Chapter 3

Vera walked into the squad room shaking his head. "I went over the CSU's report again. There's nothing suggesting anyone else was there at the time. Doesn't mean somebody wasn't there but..."

"...but we can't prove anyone else was there, meaning this really might have been an accident, for all we know." Jeffries finished.

Lt. John Stillman, the squad commander, sighed. "All right then. You two go have a talk with this Debbie girl." He said to Lilly and Scotty. "If nothing pans out, I'm writing this one off as an accident and we're moving on."

Lilly nodded solemnly as she and Scotty got up and headed out.

"So what do you think, accident?" Scotty asked as he and Lilly headed down the hallway.

Lilly shook her head. "I don't know. Let's just hope Debbie Rosenberg can shed some light on this."

Debbie and the two detectives sat around the living room of her apartment. Aside from cutting her dark hair to chin-length in the year and a half since Brian's death, she looked very much the same. She eyed the detectives nervously.

"I'm not sure what you're asking me." She said.

"We're just trying to get a better understanding of the situation." Lilly said. "Now we heard that you and Brian weren't getting along at the time he died, that the two of you had argument about a week before his death, and that you didn't approve him seeing Allison."

Debbie shot her a look of disbelief. "What? Where did you hear that?"

Scotty leaned forward in his chair. "That wasn't the case?"

Debbie turned her look towards Scotty. "No, of course not. I was angry when I found out he was seeing her because I knew she was just using him."

"Using him?" Lilly asked.

Debbie nodded. "She just went out in public with him because she didn't want anyone finding out she was sleeping with me and Gary's pig of a professor, Dr. Hunter." She sighed. "And no, I can't prove it, and yes, I'm sure they probably told you I had a grudge with them because Gary got the assistant's job, but I swear that's the truth."

Lilly nodded. "Did Brian ever find out about this?"

"Yeah, he did." Debbie said. "I'm not sure how he found out but we talked at Hurley's the night after and he made it clear that he knew." A sad smile passed over her face. "We talked about a lot of things that night."

Brian didn't normally have to check his work schedule this late in the week, but that was before he'd washed his pants with his schedule still in the pocket. Now that he had it written down again, he didn't plan on staying. Somebody was likely to spoil his weekend by asking him to cover a shift or something. Not that he had any plans, he just wasn't the mood after what he'd seen.

He was halfway from the staff room to the front door when he spotted Debbie sitting alone at the booth in the corner. Not sure if she was still mad at him, he was about to walk out without saying anything until he saw her start to sob. Sighing, he shook his head and walked over to her table.

"Deb?" He asked awkwardly.

Debbie immediately looked up, wiping her eyes, and forcing a smile. "Brian, hey! I... I didn't think you were on tonight."

"I'm not. I was just checking my schedule for next week." He inched closer. "Is everything all right?"

She looked at him for a moment then quickly shook her head. "I'm fine. I'm fine." She saw his concerned look and let her guard down slightly. "It's just... getting that assistant's job meant so much to me. I worked so hard to get picked for that."

Brian sighed and sat down next to her. "Oh, I heard about that." He put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm really sorry, Deb."

Looking down, she started to sob again. Brian looked at her nervously for a moment, then pulled her into a hug. She cried on his shoulder for a few minutes while he stroked her hair and whispered that it was all right.

"I'm so sorry about what I said yesterday." She finally said after a few minutes, her head still on his shoulder.

Brian looked down sadly. "No, no. You were right. I don't think I've been a very good friend lately."

Debbie pulled back and looked at him. "No, Brian, I--"

"No, I mean it." He continued. "I mean, we hardly see each other anymore, and..." He rolled his eyes and sighed. "You were right about Allison. You were right about everything."

She leaned in closer, her eyes concerned. "Why? What happened."

He sighed again and shook his head. "It's a long story. I don't really want get into that right now. Just my luck, I guess. Hard-luck Halley, remember?" He gestured towards her slightly. "Guess it's starting to rub off you too."

Her expression turned serious and she gave him a look he couldn't turn away from. "Hey. Listen to me, all right? High school was hell for me. It was absolute hell. But despite all the arrogant teachers, obnoxious jocks, and stuck-up prom queens, I knew I could get through it because I knew I always had you to turn to."

Brian looked at her intently as she continued. "I mean all those lunches together. All those evening we just hung out together, you, me, Jamie, and, hell, even Mike, I wouldn't trade that for anything. But especially you, Brian, you were always there for me, just like you're here for me now." She put her hand on his cheek and smiled. "You're my good luck charm." She whispered.

A sincere smile passed over Brian's face and she leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. Their eyes met as she was pulling back and suddenly Brian found himself pressing his lips against hers. The kiss lasted a few moments before Brian pulled himself back, a stunned look on his face.

"I'm sorry." He stammered. "I don't... I don't know why I did that. I'm sorry."

"I'm not." She replied after a moment, surprised to hear herself saying that. "Believe it or not, it was actually the highlight of my week."

Both laughed nervously and looked at each other for a moment before they found themselves leaning into another kiss...

Lilly looked at Debbie for a moment before speaking. "You were the girl Brian was seeing before he died?"

The sad smile remained fixed on Debbie's face. "I knew Brian forever and never would've imagined the two of us together in a million years, but the truth is it was happiest week of my life." She looked at Lilly, the sadness evident in her eyes. "Do you have any idea what it's like to find the man of your dreams, only to lose him?"

"You never told anyone about the two of you?" Lilly asked.

Debbie shook her head. "We thought it'd be kind of awkward telling our friends so we decided to hold off on telling anyone for a while."

Lilly leaned in closer. "I'm sorry to have to ask but where were you the night Brian died?"

"I was at this fancy restaurant, Hennessy's. Way more expensive than he could afford but he'd said he wanted to take me out on a real date. We had an eight o'clock reservation."

Scotty looked at Lilly. "8 P.M., don't be late." He said, quoting Brian's schedule book.

"There was one strange thing though. He told me he was going to talk to Dr. Hunter, try to get him to give me the assistant's job after all. I don't know what he thought he could say. I mean Brian wasn't even in chemistry, he was a film student. I asked him about it and he just said he was going to talk to Mr. Garcia."

Who's Mr. Garcia?" Lilly asked.

"Tony Garcia, Brian's film-making teacher."

"What did Brian think he could do?"

Debbie shrugged. "I don't know. He just said it like he had some sort of leverage. Whatever he thought he had, it didn't work. Gary still got the job. Turns out it was just as well, though. I've got some really great internships lined up. I'm doing fine, but it was still sweet of him to try."

Lilly nodded and smiled as she offered Debbie her card. "All right, Debbie. Thanks for your help."

Debbie didn't move as the two detectives got up. "You know I waited for him at that restaurant for over an hour. I thought he stood me up." She didn't sob but tears flowed silently down her face. "The next morning someone told me some student had been in some sort of accident in the film lab. They didn't know who but the second I heard that, I knew."

She looked up at Lilly while Lilly offered her a sympathetic gaze in return. "If somebody hurt Brian, you need to find out who. He deserves that much."

Lilly shook her head at they exited the apartment building. "Sure sounded sincere enough to me."

"Which means Allison and Gary were lying." Scotty added. "Either way, we still can't prove Brian was even murdered."

Lilly nodded. "Maybe Mr. Garcia can point us in the right direction."

In this thirties, the balding, portly, Tony Garcia looked better suited to a career behind the camera rather than in front of it. Still, his eyes conveyed a warmth and intelligence that made him somewhat disarming. Sitting in his office, he nodded wistfully at the mention of Brian's name.

"Yup, Brian Halley. I had for the first year class, then the second year class before he died about month into it. Shame too. He was a real natural with a lighting, angles, camera work. He was a little shy but he had some real potential."

"Brian said he was going to talk to you about getting Dr. Hunter to give his friend a job." Jeffries said.

Garcia looked at him, confused. "Ron Hunter from chemistry? No, Brian never said about him." He snorted. "I don't know what he thought I could say to that prick anyway."

"But you talked to him the day before he died." Vera said.

Garcia nodded. "Yeah, late afternoon. I guess that was the last time I saw him. He was acting kind of strange."

Garcia was stacking some film cases when he spotted Brian walking into the film lab.

"Hey there." He said, giving Brian a warm smile. "Anything you need?"

Brian paused a moment, then nodded. "Yeah, I was just wondering if I can do some work in the lab tomorrow night. I thought I'd try to get that assignment for next week done early" He smiled. "I might have some plans for the weekend with this girl I've been seeing."

Garcia shrugged. "Sure, no problem. I'll leave the door open. Just make sure you close it when you're done. Anything else?"

Brian swallowed hard, then continued. "Uhhh... actually yeah. Do you have the tape from when I took the ZR-20 last week?"

"Yeah, should still be in there. You were the last one to have it."

Brian shifted nervously. "Do you think I could borrow the tape? I... I just wanted to look over the stuff I shot some more."

Garcia nodded, gesturing to the small camera plugged in at a desk In the corner of the room. "Sure, it's right there."

Brian nodded, heading over to the camera and ejecting the mini-DV tape inside.

Garcia looked him over curiously. "You all right, Brian?"

Brian looked up at him quickly. "Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. Why?"

"You just seem a little distracted."

Brian sighed. "Sorry. I was just kind of dealing with a situation. I just hope I'm doing the right thing here. It's fine though." He smiled nervously, trying to look reassuring.

Garcia nodded. "Something school related?"

"I uhhh... I guess you could say that." Brian said. "Like I said, it's fine though."

Brian looked down at the tape and frowned, as though it had some sort of stain on it. "At least something good'll come of this." He muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing." Brian quickly answered. "Anyway, thanks for the use of the lab and the tape. I'll see you on Monday." Garcia gave him a smile as Brian waved and quickly exited the lab.

"Do you know what was on that tape?" Vera asked.

Garcia shook his head. "I figured it was just random footage. It was early in the year and I had each student take the camera out and film some stuff for a day, you know? Just so get they used to working with it. Brian was the last one to take it out. I never got the tape back, so wherever his stuff is, it must be there."

Vera looked at Jeffries, then back at Garcia. "Good to know. Thanks."

"Hey, you got any idea what was on it?" Garcia asked.

Jeffries' eyebrows raised slightly. "Well, we won't know for sure until we see it, but I'm starting to get an idea."

Mike and Jamie rushed into the squad, Mike carrying an open shoe box filled with tapes of various sizes and formats.

"These are all Brian's tapes." Jamie said to the detectives as Mike set the box down on a desk and started digging through it.

"Mr. Garcia said it was a mini-DV tape, right?" Lilly asked.

Vera shrugged. "Yeah, whatever that is. All I know is VHS and Beta."

Mike pulled out a small tape with the correct label on it and held it up proudly. Lilly smiled and took the tape from him. "All right. Let's see what was so important on this tape."

The first ten minutes of footage showed nothing of use. Brian was simply carrying down the hallway of the university, which appeared to be deserted at the hour he was filming, and occasionally turning the camera back towards himself to explain where on campus he was. Seeing his face on the TV screen elicited sad smiles from Mike and Jamie, who'd asked to sit in.

Around the ten minute mark, Brian camera back to him again. "All right, this is the chemistry department." He said. "I know a couple of people who work around here."

He continued down the hallway until he spotted one office door open a crack.

"Ah, here's the office of Dr. Hunter, who seems to be burning the candle at both ends." He whispered, moving towards the open door. "I wonder if he wouldn't mind saying--"

Brian's voice on the screen stopped abruptly and what he saw slowly came into view. Dr. Hunter was at his desk, while sitting on his lap, arms around him, lips pressed against his, was Allison Parks. The view lasted only for a few seconds before the camera turned upwards, revealing Brian's distraught face for an instant before the camera shut off.

"Oh my God!" Jamie whispered, her hand to her mouth.

Scotty leaned back in his chair. "Now that'd definitely work as leverage. "

Lilly kept her eyes on the screen. "Or a motive for murder."