18. Miss Chestnut Hill

[r2k]

At long last, my latest fan fic has arrived. To help you all out understanding where in the real Cold Case timeline this story takes place, I have decided to tell you. My last fan fic was “Game Over”. Now at this point, Season 3 hadn’t started yet. According to this fan fic, Lily and Kite were together again accordng to my fan fics. Also George was still alive. So I decided it would be easier to place all 17 of my fan fic episodes between the episodes “Best Friends” and “The Woods”. So you can all assume Lily breaks it off with Kite between “The Woods” and “Family”. “The Woods” didn’t really need Kite’s involvement anyway. So the real Season 3 went along as we saw it on TV. This new episode will pick up where “Joseph” left off. So there you have it.

[r2k]

Episode 18: Miss Chestnut Hill

April 3, 1998
“Good Riddance, The Time of Your Life” by Green Day plays in the background at an elegant hall. Tons of mothers and little girls were together, preparing for a child beauty pageant. The snobbery of it all can be detected. The camera focuses on a mother and her seven year old daughter. The mother is prepping the girl for a competition.

Susan: Sherry, hold still!!
Sherry: I want to go home!
Susan: The competition isn’t over yet, besides this is a good experience for you.
Sherry: Then why aren’t my sisters here, too?
Susan: We’ve been through this before dear. Samantha’s too young and Stevie doesn’t like it. But I know deep down you do.
*Susan looks at Sherry.
Susan: Look, I know this is a lot of work. But it will be worth it in the end. You’re gonna be a star. Sherry, you’re gonna make Mommy proud. You believe that, right?
Sherry: Yes, Mommy. I’m sorry I said I didn’t like it.
Susan: Apology accepted.
*Susan continues to prepare Sherry for the pageant. Sherry breathes deeply and sighs. She has a sad look on her face. An announcement is hear over the loudspeaker.
Announcer: Attention little princesses!! The beauty pageant will begin in 10 minutes. We need our contestants to be ready for their performances immediately.
Susan: You’re on. You remember the routine.
Sherry: Yes, Mommy. I know each step by heart. We practiced it a hundred million times.
Susan: You’re gonna win tonight.

Later, in a dark attic at night, the camera enters. It slowly moves toward the body of a little girl. Sherry lies dead. She is wearing her nightgown. No visible signs of injury are present. Her eyes are closed as if she were sleeping.


In the case file room, her box is being put away.

Lindsey, S. Apr. 1998

In the present.
Lily enters the main area. Scotty is already at his desk. Vera and Jeffries are conversing amongst themselves. Scotty notices Lily coming in.
Scotty: Morning.
Lily: Hey. (Looks over at Stillman’s office. He is sitting at his desk.) I’m almost afraid to go in there.
Scotty: He’s been quiet all morning.
*Vera approaches them. Jeffries follows behind.
Vera: We missed you last night.
Lily: I was busy.
Vera: Busy?
Lily: I don’t want to talk about it.
Scotty: Okay then. How about this. We got a little girl coming in this morning.
Lily: Little girl.
Scotty: Something about a cold job from 1998. She didn’t tell me much more than that.
Lily: How old?
Scotty: She sounded about 10 to me.
Vera: Who’s bringing her?
Lily: Mother? Father? (Lily looks over at Stillman’s office again. He doesn’t look up. She looks back at Scotty.) Girl have a name.
Scotty: Yeah. Samantha Lindsey.
Vera: Name rings a bell.
Jeffries: Sherry Lee Lindsey. April 1998. Beauty pageant murder.
Vera: Oh yeah. Big deal.
Lily: I remember this one. They suspected the parents.
Scotty: Something about her being kidnapped and the ransom note raising red flags.
Jeffries: Girl was found dead in her attic. Broken neck. Ransom note was left on the kitchen counter. Thing is the note didn’t reflect a kidnapper’s mindset.

*A little girl enters the room with another girl and an adult. Scotty gets her attention.
Scotty: Samantha Lindsey?
Samantha: Yes. (She walks over. The adult begins to talk.)
Adult: I’m Mary Letz. This is my daughter, Amber. Amber and Sammy are friends at school.
Lily: Detective Rush.
Scotty: Detective Valens.
Samantha: We spoke on the phone. (Pauses and looks at Scotty) You’re kind of cute.
*Scotty blushes and smiles.

[r2k]

Vera: (With that look on his face) How old are you?
Samantha: Eleven.
Jeffries: You’re here about Sherry, right?
Samantha: Yeah. I guess I don’t need to fill you in.
Scott: You got something new.
Samantha: I was only three when my sister was killed. She was six.
Jeffries: Ransom note was found on the kitchen table. Your parents were questioned.
Samantha: I heard. It wasn’t until recently I looked up the case. I’ve only known what my parents told me.
Lily: Which was?
Samantha: Not much. Someone tried to kidnap her but they killed her. Left her behind.
Lily: You believe that.
Samantha: I did. Until.
Scotty: Until what?
Samantha: Until I found these. (Pulls out a bunch of drawings) I was cleaning my room and I found these underneath a drawer. You know how you can hide things there. Sherry and I shared a room.
*Scotty takes a look at the drawings. The first one shows the mother and Sherry. The mother is drawn like a witch.
Scotty: Sort of scary.
*He shows Lily and looks at another one. This one shows Sherry’s other sister, Stevie. Stevie is a monster in the picture.
Scotty: Pictures are morbid.
Samantha: What’s that mean?
Vera: Morbid. It means pretty bad.
Samantha: They are. I don’t know when Sherry drew them. But they were sitting there. Hidden from Mom and Dad.
Lily: There aren’t any pictures of you looking like a monster.
Samantha: I know. I must have been nice to her.
Lily: Why do you think your parents might not be telling the truth?
Samantha: Stevie was babysitting us that night. Well, when I looked up the murder on the internet, my parents tell the police the kidnapping happened during the middle of the night.
Jeffries: Right.
Samantha: I don’t remember that happening. I went to sleep and she was in there with me.
Lily: Is it possible she might have been taken out of the room.
Samantha: I wasn’t a sound sleeper. I would have screamed.
Vera: Makes sense.
Mary Letz: Samantha feels something is off about her parents’ account of that night. I feel bad going behind her back like this. Look, I live on the same street. I remember what the family was like. Samantha’s mother, she had hopes for Sherry.
Lily: What kind of hopes?
Mary: Sherry was active in the children’s beauty pageant circuit. It was big business. Still is.
Jeffries: I remember the pictures of Sherry.
Mary: Sherry was miserable. Stevie put up some good fights. Kathy eventually gave up on her and moved on to Sherry.
Lily: How old is Stevie?
Mary: She was 13 in ’98. She’d be 21 by now. Good kid. She just hated the pageants. Kathy started too late with Stevie. When it didn’t work out, she immediately started with Sherry. She worked that girl into beauty champ.
Lily: And then she died. Samantha, what about you?
Samantha: What about me?
Lily: Did your mother make you do this?
Samantha: No. She gave up after Sherry died.
Lily: When did your parents discover her missing?
Samantha: I read they found her in the morning. She wasn’t in her bed. They searched the house. Must not have seen the note.
Scotty: We’ll pull her case.
Lily: In the meantime, think back Samantha. You were only three when this happened but you might remember something. The little things mean all the difference. Okay?
Samantha: Okay.

*Opening Credits

*In the case file room, the team is there. Lily pulls out the picture of Sherry in her beauty pageant outfit. Vera looks at it.
Vera: She looks like a streetwalker.
Lily: Come on.
Vera: Look at her. She does not look 6.
*Kat joins the team.
Kat: Heard you were down here.
Scotty: Pulled the Sherry Lee Lindsey case.
Kat: Beauty pageant girl. 1998.
Vera: You remember this case.
Kat: Was all over the news. All over the country.
Jeffries: Media sensation.
Lily: Mother’s statement claims they went to bed and in the morning Sherry was not in bed.
Scotty: Something ain’t right here. Samantha claims Sherry was quiet.
Jeffries: Which she wasn’t.
Lily: So she was never in the bedroom at all.
Vera: But the mother would known the night before.
Scotty: What mother does not kiss her daughter goodnight.
Lily: I can think of one.
Kat: I’m always there when Veronica goes to bed.
Lily: Let’s take this up.

[r2k]

*Upstairs.
Jeffries: Located Stevie. She’s entering her senior year at Temple.
Vera: Here’s something interesting. Stevie’s boyfriend at the time, name is Kenny Remar. She spent the entire evening on the phone with him.
Lily: Sounds like a 13 year old.
Jeffries: Kenny is also a student at Temple. Graduate school.
Lily: Let’s fan out. Scotty, you and Kat go see Stevie.
Vera: Will and I shall go pay boyfriend a visit.
Lily: And I will talk to Mom. (Lily looks back over at Stillman’s office.) This is ridiculous.
Jeffries: Give it time ‘Lil. He’ll get over it.

*At the Lindsey house.
Kathy: (Image flashes back to 37 and returns to 45. She looks at the pictures Sherry had drawn). Sherry was a shining star. I can’t imagine how she could draw these things.
Lily: She was angry.
Kathy: I pushed her, you know. This is all my fault. Stevie hated it. That should have been the wake up call. But no. I had to try again.
Lily: I have to bring up the fact that police suspected you. And Samantha thinks you might have been involved.
Kathy: Samantha thinks a lot of things, detective. I just don’t understand why she couldn’t come to me with these.
Lily: Do you know she’s been researching the case on the internet?
Kathy: No. How could she have been doing that? We don’t allow her to use the internet unsupervised.
Lily: She told us she has.
Kathy: She’s been doing it somewhere else.
Lily: Wherever she is getting her information, she is getting it.
Kathy: I don’t want her to know about this. It was painful enough for me to lose her like this. Every time Sammy asks I have to relive it all over again.

*Flashback to 1998. No song plays in the background. Kathy comes into the bedroom to wake up the girls.)
Kathy: Wake up girls.
*Samantha wakes up.
Samantha: Mommy!!!
Kathy: Pumpkin. (Turns to Sherry’s bed.) Sherry, wake up. We have to practice today. (She looks at Sherry.) Sherry? (She slowly walks over to where Sherry is sleeping. She gets there and lifts the covers. A wig is located where Sherry’s head was supposed to be.) Oh no!!1 Sherry!!!
*Kathy begins to run around the house.
Kathy: Sherry!!! Sherry!!!
*Samantha begins screaming. Kathy’s husband, Rob, comes out.
Rob: Honey, what is it.
Kathy: Sherry’s gone.
*Stevie comes out of her room.
Stevie: What is going on?
Kathy: Sherry’s gone.
Rob: I’ll check downstairs.
Kathy: Good. I’ve checked here. I’ll go to the basement. Stevie, keep checking up here.
*In the kitchen, Rob enters. He sees a note on the kitchen counter.
Rob: Kathy!!!
*Kathy comes running into the kitchen.
Rob: It’s a ransom note.
Kathy: What?
Stevie: I checked all the bedrooms. She’s gone.
Kathy: The basement.
Stevie: I’ll go take care of Sammy.
*Kathy runs down to the basement. Sherry is not there. Samantha is still screaming upstairs. Stevie runs upstairs. Kathy runs back uptairs.
Kathy: She’s not down there.

*Stevie screams from upstair. Kathy and Rob come running up. Kathy sees Sherry and runs to her. Rob holds Stevie. Kathy is screaming with tears running down her face.

Return to the present.
Kathy: (Crying) My oldest daughter found her. I have one daughter dead, another traumatized. I don’t need Samantha being screwed up by this. She was only 3. 3 year olds don’t worry about these things.

*Lily gives a facial gesture of sympathy.

*Meanwhile, in a dormroom at Temple. Scotty and Kat approach the door. Scotty knocks. A girl answers. Her image flashes back to age 13 and returns to 21.
Scotty: Stevie Lindsey?
Stevie: I really hate when I hear my first and last name together. Can’t wait to get married.
Kat: Got somebody in mind?
Stevie: Long time boyfriend.
*Scotty and Kat look at each other.
Scotty: Kenny.
Stevie: Yes. How did you know?
Kat: We’re detectives. Miller
Scotty: Valens.
Kat: We’re looking into your sister’s death. Kenny’s name came up in the report.
Stevie: How?
Scotty: Phone records indicate you were on the phone with him most of the night.
Stevie: Right. I was crazy about him then and still am. We’re engaged. I graduate next spring.

[r2k]

Kat: Set a date?
Stevie: June 19th. But you’re not here to talk about my wedding.
Scotty: Your other sister, Sammy. She came in with some drawings.
Stevie: Drawings?
Kat: They were of the family. You included.
Stevie: What kind of pictures?
Scotty: Not so nice. Sort of painted you all as monsters.
Stevie: But that’s…. (pauses)
Kat: What?
Stevie: Sherry never would have done that. I can’t believe she. I guess it worse than I thought. I was the first. Mom wanted me to be the big beauty pageant winner. And that failed miserably.
Scotty: Heard you were defiant. Fought back.
Stevie: Well, I believe in “Honor thy Father and thy Mother”. But I’m not sure that included beauty pageants where little girls were dressed like. Well, you can fill in the rest. And it’s not like you could run to any other adult because they were all just as narcissistic. That’s what it was. Mothers trying to live some sick fantasy through their children. I would preferred if she’d been a soccer mom.
Kat: What do you remember about that night?
Stevie: I was on the phone for most of it. I sort of paid attention to other things back then. Sort of ignored my babysitting responsibilities.

*Flashback to 1998. “Crush” by Jennifer Paige plays in the background. Stevie is in her room talking to Kenny on the phone.
Stevie: I just hate that you’re in high school now. I miss you.
Kenny’s voice: You miss me, huh.
Stevie: Come on. (laughing) I’m not that kind of girl. What about you? Any girls turning your head.
Kenny’s voice: Of course.
Stevie: You realize if you keep turning that head I’m going to have to twist it right off.
*Sherry comes in.
Sherry: Stevie!! You’re supposed to make popcorn for us.
Stevie: Hold on, Kenny. Sherry. I’m busy.
Sherry: Mom told you to.
Stevie: Mom told me lots of things. I’m on the phone now.
Sherry: With Kenny!!!!
Stevie: So?
Sherry: Make us popcorn or Mom and Dad will know you spent all night with him on the phone.
Stevie: (pauses) Okay. Hang on Kenny. I gotta go make popcorn for the girls.
Kenny’s voice: I’ll stay.
Stevie: You’re so sweet to me. What would I ever do without you?
Kenny’s voice: Date someone else.
Stevie: Of course. I’d just go to the next guy. You’re crazy.

*Return to the present.
Stevie: She was always pestering me. I made her the popcorn. Sat there and watched them to make sure they didn’t fight over it. Sherry and Samantha fought over everything.
Kat: What time did they go to bed?
Stevie: 7:30 for Sammy. 8:00 for Sherry. I made sure they were in bed. Mom and Dad were going to be late that night.
Scotty: Why?
Stevie: Big party for his company. He was getting a promotion. Always money with him.
Kat: And for mom?
Stevie: The prestige. Appearances were important.
Scotty: So both girls were asleep in the room.
Stevie: (image flashes back to age 13) I tucked them in myself. (returns to 21) I went back to the phone. Whatever happened after that, who knows?
Kat: What did your parents do when they got home?
Stevie: It was 1:00. I know Mom was upset with Dad.
Scotty: What about?
Stevie: I don’t know. I never asked. And after Sherry died, I sort of let it go.
Kat: Did your parents ever have any arguments in front of you and your sisters.
Stevie: They had their disagreements. But they usually kept them private.
Scotty: What do you think really happened to Sherry?
Stevie: I don’t know. I mean I was the phone all night after they went to bed. And I was using a cordless so I was on the move. To be honest, anyone could have snuck into that house and I wouldn’t have known.
Scotty: Did you ever check in on them?
Stevie: No. I said goodnight to Kenny at about 11:00. He had to go to bed.

*Meanwhile, Vera and Jeffries are at a gym where Kenny is walking out of the locker room.
Jeffries: Kenny Remar?
Kenny: Yes.
Vera: Detectives Vera. My partner Jeffries. We’d like to ask you some questions about your fiance’s sister, Sherry.
Kenny: I told police everything I know. Which is nothing. Look I was on the phone with Stevie for most of the night.
Jeffries: You were in love?
Kenny: Not then. Sort of a crush. Fell in love later.
Vera: We still think you might be able to help us. You see her sister, Sammy, she thinks the parents might be responsible.
Kenny: There’s a road I don’t want to take.
Jeffries: Why not?
Kenny: Her parents are paying for the wedding. And. Never mind.
Vera: What?
Kenny: Look, I really don’t want to get into any trouble with my future in-laws, okay. I wasn’t there that night and I don’t know anything!!!

[r2k]

Vera: Okay. Chill out. But think about this. If you think your fiancés parents committed a murder. Especially a child.
Jeffries: That’s something I’d want to know before taking the vows. I wouldn’t let my grandchildren near such people.
Vera: What is it?
Kenny: It’s not anything specific. Just the general behavior of the parents. The mother in particular. Stevie had to attend one of the pageants. Well, a bunch of us came over to the house afterward.

*Flashback to 1998. “Ray of Light” by Madonna plays in the background.
Kenny, two other boys, and three girls come into the house as Stevie lets them in.
Stevie: I’m glad you all stopped by.
Kenny: How was the pageant?
Stevie: Don’t mention that word right now.
Kenny: Why not?
*Kathy comes down the stairs, angry.
Kathy: I hate her. Stupid hag. Thinks she’s better. Her and her little tramp girl.
*Kathy storms into the living room where Stevie’s friends are sitting.
Kathy: What’s this?
Stevie: My friends. They stopped by.
Kathy: No!! Not now!! I’m angry and I don’t want anybody around me right now.
Stevie: Good. Then I can go with them.
Kathy: I don’t think so. No!! You’re going to stay.
Stevie: But you said you didn’t want anybody around.
Kathy: You’re staying here!!!! Get it!!!! (really yelling) You’re not going out with your friends!!!!!!!!
Stevie: Forget you. Let’s go.
*Everybody leaves.
Kathy: Don’t you walk out of this house.
*Rob comes downstairs.
Rob: What’s going on?
Stevie: I can’t have any friends over here and she won’t let me leave. I hate being here when she’s this way.
Kathy: Don’t talk to me that way!!!
Stevie: I’m not staying here and watch you do to her what you tried to do to me.
Kathy: Take that back. Now!!!!
Rob: Calm down, honey.
Kathy: Don’t calm down honey me. I do not need to calm down.
Rob: Stevie, go. Here’s some money. You can have dinner out.
Kathy: What are you!!! Siding with her!!!!!!
Rob: You’re angry.
Kathy: Why shouldn’t I be!!!! That b----- down the street had no right to do what she did. Spreading those lies about me and Sherry.
Stevie: Later.

*Return to the present.
Vera: Who was Stevie’s mother talking about.
Kenny: Some other mother down the street. Her daughter was in the beauty pageant too.
Jeffries: Get a name.
Kenny: (flashes back to age 14) Mrs. Letz, I think.
(Vera and Jeffries look at each other.)
Jeffries: You sure you remember that name.
Kenny: 100% sure. Stevie gave us the full details on that argument.

*Later, back at the station.
Lily: Well, Kathy seems heartbroken and concerned for her daughters.
Jeffries: I wouldn’t jump to that conclusion.
Vera: Kenny said she was a tyrant.
Jeffries: A sore loser.
Kat: Stevie claims she was on the phone most of the night and said it was possible that someone might have gotten in.
Scotty: But why leave Sherry’s body in the attic.
Lily: Make it look like a kidnapping gone wrong.
Jeffries: That was the theory. Then the suspicions arose.
Lily: What suspicions?
Jeffries: The ransom note. It just didn’t fit the profile of a kidnapper.
Vera: I remember that. Note looked like a rush job.
Scotty: So we’re not looking for a kidnapper.
Kat: Pedophile?
Lily: Makes sense. Goes into the house.
Vera: Beauty pageant circuit. Maybe a sex offender was trolling the place and spotted her.
Jeffries: Of course, safeguards aren’t in place much now for that sort of thing. Couldn’t have been any better in ’98.
Vera: Still, Kenny indicated another mother was a rival. And guess who the mother is?
Lily: Tell us.
Jeffries: Mary Letz.
Scotty: She seemed to believe Sammy’s theory.
Lily: Maybe Mary led her on a bit.

*Later, in the interrogation room, Lily and Scotty are with Mary.
Lily: Anything you want to tell us now.
Mary: Nothing.
Scotty: Anything you might have left out.
Lily: Oh, I don’t know, like, your daughter was in those pageants too.
Mary: Huh?
Lily: Don’t even try to steer out of this one. We checked. Your daughter competed as well.
Mary: So she did.
Scotty: But you never bothered to tell us.

[r2k]

Lily: Or that you had a fight with Kathy before the death.
Mary: A fight. That wasn’t a fight. That was a blowup.

*Flashback to 1998. “Why Can’t We Be Friends” by Smashmouth plays in the background. Kathy is storming up to Mary and her older daughter, Tess.
Kathy: I know what you did. Spreading those lies,
Mary: Those weren’t lies sweety. You stuffed her.
Kathy: I did no such thing.
Mary: Whether you did or not, doesn’t matter now.
Kathy: I can’t believe you would do this to me.
Mary: You don’t have what it takes.
Kathy: And what’s that supposed to mean?
Mary: I heard about Stevie and how she froze up on stage. You control them. Just like you control Sherry. No wonder she hates you so much.
*Kathy smacks Mary. Mary looks shocked.
Mary: I guess I’m going to have to report this. You’re finished. You’re through. Done. Forever.
*Kathy pauses. She realizes Mary was trying to get a rise out of her.
Kathy: You’re gonna pay for this. Mark my word. You will pay.

*Return to the present.
Lily: So what happened after the fight?
Mary: I did the honorable thing.
Scotty: Which was?
Mary: Reported the incident. Has her sorry little butt thrown out of the pageant.
Lily: (Leaning over on the table toward Mary.) I’d get a dictionary out, Mrs. Letz. I’ll bet nothing you did that day even remotely comes close to being the definition of honorable.
Mary: Like I care what you think.
Lily: You know what I think Scotty?
Scotty: What?
Lily: I think Mary killed Sherry.
Mary: Strike one.
Lily: She was obviously jealous of Sherry and her talents.
Mary: Strike two.
Lily: Oh we have it here. Sherry was a rising star. Beating the pants out of your daughter.
Mary: That threat ended that day.
Scotty: Maybe Mary got tired of her daughter winning squat. Decided to take it out one some mother.
Mary: Strike three. (Gets up and walks out.)
Lily: Did we offend you?
Mary: No. We’re through here.
Lily: Really. I thought we were having fun.
Scotty: I was. Were we too rough Mary.
Mary: You people are clueless.
Lily: You used Sammy to get back at Kathy one last time, didn’t you?
Mary: Now, you’re finally hitting the ball. (Sits back down.)
Scotty: Why would you want that? All these years have passed.
Mary: It’s so simple, really.
Lily: How simple?
Mary: Kathy is obsessed with attention. In case you haven’t noticed, she is getting ready to plan the biggest wedding ever. Her husband is pretty successful these days and this is her big chance to show up everyone.
Scotty: So what does this have to do with Sherry.
Mary: Kathy is an opportunist. Stevie is too. You really think she froze up out of fear?
Lily: Are you thinking she didn’t?
Mary: Who do you think gave her the idea?
Scotty: You?
Mary: My daughter asked me to be in those pageants. But those girls hated it. And Sherry wasn’t as defiant and strong-willed as Stevie was. Kathy learned her mistake the first time. My getting them kicked out was a favor to Sherry.
Lily: Some favor.
Scotty: She ended up dead.
Lily: Was Kathy going to fight the disqualification?
Mary: Of course. Truth is she would have been allowed to continue. I never got around to reporting it. Sherry was dead the next morning.
Lily: Did Sherry know about this fight?
Mary: No. Kathy came to me at the pageant. Sherry was far away. I don’t know if she did.

*Later.

Lily: So Mary is actually a good Samaritan.
Scotty: More like an opportunist. She took advantage of the family dynamic to further her own girl.
Lily: Now let’s think about this. Kathy gets into a frenzy because her big hope is about to fall apart on her.
Scotty: Her last hope.
Kat: You know, my daughter does ballet. I mean she loves it. She begged me to let her do it. But some of those girls hate it. Mothers push them.
Lily: So what are you thinking?
Kat: I’m thinking Sherry saw the exchange.
Scotty: Plus there’s no way she could have missed the episode at the house.
Kat: Sherry might taken the opportunity to tell her mother off. Kids do that. Take advantage of a parent’s vulnerabilities and frustrations.
Scotty: But when. She was asleep.
Kat: Could have happened at anytime.
Lily: Maybe the fight happened earlier. And mother finished her off later. She seemed on edge the whole day. Perhaps after an evening of stewing in her mind, she snapped. Did it quietly so nobody would know about it.

[r2k]

Scotty: I’d kill to see how that dinner party they were at went down.
Lily: Let’s go talk to Kathy’s husband, Rob. (Lily noticed Stillman is not in his office. She looks away and forgets it for the time being.)

*Later, at a fancy office downtown, Rob sits at his desk.
Rob: Kathy needed something to fill the time. She figured the beauty pageant was the thing.
Lily: Never occurred to you she would take it too far.
Rob: No. She really pushed Stevie into it. Stevie was defiant from the get go.
Lily: How exactly did Stevie get out of it.
Rob: Other than her freezing up on stage.
Lily: We know Mary Letz helped out in that department.
Rob: She didn’t need to do that. Mary gets in the way of a lot of people’s business.
Scotty: We’ve heard.
Rob: Mary was the big cheese on the block before we moved there. Afterward, Kathy tried to intrude on that spot.
Lily: So Mary retaliated.
Rob: And for Kathy it was war. And Kathy didn’t like it when someone crossed her.
Scotty: Looks like she involved her little girls.
Rob: Yes, she did. But I put a stop to that.
Lily: After Sherry.
Rob: That was a moment I’ll never forget.

*Flashback to 1998. “The Power of Goodbye” by Madonna plays in the background. It is the night hours after the funeral. Rob comes into the living room after the girls are asleep.
Kathy: This is all my fault. Rob, isn’t it. My fault.
Rob: How can this be your fault?
Kathy: It is. I must have done it.
Rob: You didn’t do anything.
Kathy: Well, everybody thinks I killed her. The newspapers think so. So many of our friends thought so too. They didn’t even come to the funeral. What kind of people do that. Sherry did nothing wrong. They snubbed her because of me.
Rob: Listen to yourself. You’ve let this competition get to your head. Even now, you’re judging how many people paid their respects. Please. You’ve got one daughter who resents you, what do you want Sammy to think.
Kathy: I want her to love me. To know I love her.
Rob: Then be a mother. Be there for her.
Kathy: (crying) I miss her, Rob. I’ll never get her back. Ever again. Why didn’t I ever tell her how much I loved her.
Rob: You did.
Kathy: No, I didn’t. I never said that to her. I always told her how beautiful she looked or how well she did in a pageant. But I never told her how much I loved her. Will she ever know how much I loved her. Because I don’t think she did. She was becoming Stevie all over again.
*Return to the present.
Rob: She was depressed for some time.
Lily: Do you think she might have done it?
Rob: For a while I did. To be honest, I never bought that ransom note as authentic. For a few brief moments I actually thought my wife committed murder.
Lily: What changed your mind?
Rob: The ransom note did. It wasn’t her handwriting.
Lily: How do you know?
Rob: It’s in the way things are written.
Lily: She could have been rushing.
Rob: I know it wasn’t her.
Lily: Are you protecting her?
Rob: No.
Scotty: Did you have something to do with it?
Rob: Absolutely not. We don’t know what happened to our daughter. And for 8 years my wife has been able to move on and it wasn’t easy for her. She may have taken the pageant thing too far, but she wouldn’t have killed Sherry.

*Back at the station.
Jeffries: I’ve been going over the results of the 1998 Little Girls pageant. Mary doesn’t like she would have a motive.
Lily: How so?
Jeffries: Turns out the competition was fierce that year. Mothers were going all out to win. Mary would have had to knock off a bunch of girls to be sure of winning.
Scotty: So who did win that year?
Jeffries: Nobody. Sherry’s death sort of botched the whole thing. Pageant was cancelled.
Lily: Cancelled?
Vera: You heard him. And the best part is coming up.
Jeffries: The preliminary competition was the Saturday. Was supposed to continue on Monday.
Scotty: So what happened?
Jeffries: You would think the parents would have been suspected right off. But no. An anonymous tip to the police is what got the parent angle going. And it didn’t come in until it was official that the competition was cancelled that year.
Lily: Someone lashed out at Sherry’s parents.
Kat: But that still doesn’t make sense. I mean this conflict has nothing to do with Sherry.
Scotty: I’ve been thinking that too.
Lily: And it’s distracting us. Let’s go back and put this in order again. Parents left a 6:30.
Scotty: Stevie indicated at that Sammy was in bed at 7:30 and Sherry followed a half an hour later.
Vera: Parents got home around 1:00 in the morning. Stevie was still up.
Kat: And she was on the phone most of the evening with Kenny.

[r2k]

Lily: You see this is the thing I don’t get. The parents left at 6:30 and Stevie knew they were going to be late that night.
Scotty: 1:00.
Jeffries: That’s a 6 and a half hour window.
Lily: You can’t tell me Kenny didn’t come over.
Vera: Where were Kenny’s parents?
Scotty: That information is not here. Most likely they wanted to know what Kenny thought happened. He was never a suspect at the time.
Lily: We need to look at the possibility that he may have been there. Or that he may know something.
Scotty: Let’s being ‘em in.

*Later, in the interrogation rooms, Stevie and Kenny are in different rooms. Lily and Scotty are with Stevie.

Stevie: Why are we here?
Lily: So you know your knight in shining armor is here too.
Stevie: I saw your friends bring him in. We didn’t do anything.
Scotty: Come on Stevie. Your parents are gone for several hours and he never came over.
Stevie: We were on the phone, remember. There’s a record of that conversation.
Lily: Just that a call was made.
Scotty: Thing is, Kenny’s parents have call waiting.
Lily: And they called him several times that night.
Scotty: Only, after a while he stopped answering. You probably forgot he was grounded.
Stevie: He was never over at the house.
Lily: Really. Parents’ rules.
Stevie: Yes.
Lily: (Laughing) Well we know about you and obeying, don’t we. Defied mother cause you couldn’t handle the pageant life.
Scotty: But then your sister started to win a few.
Lily: And you couldn’t handle it.
Scotty: So you and boyfriend come up with a plan.
Lily: Yeah. Kill the brat, huh.
Stevie: You’re way off.
Lily: Am I?

*Meanwhile, in the other room. Kat and Vera are interrogating Kenny.
Kenny: That’s crazy. I was on the phone with her. I never went over there.
Jeffries: We spoke to your parents. Thing is, you were grounded that night because when Mom and Dad came home, you were not there.
Kenny: I was already grounded.
Kat: They told us. You ended up getting an extra week for that, didn’t you?
Kenny: So why aren’t my parents here? Technically, they are a part of this too.
Vera: Because we want to talk to you. We want to know what happened at the house that night.
Kenny: We didn’t kill her, okay. You can keep questioning us all you want. We did not kill Sherry.
Kat: You’re hiding something.
Kenny: (Looking frustrated) No I’m not.
Vera: Did Stevie do something?
Kenny: (Looks at Vera, image flashes back to age 14) Stevie did nothing to that girl. (image returns to 22) There was no murder.

*Meanwhile, Lily and Scotty are continuing with Stevie.
Lily: Were you jealous of Sherry?
Stevie: No. I could care less about what she was doing.
Scotty: Really. Your mother spending all that time with her.
Lily: While you’re left alone with Sammy. That had to hurt.
Stevie: It wasn’t easy.
Lily: Maybe you missed your mother’s attention. Maybe Sherry realized it was easier to be in the pageant with a controlling mother than to be ignored.
Scotty: That’s why she never fought back.
Lily: Did she fight back that night?
Stevie: (image flashes back to 13.) I didn’t murder her. (image returns to 21.)

*In the main room.
Lily: Stevie isn’t going to budge.
Vera: Neither is Ken.
Jeffries: We don’t have anything to keep them.
Scotty: So we let ‘em go.
Jeffries: They’ve got the wedding of the century coming up. Not like they’re going anywhere.
(Lily sits down at her desk. A bookbag falls off it and opens, spilling the contents.)
Scotty: That’s Kenny’s bag.
Lily: You’d think a grad student would be more organized.
Scotty: I was pretty messy myself back then.
Lily: Look at this.
Kat: What?
Vera: Just some of his papers. Put them back.
Lily: I will. (Goes to the box file.) Right here.
Scotty: The ransom note.
Vera: Same handwriting.
Kat: You sure, Lily?
Lily: Board certified. (Smiles at Vera)

*Lily and Scotty walk into the interrogation room where Kenny is waiting.
Lily: Well, you’re free to go. We’re sorry for the inconvenience.
Kenny: I told you we didn’t do it.
Scotty: We apologize. Thing is we have to look at every angle.

[r2k]

Lily: We just need you to write down some information. We understand you’re getting a part time job.
Kenny: Yeah. How’d you know?
Scotty: We’re detectives.
Lily: We just need that contact information. You can just write it here.
Kenny: Sure.
*Kenny writes his name and the address of his new job. He then hands it to Lily.
Lily: Nice penmanship.
Kenny: Got to write like a professional.
Scotty: Impressive.
Lily: You know, Kenny, lets talk a little more.
Kenny: I thought we were done.
Lily: (Showing him the ransom note.) Not anymore. We’re just getting started. You and your girlfriend aren’t going anywhere.
*Kenny looks at the ransom note and what he just wrote. He gets a busted look on his face.

*Outside the interrogation room.
Lily: He lawyered up.
Scotty: So did she.
Kat: So what do we do now?
Lily: We can’t let ‘em go.
Vera: Kenny wrote the ransom note.
Jeffries: But why?
Lily: To cover up what Stevie did. Let’s look at those phone records again.
Kat: Here.
Lily: Okay: Kenny calls about 7 P.M. Call lasts for several hours.
Scotty: We now know he left the phone off the hook at his house.
Vera: So he could have been there the whole time.
Jeffries: Kenny’s parents said the last time he picked up was about 7:20. They’d been calling since they left at 5:00. They came home at about 10:30. They sort of knew he might have gone over to Stevie’s.
Scotty: Thing is, why does he leave at 7:20 when he knows his parents are checking up on him.
Lily: She did it.
Kat: Panicked. She had boyfriend on the line.
Vera: Brought him in to help clean it up.
Jeffries: You know, these kids were only what 13, 14. They couldn’t have been that deeply in love with each other to do this.
Lily: You’re thinking there’s something else going on here.
*Kathy and Rob Lindsey enter the main area. Samantha is with them.
Kathy: We heard Stevie is here.
Lily: Kenny too.
Kathy: But why?
Lily: Have a seat.
*Rob and Kathy sit down. Samantha goes off to the side, moping.
Lily: The handwriting on the ransom note matches Kenny’s.
Kathy: What? He killed her. He killed my baby. And he’s marrying my other daughter. What kind of person does that?
Lily: We don’t think it was him.
Scotty: We think he covered for Stevie.
Kathy: No way!!! She wouldn’t have done it. She couldn’t have done it.
Rob: She was on the phone with him. He was at his house.
Lily: No, he wasn’t. They kept the phones connected to make us think that.
Kathy: What?
Lily: Your daughter was a part of this, Kathy. You need to accept that.
Kathy: No.
*Lily notices Samantha by herself.
Lily: Excuse me.
*Lily walks over to Samantha.
Lily: Are you okay?
Samantha: Yeah. I heard what you said.
Lily: You did.
Samantha: Kenny wasn’t there that night.
Lily: How do you know?
Samantha: You told me to think hard. Think back to that night.
Lily: That’s right.
Samantha: (image flashes back to age 3) Well I did.
Lily: What do you remember?
Samantha: (age 11 again) Sherry and I were playing. I was trying to grab something from her. I was always doing that.
Lily: What happened?
Samantha: Same thing as always. I let go. She fell backwards. Mom was always telling me to stop doing that. Stevie scooped me up and took me to bed. I already brushed that night. But Kenny was never there.
Lily: Are you sure Kenny wasn’t there?
Samantha: Positive. And Sherry was still alive. Stevie brought her in and said goodnight to me.
Lily: Thanks.
*Lily goes back to the parents.
Lily: Sorry about that.
Kathy: What did she say?
Lily: Nothing about you.

*A few minutes later. In an interrogation room. Kenny and Stevie are together with Lily.
Stevie: So what happens now. You arrest us.
Lily: No.
Kenny: So what’s going to happen. You think we killed her.
Lily: Kenny you were telling the truth before. Sherry died that night. But it wasn’t murder. And you were at the house.
Stevie: No, he wasn’t.

[r2k]

Lily: I’m offering you both a way out. Take out and you can go home. And your parents can have peace. You’re not covering for each other. You’re covering for someone who couldn’t possibly have understood what she had done.
*Stevie gets tears in her eyes.
Lily: (Getting teary-eyed) You did a good, Stevie. Both of you.
*Lily sits down next to Stevie.
Lily: You took the burden so Sammy wouldn’t have to. Sammy didn’t understand. To her it was playing.
Stevie: It happened so fast. I was on the phone. I heard the scream.

*Flashback to 1998. Stevie is in her room on the phone. She hears Sherry scream. She runs out into the hallway by the stairs. Samantha is standing with a toy in her hand, giggling. Stevie moves forward and looks down the stairs.
Stevie: Oh no!!
*Samantha is still playing with the toy. She walks back to the bedroom. Stevie runs downstairs to help Sherry.
Stevie: Sherry. Sherry. Sherry. Wake up. Oh no!!
*Stevie starts crying. She runs upstairs.
Stevie: Sammy, time for bed. Come on. Let’s go.
*Stevie takes Samantha’s arm and leads her to the bedroom.

*Return to the present.
Stevie: She was gone. I checked. Sammy was unaware of what had happened. I couldn’t let it happen.
Lily: Let the community know.
Stevie: They were already ridiculing my mother. She didn’t need this.
Kenny: I came over the minute I heard the scream over the phone.

*Flashback to 1998. Kenny knocks on the door. Stevie opens it.
Kenny: Are you okay? (Kenny sees Sherry’s body.) Oh my.
Stevie: She and Samantha were playing. It was an accident. I wasn’t watching. What am I gonna do?
Kenny: We gotta go to the police.
Stevie: No, we can’t! We got to do something.
Kenny: Alright. Let’s make it look like a kidnapping. Your mother is having problems with those people right.
Stevie: Right.
Kenny: Let’s write a ransom note.
Stevie: Here’s some paper.
*Kenny writes a ransom note quickly.
Kenny: Here. Made sure no prints are on it. Leave it on the kitchen counter.
Stevie: I’ll put it off to the side after Mom and Dad are asleep.
Kenny: Let’s move Sherry to the attic. Make it look like a kidnapping gone wrong. Confuse the police. There’s no murder weapon. They won’t figure it out.
*Stevie and Kenny move Sherry upstairs to the attic. They place her on the ground and leave.
*Return to the present.
Stevie: And that’s what happened.
Kenny: (bowing his head) We never intended to do anything wrong.
Stevie: We just didn’t want Sammy to grow thinking she killed her sister.
Lily: We’ll need for you to make a statement. But we’re going to have to tell her.
Stevie: You can’t tell her. She can’t know.
Lily: I think she already does.

*Out in the main area. Lily comes out. The family comes forward. Stevie and Kenny come out.
Lily: They’re going to make a statement. The D.A. probably won’t press charges.
Kathy: Who killed her?
Lily: Nobody did.
Kathy: But she died. Her neck was broken.
Lily: Your daughter and Kenny were trying to protect someone. Someone who was too young and innocent to comprehend what had just occurred.
Kathy: Who do you mean?
Lily: Sammy, Sherry never made those drawings, did she?
Samantha: No.
Lily: There’s no way you could have known where they were, unless you put them there.
Samantha: (crying) I just was in my room one day and I looked at the dresser. And I knew which drawer to take out. Which drawer to look in.
Lily: And they were there. Your drawings.
Samantha: I knew they were mine.
Lily: Did you think all this time it was you?
Samantha: I don’t know. I knew we were playing by the stairs. And I knew she fell down.
Lily: So it was easier for you to think she was okay, because Stevie said she was.
Samantha: She said everything was okay.
Stevie: I didn’t you to think you were a murderer. I was trying to protect you.
Lily: Your big sister loved you so much she did this for you. It wasn’t your fault. You didn’t know. You were playing. These things happen.
*Samantha starts crying. She puts her head down. The whole family comes to her and hugs her.

*”My Heart Will Go On” by Celine Dion plays in the background as Stevie and Kenny make their statements. They come out of the room. Lily and Stevie hug. Kenny shakes Scotty’s hand. The two join the rest of the family. They walk out together. Their images flash back to 1998 and then return to normal. Lily and Scotty smile as they go back to their desks. Lily looks over at Stillman’s office. Stillman looks over at her and nods. Lily nods back.

The Lindsey’s are at Sherry’s grave, placing flowers. They return to their car. Kathy looks back and sees Sherry, in her outfit, smiling back. Kathy smiles at her as the image fades.

[r2k]

Back at the station, the team gets ready to leave for the day. They say their goodbuys. Later, Lily is home alone. She hears a knock at the door. She opens it, smiling. Joseph walks in. She closes the door.

THE END

Forgive me if this was a little shorter than usual. I wanted to get something out on the board.

I'm not sure what the next episode is going to be. When I do I'll let you know. I've decided to not spoil you all with too much upcoming information. But I will tell you a few things now.
1. Kite may be around. But nothing more will come of it.
2. I may keep Joseph around. But he will not get in the way of Lily's work.
3. For those familiar with my fan fics, I will be bringing Tim back for a few eps. He may come around as often as Frannie did. He will be linked to another case. He'll also come in to help in an episode involving a computer. I won't overdo him, but expect hm around here and there. For those unfamiliar with my fan fics, check out fan fic eps 3 and 17 "Youthful Indiscretion" and "Game Over" to update yourselves.
4. I will have a victim to shock you all.
That's it. No more spoilers.

[TVFan]

Great work R2K! It's good to see you back in your usual awesome form! This was a tragic case all around.

[Disasterfreak]

Hey R2K! Forgive the delay. I had written a great, flowing, lengthy response to your fic last night after I read it, but my ISP crashed and erased it.

Anyway, the fic was pretty good. All ends were tied up nicely, only thing that rang kinda weird is how the girl could be so perfect and tidy looking if she'd fallen down the stairs. But anyway the casefile was great. It sorta reminded me of a Close to Home episode, but I expect all similarities are coincidental.

I liked the way you had Lilly continually worried about Stillman, and yet not so much. She cared, but she was still able to do her job. Her interrogations felt very season 1'ish, a little too flippant maybe for how her character's turned out to be according to the show, but that's what fic is all about, developing the character as YOU see it.

You made me hate all the right characters too. These beauty pageant moms--how can anyone be so selfish and ambitious and conceited that all they care about is flaunting their kids without considering their happiness? Geez.

[r2k]

I was worried about this one seeing I didn't concentrate too much. I was trying to get something out to you guys. Mothers can be like that though I'll bet you anything I came nowhere near describing how it really is. It's a shame we may never really know what happened to Jon Benet Ramsey if her mother was involved. She passed away a few weeks ago. I planned this fan fic while doing the others but sort of put it off. And I apologize for the final song. Not like we haven't heard it on the radio enough during that year as it is. Originally, I had the mother doing it by accident. But I came up with the sister thing later. In truth, it is similar to a CSI:Vegas ep from Season 1. A 2 year old accidentally smothered his infant brother. In that one the whole family staged a kidnapping. They weren't arrested in the end because there was evidence it was an accident. My fic had a good twist there in the end. Sort of like "F'ly Away". I most likely will always write Lily as she was in Season 1. Even some of her later Season moments were good. And I hope I kept the Joseph enough to a minimum. I will have a scene with him here and there but not too much. I may keep them together but have him be the one who accepts her for who she is. For me, it's about the cases.

[Disasterfreak]

I think I can be friends with your fic, R2K. We seem to be moving in the same character area .

You're durn right it was CSI: Vegas, NOT C2H. I'm so tired I mess up all my 1-2 am slot procedurals. How stupid!!!