AN: I know bad me, really took me long to write this part, but I've got holidays now, so the next part will come faster.
Chapter Seven
Stella sat in her office.
In front of her lay a file. A normal file, like dozen other files that crossed her desk on a daily basis.
She didn't even want to count how many files like that she had seen in her life.
Her thumb drifted absently across the rough paper tracing the name that was written on it in neat letters.
She traced the lines of an A. She felt the little deepth on the paper.
These few letters that made this file completly different from any other file she had ever held in her hands.
In this file were the answers she had wanted to know all her life and yet she couldn't bring herself to open it.
What's your fucking problem Stella?
You always wanted to know about your life, about your family and now when you finally have the chance you chicken out?
What happend to the stubborn woman who was never afraid of the truth?
Her finger touched the edges of the file as if wanting to open it.
But she imediatly let go of the file and tore her hand back as if she had been burned.
What are you afraid of? The truth? That you will finally have answers?
She didn't want to listen to this voice in her head, but she knew it was true.
All her life she had lived with the fact that she didn't know anything about herself, her parents, her family and simple things like her birthday and her real name.
Things other people took for granted, didn't even give a real thought about.
All she knew was, that someone at the orphanage made up her name and guessed her birthday.
She had spent her whole life trying to find out who she was and even though she never gave up searching for those answers, somewhere along the way she had learned that she was her own person and no information in the world could change that.
But now with these answers right in front of her, she felt like if she opened this file she would see what she should have been like and she was afraid she had failed.
Her head hit her desk with a frustated sigh.
I want to know the truth, don't I?
Flack chose that moment to appear in the door to her office.
"I want to go interview her co-workers, wanna come?"
Maybe he should have just gone alone, she didn't seem like she was up for a interview of her doppelganger's co-workers.
She looked up startled, she had been so deep in thoughts she hadn't even hear Flack come in.
"Yeah, sure, just let me...", she murmeled confused.
She stood up grabbed her jacket without finishing the sentence and walked out of the office, her thought still occupied with the file that was still lying close on her desk.
Flack followed her worriedly out to the car.
What was up with her? Why had she seemed so distanced?
"You know Mac, if you keep standing there watching me work, its not going to make me finish faster!", Jane commented looking up from her work.
Mac had given her two DNA samples to compare, one from the victim one from Stella, so she could understand that he wanted this result as soon as possible, but Mac just standing there staring at her gave her the creeps. She normally didn't mind, but somehow this time it was different.
"I know", was Mac's short answer. He was standing next to the door and he didn't seem to move at all.
"Don't you think you could use your time better, than watching me work?", she understood that he was concerned for Stella, so she tried her best not to sound annoyed.
She just couldn't work with him standing there like a statue, following her every move.
He sighed. Even though he didn't want to admit it, she did have a point. He just wasn't so sure he could concentrate on anything else until he knew the truth.
"Mac, look, I promise to page you as soon as I have the result."
Mac just nodded. He didn't like to leave, but he had heard the faint sound of annoyance in Jane's voice and decided it was best for both of them, if he left her alone.
He stepped out of the door, but his thought were still with the DNA testing that was done in the room he just left.
Was the woman in the morgue really Stella's sister?
What would happen if she was? What if she wasn't?
Stella seemed to believen that it was her sister lying there.
What would be worse for her? Having a dead sister or not having a sister at all?
Why did he care so much anyway? They were friends, but was that all that he felt or was there more? Could there be more?
Danny and Aiden were standing in front of a big house it was surronded by a beautiful garden. It wasn't a villa, but way bigger then the two of them had expected.
"Not bad, tell me again, what he does for a living?", asked Danny.
"He sells and designs furniture", said Aiden smiling at Danny's disbelieving look. "Makes you think you choose the wrong career, doesn't it?"
"Yep, the only chance we have is to marry someone rich", joked Danny.
"Too bad all the rich people we meet are either dead or we are putting them in jail", Aiden made her way to the front door, which was taped shut with yellow crime scene tape.
Danny opened the front door and stepped into the hall.
"Tell you what, next time we meet someone rich, we don't sent them to jail we blackmail them into marrying one of us."
"Deal", answered Aiden.
The hall was nicely decorated. There were paintings on the wall and some plants in pots on the floor. On their right a staircase led upstairs.
"So where do we start?"
"She was wearing a nightgrow, right? So I'm guessing she was attacked in her sleep or at least in her bedroom, let's start there", suggested Danny.
"OK, but in the report it says, that there wasn't any evidence of a struggle in the bedroom", Aiden took out the file of the premilary report the police had carried out when Aletheia went missing.
They made their way up the staircase.
Aiden opened the first door on their right.
"I'm going to take a wild guess and say this is the babys room."
The room was painted in a light pink, there were some stuffed animals on the shelf and in the middle of the room stood a crib.
After a quick check of the room, they went on to the next room.
Danny stepped into the bedroom. He quickly scanned the room.
There was a large dresser to his left and before him stood a kingsized bed.
"Seems like she was sleeping", stated Aiden staring at the unmade bed.
"There are no sighns of a struggle or anything out of place, so she wasn't attacked here", Danny went over to the bedside table.
"Maybe she heard a noise or something", suggested Aiden.
"When she went to check on it, why didn't she take her gun?", said Danny, holding up a gun he found in the drawer.
"OK, got me I don't know, maybe she forgot about it or she didn't think it was necessary or she just went down because she was hungry or she couldn't sleep", Aiden shrugged as she ran through all the scenarios that came to mind.
Danny went over the bed sheets with a blacklight. "It's clean."
"So she wasn't raped here and probably not attacked either", said Aiden as she looked at the pictures that were hanging on the wall next to the bed.
One was of Aletheia, one of Lilian and her dad and one of them all together.
She looked at Aletheia and couldn't help but imagining Stella in her position.
She had never thought of Stella as a family person, but looking at these picture, she couldn't help but wonder.
"Aiden, you found something?", Danny called from the doorway.
"No, no I'll be right there", she took a last look at the picture before following Danny as he headed downstairs.
Together they entered the living room. It was a mess.
There were chairs lying on the floor, the table was turned upside down and there were fragments of what used to be a vase on the floor.
The flowers, white lillies, where lying everywhere and the spilled water had left a dark stain on the carpet.
Some books had been swept off the shelf and were now lying on the floor.
Aiden walked to the upturned table.
"This is strange", thought Aiden, she didn't even realize she had spoken out loud until Danny came over to her.
"What's strange?"
She jumped a little hearing his voice so close to her.
"See these broken cups?" She pointed to the items on the floor.
"Yeah... why is it strange, everthing here is broken", said Danny looking at the fragments. "Maybe she couldn't sleep and went down to drink some tea."
"Danny there are two cups on the floor", said Aiden.
"There are no signs of forced entry...", said Danny following her trail of thoughts.
"She knew her killer, Danny."
AN2: Thanks to fruitbat00 for reading better! I don't know what I would do without you!
Thanks to everyone who wrote a review, that's what keeps me writing this story.
littlesheep Believe it or not, but I didn't even have time to watch anything before this weekend. It drove me crazy, see these DVDs lying there and not having time. But I finally got around to watching them, I love it! Thank you!
scrimshaw I know poor baby. I thought about leaving the baby out because I just had a hard time writing that part.
hotchner You really think I could be that cruel and not let them find the killer?
chili-peppers Thank you, hope you like this part too ;)