The next morning, Lilly got to work even earlier than usual. She read over Claire's autopsy report for the thousandth time, this time underlining any little details she'd missed. She was so absorbed in it that she didn't even notice when Scotty walked in.
"I brought coffee," he said cheerfully. Lilly jumped.
"Oh! Good morning. Thanks." She took the coffee from him and smiled. "Just getting nowhere again."
"What are we gonna do today?" he asked.
"Um. I was going to go talk to Colleen Froelich."
Scotty's expression changed and he looked to Lilly a bit like an over-excited four-year-old. "You found Colleen!"
"I think so. I did a bit of poking around this morning." She finished the coffee and set the cup down. "Let's get going."
Colleen lived in a small, neat house just outside of town. Lilly didn't relate the house to the person living in it, and she couldn't help being amused by it. She rang the doorbell and Colleen answered it. She looked totally different from how Lilly remembered her—she was clean and polished and smiling. The only thing that remained of that dangerous teenage girl were her eyes.
"Detectives Rush and Valens, homicide," Lilly said. "Can we come in?"
Colleen looked dubiously at her. "Who died?"
Lilly smiled. "This is about the Claire McCarroll case," she said gently.
Colleen let them in. "Do you want something to drink? Or eat? I made cookies."
"No. We're fine. Colleen, do you remember what happened that Thursday after Ricky came home?"
"Nothing special. We ate supper and I helped give Elizabeth a bath…he probably played his guitar a little."
"Did you see anything unusual that day?"
"Well, I was in the field with Madeleine…and…there were those two little girls on the road."
"Which two?"
"I can't remember their names. Bossy and Dopey."
Scotty snorted. "Grace and Marjorie?"
"Sure."
"And?"
"I think they followed Claire."
Lilly and Scotty exchanged looks. "Anything else?" Lilly asked.
"He found her body."
"I'm sorry. Colleen?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you know what Ricky's new name is?"
Colleen grew quiet. "No," she replied.
"Okay. Thank you very much for your time."
"Lil, there's a message for you," Stillman said when they got back.
"Oh?"
"Your sister."
Scotty looked up with mild interest.
"Okay. Did she say it was important?"
"No."
"Okay, it can wait." Lilly was writing intently in her notebook.
"What are you working on?"
Lilly was quiet for several minutes. Stillman had nearly walked away when she spoke. "If Mr. March didn't kill her, then Grace did. I don't know how, but that's what happened."
Stillman watched her and shook his head. He never could understand what went on in Lilly's head.
It was quiet in Lilly's house when she got home. "Christina?" she called, bending down to pet her cats. They meowed and jumped out of her arms. She headed into the kitchen and noticed a note on the table. "I went out. 1:30 pm. Chris." Lilly rolled her eyes and considered her options. She could search the entire city for her, or she could wait until she got home. She hoped that Christina wasn't out where she thought she was. She sighed, pulled her hair down, and started to fix something to eat.
Christina crashed through the door sometime after midnight. Lilly got out of bed to greet her at the door.
"Hiii, Lil," she slurred.
"You were drinking."
"Only…a lil bit…One!" she held up one finger.
"What did the doctor tell you? You're going to have a baby."
"I not having any shtupid baby…"
"Go to bed," Lilly told her.
"You're shtupid, Lilly…Not having a baby…" Christina giggled.
Lilly made sure that Christina was safely downstairs in bed before returning to her own bed. Once she was up there, she lay on her back, chewed her lips, and tried hard not to cry.
Lilly was still angry when she woke up the next morning. She stormed around work until Scotty finally asked her what was wrong.
"Christina came home drunk last night."
Scotty didn't say anything.
"She's going to hurt the baby."
He nodded. "Sorry."
"What are you apologizing for?"
"I got her pregnant."
"You didn't tell her to go out and get drunk and possibly permanently damage her future daughter."
"I just want to make it okay again," he murmured, too quiet for Lilly to hear.
Lilly and Scotty were reading over Lilly's notes again when Stillman stuck his head into the office. "Lil, there's a Sharon McCarroll here to see you."
Lilly looked up, mildly interested. "Okay, I'll be right out."
Sharon McCarroll was a small, delicate woman who spoke in a small, sweet, vaguely Southern accent. "Ah you the nice lady who's tryin' to find ou' what really happened to ah Claire?"
Lilly smiled. "That's right."
"Ah figured I should give this to y'all. Ah never did give it to the police when…it happened." She handed Lilly a piece of paper. "If y'all need anything…anything at ahll, don' hesitate to call…Ah gave mah contact information to the nahce lady at the desk."
Lilly fingered the piece of paper gently. "Will do, Mrs. McCarroll. Thank you so much for giving this to us."
"Dear Mrs and Mr Mikarl,
Mr March makes Claire stay after scool with the bad kids to do exsersizes. Do not atempt to find me. I am not your enmy. I am your freind. I only want to help Claire.
Yours Truely,
The Humen Sowrd."
A/N: Sorry for the delay in chapter uploading. I really don't like exams. Expect another chapter if not tonight then tomorrow sometime. Also, the spelling mistakes in the note were obviously intentional.
---The Humen Sowrd ;-)