"Let me get this straight. You were at Ricky's trial, you told the truth, and your mother got so mad that you were forcibly removed from the courtroom?"

"Pretty much."

"Because…?"

"I said that he didn't turn, but he did."

"So you lied." Lilly was rapidly losing patience with the tangled web of lies, half-truths, dead leads and redundancies that made up the case. Not to mention the baffling lack of evidence.

"No."

"Well then what—?"

"I didn't SEE him turn."

"And?"

"They asked if you saw him."

"And you didn't."

"Right."

"That's different from saying he didn't turn," Lilly snapped.

Scotty looked at her from his silent post on the couch. "Madeleine," he said.

"What?"

"You don't know anything more about this case, do you?"

Madeleine took a breath. "No, I don't," she admitted. "But keep me posted."

"We will."

Outside, Lilly's cell phone rang. "Rush." She listened for a minute. "Really? Okay. We'll be right there." She flipped it shut and turned to Scotty. "C'mon. Looks like Marjorie Nolan wants to talk."

"Good morning, Marjorie," Lilly said brightly, trying to keep all the resentment out of her voice. "Would you like a cup of coffee?"

"I hope you realize that I had to find a substitute at the last minute to come down here," Marjorie replied in that "you are no more intelligent than my kindergarteners" voice she was fond of using with Lilly.

"Were you arrested?"

"No."

"Then you should have had plenty of time to find a substitute."

Marjorie blinked, then continued in a voice lower than Lilly thought possible from her. "I was married for ten years. I have four children and nine grandchildren. I have never told a soul what I am about to tell you people."

"Okay."

"Grace and I were the only people in the woods with Claire that night."

Lilly looked at Marjorie, speechless and unable to form the words she wanted so desperately to.

Scotty picked up for her. "You killed her."

Marjorie shot Scotty and indignant glare. "I did not!"

Lilly raised her eyebrows. "I supposed you're going to tell us that it was an accident."

"Grace killed her."

"All by herself?" Scotty snorted. "Could she even tie her shoes by herself?"

"I told her what to do."

"So Grace killed her, but you were the one who mediated it?"

"We were playing school."
Lilly, who had played school with Chris once upon a time, raised her eyebrows. "And somehow, Claire wound up raped and strangled while you were playing school?"

"You make it sound so horrible," Marjorie said, sighing.

Lilly's eyes flashed, but she said nothing.

"I was being Mr. March and Grace was being me. We were doing exercises. I had this corncob…I told Claire to take off her panties and she did. They were so pretty, with yellow butterflies. Then…I put the corncob up her dress and told her to pee. She started to cry and said she had to go home. I told her we were just playing. Then, I told Grace to put her hands around Claire's neck and squeeze. Harder and harder. Then Claire finally peed and her tongue was out. Grace tried to wake her up. She said…that Claire was sleeping. But she was scary-looking, so Grace closed her eyes, closed Claire's eyes, and put her panties over her face. And then we went home and went to Brownies."

"Did you know she was dead?"

"Grace didn't."

"Did you?"

"Yes."

"Did you want to kill her?"

"…No."

"Did you know she would die if Grace squeezed tighter?"

"Ye…No."

"Did you know what you were doing when you sexually violated Claire with the cob of corn?"

Marjorie's voice wavered. "Yes."

"Don't move a muscle," Scotty said warningly as he and Lilly stood up. "I mean it."

Outside, Scotty sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "What are we gonna do?"

"Two little nine-year-old girls raped and murdered another nine-year-old girl, blamed it on a 13-year-old boy, and kept it a secret for 42 years. That's a really good question, Scotty. What are we going to do?"

"Marjorie knows what she did."

"But does Grace?"

"It's hard to know." He sighed.

Lilly's cell phone rang again. "Rush."

Scotty could hear the panicked voice on the other end. "Lil, I think the baby's in trouble."

"What do you mean, 'in trouble'?"

"I think I'm having…I think the baby is coming. You have to come home, Lil, I'm scared."

"Chris, I'm…" She sighed. "You're coming with me," she told Scotty as she hung up the phone. "It's your baby."

He couldn't help but notice the tinges of jealousy working their way into her voice.

A/N: I'm back! After a long absence due to holidays, broken computer, writer's block, too much CSI, writer's block, experimental CSI fanfiction, a summer babysitting job that turned me into a zombie, the loss of my Cold Case (and Kite and Christina bashing!) buddy, I'm picking this story up again. Three more chapters: flashback, personal stuff (baby and Elisa, oh my!), conclusion. I have been quite taken by the character of Elisa, so my next story (save the CSI one I've been working on simultaneously to this one) shall be about her. Very well.