stroking his hair. "Keep an eye on the food, will you baby? I'll be right back." She then disappears and Brian can hear her steps on the stairs, while she's humming the same song from before.
Back to 2005
"I looked for that envelope several times, but I couldn't find it." Brian said.
"You still think one of those passports belonged to your mother?" Lilly asked.
Brian nodded. "But I couldn't see who the other passport belonged to."
"And you don't think it belonged to you? That maybe your mom had plans of moving somewhere else?" Scotty asked.
"Like I said, I didn't know my mom that well. Maybe the passport was really for me, but I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't." Brian said, and then got up from the couch. "You see, my mom, she... she looked like she had found someone. And later, she was paying less attention to me. She didn't even check my homework anymore." He sighed. "I don't think I belonged in her plans."
Lilly and Scotty thought they had gotten enough for now. They got up and Lilly glanced around the living room. On one corner, there was a bunch of computers and electronic devices. "You work here?" She asked.
"Yeah," Brian nodded, glancing at the computers. "I build websites."
Lilly nodded. She and Scotty shook Brian's hands and left.
"Well, it seems like our St. Mary is history. The unlucky girl, hard-working woman, was a sloppy mother." Scotty sighed.
"Well, no one is perfect." Lilly said as they reached the car. "But I think you're jumping to conclusions."
"I don't know, Lilly," Scotty said as they were already seated in the car. "With the life she had, she probably is responsible for digging her own grave."
Lilly shrugged, looking outside the window. "We'll see." She then turned to Scotty, "You, on the other hand, are very negative about her."
"I just don't want you to get disappointed later, if she doesn't turn out the way you thought she was." Scotty said, starting the car.
"Well, I appreciate your concern, Scotty. But I'm a big girl and I think I can get over it." She smiled. "If that happens in this case."
Scotty realized Lilly was very satisfied with the results of their interview. As they drived, she was looking outside the window, very concentrated in her thoughts. Occasionally, she would smile her "winning smile", the one she smiled whenever she felt she was on the right track during an investigation. One moment, when she looked like she had returned to Earth for a while, Scotty said, "You seem happy," He glanced at her, "is it about Brian's interview?"
"Yeah, I really think he gave us something to work on, with the passports. If she was thinking about running way, it could have something to do with her death." Lilly said.
"Makes sense," Scotty nodded. "Brian might be hiding something, though. He seemed too suspicious about his mother's intentions." He thought for a moment, and added. "But he didn't seem to know about his mother's romance with Allan Welsh."
"Everybody seems to be hiding something so far." Lilly sighed. "Well, they can make it harder for us. But not impossible."
To Be Continued
A/N: So, what do you guys think? I'm curious to know your opinions about Patrick, and the case. Please review!
Special thanks to:
Snow Ivy – You review really brightened up my day when I read it. I hope I didn't let you down with this chapter.
Brandi – I'm glad you enjoy my stories:)
Braveheart – A Christina-free world is definitely a better world. Thanks for mentioning the writing style – I'm still testing to see which one works better for case files.
Joutsensydn – ha! It had to be you. Thanks!
AndreaB – you reviewed! Thanks!hug