Disclaimer—I don't own this stuff.

Chapter 8—Sick

"Lil, how many times do I have to say I'm sorry? What do you want me to do, get on my knees and beg for forgiveness?" asked Scotty trying to keep up with Lilly as they entered the homicide department.

Lilly shot Scotty a sour look. "If you did that then people would think you were proposing to me."

Scotty threw his hands up into the air. He was frustrated and sore. The cold shower had done little to make him feel any better. The problem lay in Lilly. Being within sight of her made him…uncomfortable.

"Problems at home?" asked Stillman raising an eyebrow as the two partners entered his office. Neither Lilly nor Scotty said a word.

Vera chuckled. "Kids these days. Good news, Lil. We found you a lead. We've been tracking good ol' Vic's cell phone, and a call was made this morning. Not long enough to track, but long enough to know he's hanging around and keeping in touch."

"With who?" Lilly frowned as she tried to figure out the culprit hiding Victor.

"Megan."

Scotty made a face. "You gotta be kidding me. Megan's protecting her brother? She's the one who tried to turn him in."

"We don't know that she's helping him," started Jeffries. "All we know is that she received a phone call from her brother this morning."

"Huh. Well, I think its worth going down to Megan's place and asking her a few questions, don't you think, lover boy?" stated Lilly heading towards the door. Scotty grumbled as he turned to follow her.

"Lover boy?" teased Vera.

"Don't ask. It's not even close to a compliment." Scotty narrowed his eyes as his colleagues burst into laughter.

"Morons," he muttered.

Across Town:

When Megan Glenrose opened her apartment door, Lilly was amused by what she saw. Megan was still in pajamas, and held a pint of ice cream in her hands.

"Why are you guys here?" she asked in confusion.

"Heard you got a phone call from your brother this morning," replied Lilly walking past Megan and into the apartment. Scotty followed suit.

Megan glanced at Scotty's bandaged arm and then back at Lilly. "He's after you know, huh? It's not surprising, I'm sure you've heard that you look a lot like Laura by now. You're a dead ringer." Megan took a seat, motioning for the detectives to do the same.

"Yeah," said Scotty, "funny how you didn't mention that when we first chatted."

"Should I have? I'm sure it was more fun to hear it from Vic himself though, he's a real nut case, huh?"

Lilly raised an eyebrow. "Your brother attacked my partner after trying to choke me. What did he want this morning?"

"Facts. He wanted to know if you guys had gotten any further in Laura's case…whether his lovely fiancée was alright…the usual." Megan just shrugged as she dug a spoon into her ice cream pint.

"You're making it seem like there's nothing wrong with you two."

"I was angry when I came to you guys. Just because he's a murderer doesn't mean I love him any less. Have you talked to our folks yet?"

Scotty nodded slowly. "Yeah, your mom told us about your religious practices. How your dad's pissed you won't make a match some day. And the abortion."

Megan froze. "I had forgotten about that. She murdered my baby. Victor's baby. He hasn't talked to her since then, he only speaks to dad. Our mother is dead to him. Vic wanted a baby, and I was going to give him one. Then mom found out and dragged me down to the clinic. She said I was no better than Laura." Megan glanced down at her flat stomach and gave a sad smile.

Lilly pursed her lips in thought. "How would your dad have taken it if you had actually gone through with having the child?"

"He would have been ashamed. Having more than one wife is one thing, but incest…that's something entirely different. We aren't Mormons…we're a different breed, a whole new religion. But Vic, as enamored as he is with our Church, he's ready to start a whole new faction. He'd be the Prophet of the New Church. He's still working on a name."

Scotty glanced over at Lilly and the two grimaced as Megan drifted off into her own thoughts with a dreamy look on her face. She was definitely in need of some help. After a while they said their good-byes and left the apartment.

Lilly was exasperated. "Our witnesses are off their rockers. No court is going to accept any of our potential witnesses as credible!"

"Hey, hey! Don't worry, Lil, we'll get through this." Scotty placed his good arm around Lilly's shoulders and drew her to his side.

"Hey, you two! I want a word with you!" came a deep, raspy voice from behind the detectives. There stood a tall, gray haired man. He resembled an older version of Victor.

"Mr. Glenrose, I presume?" questioned Scotty dropping his arm to his side as the man came to stand in front of them.

"That's right. Who the hell gave you permission to speak to my daughter and wife?" demanded Mr. Glenrose looking Scotty square in the eyes. Then he turned his attention to Lilly. His face visibly whitened as his eyes bulged out.

"Dear God!" he croaked out.

"Detective Rush and Valens. We're investigating Laura's murder at the behest of your daughter, Megan," murmured Lilly smoothly. "Victor's wanted for some questioning, but he seems to have disappeared. Now he's wanted for assaulting an officer."

"Your son had quite an infatuation with Laura, did you encourage this relationship?" continued Scotty. Mr. Glenrose's face darkened at the words.

"Fuck no! Do you know what that would have done to my reputation if word had gotten out? I didn't know anything was going on until I caught Victor with Megan. I knew Laura had fooled around with some guys from school, but her own brother? What kind of man would I be if I had encouraged this kind of behavior?"

"Rumor has it that you have about eight wives now. Is that true?" snapped Lilly.

Mr. Glenrose crossed his arms. "So what if it is? You don't have any substantial proof."

"Unless the mother of Megan and Victor decided to speak out against you. Wouldn't that tarnish your reputation as well? It seems to me that no matter what you say or do now, Mr. Glenrose, you need to be straight with me."

Mr. Glenrose studied Lilly closely, and then let his façade fade. "What do you want to know?"

"What did you know about your children when they were growing up? When Laura was still alive?"

"Victor was a business man. He had developed some secret business or another to make some extra money on the side. He had all sorts of young boys calling at all hours of the day. Too many of them called on Sundays during prayer. I thought he had a dating service going on…then one of his girlfriends at the time came over in tears. Her parents came too. It was a big mess.

"My son had invested in a brothel on the go. He enticed young women to work for him, even my own daughters. As soon as this girl's parents found out they came over to press charges. I eventually calmed them down and promised to pay them to keep the entire situation quiet. I've been paying them for years. After that I took Victor under my wing and tried to teach him the correct way of the Church.

"He rebelled. Said he wanted to start his own following one day. But I thought that had been the end of the brothel business. Then he got one of my wives involved. She's still pissed at me for moving her away from my eldest son…I won't let either of them know where the other is. That's when he started the business with Laura over again. They really loved each other, and because I wouldn't share a wife with Victor, he took the one thing we did share. Laura."

"Do you think he killed her?" asked Scotty.

"Mr. Glenrose snorted. "Not a chance. He was devastated after her death. It was obvious that her boyfriend, that Green boy, killed her. She was trying to break up with him before she died."

Lilly frowned. "That's not the story we heard."

"It wouldn't be would it? I won't say that my life is normal, Detectives. But I've tried to live a simple one. I lost one daughter out of sixteen. I have twenty boys, counting Victor. As a father my job is to make sure each one is raised properly and righteously. Do you catch my drift? Laura's mother, Wanda, instilled the American notion of democracy into her children's heads. Look where we are now."

"Who was the wife that took an interest in Victor?" Lilly pulled out a small notepad and pen.

"What's it to you?"

"We'll need to talk to her. Rule her out as a suspect. In fact, we should talk to all of your wives and children. See if any of them have talked to your Victor recently."

Mr. Glenrose chuckled. "You're just as sneaky as Laura was. I'll give you the wife's name, the one who got involved with Victor, but that's all. I kept my families separated so as not to arouse suspicion. I know the cops. They'd send me to jail for some of my actions in the past. I can't afford my families in jail.

"The missus was Angela. Angela Ford."

Both of the detectives' heads shot up in shock. "Victor's ex-girlfriend, the one who accused him of abusing her?"

"The one and only. She's a real doll too when she's all dressed up. I married her to protect her from Victor…she might have a few things to add to my testimony."

"How about the girl and her family you pay to keep their mouths shut?"

"The Akers. The girl was Tina Akers. Her parents are well respected surgeons. They'd hate for this to get out to the public. Especially now that their daughter is married to the mayor."

"Of Philly?" Lilly gulped. Mr. Glenrose just gave a twisted grin.

"Where else? One last thing, Detectives. Stay away from Megan's mother. She's delicate when it comes to Laura and Megan. This new scandal with Victor has begun to push her over the edge. I sent her to shop with his fiancée today. Ms. Fay is a terrific woman; she really has her head on her shoulders."

"Don't worry, Mr. Glenrose," muttered Scotty. "We already know what job she holds. We'll try and not step on your toes too hard."

Then Mr. Glenrose turned to look at Lilly. He took both of her hands in his and gave a charming smile. "You're beautiful, you know that? I have half a mind to court you and make you number nine. We could make beautiful children, you and me."

Scotty quickly intervened by stepping in between the two. He felt Lilly clutch his good arm, giving him the confidence to grin up at Mr. Glenrose. "Sorry, she already promised to have my kids."

With that Scotty steered Lilly down the street and into their vehicle. Lilly was shuddering as she got behind the wheel. "Nice save," she murmured with a small smile. Scotty glanced in the side mirror back at Mr. Glenrose before speaking.

"This guy is as sick as his son. You look like his daughter and yet he still wants to marry you? Gross. I figured letting him no you were mine would save us all the trouble of gaining you another stalker."

"Gee, ever the romantic," said Lilly wryly.

"I can be romantic when I want to be. Right now we're not in a very romantic setting. No candles, no music, no food…my arm is still hurt. We wouldn't be able to have any fun." Scotty turned to Lilly with a glint in his eye. Lilly just rolled hers. Sometimes she wished Scotty would keep his mouth shut and sit there looking good.

"Sure, Scotty, you just killed the mood."

"Fine, be that way. I think we should go visit Ms. Angela Ford tomorrow, and that Carl Green fellow. They seem pretty important."

"What about the mayor's wife? She probably has a lot to say."

"We can talk about her over dinner."

"Over dinner? We want to talk with her, Scotty." Lilly was skeptical.

Scotty nodded. "Yeah. Tonight you and I will go out so you can see me being romantic. But before we do that we'll take a detour over to the mayor's place and call on Tina. I'm sure she'll have loads to say, and that way we'll have stuff to discuss over dinner."

"Are you paying?"

"Of course."

"Alright, let's go talk to Tina and we'll go out to eat."

"We'll have to change first."

"Change? As in clothes?" Lilly made a face as she glanced at her slacks and blouse.

"No, as in attitudes. Of course I mean clothes. Lil, to be romantic you need to dress up. Like in a dress. I've heard some rumors that you're a real knock-out in a dress and heels."

"You talked to Kite didn't you?"

"Did not."

"Did too."

"Did not."

"Did too."

"Did not."

Lilly just grinned as she pulled the car out onto the street and towards the mayor's home. Things were getting interesting now, and she didn't mean just the case anymore.

A/N—I know, I know. It's been a long while since I've updated. Things got hectic during Spring Break with a family crisis, so I got waylaid back home for two weeks dealing with it. Today was my first day without any homework or make-up work to do, so I thought I should sit down and write this. I owe you guys one. Enjoy!