"What's goin' on Noh?" Elliot watched him with concern. He seemed pretty happy with Jace there, but Jace needed to leave a little earlier than they planned and Noah acted deflated since.

He plopped on to the couch, and sighed, "Nothing."

Elliot had just finished wiping down the kitchen counters. He rinsed his hands off quickly and sank into the couch next to him. "Sorry Jace had to leave early. Maybe we can try again later this week?"

"No, that's fine. I'm sure he can come over again in a couple days." Noah still looked blue, and Elliot wasn't sure how much he should press him. He decided to try one more gentle nudge and if it didn't work he would let him process whatever on his own.

"Did Jace say something that bothered you? Or are you worrying about Colton?" He was worrying about Colton so it wouldn't surprise him if Noah was too. "Or is it," Elliot hated the guilt and pain that rose to his chest when even saying the child's name, "is it about Clem?"

Noah suddenly stood up. "I told you it was nothing! Just leave it alone! I don't want to talk about any of it. I wished none of it happened!" He could hear the emotion bubbling up with Noah's outburst, but much like the night before, he took off to his bedroom.

Elliot felt a little bit of whiplash, because one second they were fine, and the next Noah lost it, but he knew grief came in waves. He figured he needed to ride the wave, give him a little time, and see where it led them.

-000-

"Okay, Abby. Our interview got cut short the other day, and I wanted to make sure you understood why you were here again today." It appeared Bruno planned on easing into the conversation rather than jumping to the team's obvious conclusions.

Abby looked to her mom, and then back to Bruno. The girl looked worried, but the emotion didn't feel right. It felt like a show, and she was the star.

"You think I did something to Clem," she kept her voice soft.

This girl was clearly a masterful manipulator. It was pretty impressive how well she'd already honed the skill. Impressive, but a little disturbing.

"Exactly," Bruno said gently. He seemed like he was playing into her act, but Olivia knew better. Abby was playing a game, and Bruno knew better than to show his hand. At least not yet. "Last time you were here, we were about to talk about what Colton said happened that night."

"Well if he said I did anything then he's lying," she said smoothly. Her voice dripped with confidence.

"That's the thing. Colton doesn't have a reason to lie. Why would you think he'd lie about something like that?" Bruno was carefully skirting around the issues, giving her an opportunity to disprove her own story.

She sighed. "I don't know. He obviously went out there with Clem. Something happened and he ran away and got lost. I don't know why he's targeting me. Probably because everyone always blames me for stuff." She turned her sad eyes on her mother who gazed back with sympathy.

Olivia wanted to gag.

"But Abby, I need you to know, we talked to Ella." Abby didn't flinch. "And we talked to the school you were expelled from…"

"Then you get it, everyone wants to blame me for bad things that happen." The injustice in her voice was so damn convincing that Olivia thought the girl should pursue acting. If she didn't end up in jail first.

"I want to believe you Abby," Bruno said gently, "I do, but my job is to look at evidence and figure out what happened, and right now the evidence leads to you." Bruno kept his tone sympathetic, like he was begging her to prove him wrong. He was directly playing into the child's narcissism.

"I don't know why…" she shifted uncomfortably. "People just don't like me so they are making it look like it was me."

"Okay. I understand that. I've worked in places where people didn't like me, and made it seem like I was bad at my job. But the thing is, I need you to explain a few things so I can make sure you don't get in trouble." Siding with the perp didn't always work. Most adults could see through the ploy, but Abby wasn't an adult. She was a child, and even with her heightened abilities of manipulation, she was young and inexperienced. Bruno hoped to use it to his advantage.

"We talked to Lucas and Colton. Both boys said you were the one who hurt Clem by the creek that night."

"I already told you I wasn't there!" She insisted. "The boys hurt her and they are trying to blame me!" She played the victim well.

"How do you know the boys hurt her?" Bruno wanted to flesh out her lie.

She bit her lip. "Lucas told me the next day. He made me promise not to tell anyone so I tried to keep the secret as long as I could." Girl could turn on the waterworks at a moment's notice. Tears slowly began to fill her eyes. "He's my friend and I didn't want to get him in trouble. He told me that he and Colton got Clem to sneak out with them that night. They wanted to check out that cliff ravine thing. Everyone knows Colton likes Clem, and his feelings got hurt when she didn't want to go. Lucas said she tried to walk away and he pulled on her arm and she fell and hit her head."

"Thank you Abby. That's really great info. We hadn't thought of it that way." Bruno praised the girl and she gleamed with pride. "Did Lucas tell you how he and Colton got Clem to the ravine?"

She could practically see the wheels turning in Abby's head while she calculated her next move. Olivia wondered if she would give them a kernel of truth, or claim she didn't know. Bruno waited, and Olivia could tell he was struggling to keep Abby from seeing his anticipation. He was hoping as much as she was that the girl would spill something leading them to their mystery coconspirator.

"Lucas said his dad helped." Bingo.

She almost laughed at Bruno who was desperately trying to keep the smile off of his face. "Do you know how he helped?"

"Lucas said he had to get him when Clem wasn't moving. He didn't want to get in trouble because he was always in trouble, and his dad didn't want to deal with more school discipline stuff." She shrugged, like it wasn't totally crazy that some kid's dad would dump a body for him. "They thought Clem was already dead so they tried to hide her so they wouldn't get in trouble."

"What happened with Colton?" Bruno asked.

"Well he freaked out." She said, like it was obvious. "He freaked out, and ran away, and got himself lost."

"That makes sense." Bruno jotted down a couple notes. "Okay Abby. Thanks for telling me what you heard. It really helps."

Abby smiled like she just did the NYPD a huge favor.

"Your story makes sense, but we have to look at which person is more credible." Bruno watered it down, "which person we believe."

"I'm telling the truth," Abby insisted.

"I want to believe you. I really do, but Abby," Bruno gave her a deep slightly unsettling stare. The kind that makes you squirm even when you are telling the truth. "The problem is…" he pulled out the print out showing the DNA profiles found at the scene. It was more for the benefit of her mother and lawyer since Abby probably didn't have an advanced knowledge of genetics. "This paper tells me that you were there that night." He pointed to the first profile. "We found your hair wrapped on a tree branch. This chart shows that it's a match. You were at the creek that night." Bruno's gaze remained intense. "And here's the other thing." He pointed to the second profile. "Clem's hair caught on that same branch. I want to believe your story, but based on this evidence, I know you were there."

-000-

Elliot finished cleaning the kitchen while he gave Noah some time to himself. He had just shut the dishwasher when, to his surprise, Noah opened the door to his room.

Elliot tried to remain casual. He reached into the fridge for a water bottle and sat it on the counter. Noah wandered to the barstool and picked up the water bottle. "I'm sorry I got mad at you…" Noah's eyes dropped in contrition.

"You're allowed to be mad Noah."

"I know. I shouldn't have yelled at you though. You're just trying to help me. And you are here and awesome, and you're helping mom. I shouldn't yell at you."

Elliot was impressed. "Thanks for the apology Noah, but I'm not worried about my feelings. I'm really worried about you."

Noah laid his head on the counter and stared at the bottom of the water bottle. "I'm just mad, and sad. And I want things to go back to normal. I keep trying to pretend it didn't happen, but then the minute I think of it I feel so… Ugh I don't know."

"All of those feelings are really normal Noah," Elliot tried to reassure him. Problem was, normal or not, those emotions were big and they hurt.

Noah pinched mindlessly at the plastic ridges of the water bottle. "When does it feel better?" His normal bright eyes seemed darker, bluer. "When did you feel better?"

He knew who he was asking about. He was asking about Kathy. "When I," he swallowed, "when Kathy died I was pretty mad for a long time." He wanted to be honest with Noah but the emotions were complicated, and he was only twelve. "It took me a long time with Kathy, but I was married to her for a long time, and I missed her a lot." He leaned into the counter. "The amount of time it takes kind of depends on the person. I had a friend, uh," he felt some emotion bubbling up. He cleared his throat. "A member of my squad was killed during a case a couple months ago. It's still hard some days, especially at work, but I feel like I'm okay now for the most part."

"Clem was my friend, and I know stuff like this happens but why did it happen to her? I know mom sees stuff all the time at work, but why did this have to happen to us? Or Clem's mom?" His voice was soft, and his confusion was evident.

"We don't always get to know why Noh. Sometimes stuff just happens. Life isn't always fair, and I know you know that, but things happen that we can't control. Life comes with a mixed bag of good and bad stuff, and we just kinda have to take it as it comes."

Noah nodded. "I don't want to go back to dance right now."

He remembered overhearing that part of the conversation with Jace. "It's probably hard to think of going without Clem." Elliot empathized. "After Kathy died I had a really hard time going to church, and it was important to me, but I just," he sighed, "I couldn't go without her."

"Do you go to church now?" Noah asked.

"Sometimes. It took a long time for me to want to go back."

"But you did." Noah's tone implied a question.

"I did." Elliot confirmed.

"Why? If it made you sad, why go?" Noah asked seriously.

Elliot sighed, "it's hard to explain. I don't know if you will understand."

"Just try," Noah encouraged.

"After some time passed I wanted to remember happy things about Kathy. I missed her, and I'll always miss her, but thinking about her doesn't make me feel as sad now. It makes me happy to think about things we did together, and going to church with the kids was a memory I loved." Elliot had no idea if his thoughts were making sense. "I guess after a while it didn't hurt going to church without her. I would remember her, and I'd miss her, but the memories started to make me happy instead of sad."

Noah pondered his explanation. "So you think that I'll want to dance again? Like it will make me happy because it will help me remember Clem?"

"I think so. I think your mom will understand if you want to take a break, but I think you will want to go back. It will remind you of your friend, and it will be a beautiful way to remember her."

Noah relaxed a little and Elliot hoped he said the right things. He wanted Noah to move through his grief and not find himself stuck in the middle of it all. Elliot had been there before, and he wouldn't wish that feeling on anyone. Especially Noah.