Chapter 1

All Lily saw was a little girl. Not a hard and rough and tumble type girl that had spent her whole life on the street or in foster homes, nor did she seem to be the girl that had been raised all her life in a sheltered world as "Daddy's little girl". Dark brown hair fell gracefully from her head, framing her thin beautiful face and setting off her beautiful hazel almond-shaped eyes, giving her that intelligent and exotic look. She was dressed in the usual style of clothes that teenagers usually wore, a pair of embroidered jeans and an open dark blue jean jacket with a black tank top underneath. There was nothing to suggest her appearance at the police station in downtown Philadelphia. Certainly she didn't seem to be the type who would go out with the "selling drugs driving speedy cars and beating women" type of guys.

The young girl saw Lily and smiled. Her name was Evelyn Gilding, seventeen, high school graduate who was destined to attend Harvard in the fall. But what interested Lily the most was Evelyn's origin and why she was in Philadelphia in the first place.

"I originally planned this trip to find my mother." Evelyn explained. "She went up to Toronto and had me in August of 1989 and my adopted parents brought me home straight form the hospital. The adoption agency wouldn't give me the records, but I knew which hospital I was born in and I managed to track down the nurse who helped with my delivery."

Lily smiled at the sleuth in the making. It was no wonder she was on her way to an Ivy League school.

Evelyn dug into her bag and pulled out a piece of paper. It was the death certificate for her mother, Vanessa Hamilton. She knew it was a long shot, but with her mother dead, she hoped to somehow find the man that was her father. Even though she had a good childhood and good adoptive parents, she couldn't live the rest of her life without the knowledge she had tried to find her origins, tried to discover why her parents gave her up. And with her real mother gone, she had come to the police department in a moment of insanity to try and seek the reason for her mother's death. She also wanted to find her father, but didn't know where to begin either.

"I've had a good life so far." Evelyn repeated. "But haven't you ever felt like there's a piece of you missing, and that the only people that can fill that void are the ones you have to fight to find?"

Even though the young girl wasn't making much sense, Lily still felt like she understood every word. She assured Evelyn she would do everything in her power to try and find her father as well as what happened to her mother. After the girl left the station, Lily wasted no time and raced down to the vault.

Her suspicions were confirmed. There was the Vanessa Hamilton case box lying on the shelf, dated November 1989. She opened a dusty manila envelope and took out a pile of crime scene photos. Looking at the photos Lily herself would have thought Vanessa was peacefully sleeping on the ground, if it wasn't for a pile of blood that rested beside her head, a thick streak of blood down the one side of a car that was beside her and the fact that her eyes that lay open in a blank lifeless stare. Evelyn had inherited her mother's long silky hair, but Vanessa had a darker set of eyes and a slightly wider face. Her father must have been the one with the hazel eyes and thin face. Whoever her biological father was.

Familiar footsteps echoed down the metal staircase and a minute later Scotty and Stillman's faces emerged into view. "What have we got here?"

"A girl by the name of Evelyn Gilding came in about an hour ago hoping we could find more information about her biological parents." Lily replied. "She managed to find out her mom's name, her mother's origins and the fact that she's not alive anymore."

Stillman took the file from Lily. "Vanessa Hamilton, twenty-one years old. Found dead in a restaurant parking lot in the wee hours of the morning." Sadness tugged at his heart as he read the rest of Vanessa's info. "She was about to begin her last year at Temple University."

Lily sighed. "She had her whole life ahead of her."

"She had a fiancé, Warren Smithers. We should probably talk to him."

"So this Warren guy is probably Evelyn's father." Scotty said.

"Or maybe somebody else was and he didn't like sharing." Lily half joked. "You know how these teenage romances go. By that logic he could also be our number one suspect."

"Well let's not jump to conclusions just yet." Stillman advised the two of them. "Let's track him down and see if we can find any more information about Vanessa. And let's try to find a nice way of telling the Hamilton's they might have a long lost granddaughter."


It wasn't too hard to find Warren Smithers; in the end they found an address for him in Philadelphia. Scotty volunteered to pay a visit to the man's home since everyone else at the moment was preoccupied with other cases.

He felt himself let out a low whistle as he navigated his way off the highway and pulled into a set of luxury condominiums that looked like they were built only a year ago and found a visitor's parking space. He checked the address: Corinthian Plaza, Bala Cynwyd. The whole place looked more like a modern mansion than a set of condominiums with its luscious red brick walls, climbing vine plants and sweeping trees and lawns lining the single cul-de-sac that lead straight to the front door.

The doorman oozed with politeness and happily informed Scotty that Mr. Smithers was home today. Warren lived on the second floor so Scotty took the opportunity of using the stairs instead of the elevator. He knew he was in fairly good shape, but he could still feel his heart rate speed up uncomfortably as he hauled himself up the last few steps. Maybe I should think of going to the gym more often. He told himself. He took a minute to catch his breath before knocking on the dark wooden door of apartment 23. Nothing. He leaned forward, straining to hear of any sounds that would indicate a person walking towards the door, or a shower running. Still nothing.

Scotty knocked again, feeling a bit self conscious he was standing in a hallway for so long dressed in a dark suit that had probably had "Philly Detective" written all over it. The doorman was probably telling the truth but Warren could have easily left his apartment and gone to another part of the complex. He was just about to turn and leave when he heard the lock turn and the door slide open. A curious pair of blue eyes greeted him, a pair that Scotty guessed belonged to Warren Smithers.

He was twenty three years old though his shortly cropped blonde hair (with the beginnings of what looked to be a receding hairline), wide toothy grin and selection of baggy jeans and a white muscle shirt made him appear a few years younger than he actually was. The forty-year old had a hairline that had receded a good half inch but he still kept the bright locks and kept his figure in the same slightly muscular build all those years though now it was hidden under a pair of dark slacks and a casually striped collared blue shirt rolled up to the elbows. Warren had aged the most in and around his eyes: there were a hundred times more wrinkles, a hundred more times of an experienced, tired look almost hidden behind a pair of stylish black rimmed glasses.

"Can I help you?"

"Warren Smithers?"

"…yes?"

Scotty flashed his badge. "Scotty Valens, Philly P.D."

Warren nodded with recognition. "The detective over the phone."

"May I come in?"

Warren debated over that question for a split second before stepping back and opening the door for Scotty to walk through. Scotty stood awkwardly as Warren closed and locked the door before following the man past a spotless kitchen and to a roomy cream-coloured living room with a desk and a computer set up in one corner, covered with papers and pens.

"I'm sorry it took so long to answer the door, I was in the middle of a good idea and didn't want to lose it." Warren explained. "Being senior manager at a computer company sure doesn't help the hairline."

"But I'm assuming it has its perks." Scotty was quickly warming up to the guy. He seemed to be friendly yet businesslike and to the point.

Warren chuckled. "Well, it sure pays well as I'm sure you may have noticed. Then again having no kids could also be a reason."

But Scotty could see the man's expression change as he mentioned the reason for his visit: Vanessa. Darkness clouded over those blue eyes as quick as a thunderstorm. He was watching Warren, watching him go back in time and feel the painful aches in his heart as he came to grips that Vanessa was really dead. It was a probably a battle that Warren went through periodically during the last two decades of his life.

"You know, I've thought about her everyday for the past seventeen years." Warren confessed. There was no longer that friendly, confident voice. The tone had dropped so low it was almost nothing more than a whisper. "There are some days I still wake up and wish this was all a bad dream."

"Says here you just took off and went missing for about three weeks after Vanessa's funeral." Scotty pointed out. "That looks suspicious." In reality that was a wasted breath: both men knew Warren would have looked a hundred times guiltier if he had skipped town right after Vanessa's murder. Scotty knew Warren would have an explanation for everything and he did. His fiancé had just died and he felt like he had nothing left for him in Philadelphia. So after the funeral he hopped into his car with a suitcase and drove in a random direction only to find himself in Maine. He had gotten himself a job and was looking for a place to stay when he saw pictures of himself on the news and his tearful parents begging for his safe return. That was when he realized there were some things he had in Philadelphia: his parents, and the memory of Vanessa. It wasn't much, but it sure felt better than running away for the rest of his life.

Scotty sat back, half amazed.

"Perhaps what I did wasn't the smartest thing on the planet." Warren admitted. "But I had just lost my fiancé: I felt like I would have suffocated if I stayed in a place where everything reminded me of her."

"And now?"

"Now her memory is all I have left."

If there was one thing that came naturally to Scotty, he felt it was the art of knowing when to bring the conversation to a screeching halt. Finding himself stuttering, Scotty mentioned there was one more reason for his visit: the fact that his long lost daughter was trying to find him.

The man's eyes clouded over once again, but this time it was with a mix of emotions that Scotty could not sort out.

"That's not possible." Warren said bluntly. "I have no daughter."

"So you're saying that you and Vanessa never…never…there's no possibility that you could…"

Warren's ice blue eyes glittered with a hint of anger. "I don't think what we did or did not do concerns you, Detective. Bottom line is, I've never had a daughter, and I probably never will."

"But…"

Scotty's protests were futile. By the time he had formed the words he was going to say in his mind Warren had already gotten up out of his chair and opened the front door. Scotty had no choice but to leave. In two seconds flat Warren had transformed from a seemingly heart-warming person to one that wouldn't even entertain the idea that he could have a daughter who was looking for him. A brief nod was all Scotty received before the door closed loudly behind him.

No wonder Vanessa had chosen to give her child up for adoption.


Author's Note: Sorry about the long wait, I've been feverishly trying to study for school and write more chapters for my other Cold Case fanfic, "Remember." A huge, huge thank you to everyone who reviewed last chapter. Thank you so much jambled, MaryRose, Haley, The Magic Bringer and Black Tulip!