About a week and a half later, Elliot, Fin and I were all given clearance to return to work. Kay and Tim had stayed in New York, content to explore while they waited for us. Abby had gone home to Baltimore with Rose, declaring loudly that she'd had enough of New York and of me to last her a lifetime. Rowan had gone back to work the day after our conversation in the hospital, albeit reluctantly. I had the feeling that she wouldn't have gone if Kai could have been persuaded to return home with Abby and Rose, but she hadn't. She was somehow managing to keep up with her classes via the internet.
The department decided, soon after we returned, that everyone involved in the case deserved commendations. It was ironic, in a way, seeing as they had been our biggest critics through the duration of the case, but who were we to complain? The only real downside to everything was being made to sit through evaluations with Huang, that and the fact that as soon as we came back we were forced out again on vacation. Then again, that wasn't such a bad thing.
As stubborn as she was, I hadn't expected Rowan to go back on wanting to go to Baltimore with Kay, Tim, Kai and me. She didn't. Two days after I went back, we left. Kai went back to school and Rowan went off to see Abby and Rose. Kay, Tim and I went to the squad room. Meldrick's shift was on when we got there, and upon being told that Collins was dead and that Walker had been convicted, he stared at us in silence for a long while, a look of disbelief on his face. After a few minutes, he decided to take our word for it.
"So, what now?" he asked finally. Tim, Kay and I exchanged glances before turning to look at him again.
"We find Adena Watson's case file," said Kay, and Meldrick stared at her .
"What for?" he asked. "That case is seventeen years cold."
"And Collins confessed to doing the murder," said Tim, cutting him off. He walked over to his desk and after a few minutes of rifling through the drawers came up with a well-worn manila folder bearing the date 1/31/1993.
"I've got it," he said. All of us exchanged glances again; Meldrick motioned to his sergeant and told her to take charge of the shift for a while before following the rest of us out of the squad room.
We found ourselves parked in front of Adena Watson's childhood home within thirty minutes, which was relatively good, considering traffic. Kay glanced at Tim as she turned the car off; he was staring at the file, which was lying open in his lap.
"How ironic is this?" he asked finally. "One of Munch's old cases turns into one of mine and then becomes the case that we've just closed."
"What goes around comes around," said Meldrick, "Collins murdered all those girls, tried to kill four cops…now he's dead himself." Tim sighed.
"But at what cost?"
The question lingered. None of us answered because there really wasn't any answer to give. Tim drew a thin silver bracelet laden with charms from his pocket and held it in his palm.
"Where'd that come from?" I asked.
"We never found Adena's missing earring," said Tim. "I found the bracelet in Collins' pocket and I bought the missing charms…stuck 'em on here. Figured her mother might like to have something of hers back."
Silence fell. A few minutes passed before we all got out of the car and started up the front walk. The sound of the doorbell ringing echoed. Footsteps told us that someone was home; seconds later, we found ourselves face to face with Adena's mother.
"Mrs. Watson, you probably don't remember any of us," Tim said quietly, "But we were some of the detectives who were on your daughter's case." His voice broke on the last word; he paused and then continued. "We've come to tell you that her case has officially been solved and closed, and to give you these."
He pressed the file into her hands, and then the bracelet. She stared at them for a long while, and it was hard to miss the light that had entered her eyes upon seeing the items: these things were what she needed to know that what we had told her was true .
No other words were exchanged. The door closed behind us with a resounding echo as we turned away. And together the four of us walked off, into the glow being cast by the streetlights, back into our city…back into the never-ending cycle that would always seem to define our lives.