Sorry it took so long to write this chapter but I've been pretty busy with family stuff. Hope you like this chapter as its purpose is to basically sum up what the team has learned so far and also show a little more of Scotty and Lilly's relationship. As always, please review!
"Is it just me," Nick sighed as he plopped into his desk chair, "or is nothing about this case making any sense?"
Even though it was almost eight at night, Stillman has asked all of his detectives to gather so they could try to get a clearer focus on the case. As it was, it felt as if all their ideas and evidence was scattered. He was standing in front of the room, staring at the evidence board with Will, when Lilly and Scotty walked in the room.
"I feel you Nick," Scotty sighed as he and Lilly walked to their desk. Lilly took a seat in her chair and began to drink her coffee, but Scotty chose to lean against her desk. "This girl somehow got herself into a whole lot of trouble."
"As far as I can tell, Luther Yale had zero motive to kill Matilda," Kat told them from her desk chair. "He admitted they had argued, but he sounded pretty convincing when he said he and Matilda had made up."
"Her mom and husband said the same thing," Lilly nodded. "According to them, Matilda had been pretty upset when the argument happened, but she had let it go a long time before she died."
"Speaking of her mom and husband," Will said, "neither of them mentioned Matilda arguing with Henry?"
"No," Lilly shook her head. "That's a big thing to leave out. What did they fight about?"
"Fight is probably too strong of a word," Will said. "Matilda wanted an assistant coaching job that was open and Henry said no."
"And Matilda was fine with that? She just walked away with a no for an answer?" Kat asked. From what she had been hearing about this young woman, rejection was not something she would have taken easily.
"Henry said they talked about it and he convinced her to be patient," Nick said. "I think she was more anxious than angry."
"Do you think Matilda maybe went above Henry to get the job?" Stillman asked.
"You mean like going to the general manager of the team?" Scotty asked and Stillman nodded.
"No way," Scotty shook his head. "Boss, Matilda worshiped her grandfather. There's no way she would have gone behind his back."
"Loyalty and honesty," Will said, "two things the Phoenix team prides themselves on. Matilda would have never questioned Henry's final decision."
"Besides, according to Henry, she was having some issues with the general manager's son," Will told them. "I talked about the issue with the son Rick, but his dad Mike hasn't been available for an interview until tomorrow."
"I'm interviewing him when he get's here in the morning," Nick told the team. "Who knows if he has anything helpful to say?"
"I'm starting to feel that it couldn't have been anyone in the Phoenix family," Kat said. "I don't think Matilda would have made anyone within the team feel like she was willing to out them if they had done something wrong. That team was her life."
"Basketball was her life," Scotty objected. "If Matilda thought someone was risking the reputation of the game, she would have blown the whistle. Wouldn't have mattered if they were in the Phoenix family or not."
"One of the old Phoenix players told us something pretty important," Lilly said, looking at Scotty. "According to him, a bookie had approached a Storm player to blow a game,"
"What does that have to do with Matilda?" Stillman asked.
"The kid got his uncle to tell him who the bookie was workin' for," Scotty said. "Barry said the he uncle wasn't positive, but he thought it might be Patrick."
"This bookie went after a player, not a ref?" Nick asked.
"The uncle told the kid the bookie thought it was too risky to go after a ref when the scandal was still blowing over." Scotty told them.
"And I'm guessing Barry told Matilda about this mess," Stillman said and Scotty nodded.
"Barry told Matilda not to confront Patrick, but who knows," Lilly said. "The guys said Matilda never mentioned confronting Patrick, but she could have just not told them."
"Or maybe she confronted him the night she died," Kat suggested. The team nodded in agreement since it was one of the most logical motives they had thought of so far. If Patrick felt his career was in danger, maybe he panicked and strangled Matilda.
"But in the tape Patrick said he helped cover it up, not that he killed her," Lilly said.
"Maybe he was scared, didn't want to confess to the whole thing," Will suggested but Lilly shook her head.
"On his death bed?" she asked. "He was already admitting to a crime on tape, why wouldn't he just confess to the entire thing? He asked the priest to come and he asked to be taped. No one forced this out of him, so why would he hide something?"
"Okay, if Patrick didn't kill Matilda, then who did?" Stillman sighed, staring yet again at the evidence board. In front of him was at least twenty pictures of significant people in Matilda's life, but he stopped at a particular picture. Scotty noticed his boss's odd reaction at the picture.
"What you thinkin' about boss?" Scotty asked.
"Matilda's boss, Squire," Stillman said, "he had no idea that the vice president was trying to bribe players to blow games? I just can't believe that."
"He barely got to hold onto his job when the referee scandal broke out," Kat said. "If I were him, I would have been keeping a close watch out for any suspicious behavior. If he didn't see this, he didn't want to."
"Matilda went to him before when she thought there was something weird going on with the new referees," Will said. "I think Matilda would have gone to him if she thought Patrick was really taking bribes."
"If there was someone in this scheme with him, I would put my money on Squire," Stillman said. "Who else could have covered up Patrick's tracks? Will and Nick, take another crack at Squire tomorrow. Kat will handle the interview with Mike when he gets here tomorrow. Until then, everyone go home and get some sleep for once."
After a chorus of "goodnight" and "see you", the team finally managed to head home. Of course, Lilly and Scotty drove home in different cars, but they both ended up at Lilly's house. Scotty followed Lilly into the house and headed to the kitchen.
"You hungry Lil?" he called from the kitchen as Lilly hung up their coats in the hall closet.
"Yeah, make whatever," she called as she took off her boots. She padded into the kitchen and sat on the counter, watching Scotty cook.
"You look nice tonight Lil," Scotty smiled but Lilly just grunted.
"Yeah right Scotty," she laughed. "I haven't slept in days and I look like a mess."
"A cute mess," Scotty smiled as he flipped the pancake he was making. Lilly didn't respond to the remark as she watched him continue to cook.
"Pancakes for dinner?" She asked.
"I'm tired, give me a break," Scotty laughed as he placed the pancake on a plate and handed it to Lilly. She reached into the drawer next to her and pulled out a fork, eating the pancake as Scotty made his own.
"Maybe this is why we shouldn't have kids," Lilly mumbled, not looking at Scotty when she spoke.
"What?" Scotty said, trying to focus on both Lilly and the dinner in front of him.
"Scotty, we're home at nine at night having pancakes for dinner," she said. "What about that makes you think we're fit to have kids?"
"It'll be different when we have kids," Scotty shrugged.
"That's what people always say," Lilly sighed. "Look Scotty, I don't want to have kids just to have them raised by a babysitter."
"And neither do I Lil, but we're cops. We can't just stop being cops once we have kids," he said. "But what I can promise you is that I would make our kids and you my first priority when I had the choice."
"Me too," she nodded, "but I'm not sure that's enough."
"Lot's of people work and have kids Lil," he said as he put his pancake on a plate. "The world hasn't ended yet, so I think it's doable."
"I know," Lilly whispered. Scotty put down his plate and leaned in to give Lilly a gentle kiss.
"You aren't gonna to be your mother Lil," he told her as he caressed her cheek. "If you chose to be a mom, you're going to be an amazing one, okay?"
"Thanks Scotty," she whispered as she leaned in to give him another kiss. Scotty wanted to press her more about the subject, he really did, but tonight just wasn't the night. Tonight was a night to eat pancakes in the moonlight and finally get some rest.