Episode 2 - (Still working on title of this episode)
Part 1
The rain was pouring down hard, and an icy breeze passed over the ocean water. Danny was standing out by the docks; getting completely soaked. He stared down at a photo in his hands. His late wife Pamela sat in a chair with baby Michelle sitting in her lap. DJ, Stephanie and himself all stood behind her. That photo was taken just a month before Pam died, the only picture of his wife that he still looked at on occasion. It reminded him of what he had before she died, the happiness they all had. Somehow none of them have ever been able to find that happiness again.
Danny felt the prickle of tears in his eyes as he stared at Stephanie's young face. She was really gone, and he wondered if life was even worth living anymore…
Becky Katsopolis sat in the passenger seat of her husband Jesse's car. The car was thick with grieving silence, except for the splattering of rain on the windshield. Could this really be happening? Jesse was driving the car, and Joey sat in the back seat. Jesse had just explained to Joey and herself that Stephanie was dead, and Danny had to go to the police station to do a final identification of her body. Danny had called them to pick him up because obviously he was in no condition to drive.
The trip seemed to last forever. Diving to the police station was normally a fifteen minute drive, but giving all the red lights and the state of all there minds, it seemed like it was going on for fifteen hours. When Jesse drove into the parking lot, it didn't take Becky long to figure out something was missing. "Where's Danny's car?"
It was true, the parking lot wasn't huge so they could easily see every car in the lot and Danny's was no where in site. The three of them just exchanged worried glances without anyone offering any suggestions on where he might be. They didn't really need to, because they were all having the same thoughts. Jesse was the first one to open his door and step out into the rain, followed by Becky and finally Joey.
Stephen was starting to regret ever dragging Linden into his case. She was like a pit-bull, once she bites down she refuses to let go. With this new case going on, he didn't have time to be thinking about the case that's already been closed. "You know this can't be just a coincidence," Linden told him
"Linden… the case is closed," Stephen reminded her. Yes he appreciated her dedication but he had a lot of other things to think about. Like the brutal death of a fourteen year old girl. And didn't she have other things to think about as well, like her son? Where was he now, she probably left him at the apartment. He sighed heavily, "Linden, you got to let this go."
"What did he tell you when you were questioning him?" she demanded looking like she wasn't going to let this go even when hell freezes over.
Working with Linden had taught him one thing. When she's on an obsessive rampage the safest thing for him to do is just go with it. And that's exactly what he did, rather reluctantly and with a heavy sigh. "He tried to deny knowing her at first, obviously. I mean who wants the world to know that you used a prostitution service. After letting him know the evidence we had to back up our theory he finally admitted it, and said it was just a normal business night. She came they did there business and she left."
"Did anything out of the ordinary happen?" she asked but there conversation was suddenly interrupted by Allen walking into the office. He was followed by two middle aged men and a woman, each looking very worried.
"Holder," Allen started. "The girls father, is he still here?"
Stephen's tired brain had a hard time figuring out who Allen was talking about. He knew quite a few girls with fathers, Linden wasn't one of them. She grew up in foster care and didn't have parents at all. That means it was either Savanna or Stephanie, since he had never seen Savanna's father and he had just talked with Stephanie's father a little while ago, that meant he was probably talking about Danny. Stephen shook his head, "I don't know, he left a little while ago."
"He called us, saying he needed to be picked up," the woman explained sounding very worried.
One of the men with black hair pulled a cell phone out of his pocket, "I'll call home and see if he's back," he said the stress in his voice was a clear as day. He walked out of the room.
"How was he doing? Is there any reason for you to believe he'd be a danger to himself or anyone else?" Linden joined in.
The woman was taken aback, looking insulted. "He just had to identify his own daughter's body- how do you think he was doing?"
DJ walked down the stairs into the front room. Michelle sat on the couch in the pajama's watching TV. "Come on Michelle its time for bed," DJ announced to her younger sister. Having just finished putting her little cousins Nicky and Alex to bed, all she had to do was get Michelle to bed and then maybe she'd be able to get some answers. She was really struggling to act normal around the kids. Nothing was confirmed yet, Stephanie may be perfectly fine and there was no use freaking them out.
"Aw…" Michelle pouted. "Can't I stay up to see Steph get in trouble?"
"You got school in the morning, and it's already past your bedtime." DJ started waving her hands toward the stairs in a shooing motion. Michelle sighed with annoyance as she scooted off the couch and headed upstairs.
The phone rang making both of them stop in there places and turn to look at it. DJ continued to shoo Michelle upstairs, and picked up the phone. "Hello?"
"Hey D'g is your father back?" Uncle Jessie asked on the other end.
DJ looked up at the top of the stairs to make sure that Michelle was not still there listening. She at least finally did as she was told and wasn't anywhere in site. "No I thought you were picking him up?" her voice was etched with worry. Something was terribly wrong here. "Uncle Jesse please, what's going on?"
Joey Gladstone sighed with worry, as the followed the detectives down the hallway of Seattle PD. He never thought he'd see a day where he felt as if the stress was going to overwhelm him. Detective Holder was on his cell phone getting a search team or something out on Danny. "I need a APB out on a 39 year old male, black hair 6'2. Last seen wearing jeans and a blue sweater, possibly unstable."
Possibly unstable? Sure Danny may be a clean freak that over reacted on some things, but he would never hurt anyone. Even considering the events of the night, they shouldn't be worrying about him doing something crazy. Then the question was, why did he seem so worried right now? Thankfully the search didn't last very long; they all had only just exited the front doors of the police department when they saw Danny walking toward him. His car, which wasn't in the parking lot when they arrived, was parked next to Jesse's. Danny himself was soaked to the bone, and the glazed look in his eyes showed he probably wasn't in a very good state of mind.
Jesse ran toward his brother in law. "Danny where the hell have you been? We've been worried sick," he asked.
"I had some thoughts to sort out…"
His voice didn't sound natural. It didn't even sound like his voice, almost like a robots voice. Jesse looked back and exchanged glances with him and Becky, and they all had the same thought. It was time to take Danny home. "Um… thank you for you help detectives," Joey told the police.
Jesse and Becky drove back together in Jesse's car and Joey drove Danny back in Danny's car. The drive back was filled with tense silence. Danny who normally didn't shut up, just stared at the floor not saying a word. When they finally got him hime, DJ was still up waiting for them. They walked into the house she, who had been waiting on the couch, stood up in a flash. "Dad! What's going on? What's happened? Where's Stephanie?"
Sarah followed Holder and his partner into there office. Now that the drama on looking for a possibly unstable father being missing was over, it was time to start on Savanna's case again. Holder sat in the chair behind his desk and Allen followed suit sitting down by his own desk. Sarah opened her mouth to start the debate but was interrupted by Carlson walking in with a folder in his hands. "Got the crime scene photo's for the Tanner case," he announced handing the folder to Allen, and then motioned at Sarah. "Linden I'd like to discuss something with you in my office."
Those words were almost never followed by something good. Holder agreed with her by his comment. "Whooh someone's in trouble," he teased with a laugh.
She only took the time to glance at him long enough to give him her "shut it" glare, and then followed Carlson out of the room. They went into Carlson's office, and he closed the door before starting on her. "Listen Linden, you did real good on the Larsen case last year, and I'd be more then happy to give you observation status and let you consult on any case. But I can not allow you to investigate on an already closed case. If I IA or the press finds out there will be hell to pay."
Stephen and Allen were going over the crime scene photos. A few minutes after Linden left with Carlson, she came back in looking like a beaten dog. He had a feeling about what they talked about, or probably what he scolded her about. Allen smirked knowingly, "Looks like someone got a good dress down," he joked, chuckling.
Once again his idiot of a partner forgot when he should just keep his mouth closed. "Shut up Allen," he snapped at him then looked at Linden with concern. "You all right Linden?"
Linden didn't answer. She stared at the floor looking much like a child that just got told off, along her favorite toy being take away. Which was probably a good comparison considering what probably just happened to her. At least on the plus side she wouldn't be nagging at him anymore. Linden picked up her coat and slipped it on, "I got to get home to Jack." Her eyes then traveled to the stack of crime scene photo's, the one on top was a picture of Stephanie crammed inside the crate. She stared transfixed at the photo, almost like she was hypnotized by it. "Is this that guy's daughter?" Linden asked referring to Danny.
"Yeah," Stephen replied sighing tiredly. Then added jokingly, "Pretty a'n it?"
Her eyes remained glued to the photograph; he could almost see the cogs in her mind turning. She was getting sucked in. And when she left the room turning toward the direction of Carlson's office instead of the exit, he was pretty sure on what she was doing.
Day 2 (Tuesday December 6th)
DJ never thought she'd see this day; it never once crossed her mind. She never thought she'd see the day where her baby sister would be gone forever. The time was unknown, DJ had lain in her bed for hours into the night not feeling the least bit tired. She finally got up just before day break, and was now sitting at the empty kitchen table across from the seat Stephanie would sit at the table. Tears leaked from her eyes one by one, as she stared at her sister's unoccupied seat. It would never be occupied again, at least not by Stephanie.
A sound from the stairs alerted her. Joey was coming down the stairs, wearing jeans and one of his hockey jerseys. DJ quickly wiped the mingling tears off of her face, sniffling loudly. "Hey DJ," he greeted softly.
"Hi Joey," her voice crackled slightly from crying most of the night. But she still managed to look over at Joey and offer a smile, which only lasted half a second.
"You want anything for breakfast?" Joey asked smiling at her sadly.
DJ shook her head, the very thought of food at this moment made her stomach lurch. She may never be hungry again. Her eyes started to sting with the promise of more tears. "No… I'm not hungry," she choked out. DJ squeezed her eyes shut in an attempt to stop the tears from falling. The lump in her throat swelled, she was slowly losing the battle. It wasn't long before the sob burst its way out of her throat, and that started a chain reaction. DJ laid her head on the table and cried into her hands.
She heard Joey walk over to where she was sitting, and felt his hand slide onto her back and start rubbing in circles. "We're going to make it through this," he said sounding reassuring.
The door to the front room swung open and Aunt Becky came into the kitchen with Nicky and Alex. The boys were both dressed in blue jean overalls, Nicky wearing a blue plaid shirt and Alex wearing an identical shirt that was red. They had yet to tell Michelle or the boys about what happened, not wanting to scare them. DJ quickly composed herself wiping her eyes. However they were old enough and smart enough to know that something was wrong. "What's wrong DJ?" Nicky asked as he and his brother both sat in there usual seats at the table.
DJ opened her mouth to make up some excuse, but Joey beat her two it by changing the subject. "What do you boys want for breakfast?" he asked walking over to the refrigerator.
"Cookies!" both boys said at the same time making DJ smile at them. How nice it would be right now to be in there shoes, to not have any idea what was going on.
"Now boys, you know the rules," Aunty Becky reprimanded with a smile. "No cookies before breakfast."
Joey grabbed some eggs out of the refrigerator. "How about I make some waffles," he suggested and started the process of making the batter.
Uncle Jesse was the next person to walk into the kitchen. Going by the look on his face, he probably felt just like the rest of them. "Morning," he greeted sounding almost mechanical. "Is Danny up yet?"
"I haven't seen him," Aunt Becky replied. She was digging through her bag looking for her car keys. "I got to go to the station, and I'm going to tell them that Danny's sick." She explained finally finding the keys and pulled them out.
"I don't think he'd be able to go to work today even if he wanted to," Jesse stated then dropped his voice so that only DJ and Aunt Becky would be able to hear him. "He told me that the police were coming by today to search Stephanie's room."
This was followed by a grave silence. It was as if none of them really wanted to believe that this was happening and information like that took them out of the fantasy and back to reality. This really was happening. The silence was broken by Michelle coming in. "Morning everyone," she greeted cheerfully. "What's for breakfast?"
"I'm making waffles," Joey replied.
DJ looked at the watch on her wrist. Her boyfriend Steve Hale would be there any minute to pick her up and drive her to classes. She really didn't feel up to going to her college classes today. Several times this morning she thought about calling Steve and telling him that she didn't feel up to going today. The only thing that stopped her was knowing that he'd demand to know what was wrong, and the police had apparently told them to keep this just to family for the time being. By now it was too late to call him, he was on his way. Scratch that he was here. "Hey everybody," Steve walked in from the backyard door.
As if on instinct he grabbed a bagel and two breakfast pastries that were sitting on the table, and started stuffing his mouth. DJ couldn't help but smile at him, he would never change. "Hi Steve," she greeted thankful that her voice didn't crack. She stood up from the table and walked over to kiss him on the cheek.
Steve smiled at her, still chewing his food. How she felt must have shown on her face because his own smile soon fell into a look of worry. "You all right?"
"Yeah," DJ lied forcing herself to smile. She knew at once that he didn't buy it, the two of them had dated for a little over 3 years and he could read her like a book. "Some family stuff is just happening. Um… let's get going."
She started ushering Steve out the door, if she was going to cave and tell him she didn't want to do it when Michelle and her little cousins were around to listen. They were just heading out the backyard door when Joey called her back, "Hey D'g!" he motioned for her to come over to where he was standing by the counter. DJ motioned at Steve to go ahead while she walked over to where Joey stood. "I consider Steve family, so I think it will be all right if you tell him."
DJ smiled. "Thanks Joey," she told him and left the house.
Stephen and Allen were in there office going over the coroners report on Stephanie's body. It looked like whoever killed her wanted to torture her before hand. "It certainly gives someone motive," Allen was saying and Stephen nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, but now there's just one question. Who is it?" he wondered. The new million dollar question.
The two of them weren't able to ponder it any longer because Carlson walked in. Stephen set down the coffee cup he was drinking and looked up at his Lt. "Got an update on Hawthorns alibi," he announced without ceremony. "So far everything has checked out. She was caught on various store security camera's until 9:32am, and the church pastor confirmed that she arrived at the church around 3pm."
Allen spoke his exact thoughts. "9:30 to 3:00, that's plenty of time to kill someone, hide the body, and cover it up."
"She says that her brother should be able to collaborate her alibi on returning home at 10:00am. No one's gotten around to talking with the brother yet though," Carlson explained.
"We'll get that done today," Stephen replied.
"Oh yeah, Linden's going to be helping out with the case as an observer and consulter. Got any problem with that Holder?"
Stephen laughed. He knew that she couldn't stay away. "Hell man, you didn't even need to ask. Y'no I'm more then happy to have Lindens help."
Carlson nodded and left room. Allen's face had suddenly gone downcast, looking like a little boy that was just told he had to babysit his little brother instead of going to a friends house. "So what- I don't get a say in this?"
"Chill son," Steven brushed him off. "You should be happy to have Lindens help, she's good."
"That's what I'm worried about…" Allen mumbled. He seemed to be fearing that Linden was going to take his place. This was entirely possible, because as much as he liked Allen; he was like a little brother. Steven would always prefer Linden as a partner over anyone else.
Lavender stood in front of the bathroom mirror putting on eye shadow, trying to make her lack of sleep less obvious. She had probably gotten a total of two hours sleep the night before, and that sleep had been plagued with nightmares. In-between she would dry heave into the bathroom. Her brother Eddie thought she had caught the flu and spent a good hour that morning trying to convince her to say home.
Staying home however was the last thing she would do. If she really had been sick, she would have stayed at a friend's house to wait it out. Once Lavender was finished putting on the last of her make up, she packed up all her makeup items and tossed them into a drawer, and went back to her room to grab her purse. She couldn't let what happened yesterday effect her plans; this was just another attack by the devil to stop her from continuing Gods plan. Everyone had told her that as the day of her departure got closer, he would land blow after blow to try and make her doubt Gods plan. She had understood this and prepared for it, but she never expected one of his blows would be in this form. She needed to find solace.
So early that morning Lavender sent a text to Martha Hardly, the closest person she had to a real mother, and asked her if they could meet. Luckily Martha was available, so Lavender was now heading out to meet her. Lavender pulled the strap of her purse around her shoulders, and dug out her car keys.
She crossed paths with her brother Eddie in the hallway; actually he was blocking her path. He stood in the middle of the hallway in the stance of a bodyguard, with his arms crossed over his check giving her a stern fatherly look. Obviously he was still worried about her. "Are you sure that you shouldn't just say home?" he asked for probably the millionth time making Lavender roll her eyes.
"I'm fine Eddie; it was just something I ate. I feel better now." It hurt to lie to him. Not just because she knew it was wrong and sinning against God, but Eddie was the only person in her blood related family that she actually got along with. The two of them were closest to each other then any other member, going both ways. He was the only member that accepted and even approved of her walking away from the family life. Probably because he tried to do the same thing when he was in high school, but couldn't fully break away. He was soon dragged back to it all. Lavender knew why it had worked for her and not for him. She had found God, and that was the only reason why she wasn't dragged back into it.
Eddie did not reply. He looked down sadly, the face of a broken man. If only he would answer to Gods call. Lavender knew that God was stirring in Eddie's heart, and she had prayed for so long that he would find his way to God as well. She had told him about Christ and offered to let him join her in Church, but he was very hesitant. Finally he stepped aside without a word, and Lavender passed him with a reassuring smile.
Jack Linden sat in the passenger seat of his mom's car, slowly munching on a piece of toast without much appetite. He couldn't help but note the change in his mom's behavior, she now had that vacant look in her eyes. The one he only saw when her mind was much occupied. This was when he became very worried; he learned four years ago that when that look came onto her face it wasn't going to end well. "Nash's mom is going to take you back to the apartment after school today," she suddenly spoke up without warning.
Very quickly Jacks worries were being confirmed. "How come?" he asked suspicion tracing the lines of his voice, but he already knew what the answer was. His mom had tried to hide it, but he wasn't stupid.
"I have to work late tonight."
"You found another job?" Yes it was a question, but the tone of his voice spoke an entirely different line. He knew she was working as a cop again. Holder comes by the apartment; his mom meets with him the next day, and then the day after that she's working a job again. It didn't take a genius to put the pieces together.
At least his mom stopped trying to hide it. She knew that he knew; however she still tried to brush it off as nothing to worry about. "You don't need to worry. Holder just wants me to help consult on one of his cases." The tension in the car grew thicker after this. To say the least Jack was not happy, some may debate he was pissed. He turned his head to stare out of the window, and felt his moms eyes turn to look at him. No other words were exchanged during the drive.
Hi everyone, I apologize that this chapter took so long to get up. Yes I'm still planning on finishing this story. It's awesome that The Killing was resurrected for a season 3, and so far the season is awesome! Considering that I started this story before season 3 started and I already generally have an idea on how this entire story plays out including the ending and who the killer is, this story will continue to ignore events of season 3.
Character Ages
Steve Hale – 21
Suspect Tracker (Only one new vote for last chapter, its still a tie)
Danny Tanner – The Father. Votes: 0
Rebecca Katsopolis – The Aunt. Votes: 0
Josh Brown – The New Partner. Votes: 1
Lavender Hawthorn – The Christian. Votes: 0
Robert Hardly – The Pastor. Votes: 1
Jack Linden – Sarah's son. Votes: 0
Eric Carlson – Stephan's boss. Votes: 0
Gia Mahan – The best friend. Votes: 0
Jesse Katsopolis – The Uncle. Votes: 0
Joey Gladstone – The Comedian. Votes: 0
DJ Tanner – The Older Sister. Votes: 0
Edward Hawthorn – Lavenders Brother: Votes: 1
Steve Hale – DJ.'s Boyfriend. Votes: 0
