November Rain
Hannah Larson's hair wisped in the wind as she stood outside, cigarette in hand, listening to the detectives.
"We're here to talk about Mavis Campbell," Lilly informed her.
"Ava," Hannah said with a remembering smile. "She was such a sweet kid. She sure as hell didn't deserve what happened to her."
"David Castillo told us that your boyfriend at the time was crushing on Ava bad." Scotty mentioned.
Hannah laughed slightly at the memory of Ryan. "Yeah, he definitely had a crush on Ava." Hannah rolled her eyes. "God, he was such a mistake. But I wanted to say that I dated a football player, you know?"
"Weren't you pissed that your boyfriend had a thing for your best friend?" Lilly asked.
Hannah scoffed slightly. "Not really. I mean, Ava never gave off any signals that she liked him, so I just thought that the whole thing would blow over. You know, I remember this one time a few weeks before we breaked for Thanksgiving."
4 November 1991
Hannah smiled as she walked out of her student council meeting, thankful that it had ended twenty minutes early. She quickly made her way to the front door where Ava and Ryan were waiting for her on the front steps. As soon as she reached the door, Hannah would have just jumped out the door, but she saw something that stopped her.
Ryan had leaned forward to kiss Ava, but she turned away. "Ryan, you're dating my best friend and I already have a boyfriend," she told him sweetly.
God, that girl is too sweet for her own good.
Ryan's face quickly contorted and he quickly lifted his arm up, his hands in a fist. Hannah jumped outside, just in case he was really going to hit her. "Hey guys," she said as she noticed Ryan put his arm down, thinking maybe his girlfriend hadn't noticed it was even up in the first place. "Let's go," Hannah suggested and the three made their way home.
"I had never in my life seen someone look so upset," Hannah finished.
"Do you know where Ryan is now," Lilly asked.
"Last I heard he was working at Wal-Mart."
Ryan Kennedy sat in the cold interview room, his hands shaking from nerves.
"Where were you the night Mavis Campbell died?" Scotty asked him forcefully
"At home," he practically yelled. "After Ava went missing, my parents got scared and made me stay home every night."
"We heard that you tried to kiss Mavis but she turned you down," Lilly pushed. "I'll bet you were pretty pissed about that weren't you?"
"Yes I was angry but I was at home with my parents," Ryan protested.
"We'll check that out, but in the mean time, stay close," Scotty warned
Later that night, Lilly and Det. Stillman were sitting around her desk and looking noncholantly at Ava Campbell's file.
"You know, Boss, I'm beginning to think that maybe Nicholas Charles didn't kill Ava," Lilly sighed after reading the cause of death report for the third time that day.
Stillman nodded in agreement. "Maybe we should ask the Campbells' permission to dig up her body for new DNA evidence."
Lilly looked at her boss worriedly. "I somehow doubt that they will consent to that."
This time, Stillman sighed. "Well, we could always get a court order if worst comes to worst. Goodnight, Lil," He said as he made his way out the door.
Walking out the door he passed by a young woman who couldn't have been passed the age of thirty. The woman, with light black hair, walked towards Lilly's desk.
"Hi, I'm Lorelai Winston. I understand that you're looking into Ava Campbell's murder again?"
At this, Lilly looked up. "Yes, I am. Can I help you?"
Lorelai sat down and a pang of sadness could be seen through her hazel eyes. "I'm Ava's younger sister. I was only ten when she passed away and I would have come sooner, but I live up in Massachusetts and all that." Lorelai took a deep breathe. "But, um, I might be able to tell you something that I didn't tell the police back then. It's just that when you're ten years old, your older sister means the world to you and if she tells you to keep a secret for her, you do it even after she dies and I didn't even think it was relevant, especially after Charles was arrested-"
"Calm down," Lilly suavely told her. She then fumbled through her desk drawer and pulled out a notebook and a pen. She smiled at Lorelai and asked, "What do you have?"
21 January 1992
Lorelai stumbled out of bed for the third time that night and dragged her teddy bear with her. For some reason she had been having trouble sleeping, but usually as soon as she went into Ava's room, she fell sound asleep. So, having some sense, that's where she headed.
She opened the door, with some struggle, and saw Ava, straddling her windowsill.
"What are you doing, Ava?" Lorelai asked sleepily.
Ava came back into her room and kneeled down to Lorelai's level. "Hey there, sweetie. Look, I'm about to meet some friends of mine okay. But mom and dad don't know about them, so could you do me a favor and not mention this to them?"
Lorelai nodded.
"Tell you what," Ava smiled. "I'll let you sleep in my bed a whole month if you never say another word about this. Promise?"
Lorelai smiled. "Promise."
And the two locked pinkies.