Chapter 3

Lilly and Det. Hammerson stood at the skytrain station, watching all of the arriving people for any signs of Vivien.

"Well, Mrs. Wong did say Vivien would be here around this time." Det. Hammerson checked his watch again. "Give or take half an hour."

Every so often a train would pull into the station and the two detectives would carefully scan the crowd. Det. Hammerson was scanning for Vivien's familiar face. Lilly was trying to think of what she looked like.

A few minutes later Lilly felt someone poke her arm. "There's our girl." Det. Hammerson whispered in her ear.

Lilly raised her head and looked in the direction he was hinting at. In the distance, Lilly saw a young woman walking in their directly. She certainly didn't seem to resemble the picture that Lilly had created in her mind, but they never did anyways. Vivien was about 5'8", and had on a pair of black dress pants and matching black shoes. She also wore a black coat hiding a nice blue shirt, and a messenger bag bounced back and forth on her leg as she walked. Det. Hammerson waved. Vivien seemed to be a little surprised, but she still waved back and continued to walk towards them.

Lilly blinked and saw the 18 year old Vivien walk up to them. Glasses, long black hair tied up in a ponytail. Her face was pale, and her eyes were worn and tired. A grey wind breaker, worn sneakers, blue jeans and worn backpack. Her smile was polite. A split second later the 26 year old returned. Her hair was fashioned din a shorter, more sophisticated hairstyle, her face was thinner and better coloured, but the same weariness still remained, behind a different set of glasses.

"Hello, Ms. Wong." Det. Hammerson spoke first. "I believe you still remember me. This is my friend, Det. Rush. She's lending us her brains for this case."

"Pleased to meet you." Vivien said politely as she shook Lilly's hand. "Though I already know what you think of me. You think I did it."

"Well, we just want to discover the truth." Lilly replied. "Regardless of what that truth may be. We want to ask you some questions."

Vivien glanced around, almost uneasily. "Would you mind if we went to a coffee shop that I know, just around the corner? It's been a long day."

Vivien took a long sip from her coffee. "Ahh…that's the stuff. Now, what questions do you want to ask me? I'll be happy to help in any way that I can."

Lilly made a mental note of this. She understood now that perhaps Vivien had another qualification for getting into medical school. Sitting across the small table, Lilly couldn't help but feel an air of confidence from her, but without any arrogance. Around Vivien, one would have felt at ease, like no matter what happened, somehow everything would be alright. It was a reassuring feeling.

"Could you please tell us again, what happened that night on Aug 3, 2004?" Lilly asked, flipping open her notebook, pen already in hand. She vaguely noticed that Det. Hammerson had done a similar thing.

Vivien slowly began. "It's been 8 years, and I can still remember everything almost as clear as day. My parents had a huge fight earlier that afternoon. About the same thing, it was always about the same thing. But I had never heard anything as bad as this before."

An 18 year old Vivien hums absentmindedly to herself as she reads a novel in her room. Her eyes look up, and she cocks her head to one side. Angry voices are heard. She closes her book and climbs off her bed. Opening the door, the sounds can be easily heard.

"I'M NOT A DEMANDING PERSON WILL! When your mother came to live with us, I didn't ask anything out of her! She didn't, and still doesn't have to do any chores, or cook, or clean or anything like that! And she has the nerve to make more work for me?"

"What do you want me to do, Cindy?" Vivien's father sounded worn out. "I've tried to reason with her a million times. The day I actually get through to her is the day that I win the lottery!"

"Honestly, your mother has done nothing but criticize the minute she moved in with us…or rather, the minute we got married!" Mrs. Wong's voice was increasing dangerously. "Has she done anything to help raise Vivien? NO! I did that on my own!"

"What do you want me to do then?" Mr. Wong yelled, almost helplessly.

"Sometimes if it weren't for Vivien, I would have left a long time ago. I can't stay here anymore! I've got to get out of here!"

"Fine with me! I need some space too!"

A few minutes later the whole house shook with the force of the closing garage door.

"So your parents both took off separately?" Lilly questioned. "Where did they go?"

"Beats me." Vivien took another sip of her coffee. "They got home before I did."

"Where did you go?"

"Away, out of the house. I had to get out of there too."

The bus doors opened and Vivien inserted her pass into the machine.

The bus driver noticed her red eyes. "You okay kid?"

Vivien nodded, blinking rapidly to fight back the tears. She walked past and found an empty seat at the back of the bus, watching the scenery roll by. She got off at the mall.

"I didn't come back home until really late." Vivien explained. "'That was when I noticed that my parents were home and that the police had been called. My grandmother was already dead."

Lilly studied Vivien carefully. There was a certain coldness there, a child that had shied away from emotion. Maybe for a reason.

"You said you were quite home late." Det. Hammerson inquired. "Surely you couldn't have spent all that time at the mall?"

"I came back and hung out at my friend's house." Vivien said simply. She checked her watch. "I am terribly sorry, but I have to be going. I live on campus now…I just came back home to have dinner with my parents."

"Sure thing. Det. Hammerson handed Vivien a card. "Thank you for your time. If you know anything else, you know what to do."

Vivien nodded as she got up and left, tucking the card into her pocket.

Lilly sighed. She had a feeling it would take a lot of work in order to get Vivien to open up.