As they rounded the side of the house, Wallowski gave Cal a sideways grin.
"So. You and Foster, huh?"
Cal had no control over the smile that overtook him as he simply replied with, "Yeah. Me and Foster".
Wallowski smiled wider at him, releasing a pent-up laugh at his expense.
"Last time I saw you two together, before Fosters friend was murdered of course, you two seemed a little tense. Not long before that you seemed like you wanted to kill each other", she prodded.
"Yeah, well. We talked", he shot back with deliberate sarcasm at the situation that surrounded his relationship with his partner.
"Looks like you did more than talk, but alright."
Cal's natural giddiness when thinking of Gillian sobered momentarily as he briefly considered how he had treated the detective throughout their friendship. He looked at Wallowski seriously for a moment.
"I'm sorry. If I used you, or took advantage of you in any way. Wasn't fully my intention. Not consciously at least, but… I was in a bit of a weird place when we met. I was pissed off at her, and there was a lot of other stuff going on. I never intended to hur-"
Had Wallowski not been so stunned at his unexpected honesty in the matter, she'd have cut off his explained apology sooner. She held no ill will towards him for what they had been to each other, which was a lot of build up to a lot of nothing really. They never could have been, and she knew that even then, even when she was occasionally tempted.
"Lightman. Stop. It's fine. You didn't lead me on or make me think we were ever going to be anything. I honestly kind of assumed you were using me for something other than police resources. Figured out it had to be her. She… really doesn't like me."
Feeling the need to make excuses for Gillian's disdain both professional and jealously driven, Cal winced and shrugged his shoulders and turned towards the detective as they continued their cursory perusals, he almost sighed as he pleaded the case for Gillian's true feelings.
"She doesn't really have an issue with you as such. It's me that caused it all. I deliberately made an enemy of you at first. She gets it now, she's just jealous because she doesn't know you don't fancy me".
Wallowski's look told him that the topic could be closed for the moment. "Well, I'm happy for you guys anyway. Seems to have made both of you easier to work with at least", she teased, moving in for a closer look through a window at the back of the house.
They continued the rest of the search in silence.
At the front of the house, Gillian Foster and Ibrahim Hamed stood in nervous anticipation.
"So. Uh, how long have you been working with Detective Wallowski?", she asked brightly, attempting to make small talk with the awkward young man.
"Uuum, 'bout a month or so. Nobody else wanted to work with her because of her history, y'know? With her previous partner and stuff? Nobody else wanted to work with me, I guess because of my name or because I'm quieter than they're used to or, I don't know what. She said she'd give me a chance if I'd let her", he looked at Gillian trying to ascertain her opinion of his words and his partner. "It's been fine. Little… unorthodox sometimes maybe, like her suggesting calling in human lie detectors. No Offence", he finished sheepishly.
Gillian gave him a friendly laugh and a reassuring smile. "None taken. We're pretty used to the scepticism."
They continued making small talk for several minutes, Ibrahim telling her about how he liked working as a detective; Gillian explaining the basics of Dr Lightman's science and their research. After Cal and Wallowski had been gone for about five minutes, they noticed a male figure approaching from down the street.
The man was approximately average height. He was in his late twenties, with light brown skin, short coarse dark hair, very slightly overweight. He matched the general description of one of the brothers who's home their partners were snooping around. The man's body language suggested that he was anxious or agitated. He seemed in a hurry to return to the house. Detective Hamed radioed Wallowski to warn them of his approach. Both he and Gillian prepared their own approach to be as casual as possible so as not to spook the young man.
As he neared them he became more disturbed, glancing nervously towards them and away, looking around himself before focusing determinedly on the front door of the house and picking up his pace. When he was close enough, Gillian stepped forward introducing them by purpose.
"Hi there, do you live here? We're looking to ask some questions in the area about any unusual activity that might have been noticed recently," she began hoping not to trigger any more fear in the man as to what they wanted from him.
He looked down, deliberately averting his gaze, as a child would when approached by a stranger.
"Do you mind if we ask you a few questions?" she continued. She thought that she may present a less imposing figure than the policeman beside her.
"Um, I don't know anything. I work the early shift, I'm just coming home from work. My brother is at work now, he takes care of everything", the man replied evasively.
"That's ok. You might be able to help us anyway. Do you mind if we talk for a minute? Maybe we could come in and chat but it's ok if you'd prefer to talk here instead."
"No. I can't talk. I have to go inside and wait for Charlie. He's working."
Gillian figured this was the younger of the two brothers. The one that the neighbours said had suffered serious brain injury in his youth. His language and demeanour showed clear signs of mild intellectual difficulty, and his nervousness could easily be a natural disposition for him. Without a baseline, she couldn't know for certain.
"Did you notice anything unusual the night before last or at all recently? Early morning maybe, before sunrise?", asked Detective Hamed, sensing that they were about to lose the opportunity to speak with the man.
"I work the early shift at the hospital."
"What time you start work at?"
"I don't know. I start early. Before the sun comes up. I get the first bus."
"And you didn't see anything? Not when you left or before?"
"I didn't see nothin'. I got to get home now. I have to wait for Charlie."
As the young man scrambled with his rucksack and his keys to get the door opened, Gillian took out her phone to call Cal. The man finally got his door opened, barely opening it wide enough to fit himself through before slamming it shut and disappearing.
Before Gillian could dial Cal's number, he and Wallowski appeared from around the side of the house; Clearly having been watching for the opportunity to re-emerge without it looking suspicious. At the same time, Ria and her cop shadow reappeared to report on the lack of progress from the other house.
Gillian pointed at the door, looking at Cal, "He's extremely nervous, but hard to say if it's because he's hiding anything. You two see anything back there?"
"Nothing. House looks pretty normal. Nothing looks massively out of place. We'll need to have a look inside and talk to them to get anything."
"Well, he said that his brother 'Charlie' was at work, and he had to wait for him. We won't get information out of him, but we might be able to talk to him a little more. Or you want to wait for big brother?"
Cal thought for a moment, gauging the faces of all present before saying, "Let's wait. Don't want to close the door before it even opens, yeah?"
"Agreed. He seems dependent on the brother. If we rattle him now, it might upset Charlie when he does get back and we'll get nowhere without a warrant."
"Might be worth getting the ball rolling on that warrant though, just in case. We'll need something to justify it. Want to take another peek through some windows?", Wallowski added.
"I don't think that's a good idea. What if you get caught looking? Besides is that even legal? Will they give a warrant for spying through keyholes?"
"Time's running out here. If Amy is in there…"
On a slip road approaching the I-95 about 15 miles north of the small suburb in Virginia, a teenaged girl slipped from the banking at the side of the road, narrowly avoiding the approaching car that slammed on it's breaks and stopped just shy of the child. A woman in her early thirties blasted a car horn and yelled at the idiocy of the almost victim.
"Are you out of your mind!? You could kill someone jumping out at them like that here, what if there had been someone behind me, moron!", screamed Martha Ross.
Fourteen-year-old Amy Hamilton jumped from her prone position at the front of the car, terrified, barefoot, and geared to run as fast as possible.
"Wait!", Martha yelled, getting out of the car and grabbing the girl before she could get into worse traffic. Cars were now backing up behind Martha's vehicle, several people exiting their cars in shock at the scene ahead, a few screeching obscenities for the car at the front of the queue to move out of the way.
Martha wrestled Amy into the passenger side of her car, waving an apology to those behind. "Are you ok, sweetheart? What's your name?"
Sobbing inconsolably, Amy managed to say her own name and nothing more.
Realisation dawned upon Martha's face.
"Honey. You're on the news. Your parents are looking for you, I gotta get you to a police station."
Out of options and hope extinguished, Amy stared vacantly through Martha, unable to cope with the trauma of the last few days.
