A/N: Good news can never be repeated too much: this is a fic where Christina has never come to Philadelphia.
Thanks to AndreaB, my lovely beta-reader.
"Lost in the Night"
Chapter 4 – "The Betrayed Wife"
Later that day, the team is at the office, discussing the info they gathered on that day. "It looks like Mary was really scared of whoever was threatening her." Lilly says, after finishing her coffee. "It's weird, though, because the son told exactly the opposite about her last days of life."
"Maybe she was putting up an act to her son, to protect him." Will offers.
"Lil, did you check if Mary issued any passports on the weeks before her death?" Stillman asks.
"I'm waiting for the answer on that." Lilly answers.
Stillman nods, "OK." He looks around. "Where's Scotty?"
"He's getting the phone records of the Welshs." Nick answers. "After Allan told us his wife was aware of his affair, we thought it would be interesting to see who she called on the weeks before the murder."
"Here they are," Scotty says as he arrives, holding out some papers. "We got some work ahead. These people really liked to talk on the phone." He adds, showing what looks like about 50 pages of phone records.
The four detectives make almost desperate faces. Checking out phone records was one of the most boring parts of detective work. Stillman laughs at them. "Fine, we'll do that tomorrow morning, before visiting Abby Welsh." He sits on the edge of Lilly's desk. "How we are on the alibis?"
"Parents were in a charity dinner." Nick answers, checking the papers on his desk. "But the son and the whole Welsh family don't have alibis. The son claims he was alone at home like every night."
Will jumps in and finishes, "Allan claims he was drinking at a bar, while Abby says she was at home with their son Doug."
Lilly then points out, "We can't forget Dan Smith, Mary's boss."
Scotty shakes his head. "This will be a problem. At the original investigation, he showed a strong alibi, but being who he is... he'll always have a strong alibi."
"Ok, guys," Stillman interrupts. "I think it's enough for today. It's getting late, so let's call it a night." He gets up from Lilly's desk. "Tomorrow I want Lilly and Nick visiting Abby and Doug Welsh, and Will and Scotty tracking down Dan Smith."
Scotty looks bothered. "Why the switch?"
Stillman looks surprised at Scotty's question. "Well, Nick talked to Allan Welsh, so it's interesting that he interviews Abby too. And I want a woman talking to her, so..."
Scotty nods, apparently satisfied with the explanation. Everyone grabs their things and start to get ready to leave. "Why did you ask Stillman about the change?" Lilly asks Scotty, as he puts his coat on.
He shrugs. "Today when we were out doing an interview, we had a nice talk. I thought maybe we could do it again."
Lilly looks at him with a sarcastic smile. "And they say women are too curious."
Scotty makes a mocking offended look. "Who told you I wanted to know more about your ex? Maybe I wanted to share a secret with you." He says, as they walk out of the building.
"Yeah, right." Lilly says, laughing. "Don't worry, I'm sure there'll be plenty of time. Good night, Scotty." She says before taking her way home.
The next morning, all the detectives arrive early at the office. Nick and Lilly are going through the Welsh's phone records, while Jeffries is digging information on Dan Smith and Scotty is making some calls.
"Well, look at this," Nick begins, reading from the paper in front of him. "There are infinite calls from the Welsh house to Mary's, two weeks before her murder."
"It was her boyfriend's house," Scotty ponders. "It's not so weird."
"I don't think Welsh would be so stupid to call Mary from his house," Lilly says.
Nick nods, and adds, "Besides, the calls are all during the morning and the afternoon. Welsh was probably at his office."
Scotty nods. "That's easy to check out. I'll make some calls to his company."
"So, Abby was calling Mary." Lilly says. "Threatening her?"
"Seems likely." Will says. "Doesn't make her the killer, though. We still have to look up Dan Smith, very carefully."
"You already got something on him?" Scotty asks.
"Oh, yeah." Will answers, pointing to a huge pile of papers in his desk. "That is the man's record sheet." Scotty looks at the pile, his eyes widen. "We're going to have fun tonight, Scotty." Scotty smiles weakly, while Lilly and Nick hold a laugh.
"I see things are going well here." Stillman says, as he approaches the detectives. He's holding some papers as well. He shows the papers to the detectives and begins, "The Immigration Department sent us this. Mary issued passports for her and her son Brian, and requested visas to Canada."
"Permanent visas?" Lilly asks, surprised, as Stillman hands her the papers he brought. "But you need to prove you've got a permanent job for that."
"And she did." Stillman says. "She got a job as a secretary in a big fashion company. And, the most interesting part is, that she did all of this two months before her death."
"That's way before the threats started." Will points out. "She was going to leave anyway."
"It doesn't make sense. She issued passports for her and her son, and at the last minute, she wanted to leave him here." Scotty says. He's as confused as everyone in the room.
"But something made her rush her plans." Lilly says. "She started to get the threats, and then she decided to use this plan she had. Do we know if she had bought airplane tickets?"
Nick searches around in his desk, and picks up a paper. "She had made reservations for a flight to Montreal on the 20th of that month, two seats."
"OK, we won't get anywhere from this. Nick, Lil, go talk to Abby Welsh. Maybe if she threatened Mary, Mary told her something about leaving the country."
Lilly and Nick nod, and leave. Stillman looks at Scotty and Will and says, "Now you two, see if you find anything interesting in Dan Smith's records."
"I think we can say he had a pretty interesting life," Scotty mutters, bothered, as he picks up the first sheet of the pile on Will's desk.
After over half an hour of driving, Lilly and Nick arrive at the Welsh's house. It's a beautiful house, and extremely big for a family of three people.
The detectives walk to the front door and knock. A woman in her early 50's opens the door. She's dressed in fancy clothes and her hair is perfectly styled.
"Detectives Vera and Rush. Philly PD." Nick says, showing his badge. "Abby Welsh, I presume?"
The woman nods. "How can I help you?"
"We're looking into an old homicide." Lilly answers. "Mary Witter."
"Oh." Abby mutters. She looks disgusted at the mention of that name. "Well, come in, detectives." She leads Nick and Lilly to the living room, as she says, "I don't have anything to do with that woman and I don't see how I could help you, but since I don't want to be accused of not talking, you can ask anything."
"I'm glad you're feeling cooperative, Mrs. Welsh. Let's go straight to the point, then." Nick says, as he sits down and pulls out his notebook. "So, can you explain the several calls made from your house to the victim's house on the weeks before her murder?"
"You looked into our phone calls?" Abby exclaims, surprised. "Well, that's invading our privacy!"
"No, it isn't, Mrs. Welsh." Lilly explains, calmly. "Your husband gave us permission to look into all your personal data, such as – bank accounts, phone records."
"My husband?" Abby looks shocked. "What does he have to do with that?"
"Your husband was the one who asked us to reopen this case, Mrs. Welsh." Lilly says.
"You're still feeling cooperative, Mrs. Welsh?" Nick asks, sarcastically.
Abby takes a few moments. "Of course I am. It seems like you already know about my husband's dirty activities, so it can't get any worse." She says, back to her cold attitude again.
"So can you explain to us why you were threatening Mary Witter?"
"Threatening? No, dear, I was just warning her of the dangers of stealing other people's properties." Abby answers, with a cynical smile.
Flashback to 1990
Mary is at her house, it the middle of the afternoon. Her phone rings. "Hello." Mary answers the phone, casually.
"Hello, Mary Witter." Abby's voice comes out intimidating on the other hand of the line.
"Who's talking?" Mary asks, suspicious.
"The wife of the man you're seeing." Abby answers. Mary is speechless. She holds the phone for a few seconds and hangs up.
After a few seconds, the phone rings again. "What do you want from me?" Mary asks.
"Do I really need to say?" Abby asks. "I want you to leave my husband."
"I'm sorry," Mary answers, in a brush of confidence. "We love each other, and you can't do anything about it."
"I don't think you understand this, my dear," Abby replies, with a sarcastic laugh. "You see, I know who you are. And I know there are a lot of people who don't know what you do for a living." She makes a pause, and you can hear Mary's breath on the other side of the phone. "And I know there's an special someone, that you'd rather die than see that person finding out the truth."
"No, you can't..." Mary mutters.
"Oh, yes I can." Abby goes on, knowing she's winning. "And it's going to be easier than I thought, since that person goes to school with my son."
Mary hangs up the phone, crying, while Abby is smiling triumphantly.
Back to 2005
"That was mean." Nick says.
"Well, love is war." Abby replies, calmly.
"So, did you go through with your threat?" Lilly asks, shocked but relieved to apparently be on the right track.
"I didn't have to." Abby explains. "I talked to her a couple more times; she said she was going to leave the country anyway, in less than a month, and make a fresh start for her and her son. I had my private investigator look into it and she really had asked for visas to Canada, so I decided to wait." She pauses. "And then she got murdered."
"And you don't feel bad about destroying a woman's life?" Lilly asks.
"Hey, wait a second." Abby says, offended. "I know she's your victim, but she was definitely not a saint. Besides that, I didn't murder her. And she wasn't even going to leave because of me. My investigator said she applied for the visas before I called her for the first time." She watches Lilly and Nick for a few moments. "And for the look in your faces, you already know that."
"Did you tell anyone about Mary?" Lilly asks, ignoring Abby's last comment.
"No, no one knows, even until today." Abby answers. "It's not something I like to brag about."
"One more thing, Mrs. Welsh." Nick says, "Was your son friends with Brian Witter at school?"
"They were in the same class, so they knew each other." Abby answers. "Once I asked Doug about Brian, just to check what story the woman was telling around, and Doug told me Brian said his mom was the secretary of the president of some company." She laughs. "You may not believe it, but I felt sorry for that kid."
"Talking about kids, where's your son?" Lilly asks.
"He's working. He's a lawyer, and his office is here, but he's in court now." Abby says, her eyes glowing when talking about her son.
"OK. Thanks, Mrs. Welsh." Lilly says, getting up.
"We might be in touch." Nick adds.
"I've got nothing to hide." Abby replies with a confident smile.
The detectives are now outside the house, walking to their car. "Now, that one is too confident, in my opinion." Nick says, with a smirk.
"That's true, but I tried to pick up hints of lies in her face and I couldn't." Lilly says.
"You're buying her story?" Nick asks, surprised.
"I don't know yet." Lilly answers, thoughtful. "I don't think she murdered Mary, but I think that she was somehow responsible for her death."
"I know what you mean." Nick nods. "I hope you're wrong, though. It would be much easier for us if she simply killed her."
Lilly can't help a small smile as they get in the car.
Now, Lilly and Nick are heading back to the Police Headquarters. Nick is driving, and as they're about to turn the corner on the Headquarter's street, Lilly says, "Nick, drop me off here."
"You're not going back to the office?" Nick asks, surprised.
"I'll go later. It's just that's already 1:50 p.m. and I'm a bit hungry." She explains, trying to sound casual.
"Hm. OK." Nick says as he parks the car in front of a small restaurant. He's curious, but keeps his mouth shut. "Here you are. You want me to tell anything to the boss?"
"No, thanks, Nick." Lilly says, as she opens the door and gets out. "Just tell him I'll be back in an hour, probably less. If you need me, I'll have my cell on." Nick nods, Lilly closes the car door and he drives off.
Lilly walks into the restaurant. It's crowded, and she searches around for an empty table. "You didn't come yesterday," a voice surprises her, coming from a table by her side. It's Patrick.
Lilly jumps up, caught off guard. "Oh, you're already here." She says, still standing up.
"Yes, and I was here yesterday too." Patrick answers.
"Something came up." She offers, mentally kicking herself for feeling she owned him an explanation.
"Aren't you going to sit down?" He asks, gesturing towards the chair, his eyes never leaving Lilly.
Lilly then realizes she's still standing up and takes the chair facing Patrick. A moment of silence ensues until a waitress approaches them. "Are you ready to order?" She girl asks.
"Let me try," Patrick says, with a smile. "A vegetarian burger and a bottle of water."
Lilly nods, slightly bothered, and simply says, "Sounds fine."
Patrick turns to the waitress and says, "Two veggie burgers, one bottle of water and one soda." The girl writes down her order and leaves to get it. Patrick turns to Lilly, "I guess some things never change, right?"
"I don't have time to waste, Patrick." Lilly says.
Patrick nods. "Well, this is a progress from the last time we were in the same room. We're been civilized and you're giving me a chance to speak." Patrick says
"Maybe the years made me a softie." Lilly says, sarcastically. She can feel her anger starting to take over. They're interrupted by the waitress, who brings their burgers and drinks. Lilly stops, presses her fingers against her forehead and tucks a piece of hair behind her ear. "I'm starting to think this was a bad idea."
"No, it wasn't, Lil." Patrick says, reaching for her hand. Se tries to pull it, but without much effort. "We can't keep living the way we are now. Without talking. Not with what we had."
"You've hurt me, Patrick. In more ways than you know." She shakes her head. "You can come here, say and do whatever you want, it's worthless. Because it'll never be real again, Patrick. This, us being here, two people who used to be together having lunch, it's very up-to-date, but it's a lie. And you know it."
Another moment of silence. They stare down at their untouched food. Lilly looks around for a while at the people in the other tables. She wants her eyes to be everywhere but looking at Patrick. "Lilly, I know I screwed up. But I want to make it right."
Lilly laughs. "Can you erase the past?" She looks at him and there's a tear waving in her right eye. Suddenly her cell phone rings and she's back to normal. "Rush." She answers the phone. Her face now has a worried expression. "OK. I'll be right there." She gets up quickly.
"What happened?" Patrick says. "You can't go now."
"The important things never change," she says, with a smile. She tosses a ten dollar bill on the table. "This should cover my part."
She runs off the restaurant, and takes the direction of the Police Headquarters.
About ten minutes later, Lilly arrives at the Police Headquarters. Scotty is waiting for her near her desk. "Where's everyone?" She asks.
Scotty points to Stillman's office. Lilly looks and sees Stillman, Nick and Will there. "You missed all the excitement while you were gone." He says, making a gesture for Lilly to follow him inside the office. "Allan Welsh came by. He's at one of the interrogation rooms right now."
"What happened?" Lilly asks.
"Apparently he was sent another gift." Scotty answers, as they walk towards Stillman's office.
When they get inside, Stillman hands her an envelope. "We were just waiting for you. Allan Welsh found this in his car's window about an hour ago."
Lilly opens the envelope and takes a paper from the inside. She unfolds the paper, and reads from it, "You've got your first warning. Wasn't it enough? Stay away from anything related to her, or you'll have the same fate she had."
There's a moment of silence while the detectives digest the content of the letter. "It looks like Mary's murderer is pretty close." Scotty says.
"And he's pissed off." Lilly adds, staring at the paper.
To be continued
A/N: So... what did you guys think about Patrick? There might be more of him. I hope the case isn't getting too confusing... and I hope you haven't figured out who the killer is yet!
Big hug to:
Snow Ivy – Thanks! I needed to write some L/S friendship, because their friendship is (or was) so nice. Don't worry about Patrick. You won't be disappointed.
Spikey – Sorry about the no L/S, but feel free to read as far as you want into the scenes. That's the idea... I hope you enjoyed the scene in this chapter.
Katie – Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying everything.
WorldsGreatest – I'm glad you like it so far. Be sure to drop me another review when you finish reading, please.