Firefighter

[longislanditalian2]

A thirteen year old girl, dies in a house fire in 1983. When her sister brings Rush some new information, the squad uncovers several clues that might tell the story on how she supposely had died back then.


Rating- G, all audiences

This case is right after the season six finale.

ADA Bell and Louie from the bombsquad make also make several appearences in this case.


Please review as always.....


December 12th 1983

Music is blaring as thirteen year old Alicia, is lying on the couch while her six year old sister; Tamara is running around. She ended up crashing into her older brother; Seth; whom pushes her away, “Get out of my face”, as Tamara sticks her tongue out, “I’m telling mom”.

Seth turns to her, “She’s not home, I’m in charge”, before seeing Alicia on the couch painting her nails, “Turn that down, last time the cops were called. Mom grounded you last time”, as Alicia turns around, “Mom’s not here so who cares and I don’t have to listen to you”.

Later on as Tamara is playing in her room, she hears the sound of several people screaming. She peeks out and seeks fire, as Alicia grabs hers. She too is trying hard to hold her breath, “Run”, she manages to speak. Six years old Tamara runs and is able to flee before turning back to see that the whole house is now up in flames.


When the fire is put out, a fireman moves the burnt charred furniture to find a body. Sometime later, in the warehouse, the box is being put on the shelf; Rom, Alicia


Present Day

At headquarters, Kat is walking in slightly disgusted as Vera meets up with her, “ So how did the date go with ADA Bell”, he asks?

“Why”, seeing the look on his face. Kat sighs and walks towards the break room, with very trailing behind her. Within a moment the two are up to no good bantering as a woman enters. We now see a woman standing there, shaking slightly with a man behind her. She looks very uneasy, but Lilly takes immediate notice.

“Can I help you”, she asks while proceeding up to them. The woman’s body tenses, “Are you detectives that solve the old crimes”?
Lilly nods, before letting her pass on through. After showing her to the chair, the woman is obviously still traumatized over this whole thing, “What you have”?

The woman then hands her something, “It’s a photo that someone had sent me. It was taken shortly after the fire that claimed the life of my sister; Alicia Rom. She was only thirteen but they said that she died in the fire, but this shows that something different”, handing the photo over to Lilly.

“It’s was her bedroom, the only place where the fire didn’t hit. That can’t be right, I saw her standing in my bedroom which was on the other side of the house, and right after the fire had broken out”.

Lilly’s eyes scan the picture, “She could have been in a different part of the building”, seeing how disturbed the woman was, “What’s your name”?

“Tamara Fredrickson, this is my husband”, motioning to the taller man standing beside her, “I just want to find out who had murdered her. This has been haunting me for a long time, my brother won’t even talk about me, and both he and my mother still blame me to this day. I was only six, I would never harm Alicia, and we were very close”.

Wiping a tear away, Tamara’s husband then helps her up, “Will you look into it, Detective”?

Lilly nodded, “Will see what we can do”.



Warehouse

Lilly lifts Alicia’s box off the shelf, “Alicia Rom, thirteen years old died in a fire at her stepfather’s Chestnut hill home”, pulling out a picture of her. Scotty chuckled slightly, “Bet you dressed like that back then”?

“I was exactly Alicia’s age back in’83”, looking through the papers, “The sister Tamara was six years old at the time, she said that she was in her room at the time that the fire had broken out. Alicia rushed her to safety, but the rest Tamara couldn’t recall. No interviews from the family or brother Seth, then 15. Case was quickly gone cold”.

Scotty shook his head, “Not a lot to go on here Lil, but there’s something odd. Tamara was treated for burns caused by the fire, she didn’t look burned to me”, as Stillman come down the aisle of boxes, “Maybe because one half of Tamara’s back had been burned. This fire caused a lot of damage; I remember the news reports about this one”.

Flipping through Lilly glanced over at the photography of the three siblings, “They all seem to be a pair of nice kids, even nice kids could have a dark side. Maybe Seth throw a party, parents were gone for the weekend. Both he and Alicia were teenagers; things could have spiraled out of control that night”.


“It doesn’t explain this, the charred body of a female. What this isn’t Alicia, but someone else”, Stillman sighed, “There isn’t much to go on, Lil”.

Lilly shook her head, “I can’t do this to Tamara boss, and she’s been through enough already. She too deserves some justice”.

[longislanditalian2]

CHAPTER ONE



Upstairs, Lilly smiles as she spots Louie standing by her desk, “Rush you called, anything for you”, he said teasingly. Still smiling, Lilly then hands him the picture, as Louie takes a moment to study it. The photograph is a bit hard to make out, “Can’t really make out, but it appears that to be a body. Could sent it to the ID unit, have them clear it up”.

Lilly knew that she needed more than that to keep on going with this investigation, “The house is still there, still boarded up”, seeing how Louie was hesitating, “Alright Rush, you owe me”, he said.

Chestnut Hill

The homes are expensive and big, but upon arriving to 11465 Colin side Drive; the home which was once a beautiful one indeed, is now covered up in boards with large overgrown weeds surrounded it. For a moment, Lilly remembers how the old Deemer house resembled. That case in itself made her feel sorry for the victim’s daughter; Gwen. In this one, she also felt sorry for Tamara. Just six years old, when she had lost her sister.

Scotty then brought her back into reality, before walking into the house. Black Charring appeared on the walls, which was tall-tale sign that a fire had broken out. They then were now met up with an older man now in his early sixties, “So you were the first on the scene”.

Tom Gainey nodded, “Fire was explosive, and it was bad. The little girl is being wheeled into the ambulance, took as pretty much half way into the next morning, before it had gotten contained. The fire Marshall, chalked it up to it just being caused by several large candles. He quickly made the motion to file the case closed”.

That was indeed strange, “Who was the fire Marshall”?
“James Spangler, nasty guy. This actually was his house that he shared with his second wife and two kids”, which automatically set off a bell in Lilly’s mind, “Says here that there were three kids living here in 1983; Seth, Tamara and the deceased Alicia”.

Tom shook his head, “Never heard anything about Tamara, but James and his wife were gone the whole weekend. A week after he divorced his wife, and left the firehouse for good”.

While both Rush and Valens remained in Chestnut Hilly, Miller paid Seth a visit. He was married with two small kids, living it up in Olde City.
He clearly didn’t want anything to do with finding Alicia’s killer, “Tamara killed her, and she was nothing but trouble. I don’t even understand why Mom wanted to have another child; she already had her hands full with Alicia and me”.

Reading through the report, Kat then checked, “Says here that both your mother and step-father were out of town, when the fire had broken out”.
“So, it doesn’t mean that Tamara did something. Six year olds get into things, have one myself. Look I lost Alicia that night, just leave it alone”.

Kat refused to back down, “I Can’t, not when Tamara, wants this thing solved. This fire scarred her for life, just try and help us out. What do you remember about the night of the fire”?

1983

Fifteen year old Seth breaks open the liquor cabinet, while Alicia turns up the radio. It’s playing some Ramones song from 1978. He then proceeds to pour some drinks, “Here, try this. You want to be cool right”?

Alicia takes a swig, before putting it down, “This stuff’s nasty, and better hid it before Ms. Brat tells on us”.

“Relax; Tamara’s upstairs placing with her dolls or something. Can’t throw a party, cause that midget next door will freak”, as he then turned on the TV. Alicia then turns off the radio before the two then smelled something, “Something burning”?

“No, my candles are away. Tamara can’t reach into my closet; the smell isn’t coming from upstairs”.

Seth shakes his head, “Forget about it”.

Present Day.

Seth shakes his head, “ I should have realized that something was burning, like I had said I was fifteen”, but Kat didn’t buy it, “ Even fifteen year olds know how to react, you didn’t and now Alicia’s dead”.

While Miller was heading back to headquarters, Jefferies paid the mother a visit. She now was living it up in upstate New York, in a town called: Saugerties. Gretchen Rom wasn’t too thrilled to be seeing this detective at her front door. None the less, she quickly invited him inside.

Gretchen’s life had clearly fallen apart, she was no longer associated with the life in Chestnut Hill, but now just a suburban housewife. Sitting down Jefferies took in a breather, “We’re taking a new look at your daughter’s case, your youngest; Tamara brought something to our attention”.

“That figures, little miss drama queen. Of my entire daughter’s I didn’t want her, Alicia was my only hope. Now she’s gone and the mistake isn’t”, as Gretchen proceeded to light a cigarette, “She ruined my dream house”.

Even Jefferies hated parents whom despised their own children, even though he had no children of his own. As Gretchen showed him photos of the house, Jefferies noticed something, “Can I borrow these, and it’s useful to the investigation”?

Back in Philly, Tamara came back still very much in tears. Both Rush and Miller sat down with her, inside of a private office.

Tamara had various cuts on her arm, “I can’t live like this, my whole life I was blamed for what happened to my sister. My mother would beat my constantly, for ruining everything. I couldn’t even have kids because of the fear of me being blamed for their failures”.


Glancing down, Lilly could see that she was clearly pregnant, “You are, I know that you want to make things right. You need to stick with us, for both you and you’re baby’s sake”.

Tamara nodded, “Have you ever heard of being hypnotized, if I go can one have you come. Perhaps I might remember something, crucial”?


Trying to get that in court would be difficult, but it was a good thing that ADA Bell showed up, “Hypnotized people still do that”, he asked?
Lilly nodded, “It might help to jog Tamara’s memory, might not hold up well in court. If we find more physical evidence could that be possible”?
ADA Bell stopped what he was doing, “Could be until I found this”, handing her an envelope, “Three years before the family had moved in, there was a fire in their old house. No record on any of the parents, started by a match”.

Glancing over at this case, Bell knew that these two crime scenes weren’t connected.


tbc.. please review...

[longislanditalian2]

Special thanks to Trublu, who helped me with this chapter


CHAPTER TWO


After getting the green light to exhume, the body of Alicia, Lilly knew that it would be awhile before she knew anything. She felt bad for Tamara, who had been blamed for her sister's death all these years. It wasn't fair to her, however she still had to look at all the angles, one of them lead her to have yet another conversation with Seth.


SETH'S HOUSE-TWO HOURS LATER

Seth wasn't thrilled to be seeing Lilly again, " I told you everything that I know, why can't you just let this rest"?

"Your sister died, and Tamara needs to know the truth. Thinking back, did you invited any friends over? Someone who had it in for Alicia, you both were teenagers. Throwing parties,any chance of that happening that night,with your parent's both gone?"

" I did throw a small party ,everyone was over before the fire broke out," he said, but Lilly was having a hard time beliving that.

" You were fifteen, most kids your age don't exactly stop partying until they pass out."


Seth knew exactly what she was implying, " It wasn't exactly a part detective, just had a few of my buddies. One did have it in for Alicia; as usual she had a fight with one of them."



FLASHBACK

Seth and some of his friends were sitting, drinking, before they heard a scream, from inside the kitchen. Getting up, Seth rushed to find Alicia beating up one of his friends;

" Get off her Greg," he said, before pushing the tall, blonde teenager up against a wall;" That's my sister,stay away from her".

At that point Alicia grabbed something off the counter, and both teen take notice, before Seth grabbed it out of her hand;" Last time you got drunk, Mom grounded you," he said but she didn't and took a sip.


Just as Seth is returning to the living room, he notices that Tamara is standing on the top of the stairs, " I told you to go to bed, you little brat!"

Tamara crossed her arms, which sticking out her tongue;" It's my house too," she said as she pushed her way past him, before Alicia grabs her by the hand; leading the six-year-old back upstairs. Greg followed as Seth hears more arguing before the sound of a door slamming shut.

PRESENT DAY


" What I didn't realize is that Alicia was dating Greg, that he didn't come over to hang with me. That was just a front; Tamara got in everyone's way, it got worse after Alicia died; probably because Alicia was the only one who protected and loved her."


Lilly was still having a hard time believing all of this, " Have you seen Greg recently?, Know where he might be?"

Seth nodded, " Dead, Killed in a car accident in 1984. Guy was so depressed after losing Alicia, we all were."



HEADQUARTERS


Gretchen Rom, storms into the homicide department unannounced, " Who gave you the green light to dig up my daughter's grave?", she yells.
Scotty takes notice ,as Tamara stands up, " I did Mom, and I want to know why she died. Alicia saved my life; she was the only one who truely loved me."


That didn't seem to bother Gretchen," You are not my daughter, and never have been. Don't ever bring up the night I lost Alicia again!"

Then Stillman motions for Scotty to bring, Gretchen into an interrogation room, " That's a harsh thing to say to your own daughter. What I don't get is why you would blame a six year old , for her sister's death?"


Gretchen sighed," Tamara was an unwanted child, I made a bad mistake and she was born. I should have given her away, but I knew that Alicia needed a sister. I never wanted to have any kids, time just slipped away," her voice droning on. " Seth called me on the night that I had lost my dream house Both Tom and I rushed down there."


FLASHBACK


The house is on fire, and Gretchen looked over at the police, " Who did this?" she shrieks. One of the cops, a tall man with a charming face in his early 30's, apporached her.

" Can't determine that now, but your youngest daughter is in the hospital with second degree burns ."

Just then Seth who looks tired runs over, " Mom!", he says as Gretchen embraces him.

" Where's Alicia?".

" I don't know, only Tamara and I got out, " which sent her into a frenzied panic , " Tamara tried to go back in, but I wouldn't let her."


Looking around Gretchen notices a few of his friends, " I told you no parties, Seth. Was Greg there?"she growled , before storming off.


PRESENT DAY


Stillman thinks for a second," So Seth was having a party, right before the fire broke out.", he said, at which Gretchen nodded her head.

She drew a single breath in," I failed to control my kids, Alicia was already dating Greg. He was good to her , I'll admit that, but he had a violent streak. Nothing compared to her best friend, Katie . She is still Chestnut Hill's beauty queen."


" Did Katie have a problem with Alicia?"Stillman asked.

Gretchen sighed, " Yeah and it was a big one, Katie was obbessed with being perfect. She wasn't the type of girl that I wanted my daughter to hang with. Alicia was more into playing sports, and fixing cars like Seth".


This now had got Stillman thinking, " Did you notice anything odd about her after, Alicia had died?"

" All I know is that afterwars Katie had acted liked she was the victim, and of course her family had sued us."

Glancing over at the file, Stillman knew that Katie's story did quite make any sense," We'll look into it".


With a new suspect, Kat and Lilly headed back up to Chestnut Hill , Kate Summits, as she was now known, seemed to have a perfect life , complete with a waterfall in the front. Knocking at the door, Kate answered wearing various pieces of jewerly, a perfect hairdo, and expensive desinger clothes.


Flashing her badge, Lilly said, " Kate Summits, Detectives Rush and Miller. We're hear about the death of Alicia Rom".

Inside the place looked immaculate, right down to the pristine hard wood floors. Kate didn't seem to care about what happened, " Alicia and her family were never going to be like one of us ," she said showing off her nicely polished nails. " Living the good life, I tried to change her Alicia wanted to be herself. I couldn't understand why?"


Kat sighed," Any chance you were over their house before the fire broke out?", Kat asked as Kate got up, fixing the pillows to make them perfect. The detectives exchanged glances , " I was over that mornin, before spending all day at the pool,too bad Alicia had to stay home and babysit her kid sister."


Glancing over at Lilly, Kate studied her, " I must be going, I have a personal trainer coming over in a few " she said. However Lilly cleared her throat, " According to her mother, she said you behaved at the time like a victim?"

Kate's eyes rolled, " It was just all part to get myself more noticed, around here. If you ask me, the mother was acting quite strange. Not caring about Tamara, then getting divorced than remarried.'


Lilly still didn't buy this, but in the back of her mind, kept Kate as still a suspect. While they were leaving, the other detectives discovered something more about Gretchen.