[A/N: Hey guys, this chapter's a little on the shorter side but I wanted to put it together as I was taking a break from working and decided to post. The chapter lengths will probably vary depending on how busy I get with school and work. I just started a new job so that's going to involve some rearranging in my schedule.

So, I'm wondering if you guys have figured out the movies that I am weaving together in this story. One person mentioned Gone Girl and that is indeed one of them but trust me, out of the different movies I'm incorporating, none of them will follow those storylines (especially the endings) exactly.

I do hope you guys are enjoying the fic so far though. I realize it's going a little slow - partly because I don't have time to write long chapters that move things along more and also partly because I have a lot of groundwork to set up. Please let me know what you think.

I don't own Hey Arnold, or the movies that have inspired this story.]

Present Day

"Thank you for coming down, Mr. Sawyer," Detective Sullivan greeted as she sat down across from the middle-aged man. His face was tired but kind and his dark red beard was peppered with grey.

The man simply nodded and clasped his hands atop the table as Arnold sat down next to him and Detective Rollins stood behind Sullivan.

"Well, let's get started, shall we?" Sullivan said, pulling her notepad back out of her pocket. "Can you tell me Lila's blood type?"

"A positive," Mr. Sawyer replied easily.

Arnold pursed his lips. He knew it'd had an A in it.

"Mr. Sawyer, can you think of anyone who might have wanted to hurt your daughter?" Rollins asked cautiously as he pulled out a chair to sit down next to Sullivan.

Mr. Sawyer instinctively shook his head. "No, I don't…" The three of them watched as the older man's eyes widened and a flash of pain crossed them momentarily. "Oh god…" He whispered.

"What?" Sullivan asked. "What is it?"

"When…" Mr. Sawyer took a deep breath and Arnold watched in earnest. "When Lila was in middle school there was… there was…" He struggled to find the words as every eye was trained intently on him. "Lila was attacked,"

"What?" Arnold exclaimed.

"Attacked?" Sullivan repeated as she wrote. "By whom?"

"I-I don't know," Mr. Sawyer shook his head pathetically. "We never found out and Lila couldn't remember. B-But... they…" His voice trailed off as he began to choke up. Arnold stared, completely perplexed.

Why didn't Lila ever tell me? He wondered.

"We filed a police report," Mr. Sawyer said when he composed himself. "It happened at the end of the summer just before she was about to start high school,"

"Rollins, go run a search on Ms. Sawyer in the case reports for 2004, would ya?" Sullivan asked her partner who responded with a nod and ducked out of the room. "We're gonna look into that case and see if we can find any leads through that. In the meantime, is there anything else you can think of – anyone who's ever made a comment or done something that could have made her uncomfortable? Did she ever mention anyone having a problem with her?"

"No," Mr. Sawyer shook his head. "Everyone loves Lila,"

"Anyone ever love her too much?" Sullivan pressed, scribbling on her pad.

Arnold absent-mindedly shook his head as Mr. Sawyer quietly said, "No, I can't think of a soul,"

"Alright," Sullivan said as she clicked her pen closed. "We're gonna review 2004's case and see what we can find there. If you can think of anything that might help the case, here's my card –" Sullivan pulled a business card out of the front pocket of her button down shirt. "Gimme a call – phone number's there on the front,"

Arnold and Mr. Sawyer both stood up as Sullivan did the same, just as Rollins was returning to the room. "Thank you," Mr. Sawyer said, reaching out to shake Sullivan's hand. Arnold quietly mimicked the man's gesture and followed him out of the police station.

"You get the report?" Sullivan asked just as Rollins dropped a thick manila folder onto the table.

"Yeah," He said, leaning against the filing cabinet behind the table as Sullivan sat down to skim through the file. "Case is cold. The girl couldn't remember a thing and none of the leads went anywhere,"

"Strange…" Sullivan breathed as she breezed through some disturbing photographs.

Rollins paused, looking out the glass window of the office at Arnold and Mr. Sawyer's figures disappearing when they rounded a corner. "You know what's strange," He said. "Is a husband who doesn't seem to know shit about his own wife,"

"He could just be shaken up, Rollins," Sullivan said as she skimmed a witness testimony.

Rollins shrugged, unconvinced. "Maybe,"

. . . . . . . .

Flashback - 2004 - The Summer Before Ninth Grade

Lila's dad could barely stand to look at his daughter lying in that hospital bed. Her normally shiny, bouncing red hair was now muted and tousled across her starched white pillow. Her eyes, deep shades of blue and purple, were swollen shut and her lip was crusted with dried blood. Bruises resembling fingerprints could be seen on her neck but he didn't dare to look. He was already having a hard time not completely falling apart.

God, I wish Maggie was still here. He pined for his wife as he wiped tears from his eyes.

"You're gonna be alright, baby girl," He said softly as he pushed a lock of hair away from Lila's face. The vitals monitor next to them steadily beeped to the rhythm of her heart.

After a few minutes in silence, Lila's dad left the room for a few moments to speak with the nurses.

Lila heard the sound of her father's footsteps becoming fainter and fainter. She couldn't see anything as her eyes were closed and it hurt too much to try and speak but she was completely aware of everything that had been said in her presence. The memory of what had happened brought tears to her eyes but she whimpered harder at the pain her crying exacerbated. Scenes from hours earlier flashed across her mind and she willed them to disappear with every fiber of her being.

. . . . . . . .

Present Day

"Thanks for letting me crash here for a few days," Arnold said that evening as he sat at Brainy's dining room table.

Brainy lived in a different apartment complex a few blocks away and had offered to let Arnold stay with him until the police finished investigated his place. Brainy had gotten his asthma under control by the time they left P.S. 118 and, while he still came off a bit 'dorky', he was a lot more relatable now that everyone could have discussions with him without him wheezing throughout.

Since they'd begun working together, Arnold and Brainy had become pretty good friends. Gerald was living on the other side of the country with Phoebe and he tried to keep in touch but it wasn't easy. A lot of the old gang had gone in different directions in life, even if some of them still lived in Hillwood.

"I hope they can find her," Brainy said as he pulled the cap off of a bottle of beer and sat it in front of Arnold who was lazily working on his laptop.

Arnold sat back in his chair and took a sip from the bottle. "Yeah," His brow furrowed in thought. "It just doesn't make sense,"

"You know," Brainy said as he sat down perpendicular to Arnold. "I wouldn't be surprised if you could find Lila yourself," He nodded to the computer.

"Pfft," Arnold rolled his eyes and smirked. "I'm not that good,"

Brainy shrugged and reached toward the middle of the table to half-heartedly flip through a pile of mail. "How is that project of yours going, anyway?"

Arnold pursed his lips. "Nowhere right now," He tapped a finger against the glass bottle. "She doesn't seem to be working as much lately,"

"Really?" Brainy raised an eyebrow. "That's a surprise,"

"Yeah," Arnold bit his lip. "I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing,"

. . . . . . . .

Present Day

The apartment was dark when Helga opened the door. She pulled her key from the lock, balancing a few grocery bags on her arms as she made her way through the darkness and flipped a switch on the wall, illuminating the kitchen and sending some light into the living area.

It was already dark outside and she could see herself in the reflection on the glass. Helga sat her bags down on the kitchen counter and walked over to pull the blinds closed.

She decided to lounge on the couch for a little bit before putting her groceries away. She hadn't gotten much but that didn't matter. Her body instantly relaxed as she melted into the cushions and let out a deep sigh. She turned on her side and grabbed her list, still resting in the same place she'd left it earlier that day when she left. Helga groped around on the table for a pen and bit the tip as she read through the document.

Neil Chambers. She crossed the name off the list and scowled. That was a bust.

She skimmed through the list of names, focusing her attention on the ones she'd highlighted. Peapod's name was highlighted in pink with a question mark next to the name. She hadn't quite decided what she was going to do about that one. It certainly made sense, considering his condition, but something like a heart wasn't something she could do right away. And of course, she couldn't deny that she was intrigued by what she knew of his grandfather's story but still, she wasn't sure if she wanted to commit to something that could potentially take a while. She wasn't planning on being around that long.

Helga's eyes fell on the name of Phyllis Carson and she reached into the pocket of her coat that she was still wearing to retrieve her cell phone.

A notification alerted her to the fact that she had three voicemails she hadn't listened to yet but she ignored them and went to the dialpad, pressing *67 first to conceal her phone number.

"Hello?" Phyllis answered the phone and Helga remained silent. "Hello?... Anybody there? 'Cause I can't hear you… Alright well, if you can hear me, I'm hangin' up now. Bye,"

Helga waited until the call disconnected before she pulled the phone away from her ear and sighed, biting her lip in thought as she reclined her head against one of the couch pillows.

. . . . . . . .

Flashback – The Winter Before High School Graduation

Hillwood was already covered in a blanket of snow by the time the movie let out. The city was strangely quiet and Lila rested her head against Arnold's shoulder as they walked down the powdery sidewalk. Large snowflakes fell gracefully and the sky above was a warm reddish-orange with hints of pink.

Lila unlinked herself from Arnold's arm when they approached a crosswalk and in the time it took for her to press the button that would allow them to cross, Arnold had sneakily packed a ball of snow into his hands and hid it with one hand behind his back.

There weren't many cars on the road by now – many had already made the trek home or had no intention of going out in this weather. The city hadn't been expecting this sudden storm and so the snowplows and salt trucks were delayed in getting out and taking care of the roads.

Lila and Arnold crossed the street with Arnold falling behind the slightest bit. He stopped and hid behind a brick building at the corner as Lila kept walking, completely unaware. He peered around, struggling to stifle his laughter and chucked the snowball at her back but missed. Lila, however, had heard the sound and turning around, realized Arnold was no longer with her.

"Arnold?" She called out, looking around, but he'd ducked back behind the building. Lila began to retrace her steps and when she came to the corner where Arnold was hiding, he jumped out and grabbed her sides, tickling her.

Her reaction, however, stunned him. Lila screamed out and her pupils dilated with fear. She reflexively swatted at him and stumbled back, slipping in the snow and falling onto her butt. Her breaths came sharply and her eyes were brimming with tears as she scrambled to get away, realizing after a couple moments that it was only Arnold.

"Whoa-whoa-whoa!" He exclaimed in concern and cautiously knelt down beside her. "Are you okay? I'm sorry! It's me," He said, extending his hand that she tentatively took after a moment. "I didn't think I'd scare you that bad,"

"I-It's fine," Lila choked out, still coming down from her adrenaline surge, as she wiped her eyes.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Arnold looked at her, his eyebrows furrowed with worry.

"Yeah," She nodded, doing her best to be convincing. "I just… wasn't expecting that. That's all,"

Arnold wasn't completely buying it but he decided against pushing her. "Okay. If you say so,"

. . . . . . . .

Present Day

The following day, Sullivan, Rollins and a forensics team were investigating Arnold and Lila's apartment in depth. People were dusting for fingerprints, using luminol to look for blood spills, and searching through every cabinet, drawer, and closet for clues.

In their preliminary search, Sullivan had spotted what appeared to be a small amount of blood spatter in the kitchen so the forensics specialists were doing the luminol treatment in there first.

The sound of someone frantically knocking on the door distracted Sullivan from a conversation she'd been having with Rollins about the blood spatter. She put a finger up, indicating for him to hold on, and she walked over to the door to look through the peephole.

A very pregnant woman in a long green and yellow maxi dress was standing just outside the door. She had dark brown hair that was tied up in a messy bun and she looked impatient.

Sullivan opened the door but positioned herself in such a way that the woman would clearly get the message that she could not come in. "Do you need something, ma'am?"

"Yes, I—" She tried to peer around Sullivan into the apartment. "I'm Jenny Gilbert; I'm Lila's best friend. What's happened here? I've been seein' cops goin' in and outta this place,"

"Excuse me, you said you're Mrs. Shortman's best friend?" Sullivan asked.

"Yes, of course I am," She replied curtly. "Now what's going on? Did something happen to her? Where's that football-headed asshole now?"

"You mean Mr. Shortman?" Sullivan clarified.

"Do you know anyone else with a football-shaped head?" Jenny deadpanned, a hand on her hip.

"Point taken," Sullivan muttered under her breath before calling over her shoulder. "Hey Rollins! Come over here and take this woman's statement, would you please?" Once he appeared at the door beside her she added, "I'm gonna go check with Bernie about the luminol results,"

Rollins nodded and escorted Jenny out of the doorway and down the hall as Sullivan closed the door.

Best friend, huh?

. . . . . . . .

By 12:30, Arnold was still in his cubicle typing furiously into his laptop as his desktop computer updated. Brainy approached with a Tupperware container of leftovers he'd just heated up in the break room's microwave.

"Aren't you gonna eat?" He asked.

"In a minute," Arnold uttered absently, the back of his laptop turned toward Brainy.

"You're gonna miss lunch, Arnold," Brainy said as he leaned against the edge of the cubicle wall and stuck his fork into the chicken breast in his container.

"I'm almost done," Arnold said, his eyebrow raised as he read something on the screen. "Hey, check this out,"

"What?" Brainy asked as he sat his food down on Arnold's desk and walked behind him to look.

"I found this file," Arnold said, resting his fist against his chin as he pondered the screen.

"If the boss finds out you're doing this on the company's network, he's gonna –"

"I know, I know," Arnold cut him off. "I didn't save the wifi password for your network at home and couldn't check this morning before work. But look," He pointed to the screen. "What is she doing?"

Brainy's face contorted in puzzlement. "Your guess is as good as mine. She's always been something of a mystery…"