Falling Stars

[Tati]

“Falling Stars”

Chapter 6 – The Best Friend

XXXXX

Sitting in her kitchen, Lilly plays with the coffee inside the mug. She swings the mug and watches the circular waves the coffee makes inside. She rests her chin in her open right hand, elbow in the table, and watches her cats dig hungrily from their breakfast. Since she was a kid, Lilly always loved animals. Back in Kensington, all the thin, scabious dogs were her friends, like the silent and smart cats. Her mother wouldn’t let her or Christina bring any of those animals home, though. They were doing badly enough without another hungry mouth to feed, Ellen would say. That wouldn’t prevent Lilly from sparing a piece of her old bread to those bony dogs. Or some crusts to a bird that would always come sing in her window in the mornings. The best alarm clock she ever had to get to school on time.

She finally takes a sip of her coffee. It’s cold already, and it sends a shiver down her spine. She shakes her head and decides to get a move on. She has two hours to pick up her mom, drive her to the new home, and go to the office. She and Scotty are leaving tonight to Maine, and there are still a couple of details to be ironed out. They need to study Kelly’s profile, and go through Charlie Vaughn’s phone records, which should arrive early in the afternoon. Lilly can’t help playing the scene of her meeting with DA Brown back and forth in her head. She wishes she could slap him with her bare hands. Brown is very mistaken, if he believes she’d be a puppet in his hands. She knows Stillman is worried about something, and she can only imagine what Brown must’ve said to him. Since the previous night, she’s pondering if she should tell Stillman about what happened. Maybe it isn’t the moment to lay other burden on his shoulder. On the other hand, Stillman wouldn’t be pleased if she kept that event a secret from him. He deserved to know who he was dealing with.

She decides to put that issue in the back of her mind for the next couple of hours, knowing she’s got too much in her mind now to make a good decision. She grabs her coat, her car keys, and leaves.

XXXXX

Lilly arrives at her mother’s home at 9 a.m., like she had previously scheduled with the head nurse. She walks into the home and most of its inhabitants are already up and having their breakfasts. As Lilly reaches the living room, she spots her mother sitting on one of the couches, staring blankly ahead, her luggage beside her.

“Mother,” Lilly approaches Ellen, kneeling down by her side. “I’m here to pick you up.” She almost whispers. Ellen remains still, her gaze fixed in a faraway point in the distance.

“In her condition, a move in housing is a great challenge, not easy to deal with,” The head nurse explains. “But it’ll be for her best. The place you’re taking her is much more appropriate for people in her condition.” Lilly gets back up, and just nods, a faint agreement smile on her face. The nurse goes on, helping Lilly with Ellen’s luggage, “What about your sister? I remember she came along when your mother was brought in.”

“She’s out of town, couldn’t make it,” Lilly answers sharply, not giving space for any other questions regarding Christina. “Mom, let’s go,” Lilly says, touching her mother’s arm.

Ellen stares up from the couch. “OK.” She answers emptily, like she was just an obedient doll.

“We gave her some tranquilizers to make it all easier for you,” The head nurse whispers to Lilly as they walk outside.

On the way to the new home, there’s a small traffic jam. Lilly notices Ellen is starting to get impatient, but doesn’t say anything. She knows the best in these situations is not give space to any reactions from her mother. “You know, your sister came by to visit me the other day,” Ellen bursts, in a provoking tone.

“What?” Lilly asks, caught by surprise by that remark. Even though Lilly knows her mom could’ve simply gone into one of her confabulation moments, she had forgotten to ask the home’s secretary if anyone had stopped by in the last couple of days.

“Yeah, she did,” Ellen insists. “She couldn’t believe how badly I was being treated in that place.” Lilly keeps her eyes on the road. “Why isn’t she here today?”

“I don’t know, Mom. Did you tell her you were moving out?” Lilly asks, deciding to play along and see where this conversation will go; even though she knows she always regrets when she plays along to her mother’s confabulations.

“Oh.” Ellen hesitates. “How will she know where I am? Will you tell her?”

“Sure, if I see her.” Lilly answers.

“She’s a busy girl. But I know she’ll come as soon she has the time.” Ellen says. “And you could come with her.” She adds, in an almost reprimanding tone.

Lilly turns to her Mom and opens her mouth to answer, but gives out at the last second. She’s just out of her mind, Lilly tells herself, not without a little uncertainty.

XXXXX

[longislanditalian2]

I read it , you are very good Tati. I wouldn't know how to even write a case-centred fic.

[Tati]

After getting her Mother settled in the new home, Lilly arrives at the office. The other detectives are already there, making small talk as they wait for Lilly.

“Good morning,” Lilly greets everybody. “Anything new?”

“We just got Charlie’s phone records,” Scotty answers. “We were just waiting for you to get started.”

“Let’s go, then,” Lilly says, anxious to see if they would get some answers from those phone records. But the truth is she was having a gut feeling that this case was about to get even more complicated.

As they’re starting to read, Stillman walks by. “Hey, Boss,” Lilly calls out. As Stillman turns around to her, she adds, “I need a minute with you today before leaving for Maine.” The other detectives look up from their stack of papers.

“OK.” Stillman nods. “Come in whenever you want.”

XXXXX

Later that day, Lilly and Scotty are at the airport, waiting to catch their plane to Maine. After the flight they’d still have a two-hour drive to the city of Hampden.

“I wonder why Kelly needed to bury herself so far away,” Scotty says, trying to start a conversation. Scotty wasn’t sure if it was about her mom, or if it was about something else – whatever she needed to see Stillman about.

“Yeah, it is suspicious,” Lilly says, “But maybe she just had a hard time staying so close to where her best friend died.” She glances at the airport panel that announces the next flights. “Whatever her reasons were, I just hope they can shed some light into Jill’s murder.”

The panel announces their flight, and they head to get on board. Scotty’s cell rings. He answers and just listens to the caller. He gets more and more disappointed by the second. He hangs up with a sigh. “That was Vera,” he tells Lilly.

“So?” she asks anxiously. “Anything interesting on Charlie’s phone records?”

“The number Jill called traced back to a fake I.D.,” Scotty shares. “Some guy with a funky Russian name.”

Lilly sighs, angry that they might’ve hit another dead end. “Wait,” her face gets lighter, “Private investigators usually use fake I.D.s for their phone lines.”

“Yeah, Jeffries is following that line of thought,” Scotty says, “He’s asking around other investigators to see if anyone knows that name. But those guys are not very eager to share information on one another.” The two detectives take their seats on the plane. “I really hope Kelly Simpson can help us.”

XXXXX

The next day, Lilly and Scotty head to talk to Kelly Simpson. They meet at Kelly’s house, a modest but very comfortable place, where she lives with her husband and two sons – 3-year-old twin boys.

Scotty and Lilly knock on the front door. “Hello. You must be Detectives Rush and Valens.” A beautiful young woman who opens the door greets them, “I’m Kelly Simpson. Please come in.” Lilly and Scotty observe her. No more colorful locks in her hair, no more nose or eyebrow piercings. Just her natural blonde hair, just down her ears. No one would tell that woman was in her late thirties.

They all get settled on the living room. “Kelly, as we talked, we’re looking into Jill Hannigan’s murder,” Lilly starts.

“Yes,” Kelly nods. “I think I’ve told anything I knew back then, but I hope I can help anyway.”

“We’ve made some interviews by now, and some points came up,” Scotty says. “We hope you can help us understand what really happened.”

“For instance,” Lilly takes the cue, “Jill’s husband, Peter, had a job offer in L.A.. Do you know whether she was considering going with him?”

“Yes.” Kelly answers immediately. “No one knew about that, not even Peter. Jill didn’t want to influence his decision in any way, so she was going to wait until his contract was signed to tell him her decision.”

“This is odd,” Lilly objects. “Why did she leave him, then?”

“Yeah, I couldn’t figure that one out, either,” Kelly answers. “Jill told me she was afraid Peter would refuse the offer because of her, so she was going to play that farce. To be honest, I didn’t buy that, but Jill was killed before this could be cleared up, so I never knew if there was something else.”

“How do you think Alice and Charlie would take the news of Jill leaving?” Scotty asks.

“Alice would freak out, certainly,” Kelly says, nodding. “She really wanted Jill to make it, and if she left the play, who knows if she would’ve gotten any acting jobs in the West Coast. You got a tougher competition there.” Kelly’s coffee machine makes a noise announcing their coffee is ready. Kelly gets up and comes back with coffee cups for them. She goes on, “As for Charlie, he wouldn’t be pleased, because it would be hard to find a replacement for Jill in the middle of the season. But I don’t think he would care so much. He never seemed to care very much about anyone.”

“Alice was very protective towards Jill?” Lilly asks.

“I think she blamed herself for Jill getting involved with drugs,” Kelly says. “You know, during Jill’s childhood and teen years, Alice was traveling around and outside the country with her plays. So, Jill was by herself, and she looked for consolation in the wrong places, with the wrong people.”

“Anything besides drugs?” Lilly insists, interested in that point.

“Well,” Kelly starts, a little embarrassed. “She would go out, get high, and, you know. Have a lot of casual dates.”

Lilly and Scotty share a look, not sure if that information is in any way relevant. “Did this behavior bring Jill any consequences?” Scotty asks.

Kelly reflects for a moment. “I don’t think it had any material consequences,” she answers. “But it surely didn’t do any good for her emotional situation, and her self-esteem.”

As this wasn’t leading to anything palpable, Lilly decides to go another way. “How was Jill’s relationship with Paris McDonald?”

“They clashed a few times, especially during high school,” Kelly says. “Paris could be really petty. But neither Jill nor I were the sweetest girls on the block. She was certainly jealous of all the attention Jill was getting, but then, so was I.” She laughs, bitterly. “I don’t think Paris did it.”

“What do you know about John Graham?” Scotty asks.

“That one was a real freak,” Kelly reacts. “When we first met him, we thought he was just a quiet guy; but he was always sneaking around Jill. We’d be having a casual talk and he’d show up from nowhere. Besides that, he always treated everyone nicely and he was certainly a talented actor.”

“Do you think he had any special interest on Jill?” Lilly asks.

“I never saw anything that led me to believe in that, but it seemed like his wife might have,” Kelly answers.

[Tati]

Flashback to 1992

In the dressing room of the Arden Theater, there’s a rush of actors and actresses getting ready, as the play is about to start. Kelly is doing the finishing touch in Jill’s make-up, as they both chat happily. Along with them is Diana Graham, the assistant costume designer. She seems to get along with them just as fine.

“So, Diana, I’ve heard about some nice opportunities in L.A. for you,” Jill says, eyes closed as Kelly works on her eye-shadow, “Peter said he can make some calls if you’re interested.”

“Oh,” Diana seems touched by the offer, “I’m not sure… it’s fantastic but I need to talk to John first. I can’t make such a life-changing decision without discussing with him.” Her tone of voice is timid. One could say she looks scared.

“Well, you make up your mind, and let us know,” says Jill.

At this point, the girls’ conversation is abruptly interrupted. “Jill, I need to talk to you,” John Graham says approaching them. “You know, about that person that had that apartment to rent,” He adds, but his explanation seems out of the blue. Kelly looks suspicious and Diana, not really pleased since she has no idea why Jill is recommending and apartment to her husband. They were not considering moving.

“Oh, sure,” Jill agrees immediately. She glances at Kelly, who nods, signaling that her make-up is done and she’s free to go. Jill and John leave the room, leaving Kelly and Diana in a weird silence.

“You know what this is about?” Diana asks Kelly, eyes following John and Jill as they go out of their sight. “Why the hell is Jill recommending and apartment for John?”

“I have no idea,” Kelly answers as the packs up her make-up material. “Maybe it’s for a friend of you guys?” She offers.

“We have no friends here in Philly, we’ve been here less than a year,” Diana says, and adds, “Last week they were talking and when I arrived they started talking about something else.” She sighs, in a jealous tone of voice.

Kelly laughs, “I think you’re imagining things, Diana,” she says, “I’m pretty sure Jill is happy with Peter and she wouldn’t trade him for anyone else in the world.”

“You better be right,” Diana says, in a threatening tone, leaving the dressing room.

Back to 2005

“Kelly, I’m going to be honest with you, this is a little confusing,” Scotty observes, “One minute Diana and Jill are all friendly, Jill is offering her a hand with casting, and in the other minute Diana is allegedly threatening her?”

“Don’t get me wrong detective, I didn’t mean to imply we were all that close,” Kelly says, with a smirk. “Diana was also a member of the ‘I wannabe Jill Hannigan club’, they were no best friends. But they were amicable. Now, about the job offer, it doesn’t really mean anything. Jill would do that to anyone, she was really generous,” she finishes.

“Did Jill share the content of her heart-to-heart with John Graham?” Lilly asks, taking notes.

“No,” Kelly answers. “I think that apartment story was bull, but she never commented anything with me.”

“Kelly, Jill’s mom told us you two were best friends. Your best friend goes out for a suspicious conversation and you don’t ask her anything about it?” Lilly asks, her eyes analyzing Kelly, still not sure if this girl is spilling all she knows.

“Jill and I trusted each other unconditionally,” Kelly begins, with a trace of emotion in her eyes, “But it doesn’t mean we told each other absolutely everything. We respected each other and waited for when the other felt conformable to share what she was feeling, instead of trying to squeeze it out.” She stops for a moment, takes a deep breath, and goes on, “Now, looking back, obviously I wish I hadn’t respected Jill’s personal space that much. Maybe I could’ve helped and things would’ve been different,” She finishes. Her eyes are watery.

“Ok,” Scotty nods, thinking it’s better to change the direction of the conversation, before Kelly becomes uncooperative. “Someone overheard Jill having a weird conversation on the phone, at Charlie Vaughn’s house, possibly about paying someone off. Maybe Jill hired a private investigator, to look into some other actors’ lives?” He asks.

“Again, I don’t know,” Kelly answers. “I did overhear one similar conversation she was having at the Theatre, over the phone. Setting up a meeting with someone, saying she already had the money.”

“And this time you didn’t ask what it was about, either.” Lilly says, leaning back on the couch.

“I didn’t have a chance,” Kelly goes on, “Jill caught me eavesdropping on her, and she was really tiffed. She stormed out of the room and told me to stay away from her,” she says, upset. “That was two weeks before her murder.”

“We have one more question, Kelly,” Scotty says, then asks, “Do you know Peter Campbell’s wife and what she’s doing here in Hampden?”

Kelly seems a little surprised by the question, but doesn’t hesitate, “Of course I know Lisa. She lived down the street. I introduced her and Peter. She’s here visiting her parents.”

Lilly and Scotty, undeniably, are disappointed with such a simple explanation, but they don’t dig further, because it’s easy for them to check on that info, and later catch Kelly on a lie, if necessary.

“Thanks, Kelly”, Lilly says, as she and Scotty get up to leave. “We might be in touch again.”

“I’m at your disposal,” Kelly offers, with an apparently sincere look.

After they leave Kelly’s house, they walk to the hotel, which is only a few blocks away. After some pensive minutes Scotty says, “I think we have same thought on our minds, haven’t we?”

Lilly nods, “This girl’s story is too perfect to be true.”

XXXXX

Back at the Philadelphia Police Headquarters, it’s been an intense day. DA Brown and ADA Kite showed up unexpectedly at the Cold Case team office, ready to announce the changes that would be made in the assignment of investigations to the Cold Case team. During that meeting, Stillman’s team had been assigned two fresh new cases. They were also advised to “not drop the ball” on the Hannigan case, because the Philly PD and DA’s office needed some boost in their credibility.

“We count on you to join forces with us, detectives,” DA Brown says, his green eyes bright with pleasure. “And please, make sure to transmit this message to Detectives Valens and Rush,” He adds.

“Sure,” Nick answers, as he and Will nod in agreement. They’re making a hard effort to keep their mouths from falling to the ground. Where did this earthquake come from?

“Don’t worry, counselors,” Stillman steps in, “My team will be doing their job as competently as always, and with cooperation to the DA’s office.”

“Great, great,” Brown says, as he and Kite get up to leave Stillman’s office. “We knew we would have your team by our side, Lieutenant.”

The men shake hands and leave. Stillman accompanies them to door, coming back to Nick and Will, who are still sitting on his office, digesting what just happened.

“Boss, you could’ve at least given us a hint,” Nick says, getting up.

Will nods, “No need to carry all this pressure on your own,” he completes Nick’s thought.

Stillman sits on his chair, his face loaded with tension. “I was still trying to do something to avoid this. I’m sorry.”

“We can handle it,” Nick assures him, as he and Will leave the office. “This new DA will see he’s dealing with some ass-kicking detectives.”

Outside Stillman’s office, there’s a man waiting. When he sees Nick and Will, he approaches them asking, “You’re the detectives working on the Jill Hannigan case?”

“You got something for us?” Will answers with another question.

“Well, you don’t know who I am, but some colleagues told me you have been looking for me,” the man starts. “I’m Walter Ross. Jill hired my private investigation services thirteen years ago.”

XXXXX

To be continued...

[Tati]

I'm not sure if anyone cares, but anyway, just wanted to say that his fic is complete. Just click on the link to ff.net profile, which is on my signature, and the fic is listed there.

[Trublu]

Aug 18, 2009 14:31:01 GMT -5 Tati said:

I'm not sure if anyone cares, but anyway, just wanted to say that his fic is complete. Just click on the link to ff.net profile, which is on my signature, and the fic is listed there.

Good to see you there! Thanks for the info.