Chapter 8: The Lack of Evidence
"If everyone cared and nobody cried
If everyone loved and nobody lied
If everyone shared and swallowed their pride
Then we'd see the day when nobody died"
"This kid went through a lot before he died," Sid looks sadly down at Mitchell's body.
"How can someone hurt an innocent child?" Stella wonders aloud. "Just like the shooting last week. What did the children do to him?"
"I heard on the news that they found maps of two other schools it looked like he was going to go to and kill some more. Do you know if that's true?"
"Mac didn't say anything like that to me. It could still be true though, but the news is almost always wrong."
Sid pulls back the sheet and starts to point out the injuries. "Severe burning on the abdomen, like he was laying on a hot stove. Bruises all over, various shades. One of the most recent ones is around the neck, like someone was using their hands to suffocate him."
"So cause of death is strangulation?"
"Yes."
"What about time of death?"
"Almost twenty-four hours ago. I'd say around three in the afternoon."
"Did he fight back?" she picks up a hand to look under the nails.
"It doesn't look like it. He didn't see it coming and couldn't stop it."
"Anything else?"
"You look nice in that shirt."
She shakes her head to herself, "See you later."
"Stel," Sheldon catches up to her, "we've got a warrant to search the house from what you got out of the kid last week and the shoe prints we found. Thought you'd like to go and question the mother some more."
"Let's go then."
Nobody
"Can you tell me where Mitchell is?" Stella asks his mother when she opens the door.
"I don't know. I put him to bed last night, but this morning he was gone. Probably ran away."
"That can't be possible."
"He's been going off for hours after his brother's death. He always comes back for dinner; you shouldn't have to wait long."
"We have a warrant to search your house. Your son was found in Central Park early this morning."
"Is he all right?"
"He's dead."
"And I suppose you think I did it?"
Stella sighs, "Where do you keep your shoes?"
"My closet. I think they're all in there." Hawkes goes to look for a match with the print they found. "Did you find out who shot my other son?"
"Some psycho was arrested; I don't know his name."
"We have a match," Sheldon holds up a pair of shoes.
"She was at that scene."
"Could you step outside while we look around?"
She looks around nervously, "I guess."
After searching the whole house, they have found nothing to prove she had killed Mitchell. The oven, however, was the source of the boy's burns. "If she killed him with her hands, what evidence could there be for us?"
"Let's take her to the station. There has to be some way for us to match her hands to the bruises on his neck."
"But just because her hands match doesn't mean she killed him; there could be millions of people whose hands match."
"We don't have any other evidence," Stella tries to hold back her emotions. "She's going to get away with murder and abuse."
A/N: Will Stella find what she needs to put the mother behind bars? There's some more Mac/Stella in the last chapter for you guys. I'll post that Thursday probably unless I have too much homework. Or if my brother's won't let me on the computer; lately they've both been addicted to internet games so I don't get much time on here. If it's not up Thursday, it won't be up until Saturday because of the football game Friday; I won't have time. Okay... so I have to think of an idea for a chemistry experiment for Friday. Actually, it doesn't really have to do with chemistry. I need the idea Friday and then we have to perform the experiment and write a report and make a poster due in like three or four weeks. And I apparently did understand Huck Finn, because I only missed one question on the test. It had something to do with the direction they wanted to go. I put West 'cause Huck said something about going west in the end. My friend put south because they traveled south down the Mississippi. Both were wrong. I think it was east because they wanted to go up the Ohio. And I'm so happy that they're moving Bones to Tuesday; I can watch it all year then. And during not marching band season, I don't have to shower at like six-thirty so I can watch all my shows. Actually I think I showered during Criminal Minds because I always fell asleep during that show. So we have the To Kill a Mockingbird test tomorrow and the Antonia one Thursday; they're both essays. She said they have to be around three hundred words. That's not long for me. Most of my notes here are over three hundred words. The chapters are between five hundred and two thousand normally; it depends on whether there's lyrics. Anyway... if you have any ideas for experiments, let me know. Keep reviewing.