Seven: 1976 and 2009

Philadelphia

March 20th 2009

Mary's father looked completely harmless, curled over in his chair in the gardens of the Philadelphia residential home, a scarf haphazardly wrapped around his neck and knarled, claw-like hands curled over the arms of his wheelchair. But working the cold jobs as they did, Kat and Vera were used to seeing old, frail people confess to brutal crimes. And Mr Beaumont hadn't lost any of his anger or his edge.

"Andrew Beaumont?"

"Who's asking?" he turned his chair to face them, eyes glinting with annoyance in the bright afternoon sun. Kat flashed her badge at him.

"Detectives Miller and Vera, Philly Homicide. We're here about your daughter's murder in 1976."

The old man pulled his blanket further around him. "Can't you just leave things to rest?"

Vera shook his head, taking a seat on the bench opposite Andrew Beaumont. "Not when it comes to light that you might not have been the doting father we all thought."

Andrew frowned at them. "I never made out I was a good father, Detectives. After my wife died, I had no time for Mary, Anna or Mark… but because Mary was so young, I think she felt it the worst…"

"Having no time for them equal blacking Mary's eye and chucking her out the night she told you she was pregnant?" Kat asked, and Andrew looked down at his hands.

"Not my finest moment at all, I'll admit. But I loved Mary… I had to make a hard decision, sending her away."

Vera frowned, distaste thick in his mouth. "You got an alibi for the night your daughter died?"

He nodded slowly. "I was never asked for it in 1976; they were all over that boyfriend of hers… I was at a conference in Boston, and there are about 300 lawyers that can verify that. What happened with Dean Farrell? Didn't he kill my girl?"

Vera shook his head. "You still in touch with the rest of your family, Mr Beaumont?"

Andrew shook his head sadly. "I was too terrible to them in those years after their mother died… when Mary died, neither of my other children had any ties to home at all. Mark stopped talking to me and Anna moved out the next day. Last I heard they were both living in New York…"

Kat sighed. "Your daughter, Anna, she had a daughter of her own, Mr Beaumont. Emma. Emma was found yesterday morning, a bullet hole in her head, just like Mary's."

For a moment the old man seemed to stiffen, say nothing. Vera continued where Kat had finished.

"There was a note on her body, mentioning Mary. Now, Dean Farrell's been in lock-up since 1976, so we're looking at someone else…"

Andrew Beaumont shook his head. "I didn't kill my daughter. I was a terrible father, but I was never a murderer."

"You got any ideas who might have wanted Mary dead?"

For a long while, Vera thought the old man might have fallen asleep, he sat still for so long with his eyes closed. But then, without opening his eyes, he spoke.

"The girl… the girl she used to be friends with, before her mother died… I never spoke to her again after I threw her out of our house… but I heard the talk. That the baby wasn't Dean's… that it was that Lyle boy's… the boy who was dating Mary's old best friend Josie… and then that Josie girl turned up at our house…"

Don't Go Breaking My Heart – Elton John and Kiki Dee

September 25th 1976

Andrew Beaumont flung open the door to combat the sound of the persistent, angry knocking. The girl stood on the doorstep he knew from years ago… she'd come on family picnics with them when Maura was alive, she'd been upstairs with Mary in her bedroom overnight on numerous occasions… and now she was standing on his doorstep, flushed and sweaty as if she'd come from a run, and her eyes were flashing with anger.

"Where is she? Where's Mary?"

Andrew began to close the door. "She doesn't live here anymore."

Josie put her foot in his door. "Where can I find her? I'm gonna kill her…"

He opened the door a little, but wouldn't let her through. "What's going on, Josephine?"
The girl shook her head, tears dashing from her eyes. "I need to find Mary."

Someone took the door from him timidly, poking her head around. His eldest daughter, who he rarely found cause to speak to, Anna.

"Josie! Are you all right?"

The girl shook her head, wiping the tears from her chin fiercely. "Where can I find Mary?"

Andrew stepped back slowly, giving Anna a pointed look that meant deal with it, and walked back into the living room. He settled himself down with the newspaper, but after a few minutes he heard their voices coming from the kitchen.

"Your sister's a slut, Anna, don't defend her! She… she's having a baby… with my boyfriend! People said she went bad, but we were friends before all this happened!"

"I know, I know… but going over there won't help a thing. Dean… he's not a nice guy…"

Andrew stepped up, looking through the crack in the doorway. Josie ran her hands through her hair.

"I didn't even sleep with him, Anna! I wanted… I wanted to wait for the right moment… and all the time he's been getting it with my old best friend…"

Anna put her hand on Josie's arm, but the girl backed away. "I can't… I just can't believe it…"

And she broke down into tears on Anna's shoulder.

March 20th 2009

"… Josie Carmichael was a nice girl, from a nice family… she would have been a better friend for Mary than those thugs she mixed with before she died… but Mary betrayed her trust too…"

"You didn't think to call this in before, when you were interviewed?"

"Like I said, I wasn't even asked for an alibi. The cops were all over Dean Farrell… case was opened and closed in a few days…"

"And the boy who was supposed to be the father of the baby, what did you say his name was?"

"Lyle. Lyle Feltham. He had internship in my law firm a few years later."

"And you knew he and Mary were in a relationship? Or you just believed the rumours?"

Andrew shook his head, and for the first time, he looked almost regretful. "I didn't know anything about what was going on in Mary's life. I left everything to Anna and Mark… it's difficult to remember what I was thinking, everything… it was so hazy those years, the drink was overwhelming and Mary looked so much like her mother…"

He broke off, and turned his face away from them slightly, closing off.

"I've told you everything I know."

As they headed back to Headquarters, Kat Miller ran her hands through her hair.

"What's eating you?" Vera asked, without taking his hands off the wheel.

"What happened to Mary." She said slowly, "She seems… it seems like she was such a nice, normal, girl, and then her Mom dies… and everything goes downhill… and somehow she gets herself killed…"

He nodded slowly. "Losing a parent… guess it screws up a kid real bad."

She shrugged. "Makes me wonder…"

"About Veronica?"

She didn't say anything for a long minute, and then nodded slowly. Vera shook his head.

"You're more than what she needs…" he half-whispered, as if he was struggling to release the niceties. "You're a great Mom."

There was a small silence in the car for a moment, and then the subject shifted.

"So… how long d'you think we're gonna have to wait for Lil and Scotty to start talking again?" Vera asked, as if trying to hide the softness in the air around them. Kat snorted.

"Until they sort out that little problem of theirs, I guess."

Vera raised his eyebrows. "Little problem?"

She rolled her eyes. "You can't see it? Something happened… sometime after Lil ended up in the river… and then one of them freaked, and ran away… and now they can't decide whether to kiss and make up or run for the hills…"

There was another silence, this one of a totally different kind.

"Something happened? As in something something?"

And Kat laughed, patting him lightly on the arm. "Try not to think about it, Nick."

*

New York City

He lifted the gun in two hands, testing it. It still felt right… as right as he had imagined holding his child would have felt. A perfect fit. A small smile crossed his face.

Someone was about to feel the pain all over again. The two of them being so close together… that was fate stepping in, being kind to him. Promising more, the ultimate revenge. He stroked the cold metal again before stashing it in the drawer.

Only for now.

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