Blood and Water

[toddsmitts]

Note: You can hear all the music in this story at the playlist here:
www.playlist.com/user/2839240/view
Just scroll down the list and be patient while a song loads.


Blood and Water

The following story is fictional and does not depict any actual person or event.

September 22, 1986

("Invisible Touch" - Genesis)

Matt Tamlyn, as usual, was the last one out of Mr. Mueller’s Social Studies class. The lanky, bushy-haired senior still managed to squeeze past the other students as he headed towards his locker.

He darted and maneuvered around the mob of students in the hallway as he made his way to his locker. He didn’t notice the short sophomore girl, whose name he remembered was Carrie Lowell, passing him by until she was right next to him. He had to make a quick dodge to avoid hitting her. He tried to excuse himself and gave an awkward look, but saw that she was already heading away.

The awkward look returned when he reached his locker and found a boy and girl leaning against it, lips against each other. Matt cleared his throat after a moment and the boy and girl finally noticed him and pulled apart with an embarrassed laugh.

“Don’t stop on my account.” Matt said, rolling his eyes.

“Sorry,” Justine Brennan, the brunette girl with deep blue eyes said, her arms still around the boy. “We hadn’t seen each other all day.”

“Yeah,” Chris Sanders, the young-faced boy added. “Apparently, if you want to get into Harvard, you gotta study hard.”

Matt simply shrugged.

“So you still coming with us to the drive-in on Friday?” Chris asked with a smile. “You’ll finally get to see Aliens.”

“And it’s the last weekend before they close for the winter.” Justine added.

Matt shifted a bit. “You know what? Maybe you should just go without me. I don’t want to be a third wheel.”

Chris gave a sly smile. “Or you could find yourself a fourth wheel.”

“Who am I gonna find to go with me?” Matt asked, looking around.

“Well you got a week. You can find someone.” Justine said.

Chris, however, noticed that Matt didn’t seem to be looking at either of them anymore. Instead his gaze had wandered over to the blonde a few lockers over, the one with a few colored streaks in her hair who was having a heated conversation with the light-haired boy next to her.

“Maybe he already has.” Chris muttered to Justine.

“What do you suppose they’re fighting about?” Matt asked quietly.

“She probably caught him with another girl again,” Justine said, rolling her eyes. “Steve thinks he’s God’s gift to women.”

Chris grinned. “Maybe you wanna see what she was doing on Friday night.”

Matt turned back around and looked at Chris incredulously. “Are you crazy? I’m not gonna ask out Steve Burton’s girl.”

Justine smiled as she watched the blonde turn her back on Steve and start walking towards them. “Doesn’t look like that’s gonna be a problem.”

Chris chuckled “Yeah, you were pining over her all last year and you still didn’t say one word to her. This could be the last chance you get.”

Matt glanced back at her for just a moment before turning back to his friends. “Look, I’m not gonna do anything, all right? Now can we drop this?”

Chris shrugged. “Okay, okay.” He simply nodded and smiled, and he kept nodding and smiling until Matt had turned away and the blonde was walking right by them.

Then he bumped Matt right into her path.

The two collided and fell to the floor. Matt immediately started apologizing profusely, pausing only for a moment to look up and give Chris a glare, until the blonde said it was all right. She stopped gathering her fallen books for a moment when she noticed the shiny metal object dangling from Matt’s neck as he bent over to reach a few papers, the one with the name M. TAMLYN engraved on its surface.

“Cool. What’s this?” She asked. “Were you in the army or something?”

Matt tried not to blush as she handled the dog tag. “Oh, no, no. It was my uncle’s. He died in Vietnam a couple of month before I was born. I was actually named after him. I just... Sometimes I wish I could’ve known him.” Matt look down at the dog tag just for a moment before looking back up at her. “This way I feel like I got a part of him with me.”

The blonde smiled. “I like that.”

“Actually I’ve been trying to find out everything I can about him for this project in Mr. Mueller’s class.” Matt continued, starting to get a bit more excited. “Turns out he was a really neat guy.”

“Really?” She asked.

“Yeah.” Matt glanced back at Chris and Justine. “You know, we were uhhh... we were going to the drive-in on Friday. If you wanted to come, I could tell you a little about him.”

She gave him an unsure smile. “Be kind of hard to talk about him with a movie on, wouldn’t it?”

Matt simply gave an embarrassed smile and lowered his head. “Right, yeah, right.”

She turned back to Steve and the unhappy look he was giving her, paused for a moment, then turned back to Matt, pulled a pen from her bag and proceeded to write something on Matt’s hand.

“Call me with the time.” She said, smiling before she walked off.

Matt watched her leave without saying a word, then looked down to the phone number written on his palm. He didn’t see Steve storm off in a huff, nor did he hear Chris and Justine’s words of congratulations, or notice their slaps on his back. He just stared at the number, an open mouthed grin appearing on his face...

***

At the bottom of the river, Matt’s body lay perfectly still. Wrapped in plastic, not even the current moved it...

***

The woman simply shook her head and stuck the missing persons notice with Matt’s picture and information to the bulletin board. Probably another teenage runaway, she thought. Won’t they ever learn?

***

“Boss?” Detective Lilly Rush, her partner, Detective Scotty Valens, in tow, called to the man standing over the small army of crime scene investigators at the side of the river as she walked over.

Lieutenant John Stillman turned to look at the two approaching detectives. “Divers were inspecting some underwater pipes when they noticed a couple of bones.” Stillman’s gaze turned back down to the darkened skeleton with the woman examining it. “Divers found the rest of him wrapped in plastic on the riverbed.”

“Young adult male,” said Frannie Ching, the medical examiner crouched over the skeleton. “He’s been under a good twenty years, at least.”

“Cause of death?” Scotty asked?

“Multiple skull fractures.” Frannie said, gesturing to a faded brick sitting next to the skull.

“That was wrapped in the plastic along with him.” Stillman said, before an investigator a few feet away called him over.

Lilly bent over slightly to get a closer look at the skeleton. “Well, hopefully dental records and missing persons can give us an I.D.”

“Might be able to narrow that down.” Stillman said, walking back over with something in his hand. “Divers just found this.” He held up the shiny metal object dangling from its chain.

“Dog tag.” Scotty said, looking at it. “Guy could've been military?”

“Maybe.” Stillman said, wiping away some of the grime to read the name on it. “M. TAMLYN”

Neither Stillman nor Scotty noticed the look that suddenly appeared on Lilly’s face as Stillman read the name and handed her the tag.

“It was his uncle’s.” Lilly said quietly, looking at the tag with amazement, suddenly remembering what he’d told her about it that afternoon in the hallway at school years ago.

“Lil?” Stillman asked as he and Scotty turned to her, concerned.

She looked up at them with shock. “I knew this boy.”

ROLL INTRO

[coldboneslove398]

*gasp* O......M......G...........

Now if only the "Cold Case" writers did something like this

Another great one, Todd!!! I can't wait for the next chapter. I'm interested to learn more about Lilly through this case. I really like the way you write.

[babyv16]

I love it so far Todd!! Can't wait for the next chapter!

[cellogal]

Whoa...very cool. Can't wait for more!

[longislanditalian2]

Nice story just to tell you I've written a non L/S fanfic here.

[unknown]

I've got the perfect actress to play young Lily...Taylor Momsen from Gossip Girl.

[yankee1151]

Nice, very visual. I can totally see this as (the beginning of) an actual episode. Good start!

[toddsmitts]

BLOOD AND WATER


Starring
Lilly Rush - KATHRYN MORRIS
Scotty Valens - DANNY PINO
John Stillman - JOHN FINN
Nick Vera - JEREMY RATCHFORD
Will Jeffries - THOM BARRY
Kat Miller - TRACIE THOMS
Guest Starring
Matt Tamlyn - JOHN PATRICK AMEDORI
Chris Sanders (1986) - NICHOLAS BRAUN
Russ Mueller (1986/2008) - DAVID CLENNON
Carrie Lowell (2008) - MISSY CRIDER
Justine Brennan (1986) - LYNDSY FONSECA
Chris Sanders (2008) - DAVID KAUFMAN
Carrie Lowell (1986) - AYLA KELL
Steve Burton (2008) - MICHAEL E. RODGERS
Lilly Rush (1986) - JESSY SCHRAM
Richard Tamlyn (1986/2008) - NICK SEARCY
Justine Brennan (2008) - KIERSTEN WARREN
Steve Burton (1986) - ALEX BLACK
Frannie Ching - SUSAN CHUANG




Detective Nick Vera looked over at Lilly, who was walking towards Stillman’s office, before turning to Kat Miller.

“So Rush knew our vic?” He asked quietly. “What’s that about?”

“I don’t know anything more about it that you do, all right?” Kat answered, slightly annoyed.

“So she gonna work the case?”

Kat looked at him, not even trying to hide the bothered look on her face. “When it’s any of your business, I’m sure someone’ll tell you.”

Vera simply rolled his eyes and walked off.

***

Lilly shut the door behind her once she was inside Stillman’s office.

“I gotta ask.” Stillman said solemnly. “You gonna be okay working this one?”

Lilly nodded. “I’ll be all right. It was a long time ago and I didn’t really know him that well.”

“Ran with different crowds?”

Lilly nodded, then paused for a moment. “He did ask me out once.”

“What’d you tell him?” Stillman said, smiling slightly.

“We were supposed to go to the movies.” Lilly said, wistfully. “Never got the chance, though.”

***

Lilly and Stillman walked out to where the other detectives were gathered, neither noticing the intent look Vera was giving Lilly.

“Matthew Tamlyn, seventeen.” Detective Will Jeffries said, reading one of the files. “Reported missing after he didn’t come home from school on a Friday afternoon.”

“Only child, lived with his father.” Kat continued. “Mother died in childbirth.”

“Straight-A student, no run-ins.” Scotty added.

“So who wants to bludgeon this kid with a brick?” Kat asked.

“They were doing construction on the school at the time.” Lilly said, looking up in thought. “Replacing one of the brick walls.”

“So that’s probably where the doer got the murder weapon, and the plastic.” Scotty said.

“Plus the school’s not far from the river.” Vera added.

“So it’s more than likely someone familiar with the school grounds.” Stillman said, nodding. “Another student, teacher.”

“But first we gotta talk to his father.” Scotty said, solmenly. “Been holdin’ out hope for twenty-two years his son might come home someday.”

Lilly nodded. “Now we have to tell him he never will.”

***

At first glance, Richard Tamlyn looked pretty good for a man in his sixties, at least until Kat saw his face up close and saw the lines that two decades of waiting had for this moment left on his face.

“It never made any sense.” Richard said, sitting down in his living room chair and breathing heavily after Kat and Jeffries told him about the dog tag. “Matt wasn’t the runaway type. He was book smart, like his mother. He spend his weekends in his room studying.”

“We’re very sorry.” Kat said sincerely.

“Can you think of anyone who might have had problems with your son, anyone at school?” Jeffries asked gently.

“He was just a kid who liked to read and write.” Richard answered. “I never heard about him getting into things with anyone. Maybe he just didn’t wanna talk to me about it.”

“Anyone he might’ve talked with? Any friends?” Kat asked.

Richard leaned over and pulled a book from the shelf behind him, a yearbook. He leafed through the pages before finding one of Matt sitting on the school lawn, smiling happily, with Chris and Justine sitting next to him, smiling as well.

“There was only two friends Matt ever brought around; Chris Sanders and Justine Brennan. They all grew up on this block. Those three were inseparable.”

"May we borrow this?"

Richard handed it to her. "Please, take it, if it'll help."

Kat nodded but Richard continued before she could ask anything else.

“You know at some point you realize he’s not coming back, that you’re just waiting for someone to knock on your door.” He sighed, suddenly feeling very tired. “I thought I was ready for this day. I thought I’d prepared for...” He trailed off.

Kat looked at the man empathetically, an image of Veronica flashing through her mind just for a moment. “There’s no preparing for something like that.”

A pained look appeared on Richard’s face and he lowered and shook his head in acknowledgment.

***

Everything about the upscale fashion outlet looked expensive and stylish, including it’s owner, Justine, who nodded solemnly as Scotty and Jeffries asked question.

“Matt, Chris, and I, we had our own little world, the three of us.” She said smiling wistfully. “Stayed that way into high school, most of the time.”

“Most of the time?” Jeffries asked.

Justine gave an embarrassed smile. “Well... when boys and girls get older, they start looking at each other differently. I started to have some feelings for Chris and him for me. In high school we started dating. I think Matt started to feel like the odd man out sometimes.”

“Anyone else Matt woulda hung out with?” Scotty asked.

“Well he spent most of his time studying so he never really had time for other friends. He was a little shy around girls too most of the time.” She chucked and looked down for a moment. “He actually had a huge crush on this one girl. A blonde named Lilly... something.” Justine didn’t notice the look and slight smile that Scotty and Jeffries gave each other.

“Can you think of anyone who might have had a problem with Matt?” Jeffries asked.

Justine paused for a moment, the smile fading from her face. “There’s only one time I can think of. It actually has to do with that girl he liked, after he finally worked up the nerve to ask her out...”

***

(“Hip To Be Square” - Huey Lewis and the News)


Justine and Chris looked up from each other’s gaze to see Matt and Lilly walking toward the table. Lilly gave a flirty wave to Matt and walked off as he sat down next to Justine.

“She’s not gonna join us?” Justine asked.

Matt kept his gaze on Lilly as she walked towards the exit. “She said she had some errand to run. Something about her mom.”

Justine giggled as Matt remained fixated on Lilly as she walked out the door. Chris just rolled his eyes.

“All right, all right. Knock it off.” Chris said with a smirk. “You think you’re the first guy to ask out a girl he likes and get a ‘yes’?”

“Okay, sorry.” Matt said, chuckling. “So things worked out on the scholarship front? They signed off on it?”

Justine and Chris nodded and looked at each other affectionately. “This time next year we’ll be Harvard-bound.”

Chris looked back at Matt wistfully. “Won’t be the same without you though.”

Matt shrugged. “Seriously though, if I wanna get into any college. I gotta get back on track with this project.”

“The one about your uncle?” Justine asked.

Matt nodded. “I think my dad’s pretty much run out of stories. I talked to some of his old army buddies and got a few things from them. Someone thought he might’ve been seeing someone around the time he died. I wanna look into that.”

“You should be careful.” Justine said. “Some people might not like you asking a bunch of questions.”

Matt shrugged. “I know it might be hard sometimes, but if you don’t ask questions, how are you ever gonna get to the truth?”

Justine and Chris looked at each other thoughtfully before they turned to see the young man walking menacingly towards Matt.

“Hey!” Steve growled. “You got a lot of nerve askin’ my girl out!”

“Excuse me?” Matt said, standing up with an annoyed look.

“What, you think you can ask her out like that right in front of me?” Steve barked.

“You’re one to talk, Steve.” Justine said. “Everybody knows about you.”

“Yeah!” Chris added, standing up. “You got a problem with my friend, you got a problem with me.”

Steve looked over at Chris, who had a good six inches of height over Steve, then back to Matt.

“Your buddies won’t always be around to back you up.” Steve sneered before storming off.

Matt and Chris just rolled their eyes and sat back down.

***

“So Steve had it out for Matt?” Jeffries asked.

Justine sighed. “Steve Burton thought he walked on water. He thought no one could ever take anything that was his, least of all a girl.”

Scotty nodded. “Till Matt stood up to him, bruised his ego.”

Justine nodded.

“And Chris’ll be able to corroborate this?” Scotty asked.

“He should.” Justine answered. “We broke up in college. I haven’t seen him in years.” She shook her head. “We had all these plans to go the same school and then have a life together. Didn’t quite work out that way.”

“Thanks for your help. If you remember anything else...” Jeffries placed a card on the counter.

“If you happen to talk to Chris,” she said with a hint of anxiousness to the detectives as they walked towards the door, causing them to turn back to her. “Tell him I said ‘hi’.”

Scotty and Jeffries looked each other, amused.

***

Scotty looked over Lilly's shoulder as she looked at the picture of Matt in the yearbook.

"Takin' a trip down memory lane?" He asked?

Lilly shrugged. "Just trying to figure out who he was. Never really got to know him."

At her desk, Kat hung up the phone and shook her head. “Still haven’t been able to get a hold of Chris Sanders.”

“Guy doesn’t wanna be found.” Scotty said.

“Where are we on Steve Burton?” Stillman asked.

“I talk to his boss, Steve called in sick today.” Vera said. “Which, according to him, means he’s probably trying to score at his favorite watering hole, a place called Goodwin’s.”

“I know that dive.” Kat said. “Pick-up bar for cougars and sugar daddies.”

“I’ll take a look.” Lilly said, getting up. “Maybe Steve’ll be more willing to talk for old times’ sake.”

“I’ll go with you.” Kat said, getting up with a slight smile. “This I gotta see.”

***

Steve Burton, with the same chiseled jaw and lustful eyes, turned as his barstool swivelled over to where the bartender was pointing him out to the two women approaching him. Steve’s smug grin widened as he recognized one of them.

“It’s a little early in the day for one of those.” Lilly said, gesturing to the drink in his hand.

“I’ll be damned. Lilly Rush!” Steve said, looking her over. “Wow, well time has been very good to you.” Steve chuckled, not noticing the noise Kat made as she rolled her eyes. “So what brings you here?”

“It’s Detective Lilly Rush now, Homicide.”

Steve’s smile faded. “Guess you’re not here to talk about old times then.”

“Actually we are. We’re looking into Matt Tamlyn’s murder.”

Steve leaned back on his stool. “Murder? You’re telling me someone actually found him?”

“Yeah, at the bottom of the river.” Kat said without a smile.

Lilly’s smile grew more condescending. “Remember that afternoon Matt asked me out in the hallway? Heard you didn’t take it too well.”

“You hassling him at lunch the next day, some people might see that as motive.” Kat added.

Steve shook his head and chuckled. “Oh, come on! I was just making some noise. That’s all.” He shrugged. “I had another girl lined up the next day. What can I say? I was an alpha male.

Kat and Lilly just looked at each other.

“In fact, it turned out Matt and I had more in common than I thought.”

“What does that mean?” Lilly asked, tilting her head.

Steve’s smug grin returned. “Let’s just say I wasn’t the only one playing the field...”

***

(“Take on Me” - a-ha)


Leaning against the locker, Steve chuckled as the younger girl nodded.

“It’s sounds like a cool place.” Carrie said, ambivalently. “I don’t think they’d let me in though.”

Steve shrugged. “It’s no problem. I know a guy who makes I.D.’s. Never had any problems.” Steve leaned closer suggestively. “Come on, it’ll be fun.”

“Hey!” said the sharp voice from behind Steve. He turned around to see Matt glaring at him angrily. “What do you think you’re doing? Get the hell away from her!”

“Oh, what do you want now?” Steve asked, annoyed. “What, did you get tired of Lil already or you just seeing if you can handle two at once?”

“I’m not kidding!” Matt said, leaning closer. “Stay away from her if you know what’s good for you!”

“Is there a problem here, gentlemen?” Came a quiet voice from over Steve’s other shoulder. All three kids turned to the tall, thin, middle-aged man standing over them, arms crossed.

“Uhhh... no problem, Mr. Mueller.” Steve said, lowering his voice submissively. “Matt and I were just having a little debate. That’s all.”

Mr. Mueller nodded skeptically. “Well, in the future, save the debates for my classroom. Now maybe you should move along.” Matt and Steve nodded as the teacher walked off. Steve quickly followed but stopped as soon as Steve turned a corner.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Carrie asked irritably.

“Look, you don’t wanna be hanging around with a jerk like him. Trust me.”

“I don’t need you telling me what I want!” Carrie snapped, causing Matt to recoil.

“I was just trying to help.” Matt said softly.

“I didn’t ask for your help!” Carrie hissed. “I don’t even wanna know you!”

Matt just looked at her. “Look, Carrie, I--”

“Just stay the hell away from me,” she said with a glare, “if you know what’s good for you!”

Steve watched with surprise as the girl stormed off.

***

Steve chuckled. “Yeah, that Carrie girl had some real issues going on. Real hot and cold type. I’m thinkin’ Matt did me a favor taking her off my hands. Otherwise, maybe it would’ve been me who went missing.” He gave a shrug. “Sorry if he didn’t live up to your knight in shining armor image.”

“Right. Thanks.” Lilly said simply, placing a card on the bar, which Steve quickly scooped up.

“This your number?” Steve asked, reading it with a grin.

“It’s the number for Homicide.” Lilly said, the condescending look returning.

“Right.” Steve looked up at her. “So you doing anything when you get off?”

“My schedule’s pretty full.” She said, walking off.

***

“You up for poker tonight?” Scotty asked as he and Vera walked through the law firm’s hallway.

Vera shook his head. “Toni’s got some dinner plans.”

Scotty chuckled and shook his head.

“What?” Vera asked.

“Nothin’. Just wonderin’ now that you’re all tied down whose money am I gonna take?”

The chuckling stopped when they reached Carrie’s office and heard the throaty and very heated voice yelling into a phone.

“Oh, it’s not in your client’s best interests? Okay, fine! How about I drag your client’s sorry ass into court? Is that in his best interests? Don’t call me back until you have a serious offer!” She slammed the phone down and looked up at the two men standing before her, both taken aback. “Yes!?” She asked impatiently. Scotty and Vera looked at each other uneasily before turning back to her.

“Carrie Lowell?” Scotty asked tentatively and waiting until she nodded curtly. “Detectives Valens and Vera, Homicide. We had a few questions about Matt Tamlyn.”

Some of the color drained from Carrie’s face. “Homicide? About Matt?”

“Yeah.” Scotty said, grimly. “We found him.”

Carrie took a deep breath and sat down.

“We heard you and Matt may have had a thing goin’ on back in high school.” Vera said.

“A thing?” She asked.

“That you two may have been an item.” He continued.

Carrie leaned forward, looking puzzled. “What? Who told you that?”

“That wasn’t the case?” Scotty asked.

“Matt and I weren’t dating.” Carrie said, looking at the two intently. “He was my brother.”

[coldboneslove398]

YES!! Keep on going, todd!!!

I love how Lilly and her old flame talked for a while . That was interesting.

[coldboneslove398]

Please update this soon todd =). Whenever you have time, I love all your stories.

[boxman]

Oooo!!! I just read your first chapter, Todd!
Very intriguing! Excellent start!!

---

WOW! Great second chapter too! I like the timing you have with your stories, Todd. You know just how to put the "mini-cliffhangers" right at the breaks, and this chapter is a great example!

[longislanditalian2]

Great job with the story so far, I really like how this is going especially with the cliffhangers. Keep it up this story is keeping me entraced

[toddsmitts]

(Sorry it took so long to post a new chapter. There were a lot of real-life distractions, including getting sick twice, fixing a broken computer, and starting work on the new Cold Case wiki. Hopefully the wait for the next chapter won't be as long.)

***

Scotty looked at Carrie with disbelief. “Your brother?”

Carrie nodded. “I only found out a few days before Matt disappeared”

Scotty and Vera leaned closer, waiting for her to continue.

“Matt was doing some research project on his uncle for school, trying to find about things about him. He heard his uncle had been seeing a woman before he was killed in Vietnam, my mother. Except he found out he was off by a few years about when they were seeing each other, and it wasn’t his uncle who’d been seeing her. It was his father.”

“So Matt told you?” Vera asked.

“I didn’t believe him at first. Then he showed me something that convinced me...”

***

(“True Colors” - Cyndi Lauper)


Sitting in the library, Carrie sighed impatiently. “I don’t know what I’m doing here.”

“I just want to show you something.” Matt said, quietly.

“What do you think you’re trying to prove?” Carrie asked, irritably. “We’re not related, all right?”

Matt sat down next to her and leaned closer. “Look, maybe this is a long shot, but I thought of something.” With that, he pulled the dog tag from around his neck and showed it to her. “This belong to my uncle before he died. My dad wanted me to have it so I’d feel like I’d known him. There’s supposed to be two of these on here but for as long as I can remember, there’s just been the one. My dad said he lost the other one when I was about two. That’s right around the time you would’ve been born, right? That’s a funny coincidence, don’t you think?”

Carrie looked at the tag and didn’t say anything.

“Do you remember seeing anything like that ever?”

Carrie stared at the tag for a moment then turned away. For a moment Matt thought he’d made a mistake. Then she opened a pouch on her bag and pull something out.

It was a tag just like Matt’s.

“My mom said this was from my dad. It’s the only thing she’d tell me about him.”

Matt smiled and looked at her.

“Do you... do you want to meet him?”

Carrie eyed him warily for a moment, then started breathing heavily. “No,” she said, standing up. “No, I don’t. I can’t deal with this, all right? Just stay away from me.”

She walked towards the exit, glancing back to see Matt sigh and lower his head.

***

“That’s a hell of a bombshell to just drop on somebody like that.” Vera said.

“Yeah,” Carrie answered with a condescending nod. “High school was miserable enough without somebody putting something like that on you too.”

“So you talk with Matt much after that?” Scotty asked.

“We weren’t exactly hanging out together.” Carrie said. “My mom never wanted to tell me anything about who my father was. After she died a few years ago, I wasn’t interested in finding out. I’m still not.” She sighed. “I’m sorry about Matt, but the truth is I wasn’t a part of his life and I never would’ve been.”

***

“You didn’t tell us about your daughter, Richard.” Jeffries said from across the interview room table.

Richard stared at Scotty and Jeffries in disbelief. “You saw her? You talked to her?”

“Is there a reason you left that out before?” Scotty asked.

Richard shook his head, still looking stunned. “What could that possibly have to do what happened to Matt?”

“Why don’t you let us decide that?” Scotty said, with a trace of impatience.

“Look, it wasn’t like I was some deadbeat dad who left a pregnant woman.”

“So what happened?” Jeffries asked.

Richard sighed and lowered his head. “I lost a brother and a wife in the span of five months. I was taking care of a baby all by myself. I was lonely, confused. Eventually I started seeing this woman at my work, nothing serious, didn’t last long. A few weeks later, she calls me out of the blue, tells me she’s pregnant, and she wants to keep the baby.”

He looked up at the detectives sadly. “I was willing to make a go at it with her, but she made it clear she wasn’t interested in raising someone else’s kid, and she said if I wasn’t gonna be there, she didn’t want me around the baby. She said half a father’s worse than no father at all.” He gave the detectives a pleading look. “What the hell was I supposed to do? Matt didn’t have anyone else. I convinced her to take the tag. I though when the baby grew up, she should have something to remember me by.” He sighed. “I never even got to see her, but knowing she was out there somewhere, I tried to take comfort in that after Matt...”

Scotty nodded quietly for a moment. “So you knew Matt found her.”

“He told me.” Richard said. “I didn’t know what to tell. I just did the best I could...”

***

(“The Way It Is” - Bruce Hornsby and the Range)


“I’m not mad.” Matt said, sitting in the car outside of the school. “I just don’t understand why you didn’t tell me all this time.”

Richard sighed. “I don’t know. I meant to tell you. I just wasn’t sure how to do it.” He leaned closer. “Listen, son, you gotta remember this is a big deal for her too. You can’t just force your way into someone else’s life.”

Matt shrugged. “I’m not trying to force anything, dad. I just want to get to know her better. Don’t you?”

Richard looked as though he were somewhere far off for a moment, before turning back to Matt. “Yeah, I do. But that could take some time. And you gotta be ready to give her some space if she wants it.”

Matt nodded.

Richard put a hand on his son’s arm. “I know it’s a little confusing. Sometimes life throws you a curve, trust me. All you can do is try your best to do the right thing. You know?”

Matt smiled slightly and nodded again.

Richard smiled back and patted him on the arm. “Okay. Pick you up after school.”

As Matt stepped out of the car, he looked over to see Chris rushing up to him. “Look, we gotta talk.”

Matt looked uneasy.. “About what?”

Chris gave him a look of disbelief. “What do you mean ‘what’? You know exactly what I’m talking about. Are you actually gonna go through with it?”

“Why not?”

“Look, I don’t wanna get involved all right? It’ll probably just make things worse.”

Matt shook his head. “How could it make things worse?”

“Look, it’s just not a good idea, all right? I don’t wanna get in the middle of this.” Chris gave Matt a serious look. “And neither should you.”

Chris stormed off, with Matt following, calling after him, leaving Richard in the car, looking very confused...

***

“You know what Chris was talking about?” Scotty asked.

Richard shook his head.. “I don’t know. He was going on about something. I just assumed it was some teenager stuff, nothing serious.”

Jeffries and Scotty gave a suspicious look to one another.

Richard looked at the detectives intently. “Did you guys really talk to her?”

Scotty nodded solemnly.

“I never even knew her name.”

Scotty paused for a moment, as if considering something, then looked back at Richard. “Carrie. Her name’s Carrie.”

Richard nodded, his eyes misting. “Would you tell her, if she ever wanted to meet... or talk, I’m still around.”

The two detectives nodded in acknowledgment and walked out of the room.

“So Matt and Chris were into something together,” Jeffries said once they were out of earshot. “Something Chris didn’t want to be part of.”

“We need to talk to Chris.” Scotty said. “Find out what that was and how badly Chris wanted out.”

***

Chris Sanders looked uneasily at Stillman the following day, not noticing Lilly watching on the other side of the two-way mirror.

“You’re a hard man to find, Chris.” Stillman said, sitting down.

Chris shrugged. “I wasn’t hiding from anyone. I had my kids for the day. We went for a drive, and I turned my phone off so no one from work would bother me. I didn’t know anyone was looking for me.”

“We have a witness that saw you arguing with Matt outside the school a couple of days before he was killed, about you not wanting to get in the middle of something.”

Chris paused, then nodded quicky. “Yeah, I remember, and if he’s dead then I was right.”

“Right about what?” Stillman asked, leaning closer.

“About not wanting to get involved.”

“Involved with what, Chris?” Stillman asked sternly. “What were you and Matt up to?”

Chris shook his head. “It’s not what we were up to.” The look on his face turned nervous. “Have you talked to Russ Mueller?”

“The social studies teacher?” Stillman asked. “Why?”

Chris rolled his eyes. “Some teacher he was. If he found out Matt knew what he was doing,” Chris gave a pained look. “Then it’s no wonder Matt ended up dead.”

[coldboneslove398]

YES!!!! FINALLY A NEW CHAPTER!!!!

It's definitely worth the wait, todd . I'd bet the teacher was having a sexual relationship with a student. I think that's what Matt found out by entering the classroom accidentally to get something he forgot!

[coldboneslove398]

After re-reading this again:

Chris shook his head. “It’s not what we were up to.” The look on his face turned nervous. “Have you talked to Russ Mueller?”

“The social studies teacher?” Stillman asked. “Why?”

Chris rolled his eyes. “Some teacher he was. If he found out Matt knew what he was doing,” Chris gave a pained look. “Then it’s no wonder Matt ended up dead.”
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hmmm....this really makes me wonder about the history teacher's secret. I don't think you would have made it something obvious like a sexual relationship with a student. I'm really puzzled ;D. Oh well, I'll just have to wait and find out until the next chapter.

Great story btw, todd!

[toddsmitts]

Stillman looked on while Chris continued. “Matt and I stayed late after school the night before. Matt wanted to go talk to Mr. Mueller some questions about this project he was working on.” Chris sighed and shook his head. “The door was closed and blind on it was down, but we could see a bit under it. Mr. Mueller was in there with this girl, and they were...” Chris shifted uncomfortably.

“Matt was in shock, so I dragged him out of there. I just wanted to forget what I saw. I thought Matt did too at first, until the next morning...”

***

(“The Boys of Summer” - Don Henley)

Chris and Matt rushed around the corner of the school and looked around to make sure no one else was near.

“Look, I thought we agreed last night we weren't gonna tell anyone about this!” Chris hissed, trying to catch his breath.

“You can’t ask me to do that!” said Matt.

“Why not? We don’t know her.” Matt looked uncomfortable while Chris continued. “We don’t know what was going on. Maybe she wanted to.”

“He’s a teacher! That’s just sick!” Matt said with disbelief. “I can’t believe I looked up to him.”

“Look,” said Chris, calming down. “Me and Justine had a plan, all right? We’re gonna be at Harvard next year, and I don’t want to risk screwing everything up by getting in the middle of something like this.”

“Chris...” Matt started, sympathetically.

“Matt, please.” Chris put a hand on his shoulder. “I’m begging you, man. I don’t wanna get in involved in this. I just want to get on with my life, you know?”

Matt looked down for a moment, then back up at him, with a look of disappointment and sighed.

Chris look back at him until he turned to see Justine walking towards them, smiling.

“Hey!” Justine said, cheerfully. “What are you guys up to?”

Chris looked at Matt anxiously until Matt answered.

“Nothing much.” Matt said evenly with a slightly forced smile.

Chris let out a sigh of relief as the three of them walked back to the front of the school...

***

“So you tried to talk Matt out of telling anyone.” Stillman said.

Chris nodded. “I was freaked out what might happen if we told anyone. I thought I convinced him, but maybe not.”

“And you never told anyone what you saw?” Stillman asked.

Chris shook his head, solemnly.

“Even after Matt disappeared?”

Chris hung his head. “All I cared about was sticking to the plan. Guess that makes me a pretty lousy friend.”

***

Scotty and Vera looked around the study in Russ Mueller’s home, it was plastered with so many framed awards and certificates, they almost couldn’t tell what color the walls were. To Scotty, however, it just looked like the home of the world’s biggest narcist.

“It’s a real shame about Matt.” Mueller said, evenly. “One of the brightest students I ever had. Really smart kid.”

Scotty gave a condescending smile. “Maybe too smart for his own good.”

“Excuse me?” Mueller asked.

The smile didn’t waver. “Matt found out what you were doin’ to that girl.”

“Then winds up at the bottom of the river.” added Vera.

Mueller remained eerily calm. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Really? Cause we checked your history.” Vera went on. “Seems you transferred to Matt’s school after a little incident with your last job, a student accusing you of assaulting her.”

Mueller shook his head slowly. “Those accusations were made by a troubled and confused young girl who, I might add, recanted her entire story soon after.”

“Guess you’re just real unlucky.” Vera sneered. “All these false accusations following you around.”

“I had nothing to do with that boy’s death, and I can prove it.” Mueller pointed to a framed newspaper clipping on the wall, the picture showing Mueller’s younger self proudly holding up a plaque, surrounded by several other people. “The night he disappeared, I was at a ceremony, being named Teacher of the Year. I went there straight from work and didn’t leave until well after midnight.”

Scotty glared at Mueller while he continued. “As for that other matter, when you work with kids, they can lash out sometimes, say things they don’t mean, things that aren’t true. But up until the day I retired, they were all I cared about.” He gave Scotty a condescending smile of his own. “Sometimes I had to be a little... creative in how I helped some of them, but I can honestly say, in thirty years of teaching, I have no regrets.”

“You sick son of a b itch.” Scotty advanced menacingly at Mueller.

“Scotty.” Vera said, causing him to stop.

Mueller looked at Scotty and Vera. “I think that’s all I have to say to you gentlemen, at least without a lawyer present, so I’ll bid you both a good day.”

Vera started to walk out but Scotty paused a moment. “Don’t start thinkin’ we’re done with you, Russ.” Scotty said, more even-tempered though he said Mueller’s first name with more than a small dose of contempt. “You’re gonna see me again, real soon.”

***

Back at the precinct, Jeffries shook his head. “Checked out Mueller’s alibi. Rock solid.”

“Doesn’t change what he was doin’ to those girls, and God knows how many others.” Scotty snorted. “Teacher of the Year.”

“Chris saw what Mueller was doing too.” Kat said. “Maybe we can get him to testify.”

“Chris has a history of gettin’ squirrely when he sees trouble.” Vera said. “Not exactly a guy I’d be eager to put on the stand.”

Stillman, who’d been standing over them, turned to see Lilly get up from her desk, the yearbook still open, and walk over.

“Boss,” she said, uneasily. “You got a minute?”

“Yeah, sure.” Stillman said, escorting her over to his office, ignoring the curious looks from the others.

***

“Lil,” Stillman said with a concerned look once the door was closed. “Mueller didn’t ever--”

“No.” Lilly said, calmly. “No, I never even had him as a teacher.” She shook her head. “Probably dodged a bullet there.”

“Then what is it?”

“It’s something about Matt, something I remembered. I wasn’t sure if it was something worth talking about, but that Friday, I talked to him. He had something on his mind...”

***

(“Someday” - Glass Tiger)


Just out of the last class of the day, Lilly was walking by a large book shelf in the library when she noticed Matt sitting on the floor in a corner, his eyes fixed on the dog tag he was holding.

“Matt?” She asked as she approached him.

Slightly startled, Matt looked up at her. “Oh, hey, Lilly.”

“You all right?” She asked, concerned.

Matt paused for a moment, then nodded. “I was just thinking about something.”

“What?” She asked, sitting down next to him.

Matt looking down, appearing to remember something, then looked back at her. “You got a sister, right?”

Lilly nodded.

“She ever get in trouble?”

Lilly rolled her eyes. “Oh yeah.”

“But you still look out for her, right? I mean, she’s your sister.”

“Sure.”

Matt nodded and looked down.

“Why are you asking?”

Matt looked back at her and shook his head. “I just thinking about stuff, like what I wanna do when I finish school.” He gave her a slight smile. “What do you wanna do?”

Lilly smiled back. “I’m not sure. I think something where I could help people, make a difference in their lives.”

Matt nodded. “I’d like something like that too. Something where I can find things out, you know, like a journalist or something.”

“Yeah?” Lilly asked, amused.

“My dad says my mom was like that and that I got it from her. I’m always trying to learn things. If something’s wrong, I wanna find out about it, try and make it right.” He gave a nervous laugh and a wistful look passed over his face. “Not everyone likes that. Some people think I should mind my own business.”

“I don’t think that.” She said, putting her hand over his. “I think that’s kinda brave.”

Matt looked at her intently with a smile for a moment before leaning in closer. Lilly did as well, closing her eyes, until their lips met.

The kiss was a brief one, but time seemed to stand still. When they finally pulled back, Lilly couldn’t help but laugh at the amazed expression on Matt’s face.

“You’re right.” Matt said, suddenly sounding more confident, as he stood up. “I gotta go find her. I gotta talk to her.”

“Talk to who?” Lilly asked as Matt helped her up. “Matt, what’s going on?”

Matt chuckled and rolled his eyes. “It’s a long story. I’ll tell you at the drive-in tonight.”

Lilly nodded and Matt rushed off, leaving her standing there with a smile...

***

“That was the last I saw him.” Lilly said, her gaze somewhere far away.

“Matt was asking about your sister, about looking out for her.” Stillman said, thoughtfully.

“Probably thinking about his own sister,” Lilly said solemnly. “But looking out for her from what?”

Stillman frowned in thought. “He said if something was wrong he wanted to make it right. We know he found out what Mueller was up to.”

“But what does that have to do with her?” Lilly asked, suddenly looking up at him as something occurred to her. “Unless...”

“Carrie was the girl he saw Mueller with.” Stillman finished, coming to the same conclusion.

“And he went to let her know he was going to tell what happened,” added Lilly.

“She wasn’t interested in getting to know him.” Stillman said. “Him interfering in her life like that’s probably the last thing she wanted.”

“Maybe she decided there was only one way to get him to back off,” Lilly sighed. “We’d better have another talk with her.”

Stillman paused while Lilly headed out of the office. She was almost at the door when he spoke up. “No. Not you, Lil.”

“Boss?” She looked back at him, confused.

“I’m glad you told me about this, but how long did you wait before you did?” His voice was calm but she could see the disapproval on his face.

“I wasn’t hiding anything. I just wasn’t sure about talking about it.”

Stillman sighed. “Look, working cold jobs, it’s not too often we get a victim we actually knew.”

“What are you saying?” Lilly asked uneasily.

“I’m saying I think you got a little too much history with this case to be objective.” He looked at her intently. “I’m taking you off this one.”

Lilly’s eyes widened. “Boss...” she started to protest.

“Discussion’s over.” He said quietly, cutting her off. Without another word, he walked out, leaving her standing there in disbelief.

[coldboneslove398]

Fantastic!!!

You have a typo though: “Look, I thought we agreed last night we were gonna tell anyone about this!” Chris hissed, trying to catch his breath.

Eekkk I'm excited for the ending!!! Especially about the final interrogation. Hmmm...I'm thinking about your fanfic right now xD. I wonder if I can make it come alive as a fanvid...and credit you for the story if I can pull it off. I have a couple scenes ringing in my mind right now.

[irishkale]

Great Story, Todd, here's my notes as I read the chapters:

I'm not really an expert critic or anything. I just jot down notes and impressions as I read the story for the 1st time. Here's my notes for the 1st Four chapters.



Chapter 1:

Your intro flashback segment is good. The only thing I don't like is that right before you reveal the victim, you don't have a transition of some sort where there's a change of time or location. For example you go from "He just stared at the number, an open mouthed grin appearing on his face..." directly to "At the bottom of the river, Matt's body lay..."
It seems jarring to go from one idea to the other with no "transition."

---

Frannie! I love Frannie!

---

The revelation of Lilly as the blonde girl is awesome. I love the way you introduce it with the line : " suddenly remembering what he'd told her about it that afternoon in the hallway..." Great job here, it really makes an impression in the reader's mind as they realize the connection.

Great 1st chapter.

[irishkale]

Chapter 2:

You have a great ear for naturalistic dialogue. The conversation between Lilly & Stillman is perfect -- the characters really do speak in those short sentences where they bounce ideas off each other.

---

I like the little funny moment when Scotty & Jeffries interview Justine and she mentions that Matt had a crush on "somebody named Lily."

---

Good scene with Kat, Lilly, and the reunion of Lily with the older Steve Burton. "My schedule's pretty full," from Lily was a pretty funny line.

---

Great use of "smalltalk" between Vera & Scotty as they discuss their evening plans. This is a little throwaway scene that they would put into the episode, to establish a light-hearted tone, right before a serious cliffhanger at the end of the chapter. Great job. Good chapter.

[irishkale]

Chapter 3:

I have a problem in chapter 3 with the dogtags!

If Carrie has a dogtag that is identical to the one that Matt has, then it says "M Tamblyn" on it. Assuming she's a classmate of Matt's, she probably knows his last name. So wouldn't she suspect already that they would be related. So the scene where Matt deduces that they
are brother & sister is unnecessary because she should already know.

---

Another problem with the dogtags is that I don't believe that the father would give his brother's dogtags as a memento "to remember me by." When you give something to someone in this type of manner, you want the gift to be somewhat symbolic of yourself. While the dogtags were important to Richard Tamblyn, they were symbolic of his brother, not himself.

Now the dogtags are a GREAT idea because it advances the plot and allows the 2 kids to discover their connection. You could have actually made it so that the dogtags were actually Richard Tamblyn's from his war days. Hey could have survived the war... Matt then finds the one dogtag in an old trunk or something. The 2nd one was given in the same manner to Carrie's mother.

---

Good cliffhanger ending to the chapter.