Witness For the Resolution

She couldn't believe. Here she was sitting in a plane going back to Los Angeles. A place she swore she'd never go to again. And yet here she was going back. 'Ten years. Wow,' Maddie thought as she sat sipping a glass of wine in first class. Los Angeles holds a lot of good memories. But even the good ones quickly turn into painful ones. And all because him. The man she never expects to see again.

Maddie landed at the airport and grabbed her bags. The cab ride to her hotel wasn't easy. Maddie saw so many places along the way that held memories of him. The place where they ate after their first real case. The mall where they threw money around for everyone to grab. And then they passed it. The building that used to house Blue Moon Investigations. Maybe it still did. She knew she had a few days and planned to pay a visit. See if it's still there. And see if he kept his word.

Maddie gets to the hotel and unpacks her bags. She picks up the phone to call home. "Hi mom. How's it going with them?"

"They're being a handful but nothing I can't handle. How was your flight?"

"Rocky, Mom."

"Oh no. Turbulence?"

"No, Mom. Just being back here. Knowing why I'm here. I haven't been back to LA in ten years. It's not easy either all the memories."

"I know, dear. It'll get easier."

"I assume they're asleep by now."

"Yes they are."

"I'll call to say hi to them tomorrow. I'm going to see if the agency is still there."

"Do you really think it'll be there after ten years?"

"It might be, Mom. Who knows. I have to find out."

"I understand. Well it's getting late here in Chicago. I have to get ready for bed. Those two get up early."

"Yes, they do. Goodnight, Mom," Maddie says as she hung up.

Maddie got ready for bed. She lay in bed just thinking. She couldn't believe how much changed in life. And the one person who knew everything about her, now knew nothing about her. She wondered where he's been all these years. She didn't expect to hear from him. He told her "you don't write and call when you're underground. Years later when you come up, then you write." I guess he never came up from underground. Well, she did move across the country. But he's a detective, he could have found her. Maybe he didn't want to put her in jeopardy. He was still a fugitive. Maybe he couldn't write. Maybe he wasn't alive. Ugh, she couldn't think this way. She'd never get to sleep now.

The next day, she took a cab to the address she still knew by heart. She went there almost every day for nearly a year. The lobby was definitely modernized. She got in the elevator and made it up to their floor. Everything looked the same but different. She slowly walked to the door and there it was. "Blue Moon Investigations," Maddie said under her breath. She looked through the window. There she was. Still standing there. She couldn't believe it after ten years. Agnes Dipesto looked the same. A little grey in that beautiful curly dark hair and a few wrinkles on her sweet face. But still the same. She opened the door and slowly walked through. Agnes looked up and thought she was seeing things. "I must be more tired than I thought. I'm seeing things," Agnes said.

"No Agnes. You're not seeing things."

"Ms. Hayes!" Agnes said excitedly and ran to hug Maddie.

"Wow this place looks different," Maddie said looking around.

"Yeah. Mr. Russo really spruced it up after he bought it from you."

"Mrs. Viola, could you please make an appointment…" Mr. Russo started to say as he walked out of his office. "Wow. Ms. Hayes. What are you doing here?"

"Well, I had to be in Los Angeles and figured I'd come see what you did with the place," Maddie said. Then it occurred to her what Mr. Russo called Agnes. "Mrs. Viola?"

"Yeah. A lot had changed Ms. Hayes," Agnes smiled.

"Yes, it has. Maybe we can meet up for dinner later."

"Sure Ms. Hayes. Call me later here before closing and we'll figure out plans."

"Sounds great," Maddie smiled.

Later that evening, Maddie sat at a restaurant. She couldn't shake a nervous feeling. She didn't know why. How would Agnes react to being around her again? Would Agnes blame Maddie for David? "Ms. Hayes?" Maddie's thoughts were interrupted by Agnes who was now sitting at the table. "Oh I'm sorry. I was just thinking. How are you Agnes?"

"I'm great. You remember Herbert, don't you?"

"Oh yes. Mr. Viola. I should have guessed. We really should look at the menu and order before we get distracted."

"Yes we should," Bert said.

A little while later, Maddie, Agnes and Bert sat eating. "Ms. Hayes..." Agnes started to say.

"Agnes, I'm not your boss anymore. You both can call me Maddie."

"Ok, Maddie. This might be out of line, but I have to ask. What happened?"

"Yeah. We've been wondering all these years. Last any of us heard from you is when you took a few days off. Then you came back saying you're moving, you're getting married and selling the agency," Bert said.

Maddie sighed. "Ok. I'll tell you. Agnes do you remember the Everette case?"

Agnes thought for a moment. "Was he the old man in a wheelchair attached to a lot of machines keeping him alive?"

"Yes, that's him. He asked David and I to witness his murder. I didn't want to take the case. David did. Well David had a change of heart. He went to see Mr. Everette to tell him. But his machine was off. David went to see if it was working when a nurse walked in. She realized Mr. Everette was dead. David was accused of killing him. They found his finger prints on the machine."

"But Mr. Addison would never kill anyone. Especially not on purpose."

"I never met the man. But from what Agnes and everyone at the office told me about him, he doesn't seem like he'd hurt anyone." Bert said.

"He wasn't that type. When he thought he killed Mr. Everette, he was a mess. He came to my house that night. He was an emotional wreck. It hurt him to think he caused someone's death, even accidentally."

"Yeah, that sounds like Mr. Addison," Agnes said sadly.

"So, the next day, I saw him in the garage for our office building. He told me he was going underground. That's the last I saw or heard from him. I tried to prove that he didn't kill Mr. Everette. I spent most of my free time for over a year trying to figure out a way to prove it. Then Sam Crawford came back into my life."

"Oh, you mean Hunk City?" Agnes asked with a smile. Bert gave her a death glare. "Well, he was," Agnes said in her defense.

"I took those few days off to spend it with Sam. And he asked me to marry him. I hesitantly said yes. He said he was based in Chicago. And well, there was nothing keeping me here in Los Angeles. I know I had the agency, but honestly my passion for being a detective vanished along with David. By then I gave up hope of proving him innocent and ever seeing him again. So, I sold the agency to Mr. Russo, sold my house, and moved to Chicago."

"Is he not here because he's on some super-secret space mission to contact aliens?" Bert said excitedly.

"No, he's not," Maddie said as she pulled out some pictures from her purse. "A couple of years after we got married, we had a baby." She handed the pictures to Agnes.

"Awwwww. Look at them," Agnes said gushing.

"Victoria is eight. And Michael is five. Sam and I divorced just after Michael turned a year old. I loved being a wife and mother, but that's all I was. There was nothing for me to do in Chicago. I wanted more than that. Plus, I didn't feel the kind of love I think a wife should have for her husband. I didn't feel that lifetime kind of love. And I didn't feel it was fair to Sam that he be stuck with me for life feeling that way."

"So, what brings you back to Los Angeles?" Agnes asked.

"Sam's career brought him out here to Los Angeles. Our kids are growing up. They love their daddy. I didn't feel it was right to put half a continent between Sam and the kids. So, I came out here to make arrangements to move back. I'm working on buying back my house. I reached out to the daughter of the woman who bought it."

"Are you coming back to the agency?" Agnes asked.

"I don't know yet, Agnes. But enough about me. What about you two?"

"Well Agnes eventually won me over. We got married a few years after you moved. When have kids too. Lilly, and Matthew," Bert said as he pulled a picture out of his wallet.

"Awww. They're so cute. I'm happy marriage is working out well for you two."

"I'm sorry yours didn't," Agnes said sadly.

"It's ok."

Over the next few months, Maddie flew back and forth between Los Angeles and Chicago. She did everything necessary for the move. She moved her and the kids to Los Angeles onto Maddie's old house. Her mom even moved to Los Angeles so she could help with the kids. One August day, Maddie sat in her living room going over paper work to enroll the kids in school on the fall. The kids were out with Maddie's mom. The phone rang. "Hello?" Maddie answered only half paying attention as she kept focus on the paper work.

"Ms. Hayes? I'm Detective Veronica Kent with LAPD."

Alarm bells went off in Maddie's head. That certainly got her attention away from the paper work. "Hello detective. Is something wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong Ms. Hayes. I'm new to the department. I've been going over old unsolved cold cases when I came across Mr. Lawrence Everette's murder. I've been doing some investigating. Ms. Hayes, I think I found proof that David Addison didn't kill Mr. Everette."