Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Spoilers: Could be anything

"I'm a triplet. I had a sister named Alanna and a brother named Fabian. In August 2003 Fab was in a really bad car accident. He had to have a blood transfusion. For some stupid reason at the hospital they mixed up the blood that he was suppose to get with the blood of a person who was HIV positive. They only realized the mistake a few weeks later."

Shea had to stop at that point.

"Go on," Brass said to her.

"Then, on May 16th 2004, the day after our 16th birthday, Alanna stayed home for a little longer then me before school. It didn't make that much of a difference because we lived across the street from our high school. Anyway, just as the bell to go inside rang, she started firing into the group of students that always gather in front of the school in the morning. She shot 30 people and then herself. 16 of those people ended up dying."

"I read about that in the paper last May," Greg commented, remembering the front page section talking about the worst school shooting in US history.

"Where were you when this thing unfolded?" asked Brass.

"I was in front of the school talking with a few of my other friends. If you think I was part of it let me tell you something, one of my best friends died that day, and I was one of the 14 people shot," her voice was getting louder with every word she said as she got angrier.

"He was just asking," Sara told the now very angry teen.

"No, he thinks I was part of the shooting. Do you think if I knew I wouldn't have tried to stop her? She was my sister. She was suicidal and she didn't think that she could even tell me. Do you know how much that hurt me?" After that she put her head down on the table.

"What kind of gun did she use?" Brass asked in a quiet voice.

"One of those sub-machine guns the army uses. Mum was in the army."

"But you're not allowed to have those kind of guns off base," Greg questioned.

"Well, Ali wanted to be in the army, so Mum thought it would be beneficial for her to be able to know how to fire that kind of gun before she registered."

"How did she get it off the base?"

"She bribed one of her friends to sneak it off in his truck. Don't worry. There was already a huge inquiry into that. Her friend was court marshaled and thrown in jail."

"After that," Brass insisted, wanting to get on with the rest of the story.

"3 days after that Mum…. Mum shot herself. She felt it was her fault that Ali had died. She couldn't cope. Dad didn't want to live in Boulder after that. It was too many memories. So we packed up, and he, Fab and I moved down to Vegas. Finbarr is Mums brother. He agreed to let us stay with him until Dad could get a solid job and some money."

"That must have been hard, having just lost your sister and your mother. To have to leave all your friends and everything you're used to," Greg commented.

"It was," Shea said simply, before continuing. "Then on August 1st, Fab caught HIV related pneumonia. 5 days later he died. About a week after that, Dad drove his car off a bridge. He couldn't cope with losing 2 of his kids and his wife in 3 months. Finbarr adopted me after that and I enrolled at Summit high school. I was hoping that he would be around for a little while. Life was just settling down nicely. My grades were good, I had friends, and then this happened."

Suddenly something struck Greg; he had never seen this girl cry, even at the crime scene with her uncle lying dead in front of her. He decided to ask about that. "Have you cried for any of them?"

"What?"

"Have you cried for your siblings, your parents, or your uncle?"

"No, of course not."

"Why not, it seems weird that your whole family has died in less then a year and you've never once cried for them.

"Crying makes you look weak. You never show people emotions that will make you think you're weak." Shea said this like she was reading from a book.

"Who told you a stupid thing like that?" Sara asked.

"My mother, she was in the army. When you're in there you never show that you're weak. Her attitude leaked out to her children. I havened cried since I was 3."

"You should be allowed to cry when you're sad."

"The last time I cried I got smacked up the side of the head and told that if I did it again it would be worse."

Sara had a horrified expression on her face. She opened her mouth to say something, but Brass interceded.

"Now that we're done with the heart to heart, let's get to the point, Shea Hewson, you're under arrest for the murder of Finbarr Sheehan."

Shea leaped out of her chair like it was on fire. "Are you nuts, didn't you hear what I just told you. I love my uncle, why would I kill him?"

"No idea, but you still are," Brass stepped up and handcuffed her.

"I didn't do anything, you have to believe me, please," she looked really scared now. Just as Brass was taking her out the door, Sara ran up, put her hand on the girls shoulder, and whispered something in her ear. Then he took her to the lock up.

"What did you say?" Greg asked.

"I said that I believed her, and that I would do everything in my power to prove her innocence."

Greg didn't know what prompted him to do what he did next, but he never regretted it the rest of his life. He took Sara's hand and said, "Still free for breakfast?"

She gave his hand a squeeze, "Yeah, I am."

"We can talk about the case a little bit while we're out."

"Does that nice place still serve good Belgian waffles?" Sara asked with a small smile.

"Yes they do," was Greg's reply.

With that the two of them walked out of PD and over to Greg's car. Now was a time to forget about cases and murders for a little while, and just revel in being with a good friend.

TBC

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I hope to update again very soon.