KalaniKaloni: I'm not dead, I swear. I just...um...

Lilly: Didn't update for about two months?

KalaniKaloni: Uh, yeah. I was going to update after the finale, but that didn't happen. And did you see what they did! They used the song I was going to use! I was so mad! GRRRRRR! Oh well. I managed to work it out. :grin: And now, the next chapter of Behind Blue Eyes!


Lilly is in her kitchen, pouring dry cat food into a plastic bowl. Olivia and Tripod, her cats, are nowhere in sight. She places the bowl of dry cat food on the kitchen floor and whistles. A red fox trots out from her living room to the kitchen. It looks imploringly at the bowl of dry cat food, then at Lilly. She nods. The fox delicately picks up a kibble with its teeth, tasting it. It obviously does not find the kibble to be in pleasure, for it spits it out upon the floor before looking at Lilly. She is not terribly surprised when the fox opens its mouth and begins to speak in the voice of Tessa Williams. "What were you thinking! This is nasty! Blech! Now I won't come and tell you anything, which sucks for you!" The fox begins to perform a curious little jig while chanting "sucks for you, sucks for you," over and over again. It finally stopped and looked Lilly in the eye. "Because you need me to solve this case, and I think you know it." Then the fox turned around and trotted back to the living room, leaving Lilly alone in the kitchen with the plastic bowl of dry cat food.

"Mornin' Lil. Coffee?" Lilly nodded and graciously accepted the plastic Starbucks cup from Jefferies. She sipped at the hot liquid, feeling it warm her insides. She toyed with the thought of telling him about Tessa, but decided to keep that nugget of knowledge to herself for now. When the time is right, I'll tell the boss. No one else. Especially not Scotty. Even though they had made up, she still felt some animosity towards him. "Lil, you paying attention? The boss is calling you." Rush snapped out of her thoughts and realized that Stillman was indeed calling to her from his office. She grinned sheepishly and entered the room, noticing with a flip-flop of her stomach that Valens was already there.

"As I was saying, before I realized that my words were going in one of Lilly's ears and out the other, I found the officer who was with Chris Hinze when they discovered the body. His name is Matthew Kimbar and he resigned after that night in '97. He now works as an editor for a local paper."

"A cop-turned-writer?" Scotty sounded skeptical. "I don't see that happening." Lilly kept quiet and sipped her coffee. She was thankful for her full night of sleep, but still needed some pep. Especially after the whole George fiasco.

"If I remember Kimbar correctly, he was always reading something when he was off duty. I personally think that this job suits him better than a cop." Stillman looked at Scotty, who sat properly chastised.


"Yeah, I remember Chris Hinze. We go back, way back." Matthew Kimbar sat behind a large plastic desk that was designed to look like wood. Jeffries and Vera sat opposite him, each perched on a high-back chair.

"Do you remember the night you found his wife dead? His niece did it, right?" Vera leaned forward, raising an eyebrow. Kimbar squirmed uncomfortable behind his desk.

"I never thought that the kid did it. I mean, she and Val were really close." Kimbar had gotten a very uneasy look in his eye, one that did not escape from Vera.

"Val, huh? You close with Hinze's wife? Maybe giving her a little extra on the side?" Kimbar jumped at Vera's question and slammed his hands on the desk. Vera noticed Kimbar's sudden blushing.

"It wasn't like that!"

"Not at first, right?" Vera and Kimbar both started as Jeffries quietly interrupted. He reclined on his chair with his arms folded across his chest. "Right?" he prompted again. Kimbar hung his head.

"Right..."


"Hey man, while you're up, why don't you get me another beer?" Chris Hinze is sitting in his his chair, his eyes glued to the football game playing on TV. Matthew Kimbar gets up, grumbling, from where he had been on the couch and pushes open the swinging door that leads to the kitchen. He is surprised when he finds a woman leaning against the counter, crying. She looks up when she hears the creaking of the door, poised like she is about to bolt.

"I-I'm sorry to be in your way. I'll just leave..." She turns to go, but Kimbar has already offered his handkerchief. He gives a little "go on" gesture and the woman takes it, looking very nervous. "You don't mind, do you?"

This is the last thing Kimbar expects to hear. "Mind? Why on earth would I mind? You can keep it, for all I care." A confused look enters the woman's eyes. Suddenly the realization of who this is hits Kimbar. "You- You're Valerie, aren't you? Chris's wife." To Kimbar's amazement, the woman nods. This couldn't be the same Valerie that he had seen on Chris's wedding day. That Valerie had been happy, jubilant, with a devil-may-care smile and look in her eyes. This Valerie looked like she had nothing to live for. Only one thing could have caused this...

Right as he is about to ask her, a voice floats in from the living room. "Hey, man, you die in there or something?" Kimbar calls back that he is fine, and hurriedly opens the fridge and grabs two Buds. He closes the door to find that Valerie Hinze has disappeared. He looks around and finds no one. He is just about to return to the living room when a voice from behind stops him.

"She wants to know if she can keep the hanky." A young girl wearing a weird blue hat stands in the middle of the kitchen. Kimbar stares at her for a moment, not quite sure who she is. The girl raises an eyebrow, clearly waiting for a reply. Kimbar stammers something about Yeah, sure, before heading back to the living room.

Hinze manages to tear his eyes away from the TV long enough to grab a beer. "What kept you? I almost had to get up and get my own damn beer."

Kimbar sits on the couch, seemingly unable to get comfortable. "I didn't know you had a kid."

"Kid? What ki- oh." A hard look that Kimbar does not like comes into Hinze's eyes. "She's my niece. I told her not to come out of her room. Did she bother you?"

"No, not at all!" Kimbar tries to assure his friend, but the hard look he doesn't like remains in those green eyes...


"And that's when you first met Valerie Hinze?" Vera asked, jotting everything Kimbar said on a little notepad.

"Well, I met her at the wedding, but she was so...different."

"And you started seeing her more?"

"I went just to help her at first. But I just felt so bad 'cause of what happened to her. I felt like I had to protect her." A faint smile came to Kimbar's face. "But she didn't need a protector, did she?" He seemed to ask himself.

"Are you talking about Tessa Williams?" Jeffries asked from his chair.

"Yeah. She really cared about Val. And when I found her that night, I just couldn't believe it."

Vera leaned in closer to Kimbar. "Do you think she did it?"

"I don't know..."


"So this Kimbar guy had a thing with Valerie Hinze? Do you think her husband found out?" Vera and Jeffries had just returned from their interview and were gathered around Stillman, along with Lilly and Scotty.

"No I don't think so. Kimbar would have probably told us if he had." Vera was munching on a Snickers bar while he gave his report. Stillman wrinkled his nose.

"I wish you wouldn't eat that in here. It makes us look bad." He was about to ask another question when he caught sight of Rush's face. "Something bothering you, Lil?"

Lilly snapped to attention. "What? No. Just thinking." She had been thinking about, in fact, whether or not to tell Stillman that Tessa Williams had come to her house last night, and would again tonight. She decided against it. "I'm fine," she reassured him.

"Oh, alright then. I guess you lot should head home. There's nothing to really do until we find out the name of the woman who made the call to the police."


On her way home, Lilly stopped at a McDonald's to pick up some food. She ordered two Big Macs, fries, and a Coke for Tessa and a salad for herself. She was surprised to find the girl already on her porch when she returned home. "I thought it was supposed to be ten before you showed."

"Yeah, well, I'm hungry, okay?" Tessa straightened up from her relaxed position and stretched. Lilly stepped out of the car and walked up the driveway. She reached in the bag and pulled out one of the Big Macs and tossed it to Tessa. The girl caught it easily. Lilly tossed her the other one, which again was deftly caught. "You better not throw my fries or Coke."

"How'd you know I got you fries and a Coke?"

"What's a meal from McDonald's without fries and a Coke?"

Lilly could not think up an answer for this one, so she just began on her salad instead. They ate in silence for a while, or at least Lilly ate and Tessa wolfed down her food. "You'll get indigestion from eating that fast." Lilly noted as the girl slurped the remains of the drink.

"Yeah, well, when you haven't eaten a real meal in five days, you tend to get kinda excited."

As Lilly finished her salad, she took a deep breath. Now the hard part was about to begin; she had to question Tessa without the girl realizing what she was doing. "Five days? You've been missing for seven years."

Tessa gave Lilly a mistrustful glance. "Yeah, and?" Lilly didn't reply, but pulled out the picture of seven-year-old Tessa sitting on the porch steps. She handed it silently to the young teenager. Tessa took it, her eyes widening for only a second. "I remember this. This was taken when I first got here." She gave a mirthless snort of laughter. "Some welcome that was..."


"Okay, that's over and done with." Chris Hinze thrusts a disposable camera into his wife's hands. "Now go and get this thing developed so you can put it in your stupid scrapbook or whatever." He storms into the house, almost trampling the little girl on the porch steps as he goes.

"Can I come with you, Aunt Valerie?" The little girl hops down the steps to her aunt's side. "Please?" She doesn't say " 'Cause I want to get away from Uncle Chris" but it's what she's thinking.

Her aunt smiles indulgently. "Alright. We can do some shopping while we wait. Okay?" She laughs when her niece makes a face; she's always hated shopping. As they walk to the car, something makes Tessa turn around. Her uncle is framed in the window. He notices her looking and closes the drapes. But that's not what scares the little girl. What scares her is the fact that her uncle was almost snarling...


"Yeah. Good times all around." Tessa turned it over and noticed the message on the back. Her brows furrowed as she looked from it to Lilly. "Who sent this?"

Lilly took the picture back. "I was hoping you could me. It was probably sent by whoever killed your aunt." She was hoping fervently for a straight answer. She was disappointed.

The girl's face became stony. "Yeah, probably." Lilly sighed.

"Look, if you just tell me what happened, then we can wrap this case up." She started when Tessa jumped to her feet.

"Yeah, well, too bad." She muttered as she once again vaulted off the porch. She called back over her shoulder "And it's okay if you tell your boss. I won't mind." And then she was gone. Lilly stayed where she was for a few minutes before getting up and unlocking her door. As she turned the key in the lock she muttered "God, I want to strangle her right now..."