SHOUTOUTS\ANSWERS

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DISCLAIMER

Life With Derek belongs to Canadian Television and Disney. I only own characters you don't recognize.

"What do you know about him?" Detective Kingston asked.

"Not much," Derek admitted. "He's older than me, so I only know him slightly. He and his buddies crashed a party of mine a couple of weeks ago, nearly tore the house apart," he continued.

"Can you describe him?" Detective Kingston queried.

"Well, he has chestnut hair, kinda tall, muscular. Bluish green eyes," Derek told them.

"How about you, Miss MacDonald? Did you manage to see any distinguishing features?" Detective Kingston asked.

"He---he had some kind of scar on his chest. I---I think it was a hockey wound," Casey stammered. She frowned in concentration, trying to determine whether or not she could remember anything else.

"I'm---I'm sorry. I don't---I don't remember anything else," she stammered again.

"That's okay. That's okay, sweetie. You did real good," Detective Kingston told her.

"Well," Casey absently corrected. Derek let out a small laugh. If Casey could still correct someone's grammar, she was gonna make it. Meanwhile, back at home, Edwin and Lizzie were upstairs doing what they did best: snooping.

"Lizzie, are you sure we should be doing this? I don't want Casey mad at me," Edwin said.

"Edwin, Casey snapped at me. Me! As if I was your brother," Lizzie reminded him. Then, "No offense."

"None taken," Edwin assured her. Lizzie pushed the door to Casey's room open.

"Whoa. Look in the corner," Edwin said in surprise. In a corner of the usually neat room, lay a pile of tangled sheets.

"What happened in here?" Lizzie wondered as they walked up to the pile.

"Maybe she just forgot to put them in the hamper," Edwin suggested.

"Maybe," Lizzie doubtfully answered.

"Yeah. I'm not really buying it either," Edwin agreed. They began to pull the sheets apart. Suddenly, their eyes went wide.

"Oh, my gosh," Lizzie gasped.

"I---I can't believe it," Edwin added.

"Dad!" Edwin cried.

"George!" Lizzie screamed at the same time. Pounding footsteps told them that the man had heard their cries.

"What? What is it?" he asked, as he held Marti in his arms. He looked at them strangely. There was nothing in the room that could cause their excitement. Just a bunch of blankets in the corner. Then, he did a double take. Dirty blankets? This was Casey's room, not Derek's.

"Casey has dirty sheets," Marti noted.

"That's odd," George commented. He walked up to the pile and his jaw dropped. On Casey's sheets were streaks of blood and something else that George wasn't sure he wanted identified.

"What's that dark stuff on Casey's sheets?" Marti wondered.

"Edwin, call Nora. Tell her we may have something that needs to be looked at," George instructed, ignoring his daughter's question.

"Why?" Edwin asked.

"Edwin, don't ask questions. Just do as you're told," George barked.

"Okay," Edwin said in surprise. He and Lizzie went downstairs, where Edwin picked up the phone and dialed his stepmother's cellphone number.

"Hello?" he heard the woman ask.

"Nora, it's Edwin," Edwin stated.

"Hey, honey. What's up?" Nora wondered.

"Lizzie and I found some blood on Casey's sheets and for some reason, Dad got all weird and said that they had to be looked at," Edwin told her.

"Thank you, Edwin. Believe me, it's a big help," Nora stated.

"You all right? You sound strange," Edwin said in concern.

"I'm okay, Edwin. I'll be home in a bit," Nora told him. The buzz in his ear told him that Nora had hung up. Back at the station, Nora looked at Detective Kingston.

"Is everything all right, Ma'am?" the woman queried.

"My younger son and daughter found some of Casey's sheets covered in blood," Nora replied.

"Ma'am, would you mind if me and a couple of my partners came over to the house to check out those sheets?" Detective Kingston queried.

"Well, I think it should be Casey's decision," Nora told her. The officer looked at the girl. Legally, she didn't need Casey's consent since she was a minor, but she sensed that it would be better if the girl was included in the decision process.

"If...you think it'll help catch him. Sure," Casey agreed softly.

"You can follow us," Nora said. Detective Kingston rounded up two other officers, one male, one female. The police officers told their captain what was going on and then followed Mrs. Venturi out of the station and to her house. When they arrived at the house, Nora led the officers into the house.

"George! I'm home!" Nora called. "Her bedroom's upstairs. Follow me," she continued. They went upstairs.

"Okay. Could you three vacate the room please?" Detective Kingston requested.

"Smerek, what's going on?" Marti wondered as her father and siblings did as they were told.

"Grown up business, Smarti," Derek answered. The officers set up some equipment, made sure the lights were off, and then closed the door.

"What are they doing?" Edwin wondered.

"I'm not sure," Derek told him. Everyone waited for a few minutes and then the officers came out.

"Well?" Nora queried.

"Could we go somewhere private?" second female officer asked.

"Sure. We can use my room downstairs," Nora agreed. Derek and Casey followed them down the stairs.

"I can't believe I forgot about the sheets. After what happened, I just pulled them off the bed and threw them in the corner," Casey told him.

"Well, maybe they found something that could help you," Derek said optimistically. Once they were in the room, Detective Kingston faced them.

"Perhaps you'd like to sit down," she suggested gently.

"Just...tell us what you found," George stated.

"There's two blood and two semen samples. We know that one of each of these samples belong to Casey. And the other one is most likely her attacker's," Detective Kingston told them.

"What can I do to help speed this up?" Casey wondered.

"We'd like to draw some blood from you, just to be sure," the officer told her.

"Yeah, go for it," Casey agreed. "Do...we need to go back to the station for this?" she questioned.

"It'd be the idea place," was the answer.

"Let's go then," the teen agreed.

"I'll take care. Why don't you guys get dinner ready?" Nora suggested to George.

"Of course," George agreed. "Come on, Derek," he continued. With a noise of distress, Casey turned to her stepbrother.

"I kinda think Casey needs me," Derek told his father.

"Oh. Um, all right. Yes, of course. That's fine," George agreed in surprise. With that, Nora, Casey, and Derek went out of the house and followed the officers back to the station.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Yes, I know the back and forth action between the police station and Casey's house is highly unrealistic, but it just worked for this story.