A/N: I don't get tired of saying it: in this fic, Christina Rush hasn't come to Philadelphia recently.
A big thanks to my beta-reader, AndreaB.
"Lost in the Night"
Chapter 5 – "The Boss"
The detectives are now watching Allan Welsh in the interrogation room, through the glass mirror. At the other side, Allan is sitting down, leaned down on the table, his head in his hands.
"Who do you think did this?" Scotty asks Lilly.
She shrugs. "Someone directly related to Mary. Someone who's passional about this whole situation."
"We'll need to revise all our evidence and interviews, and see where we missed something." Scotty says.
"Let's take one step at a time," Stillman says. "Maybe we didn't miss anything yet, so far, let's stick to our previous plans. You and Jeffries go visit Dan Smith. Lil, Vera and I can handle this situation here."
"OK." Will and Scotty nod, and leave.
"Lil, let's go talk to him." Stillman says, opening the door from the observing room. Lilly nods and follows him outside, leaving Nick alone to watch the interview.
"Hey, Allan." Lilly says as they enter the interrogation room.
"Why am I here?" Allan asks, and he looks scared. "You don't honestly think I had anything to do with this, do you?"
"Calm down, Allan." Stillman says, as he and Lilly sit down, on the opposite site of the table where Allan is sitting. "We just need to ask you a few questions, because this letter is the closest we've been to this killer."
Lilly nods in agreement and turns her gaze to Allan. She says in a very calm voice, "Tell us what happened today."
Allan sighs and begins, "It wasn't much out of the ordinary. I was going to spend the whole day with a client, but I forgot one report and had to go back to the office. I usually use the company's parking lot, but since I was making a quick stop I left my car on the street. I was back in less than 15 minutes, and found the letter in my car window. I asked the people nearby but no one saw anything." He runs his hand through his partially gray hair. "That's it."
Stillman and Lilly reflect on Allan's story. It doesn't give them much to work on. "Anything unusual happened, since you came here and asked us to reopen the case? Phone calls, stalkers?" Stillman asks.
"No, nothing." Allan answers. "And I have been paying more attention to everything."
"This letter was written in red marker ink." Lilly points to the paper. "Does this mean anything?"
Allan nods, "Well, red was Mary's favorite color, so I suppose it means something."
Lilly nods, as if Allan confirmed her thoughts. She watches Allan closely and notices the dark circles around his eyes have grown bigger since the last time she saw him. "The person who wrote this probably knows where you live. Do you have anywhere else you can go?" Lilly asks, trying to offer him an encouraging smile.
Allan shrugs. "I'll go to a hotel. I can't go back home anyway, I heard you talked to my wife today."
"You think she'll bring you any problems?" Lilly asks.
Allan smiles. "No, but it doesn't matter. I won't live that lie anymore."
They get up and leave the interrogation room. "We'll have a police officer standing outside your hotel, just for precaution. Call us if anything strange happens." Lilly says before Allan leaves. Nick joins her and Stillman.
"Be careful, Lilly." Stillman says in a warning voice. "He's still a suspect."
"He didn't do it." Lilly says.
"Says who?" Nick asks with a smirk.
"My gut." Lilly answers dryly, as she takes her place at her desk. "You always say a good detective must be able to trust their gut." She says to Stillman.
"Trust your gut, Lil, but don't believe in it blindly." Stillman says as he goes to his office. Lilly doesn't reply, only nods, as she bits her lower lip worriedly.
"You know," Nick begins, as he sits down at his desk, "Jeffries told me that the phone records from Dan Smith showed calls from the Welsh house in the last weeks. They're going to question Smith about this."
Lilly leans in her table, in Nick's direction, interested. "How come this didn't show up before, when we were looking at the Welsh's phone records?" She asks.
"The calls came from a different line. The one in Doug Welsh's office." Nick answers.
Lilly smiles. "Well, the son. This is interesting."
"You had any luck with Mary's job in Canada?" Nick asks.
Lilly shakes her head. "What I could find out is that she was going to be the secretary of the president of a clothes' factory. But since here she told everyone she was the "secretary" of a big business man, I have a feeling there's something dirty behind her new job."
"Maybe she was still under Dan Smith's wings." Nick offers.
Lilly nods. "Question is: was it because she wanted, or because he didn't give her another choice?" She glances at the papers in his desk. "So, what are you looking into?"
"Brian Witter and Doug Welsh." Nick answers. "Just checking if they were friends back in 1990, and if they kept in touch after high school."
Lilly nods, and both detectives concentrate in their work.
Meanwhile, Scotty and Will arrive at Mary's old neighborhood, where Dan Smith still lives, not very far from the house Mary used to live and where her son Brian lives now. Smith's house, however, is at least three times bigger than Mary's. The size of the house, along with its vivacious-colored, freshly-painted walls, contrast with the old and humble houses around it.
The detectives walk up to the front door, on a beautifully decorated porch. As Scotty is about to knock on the door, it swings open, to reveal a tall black man, with a self-confident smile and eyes that glared street-experience. "You must be the detectives." He says.
"Yes," Will answers. "Jeffries and Valens."
He signs for them to get inside, "I'm Dan Smith. Please come in."
Scotty and Will, knowing Dan Smith is probably in his late 60's, are surprised with the man's joviality. The three men sit down on Smith's office. "So, you're looking into Mary's murder. I'll help you with everything I can." He pauses, and sighs, "Poor Allan, I knew one day he would go back to this. He won't have peace until this is cleared out."
Scotty and Will are caught by surprise that Smith knows it was Allan who reopened the investigation. "How do you know-?" Scotty can't help asking.
Dan Smith waves his hand to Scotty in a "never-mind" gesture. "Well, detectives, I had to do some research on your work. Needed to know where I was getting myself into."
"We're homicide detectives, Mr. Smith. We're not here to busy you on anything." Will says.
"Unless you killed Mary, of course." Scotty adds, with a smirk.
"I could never have done that." Smith says, seriously. "Mary was like a daughter to me."
"A daughter?" Will asks, suspiciously. "You encourage your daughters to prostitute themselves?"
Smith shakes his head. "I don't encourage anyone to do anything, detective. Most of these girls already made their choice, or better, already resigned to their lack of choice. I only offer them a helping hand."
"And that's what you did to Mary?" Scotty asks.
"I found Mary in a street not far away from here, when she was fifteen, with a newborn baby in her arms, and she had just been beaten up by her first client." Smith explains. "I took her in, taught her a few life lessons, and gave her a chance on my business. That's everything I could have done for her." He has a nostalgic smile as he remembers this.
"So your relationship was purely professional?" Will asks, in a slightly ironic tone of voice.
"If you're asking me if I ever slept with Mary, then no, I haven't. Like I said, Mary was like a daughter to me. And I don't say that of all my girls." Smith answers with an offended expression.
"So," Scotty goes on, "What can you tell us about Mary's last weeks of life? Anything unusual in her behavior?"
Smith nods, thoughtful. "As a matter of fact, yes. Mary had been nervous and scared for a few weeks."
"Did she tell you why?" Scotty asks.
"No, and that got me worried." Smith answers. "In a business like this, my girls have to tell me when anything weird is going on with them. Because even the most innocent fact or person can bring you trouble."
"But Mary was being secretive." Will notes.
"Yeah," Smith says, leaning back in his chair. "She came here one night, and we had a talk I never thought we would."
"What did she say?" Scotty asks.
"She came here to charge me for a promise I had made fifteen years back." Smith answers, looking outside the window.
Flashback to 1990
The rain is pouring outside when Dan Smith opens the door of his house. It's a different, smaller house than the one he lives now, but comfortable nevertheless. He's surprised with whom his sees standing outside. "Mary! Oh my God, get inside." He takes her rain-soaked coat and leads her to the living room. "What happened?"
"I'm sorry, Dan." Mary begins, nervous. "I know I should be working, but the rain is heavy, and I... I really need to talk to you."
"Well, you could come here tomorrow morning, and have spent the night at home, with your son." Smith says, sitting next to Mary on the couch.
"No, this is really urgent." Mary says, tucking her wet long hair behind her ears. "And anyway, Brian thinks I'm in an office, making calls to your business partners in Japan. Rain is not exactly an excuse to go home."
Smith nods, with a faint smile. It was always hard for him to see the effort Mary did to hide her real job from her son. "What do you need, Mary?"
Mary sighs deeply, and begins, "You remember the night we met? When you found me in the street and brought me to your house?"
"Of course I do." Smith answers. "The rain was pouring, just like today."
"Do you remember the promise you made to me that day?" Mary asks, her words always rushed with nervousness.
Smith thinks for a few seconds, and studies Mary's face. "That I would help you whenever you needed?" He offers.
"That if one day I wanted to get out of this life, you would help me." She says, seriously.
Smith stares at her, taken aback by her words. "You want to get out?" He asks, getting up and starting to pace the room. "How soon?"
"Doesn't have to be immediately." She answers, calmer with Smith's apparently positive answer. "Just in time to work everything out properly."
"OK. I'll see what I can do. Do you want to leave Philadelphia?" He asks, with a twinkle of sadness in his voice.
"Yes." Mary nods. "I want to go as far as possible." Smith just nods. Mary gets up and hugs him. "Thanks, Dan. I know you wouldn't disappoint me."
"Now, are you going to tell me what's going on?" He asks, not completely letting go of the embrace.
Mary's smile fades away and she answers, "It's nothing. I just feel it's time to make a change in my life."
"Mary..." Smith begins, warningly.
"It's the truth, Dan. There's nothing else behind it." She says, trying to convince him with a smile.
Dan smiles back, but he doesn't look convinced. "OK. You want to eat something?" He asks.
"Great idea!" Mary says, taking the way to the kitchen. "I'll cook." Dan stays in the living room, with a worried look in his face.
Back to 2005
"When did this conversation happen?" Will asks.
"I don't know, about two months before her murder... maybe less." Smith says, clearly affected by all the memories.
"It's a really beautiful story, between you and Mary..." Scotty begins. "But, you see, there're some things we need you to explain to us. For instance, the phone calls between you and Doug Welsh in the last weeks."
Smith laughs. "That? Doug is an old customer." He says calmly. "Heroine is his favorite."
Scotty and Will are a bit shocked with the naturalness that Smith talks about this subject. "You do know that he's Allan Welsh son, right?" Will asks.
"Yeah." Smith answers. "What, you think I'd spare him because he was Mary's sort-of son-in-law? Business is business my friends. You don't refuse any clients."
"You mean Doug Welsh was already your client back in 1990?" Scotty asks, clearly surprised.
"Yes, he had been for about 6 months before Mary was murdered. His father wasn't though." Smith answers. "Doug stayed clean for a while, but I guess he couldn't resist it, so he started calling me again in the last weeks. I usually have other people handle small clients for me, but since Doug dates back from a long time... I take care of him personally."
Scotty and Will are speechless for a while, after hearing Smith talking about his business as he talked about a bakery shop. "Did Doug know about Mary's activities?" Will asks.
Smith shakes his head. "Probably not. Doug never solicited girls. Not my girls, at least."
"OK." Will says. "And what about Mary's request? Had you figured out how you were going to get her out of that life?" He asks.
Smith nods. "Yes, I got her a job in Canada. A friend of mine owns a clothes' factory in Montreal, and he needed a new secretary." He answers, and upon seeing the detectives suspicious looks, adds, "It was a clean job. You can call him and confirm that."
"Oh, we will." Scotty says. "So, I guess it's all for now, but you might hear from us soon, Mr. Smith."
Smith gets up to take Scotty and Will outside. "Like I said before, I'll do whatever I can to help."
The night is already starting to fall when the detectives leave the house. "Whatever he can do to help." Will mutters, shaking his head. "What a saint."
About half an hour later, Scotty and Will arrive back at the office, to find Lilly and Nick still working. "So," Lilly asks when she sees them, "Anything interesting?"
"Oh, yeah." Will begins, sitting at the edge of Nick's desk. "It turns out that Doug Welsh and Dan Smith are old friends. Doug buys drugs from Smith since before the murder."
"Could he and Mary have...?" Lilly asks, not needing to finish the sentence.
"According to Smith, Doug never solicited girls, so he probably didn't know what Mary did for a living." Will answers. "But I wouldn't exclude that possibility."
"You got anything on Mary's new job, Lil?" Scotty asks.
Lilly nods. "I talked at the new company she was going to work. I mentioned Dan Smith's name and they quickly put me in touch with the company's president. He remembered Smith requesting a clean job for Mary. She was going to be his secretary."
"Checks out with what Smith told us." Scotty says, slightly disappointed. "He said Mary asked him to help her out of that life, about two months before her murder."
"That's before Abby Welsh's threats." Lilly notes. "What else was going on with her?" She asks, rhetorically.
"We might want to take a closer look at Brian Witter." Nick says, jumping into the conversation. "His records show several arrests for harassing hookers, until about 5 or 6 years ago."
"Did any of those arrests happen before his mother was murdered?" Scotty asks.
"No, but it's very likely she would cover for her son if she could." Nick says. "Then, after she was killed, he didn't have anyone to cover for him anymore."
"What else did we find out on Brian Witter?" Stillman, who was watching the whole conversation, asks.
"He works with web designing." Nick answers. "He manages several websites of his own, I'm about to check the nature of this sites now."
Stillman nods. "It's already 7:30 pm, so, after you finish that, let's call it a night." He says. "Good night, everyone."
Scotty, Will and Lilly stare silently at Nick. "You think you're going to take long, Nick?" Will asks, and the three of them hold a laugh.
"You don't need to wait for me," Nick says, casually. "I'm in no hurry to go home." That's what the other detectives needed to hear. They start to grab their stuff to leave.
"You tired?" Scotty asks Lilly, as he sees her stretching her arms, still in her desk.
"Yeah, you know, the usual. The last days have been pretty busy." She answers, getting up and putting her coat on.
"I brought my car to work." He says. "I can give you a ride home, if you don't have other plans."
Lilly chooses to ignore Scotty's indirect question, and simply answers, "No, I'm going home. And I'll accept the ride. Thanks, Scotty."
"Here you are," Scotty says, as he parks his car in front of Lilly's house.
"Thanks, Scotty." Lilly says, motioning to get out of the car. She looks at Scotty's questioning face and answers, a bit bothered. "Yes, Scotty, I had lunch with him."
"I didn't ask anything," Scotty says, not looking at Lilly. He turns to her, "But I don't know why you're wasting your time with a guy who hurt you."
"I never said he hurt me," Lilly says, looking ahead.
"Well, you didn't, but..." Scotty stumbles, surprised with her remark. "But you said there was an incident with your sister, so I figured..." Lilly remains silent, so Scotty adds, "Sorry, Lil. I never meant to invade your personal space or anything."
"No, it's ok." Lilly says, shaking her head. "And you figured right. Though there's more than that to the story."
Scotty just nods. "If you ever need to talk.."
"Yeah, I know." Lilly says, opening her car door. "I need to go now. Thanks again for the ride, Scotty." She gets out of the car, and waves to Scotty as he drives away. She then gets inside, eager for a night of rest, unaware of the bright green eyes watching her from behind a tree, on the other side of the street...
To be continued
A/N: Not much on the personal side, because I'm saving it all for the next chapter, which will be the last. I have a feeling the case is getting a bit complicated to follow, I hope it's just me...
Big hug to WorldsGreatest, KalaniKaloni, Snow Ivy, Spikey and gentlepeace.