Back at the police department, the entire Cold Case squad was assembled and going over the files on their newest case.

"Darnell Prince, 36-year old African American male." Lilly read off the file. "Hmmm seems like officer Prince was a real Captain America. Joined the Pennsylvania National Guard at age 18, and Philadelphia police department at age 23. He spent the rest of his life in both, earning numerous decorations and honors. The man spent his entire adult life in the military and law enforcement. It all came to an end on January 26, 1981."

"Killed the day after the Eagles were crushed in Super Bowl XV." Commented detective Will Jefferies. "Damn, and I thought I was the one having a bad day back then."

"I remember the case all too well", said Stillman. "At 2 am on the morning, Prince and his partner, Laura Stanton, were dispatched to investigate an anonymous phone call of suspicious people loitering around a jewelry store. When they arrived at the scene, the three men simply opened fire on them without warning. The two officers found themselves in shootout with three men armed with AR-15 rifles and 9mm handguns. And all the officers had were their .38 caliber revolvers and a shotgun. Not good odds by my book."

"Seems more like insurmountable odds," said Scotty. "I'm amazed Stanton wasn't killed as well."

Lilly continued reading from the file "Well it turns out the officers handled themselves pretty well. They managed to kill one, incapacitate another, and force the third suspect to flee. Stanton chased down and arrested the third shooter after a violent struggle while Prince stayed behind to arrest the wounded suspect. But when backup units arrived at the location or the original shootout, they found Prince dead. He had been shot three times with his own revolver. The suspect whom he had stayed behind to arrest was gone."

"Back then, the original theory was that the man Prince tried to arrest wasn't really shot." Stillman cut in. "He was either pretending to be shot or was wearing body armor. So when Prince came up to arrest him, the man put up a fight and took the officer by surprise. The investigators figured during the struggle, the man managed to get control of Prince's service weapon and kill him with it. Then he slipped away before the backup units arrived."

"That's consistent with the evidence at the scene," remarked Lilly. "It says here Prince had defensive wounds on his hands and a large cut above his right eye. Also the only blood types found at the scene were Prince's and the blood of the man who was killed. No blood from the second shooter."

"What else did the police uncover in the original investigation?" Asked detective Nick Vera.

"Not much. Back then the case was thought to be a simple burglary that was interrupted in progress, and the perps decided to shoot their way out of an arrest. Both the dead man and the man arrested by Stanton had numerous prior convictions for burglary and armed robbery, and the cops found a set of burglary tools at the scene. They also found a set of fingerprints on the murder weapon that didn't belong to Prince, but they were never able to match them to anyone. The person who made the phone call that sent them to the scene was never identified either. The call came from a public phone a few miles away. By the time investigators found it, several other people had already used the phone and the finger prints were ruined."

"What about the man arrested by Stanton?" Asked Scotty. "Why didn't the police get anything out of him?"

"Because he refused to talk." Lilly responded. "Not surprising since he had nothing to gain by doing so. That man was Eddie Ransen, a career criminal with a long history of violent felonies. He knew his involvement in the death of a police officer, not to mention his attempt to kill Stanton, was going to put him away for the rest of his life no matter what he said."

"It's odd the D. A. didn't cut a deal with him in exchange for information about the case", Vera pointed out, "you would think they would be willing to do so in order to catch a cop killer."

By now Stillman had sat down next to Lilly and was also reading the files. "Not for this guy they weren't. Ransen wasn't just your typical run of the mill robber. He was a career criminal and the prime suspect in two prior unsolved homicides. The D. A. was sure he was the killer in those cases, but they never had enough evidence to put him away. Now they finally had him dead to rights and there was no way they were going to cut any deal that would spare him a life sentence in prison. And since he didn't actually kill officer Prince, they couldn't threaten him with the death penalty. So Ransen had nothing to gain by cutting a deal. He was locked away for life and he decided to let the truth about that night be locked away with him."

"Until now that is." Said Scotty. "His old cellmate said it was really a professional hit. But who would want Prince dead?"

"Hard to say." Stillman responded, "Prince has a spotless record. No complaints of excessive force or allegations of corruption. His finances check out too. No evidence that he was taking bribes or had debts."

"Well I think we'll need to look into that a little more," said Jeffries. "It could be that he simply never got caught. I don't care how clean his record is, as a general rule you don't get on the receiving end of that much firepower without doing something to earn it."

"Maybe it wasn't meant for him. Maybe it was for his partner, Laura Stanton. And he just happened to be there," Lilly pointed out.

"I doubt it," said Stillman. "Stanton was a 21-year old rookie with less then a year on the force. Doesn't sound like she was around long enough to make the type of enemies who could set up something like this. Maybe it wasn't about Stanton or Prince. Maybe someone just wanted to kill a cop that night. Any cop. There were a lot of organizations back then that had homicidal hatred of the police. The Black Liberation Army. MOVE. The Black Panthers. Not to mention the mafia. Could be that both officers were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. After all, how would anyone even know where Prince would be patrolling the night he was killed?"

"Maybe some of Darnell's fellow officers set him up," Vera answered. "We all know there were a lot of corrupt cops back then. Maybe one of them arranged for someone to make the phone call then sent Prince to his death."

Stillman sighed. "Look we can play these speculation games all day if we want, but it will get us nowhere. We need to find out if there was anyone out there who had a grudge against Prince shortly before he was killed. Prince doesn't have any surviving family members, so the most likely person who would know that would be his old partner, officer Stanton. Rush and Valens, I need you to go pay her a visit."

"No problem. Is she still on the force?" Asked Valens as he was getting up to leave.

"No," Stillman responded. "Stanton retired from the department in 2006 after 25 years of service. This interview will have to
be a house call."

While Lilly drove to the Stanton residence, Scotty was busy in the passenger seat going over Laura's records from her department.

"Losing your partner during the first year on the job," commented Lilly. "That had to be devastating. I'm not sure I could handle it."

Scotty looked up from the papers in his lap. "Looks like she handled it pretty well. Her participation in the 1981 shootout earned her a Medal of Valor, making her the youngest officer ever in her precinct to receive that award. Stanton's 25 years on the force were exemplary. You should see this file. Her awards and citations alone probably take up more space then my entire record folder. She also retired at the rank of Captain."

"Wow, I guess Darnell would be proud. Okay we're here." Said Lilly as she pulled the car into the driveway of Stanton's house. The two detectives walked up to the house and knocked on the door. Shortly after, it was answered by a boy who looked to be about 17.

"Um hi, who are you?" He asked.

Lilly pulled out her police badge. "Police. We need to speak with Mrs. Stanton. Is she home?"

The boy turned around and shouted back into the house "Hey Mom! Some cops are here to see you!"

"Coming!" came the response of a female voice from inside the house. Within a few seconds, Laura, now 47 years old, came to the door. "Thanks Jeff, I'll take it from here. She said, sending the boy away. "Hello Detectives, I'm Laura Stanton. How may I help you?"

"Hi Mrs. Stanton, Detectives Rush and Valens," responded Lilly "We need to speak with you about a case we're investigating. Is there anywhere we can talk in private?"

"Sure I've got a room upstairs. Come on in." She quickly led them into her house and upstairs. "So what can I help you with."? She asked once they were in the room

"It's about your old partner, Darnell Prince. We've got a new lead on his case and we're re-opening the investigation." Scotty answered.

Upon hearing this, Stanton displayed a look of shock, followed soon after by enthusiasm. "Really? You mean there's finally a chance it could be solved? What's the new lead?"

Scotty was surprised, "Um I'm sorry, but we can't discuss the details of an active investigation. As a former police officer yourself, I'm sure you understand."

Laura regained her composure. "Right. Sorry it's just that I've been waiting to hear this a long time. After all these years I've never stopped hoping or believing that one day Darnell's killer could be discovered and put away. Darnell was more then just a partner. He was a mentor and a friend. I still find myself thinking about him every now and then."

"Well then maybe you can help us." Said Lilly. "We're considering the possibility that the shootout that night wasn't about escaping arrest, but by a personal matter. Can you think anyone back then who would want to hurt Darnell?"

"You mean it's possible those men at the store were waiting there just to kill him?" Laura asked, somewhat surprised. Then she considered Lilly's question. "Well Darnell didn't have any family or a lot friends other then me and his fellow officers, along with his pals at his National Guard unit. And as far as I could tell, they got along fine. Darnell was the best cop I ever knew. He was skilled and highly respected. A guy who really lived for the job."

"What about the people he dealt with on the job?" Asked Scotty. "Anyone ever make any threats against him?"

"Oh all the time. They're criminals after all", Laura responded with a smile. "But there was one incident that happened two weeks before Darnell was killed. We had just broke up a fight in the streets and arrested some low life punk named Marcus Rothman as he tried flee the scene. During a search, we found drugs on him. We had him cuffed in the back of our squad car and were driving back to the station when something happened that I'll never forget."

"What's that?" Asked Lilly.

"In the 9 months I spent as Darnell's partner, it was the only time I ever saw the behavior of a criminal suspect cause him to lose his cool."

("Shake it Up" by The Cars)

"Man this is bullshit! You think that badge gives you the right to do what ever you want to people? Well I got news for you, pigs! It's just a piece of plastic!" Shouted Marcus from the back seat of the cruiser as Laura and Darnell were driving him back to their police station.

"Nah, it just gives us the right to break up fights and arrest little punks like you." Darnell responded from the front passenger seat. Marcus had been rambling on ever since he was placed in the squad car and it was starting to get on his nerves. "Honestly Marcus, you should be thanking us. Those other guys would have kicked your ass if we hadn't broken that fight up."

"Go to hell!" Marcus responded angrily

"I mean seriously Marcus, what the heck were you thinking?" Darnell continued. "Fighting in the streets and doing drugs? You think you're some hotshot gang banger or something? You're not like that at all. We both know it."

"Oh so you think you know me, huh?" Marcus shot back. "You don't know shit! I ain't no small timer! I know people! People in high places! People who'd really like to fuck up cops like you!"

"Is that so?" Darnell asked sarcastically.

"Yeah that's how it is. You better watch your back, pig! You and your little bitch partner! Pretty soon you and her are both going to get what you deserve! You're both dead, you hear me? Dead! And I'm going to make it happen!"

Darnell smiled and then turned to his partner in the driver's seat. "Laura, stop the car."

Laura looked surprised at this remark. "What?"

"I said stop the car," Darnell repeated in a firm voice.

Laura was completely baffled by her partner's order, but she complied and stopped the cruiser. As soon as the cruiser stopped, Darnell got out of the car and opened the rear passenger door next to Marcus. Suddenly Marcus' attitude changed from angry defiance to surprised fear. "Hey! What the hell are you doing?!" He asked in a startled voice.

Darnell reached into the rear seat and roughly pulled Marcus out of the car. "Come on Junior, let's take a walk. You and I are going to have a little private chat!"

Marcus seemed horrified now. "Wait a minute! I got rights! You can't do this!"

"Oh really?" Responded Darnell as he started dragging Marcus down a nearby ally. "This badge makes me think I can do whatever I want to people, remember? And right now I feel like teaching you a lesson. One you'll never forget!"

Now Laura was getting worried. She had never seen Darnell treat a suspect like this. "Darnell, what's going on?"

"Don't worry about it Stanton. Just wait in car and keep the engine running. This won't take long," responded Darnell.

Marcus continued to struggle and protest and Darnell dragged him away down the ally "You can't do this to me you son of a bitch! You lay a hand on me and you'll wind up shot full of holes! You hear me?! Dammit! Let me go..." His voice faded away as Darnell dragged him down the ally, out of Laura's visual and hearing range.

"After about 8 minutes or so, Darnell came back from the ally... alone." Said Laura. "He said that he had let Marcus go. When I asked why, he said it was because Marcus was a small time punk and it wasn't even worth the effort to book him. So we ditched his drugs and went back on patrol."

"Did you ask what he did to him?" Asked Lilly

"Of course. But all he said was 'don't worry about it. I just gave the little prick a lesson. He won't be giving us any more trouble. The problem has been dealt with.'"

"So it sounds like Darnell gave Marcus a little 'tough love' to straighten him out," said Scotty

"Look detective, I know it seems like Darnell beat the hell out of him, but I have a hard time believing it." Responded Laura.

"Why not?

"Because Darnell wasn't the type of cop who went around beating up suspects whenever they started shooting their mouth off," Laura explained. "It just wasn't like him. He was also so calm and under control. That's also why I was so shocked when I discovered he was murdered with his own gun. As soon as the shooting started that night, it was like Darnell was right at home. He was in complete control from then till the time I left to chase down Eddie Ransen."

"Well cops do sometimes get killed with their own weapons. Even the good ones. After all, on that night it nearly happened to you." Scotty pointed out.

"You don't need to remind me detective," said Laura bitterly. "But I'm telling you, there is way more to this story. Something the original investigators didn't or couldn't account for. So is there anything else I can help you with?"

Lilly and Scotty got up to leave "No, that will be all. Thank you Mrs. Stanton. We'll contact you if we need anything else."

"Alright, well have a good day detectives. And please, find out who killed Prince. He deserves justice. Especially after 26 years."

"We'll do everything we can." Lilly assured her. "I promise."