Detective Nick Vera looked over at Lilly, who was walking towards Stillman's office, before turning to Kat Miller.

"So Rush knew our vic?" He asked quietly. "What's that about?"

"I don't know anything more about it that you do, all right?" Kat answered, slightly annoyed.

"So she gonna work the case?"

Kat looked at him, not even trying to hide the bothered look on her face. "When it's any of your business, I'm sure someone'll tell you."

Vera simply rolled his eyes and walked off.


Lilly shut the door behind her once she was inside Stillman's office.

"I gotta ask." Stillman said solemnly. "You gonna be okay working this one?"

Lilly nodded. "I'll be all right. It was a long time ago and I didn't really know him that well."

"Ran with different crowds?"

Lilly nodded, then paused for a moment. "He did ask me out once."

"What'd you tell him?" Stillman said, smiling slightly.

"We were supposed to go to the movies." Lilly said, wistfully. "Never got the chance, though."


Lilly and Stillman walked out to where the other detectives were gathered, neither noticing the intent look Vera was giving Lilly.

"Matthew Tamlyn, seventeen." Detective Will Jeffries said, reading one of the files. "Reported missing after he didn't come home from school on a Friday afternoon."

"Only child, lived with his father." Kat continued. "Mother died in childbirth."

"Straight-A student, no run-ins." Scotty added.

"So who wants to bludgeon this kid with a brick?" Kat asked.

"They were doing construction on the school at the time." Lilly said, looking up in thought. "Replacing one of the brick walls."

"So that's probably where the doer got the murder weapon, and the plastic." Scotty said.

"Plus the school's not far from the river." Vera added.

"So it's more than likely someone familiar with the school grounds." Stillman said, nodding. "Another student, teacher."

"But first we gotta talk to his father." Scotty said, solmenly. "Been holdin' out hope for twenty-two years his son might come home someday."

Lilly nodded. "Now we have to tell him he never will."


At first glance, Richard Tamlyn looked pretty good for a man in his sixties, at least until Kat saw his face up close and saw the lines that two decades of waiting had for this moment left on his face.

"It never made any sense." Richard said, sitting down in his living room chair and breathing heavily after Kat and Jeffries told him about the dog tag. "Matt wasn't the runaway type. He was book smart, like his mother. He spend his weekends in his room studying."

"We're very sorry." Kat said sincerely.

"Can you think of anyone who might have had problems with your son, anyone at school?" Jeffries asked gently.

"He was just a kid who liked to read and write." Richard answered. "I never heard about him getting into things with anyone. Maybe he just didn't wanna talk to me about it."

"Anyone he might've talked with? Any friends?" Kat asked.

Richard leaned over and pulled a book from the shelf behind him, a yearbook. He leafed through the pages before finding one of Matt sitting on the school lawn, smiling happily, with Chris and Justine sitting next to him, smiling as well.

"There was only two friends Matt ever brought around; Chris Sanders and Justine Brennan. They all grew up on this block. Those three were inseparable."

"May we borrow this?"

Richard handed it to her. "Please, take it, if it'll help."

Kat nodded but Richard continued before she could ask anything else.

"You know at some point you realize he's not coming back, that you're just waiting for someone to knock on your door." He sighed, suddenly feeling very tired. "I thought I was ready for this day. I thought I'd prepared for..." He trailed off.

Kat looked at the man empathetically, an image of Veronica flashing through her mind just for a moment. "There's no preparing for something like that."

A pained look appeared on Richard's face and he lowered and shook his head in acknowledgment.


Everything about the upscale fashion outlet looked expensive and stylish, including it's owner, Justine, who nodded solemnly as Scotty and Jeffries asked question.

"Matt, Chris, and I, we had our own little world, the three of us." She said smiling wistfully. "Stayed that way into high school, most of the time."

"Most of the time?" Jeffries asked.

Justine gave an embarrassed smile. "Well... when boys and girls get older, they start looking at each other differently. I started to have some feelings for Chris and him for me. In high school we started dating. I think Matt started to feel like the odd man out sometimes."

"Anyone else Matt woulda hung out with?" Scotty asked.

"Well he spent most of his time studying so he never really had time for other friends. He was a little shy around girls too most of the time." She chucked and looked down for a moment. "He actually had a huge crush on this one girl. A blonde named Lilly... something." Justine didn't notice the look and slight smile that Scotty and Jeffries gave each other.

"Can you think of anyone who might have had a problem with Matt?" Jeffries asked.

Justine paused for a moment, the smile fading from her face. "There's only one time I can think of. It actually has to do with that girl he liked, after he finally worked up the nerve to ask her out..."


("Hip To Be Square" - Huey Lewis and the News)

Justine and Chris looked up from each other's gaze to see Matt and Lilly walking toward the table. Lilly gave a flirty wave to Matt and walked off as he sat down next to Justine.

"She's not gonna join us?" Justine asked.

Matt kept his gaze on Lilly as she walked towards the exit. "She said she had some errand to run. Something about her mom."

Justine giggled as Matt remained fixated on Lilly as she walked out the door. Chris just rolled his eyes.

"All right, all right. Knock it off." Chris said with a smirk. "You think you're the first guy to ask out a girl he likes and get a 'yes'?"

"Okay, sorry." Matt said, chuckling. "So things worked out on the scholarship front? They signed off on it?"

Justine and Chris nodded and looked at each other affectionately. "This time next year we'll be Harvard-bound."

Chris looked back at Matt wistfully. "Won't be the same without you though."

Matt shrugged. "Seriously though, if I wanna get into any college. I gotta get back on track with this project."

"The one about your uncle?" Justine asked.

Matt nodded. "I think my dad's pretty much run out of stories. I talked to some of his old army buddies and got a few things from them. Someone thought he might've been seeing someone around the time he died. I wanna look into that."

"You should be careful." Justine said. "Some people might not like you asking a bunch of questions."

Matt shrugged. "I know it might be hard sometimes, but if you don't ask questions, how are you ever gonna get to the truth?"

Justine and Chris looked at each other thoughtfully before they turned to see the young man walking menacingly towards Matt.

"Hey!" Steve growled. "You got a lot of nerve askin' my girl out!"

"Excuse me?" Matt said, standing up with an annoyed look.

"What, you think you can ask her out like that right in front of me?" Steve barked.

"You're one to talk, Steve." Justine said. "Everybody knows about you."

"Yeah!" Chris added, standing up. "You got a problem with my friend, you got a problem with me."

Steve looked over at Chris, who had a good six inches of height over Steve, then back to Matt.

"Your buddies won't always be around to back you up." Steve sneered before storming off.

Matt and Chris just rolled their eyes and sat back down.


"So Steve had it out for Matt?" Jeffries asked.

Justine sighed. "Steve Burton thought he walked on water. He thought no one could ever take anything that was his, least of all a girl."

Scotty nodded. "Till Matt stood up to him, bruised his ego."

Justine nodded.

"And Chris'll be able to corroborate this?" Scotty asked.

"He should." Justine answered. "We broke up in college. I haven't seen him in years." She shook her head. "We had all these plans to go the same school and then have a life together. Didn't quite work out that way."

"Thanks for your help. If you remember anything else..." Jeffries placed a card on the counter.

"If you happen to talk to Chris," she said with a hint of anxiousness to the detectives as they walked towards the door, causing them to turn back to her. "Tell him I said 'hi'."

Scotty and Jeffries looked each other, amused.


Scotty looked over Lilly's shoulder as she looked at the picture of Matt in the yearbook.

"Takin' a trip down memory lane?" He asked?

Lilly shrugged. "Just trying to figure out who he was. Never really got to know him."

"Just promise me you won't go runnin' off to any abandoned cabins this time." Scotty said with a smirk.

At her desk, Kat hung up the phone and shook her head. "Still haven't been able to get a hold of Chris Sanders."

"Guy doesn't wanna be found." Scotty said.

"Where are we on Steve Burton?" Stillman asked.

"I talked to his boss, Steve called in sick today." Vera said. "Which, according to him, means he's probably trying to score at his favorite watering hole, a place called Goodwin's."

"I know that dive." Kat said. "Pick-up bar for cougars and sugar daddies."

"I'll take a look." Lilly said, getting up. "Maybe Steve'll be more willing to talk for old times' sake."

"I'll go with you." Kat said, getting up with a slight smile. "This I gotta see."


Steve Burton, with the same chiseled jaw and lustful eyes, turned as his barstool swivelled over to where the bartender was pointing him out to the two women approaching him. Steve's smug grin widened as he recognized one of them.

"It's a little early in the day for one of those." Lilly said, gesturing to the drink in his hand.

"I'll be damned. Lilly Rush!" Steve said, looking her over. "Wow, well time has been very good to you." Steve chuckled, not noticing the noise Kat made as she rolled her eyes. "So what brings you here?"

"It's Detective Lilly Rush now, Homicide."

Steve's smile faded. "Guess you're not here to talk about old times then."

"Actually we are. We're looking into Matt Tamlyn's murder."

Steve leaned back on his stool. "Murder? You're telling me someone actually found him?"

"Yeah, at the bottom of the river." Kat said without a smile.

Lilly's smile grew more condescending. "Remember that afternoon Matt asked me out in the hallway? Heard you didn't take it too well."

"You hassling him at lunch the next day, some people might see that as motive." Kat added.

Steve shook his head and chuckled. "Oh, come on! I was just making some noise. That's all." He shrugged. "I had another girl lined up the next day. What can I say? I was an alpha male.

Kat and Lilly just looked at each other.

"In fact, it turned out Matt and I had more in common than I thought."

"What does that mean?" Lilly asked, tilting her head.

Steve's smug grin returned. "Let's just say I wasn't the only one playing the field..."


("Take on Me" - a-ha)

Leaning against the locker, Steve chuckled as the younger girl nodded.

"It's sounds like a cool place." Carrie said, ambivalently. "I don't think they'd let me in though."

Steve shrugged. "It's no problem. I know a guy who makes I.D.'s. Never had any problems." Steve leaned closer suggestively. "Come on, it'll be fun."

"Hey!" said the sharp voice from behind Steve. He turned around to see Matt glaring at him angrily. "What do you think you're doing? Get the hell away from her!"

"Oh, what do you want now?" Steve asked, annoyed. "What, did you get tired of Lil already or you just seeing if you can handle two at once?"

"I'm not kidding!" Matt said, leaning closer. "Stay away from her if you know what's good for you!"

"Is there a problem here, gentlemen?" Came a quiet voice from over Steve's other shoulder. All three kids turned to the tall, thin, middle-aged man standing over them, arms crossed.

"Uhhh... no problem, Mr. Mueller." Steve said, lowering his voice submissively. "Matt and I were just having a little debate. That's all."

Mr. Mueller nodded skeptically. "Well, in the future, save the debates for my classroom. Now maybe you should move along." Matt and Steve nodded as the teacher walked off. Steve quickly followed but stopped as soon as Steve turned a corner.

"What do you think you're doing?" Carrie asked irritably.

"Look, you don't wanna be hanging around with a jerk like him. Trust me."

"I don't need you telling me what I want!" Carrie snapped, causing Matt to recoil.

"I was just trying to help." Matt said softly.

"I didn't ask for your help!" Carrie hissed. "I don't even wanna know you!"

Matt just looked at her. "Look, Carrie, I--"

"Just stay the hell away from me," she said with a glare, "if you know what's good for you!"

Steve watched with surprise as the girl stormed off.


Steve chuckled. "Yeah, that Carrie girl had some real issues going on. Real hot and cold type. I'm thinkin' Matt did me a favor taking her off my hands. Otherwise, maybe it would've been me who went missing." He gave a shrug. "Sorry if he didn't live up to your knight in shining armor image."

"Right. Thanks." Lilly said simply, placing a card on the bar, which Steve quickly scooped up.

"This your number?" Steve asked, reading it with a grin.

"It's the number for Homicide." Lilly said, the condescending look returning.

"Right." Steve looked up at her. "So you doing anything when you get off?"

"My schedule's pretty full." She said, walking off.


"You up for poker tonight?" Scotty asked as he and Vera walked through the law firm's hallway.

Vera shook his head. "Toni's got some dinner plans."

Scotty chuckled and shook his head.

"What?" Vera asked.

"Nothin'. Just wonderin' now that you're all tied down whose money am I gonna take?"

The chuckling stopped when they reached Carrie's office and heard the throaty and very heated voice yelling into a phone.

"Oh, it's not in your client's best interests? Okay, fine! How about I drag your client's sorry ass into court? Is that in his best interests? Don't call me back until you have a serious offer!" She slammed the phone down and looked up at the two men standing before her, both taken aback. "Yes!?" She asked impatiently. Scotty and Vera looked at each other uneasily before turning back to her.

"Carrie Lowell?" Scotty asked tentatively and waiting until she nodded curtly. "Detectives Valens and Vera, Homicide. We had a few questions about Matt Tamlyn."

Some of the color drained from Carrie's face. "Homicide? About Matt?"

"Yeah." Scotty said, grimly. "We found him."

Carrie took a deep breath and sat down.

"We heard you and Matt may have had a thing goin' on back in high school." Vera said.

"A thing?" She asked.

"That you two may have been an item." He continued.

Carrie leaned forward, looking puzzled. "What? Who told you that?"

"That wasn't the case?" Scotty asked.

"Matt and I weren't dating." Carrie said, looking at the two intently. "He was my brother."