At the knock on the front door a tired and drawn looking middleaged woman made her way slowly to the hallway. When she opened the door she was met by the sight of two men standing on the doorstep. The tall black man looked very official in his tailored suit and long trench coat, and although he presented an authoritative and quite intimidating figure there was evident kindness in his dark eyes as they met hers. The other man couldn't have been more different if he was deliberately trying. He was roughly half the size of his older companion with oriental features and large amounts of jewellery adorning his person, his collar length black hair styled to within an inch of its life, and dressed like a miniature member of the Miami Vice team.

"Mrs Stokley, I'm Captain Fuller, this is Officer Ioki. I appreciate that this must be a difficult time for you and your husband but we need to ask you a few questions about your daughter."

"Come in Officers." she said flashing a brief tired smile as she stood aside to usher them in. "Please come through" she said as she led them into a very comfortable and homey sitting room. Harry found it hard to believe that a kid from a home like this could end up being mixed up with drugs and murderers. But then again he had seen quite a number of good kids getting in deep with the wrong people over the past couple of years.

"I'm sorry about the mess, but I just haven't had time to keep up to it all." she said as she fussed around after them. As they entered the room they were met by a slightly overweight man with greying hair who was sat in the corner gazing off into the distance.

"Greg, these officers are here to help find out what happened to Nikki."

"Then why are you here instead of out there looking for the bastards that did this to my baby girl?" he snapped as he glared at the two men.

"We're looking Mr Stokely" Harry began. "But that's not much use unless we know where to look."

"We'll tell you as much as we can Officer" Mrs Stokely said gently, trying to make up for her husbands brashness.

"Did you notice anything odd about Nikki's behaviour recently?" Fuller asked.

"No. She was just the same as always. She was always a bright and cheerful girl, ever since she was a baby."

"She didn't seem anxious or nervous at all to you?" Harry asked softly, his heavily accented voice kind.

"Not at all. Why would she be?"

"That's what we're trying to find out Mrs Stokely."

"I assure you we are doing everything we can, but we don't have much to go on and whatever information you can give us about Nikki's movements over the past few weeks would really help us." Fuller added.

"What would you like to know?" Mr Stokely asked coldly

"Was she hanging round with anyone unusual?" Harry asked

"What do you mean by unusual?"

"Well, was she spending time with people she normally wouldn't, going places she'd never been before, staying out later than usual?"

"Not really Officer" Mrs Stokely answered the young cop. "She just went all the usual places kids go with other girls from her classes at school."

"What about boyfriends?" Fuller asked cautiously.

"Sam?" Mrs Stokely said puzzled. "We didn't approve of the boy. I mean he's little rough around the edges and not the sort we'd choose for our daughter but I don't think he's capable of murder."

"Where did she meet him?"

"I'm not sure, officer" Mrs Stokely replied, becoming distressed, "While she was out with her friends I guess".

"Did they spend alot of time together?"

"Too much" Mr Stokely added. "She should've been focusing on her studies, not running round with that waster. She was going to go to law school next fall. Now look where she is."

"Mr and Mrs Stokely, was Nikki ever involved with drugs before?"

"Never Captain Fuller." Mrs Stokely replied, becoming quite offended by the line of questioning.

"Mrs Stokely, she was found with large amounts of drugs in her system. Now it would be very hard for someone to force feed her this particular kind of drug. Are you sure that you never saw any signs of Nikki using?"

"I don't know. I have no idea what to look for and even if I did I would never have looked for them in my little girl." she said as tears began to form in her eyes.

"Ok. We'll leave you in peace. If you think of anything at all please call me here" Fuller said handing her a card. "I'm sorry to have caused you any distress." he said smiling gently at her before he and Harry turned to leave.

As the door closed behind them Harry turned to his captain.

"What do you think?"

"I think these people have no idea what their daughter was up to or who she was." Fuller replied.

"How can they not take an interest in their child's life?"

"I've seen it countless times before Harry. They get caught up their own lives and just trust that they've taught their kids everything they need to know to cope with the outside world. The kids see that the boundaries aren't as tight as they once were and want to see how far they can stretch them"

"I guess she stretched them too far."

"It would seem so Harry."

"So, you think this boyfriend had something to do with her death?"

"Let's see what Penhall can get from him. If he has no luck, we'll bring him in for questioning".

"I just don't see this as being cold blooded murder Captain. She seems like a normal kid from a normal family."

"Let's see what Hanson and Penhall have for us before we start making conclusions Harry." Fuller said as he unlocked his car and he and Ioki climbed in.

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When Fuller and Ioki arrived back at the Chapel they were greeted by uncharacteristic inactivity. There were only a handful of young officers fielding calls and filing paperwork. In the middle of this inactivity three figures were sat at the conference table in the centre of the bullpen. Doug Penhall and Sal Banducci were deeply immersed in some debate of questionable content while Tom Hanson sat with booted feet up on the table, having replaced the dreaded uniform with jeans and scruffy checked shirt. The only thing remaining from his costume was the dark curly wig that was placed over his face as he dozed.

"I'm telling ya Sal, August 79 no question."

"I dunno. July 82's were definitely bigger." Blowfish replied." Give it up, you're arguing with an expert here."

"What are they talking about?" Harry asked warily as lent over to whisper to Hanson.

"Baseball attendance records" Tom answered from underneath the mass of fake curls.

"Oh." Harry rolled his eyes dramatically

"What have you got for me guys?" Fuller asked as he approached the small group.

"Nothing much Captain." Doug replied.

"Hanson?" When no reply came Fuller whipped the wig from Tom's face and glared back at the smiling face looking up at him. "Are we keeping you up Tom?"

"No not at all. Go ahead Coach."

"What did you get from Kelly Morris, Hanson?" Fuller repeated

"Nothing except the brush off."

"Nothing at all?" Fuller asked impatiently

"She definitely thinks she was murdered. But she basically told me to go away and mind my own business."

"What about the other students?"

"No one had a bad word to say about this girl, they all seemed to really like her. It certainly doesn't seem like she was into anything that would get her killed."

"What do you want us to do?" Penhall asked.

"It's only been a day Captain" Hanson added." Give us time. I'll keep working the girl. Maybe she'll open up."

"How did it go with the parents?" Doug asked.

"It didn't" Harry replied

"They didn't tell us anything we didn't know. Look guy's keep on the friend and the boyfriend. We'll bring the boyfriend in for questioning in a couple of days."

"So he is a suspect?"

"He's the only change in this girls life recently Tom. It's as good a place to start as any. If not, maybe he can tell us something the parents can't. Just keep going guys"

"Okey dokey."

"And Hanson, you wanna go and get some proper rest instead of making this place look untidy." Fuller's sarcasm not quite managing to mask his genuine concern.

"Yes sir."

"Come on Hanson." Doug said as he put his arm around his small friend's shoulders. "We'll get you all cleaned up and looking presentable so you can come and help me get rid of Dorothy's lethal meatloaf."

"I don't know Doug. If you two are having problems maybe you should spend some time alone."

"Oh, we're fine and Dorothy likes you. Besides, what else are you gonna do? Go home and stare at the walls?"

"Probably" Tom said a half smile on his face. Tom had noticed that his partner had made it his personal goal to give Tom as little time alone as possible since Amy's murder and although there were times when all he wanted was time alone to think, he did kinda like having someone looking out for him, something he missed growing up as he was the one doing all the looking out for his mom after his dad's death.

"So that's settled. You, me and death by meatloaf."

"So where's Judy?" Harry asked

"I don't know. Probably dancing naked round a campfire chanting mumbo jumbo" Doug suggested, earning him a reproachful look from Hanson

"What?" he asked as his friend continued his glare.

"Never mind. I'm gonna go wash this mess off my face."

"You want me to come scrub your back sweetheart?" Doug shouted as he walked away

"I'm a big girl I can manage" Tom replied wearily as he made his way to the bathroom.

"So how did he look in his uniform?" Harry asked with a grin on his face.

"Beautiful!" Doug replied, "Would you expect anything else from a girl I'm dating".

"You always did scare me" Harry said as he walked away laughing.