Fire and Ice

[beautifulcoldstorm]

A/N: Find this on ff.net.
A girl of about ten years old walks out into the night sky with her little dog. She laughs and giggles as she spins around. The night was perfect and everything was perfect. She thought nothing could take this away from her. She runs inside as her mother calls her in. "What were you doing out there?"

"Nothing," the little girl replies. "Just enjoying the night air."

Her mother smiles. "Well," her father says as he walks in, "I've got great news."

"What?" the little girl asks.

"We're going to Disney World."

The little girl squeals with joy as she jumps into her father's arms. The mother laughed. The perfect ending to a great day…..

Two years later…

A fire burns everything down. The house and everything inside it. Two bodies are on the ground, bloodied and beaten. There were no survivors…

Six months later…

Detective Lilly Rush was driving home after a long day on a case. She couldn't wait to get home to her cats; it would be a relief to see them after all that had been going on lately.

Suddenly, she slammed on her brakes as a pure white horse came out of nowhere. The day was foggy, and the white horse looked like a ghost. The horse reared in front of the car- mere centimeters away from stomping down on the hood- as the car came to a squealing stop. Lilly took a calming breath as two questions popped into her head: Where the heck did that horse come from? And two, where was it's rider?

She pulled over to the side of the road, and made sure her gun was on her hip. Ever since that day in the alley, she knew she couldn't be too careful. She slowly got out of the car and walked toward the frightened creature. "Easy, there," she said slowly. The horse's ears %#$%ed at the sound of her voice. Lilly smiled. "Where's your owner?"

Looking at the horse's face, she saw that it only had a halter on. More than likely, this was a privately owned horse; which was strange because she didn't know of any stables in the city.

The horse bobbed her head a little, and then stepped away from Lilly. She trotted toward the entrance of an alley, then stopped and looked back at Lilly.

Lilly was puzzled at this. It looked as if the horse wanted her to follow. Making sure the gun was securely fastened in its holster, she followed the horse. However, the farther they went in, the more anxious the horse got. Lilly was beginning to wonder if this was a fool's errand, when they finally came across a small tent. Behind it was a beautiful black horse that the white one walked up to. A growl came from the tent- causing Lilly to automatically reach for her gun. Before she even finished getting it out of its holster, a hoarse voice came from the side of the tent. "Heel, girl…"

The growl was replaced by a whimper as the dog came out and went to the side of the tent. Lilly followed and gasped at the sight she saw. "Oh my gosh," she said incredulously, staring down at the fragile soul.

A child of no more than thirteen or fourteen was lying on her side, slightly shivering. Lilly knelt down, and shifted her slightly to check her pulse. The girl was barely conscious as she stirred and briefly looked at Lilly, then fell back into the dream state she was in.

Lilly rushed back to her car and took out a blanket she had used on a recent stake out, while grabbing her phone. She dialed 911 as she rushed back to the girl. "911, what's your emergency?" the voice on the other line said as Lilly wrapped the child in the blanket. How can you so calm when a child might be dying? She wanted to ask them; knowing it wasn't going to do her any good though, she instead said, "This is Detective Lilly Rush of Philly Homicide. I need paramedics on 34th and 5th street. There's a very sick child; unknown identity, possible run-away, about thirteen or fourteen years old. I also need animal control. There are two horses and a dog that may belong to the child. I'm inside the alley."

While the voice said the usual about sending help, Lilly turned back to the child. She looked deathly pale, despite her slightly dark skin. "Help… me… Li…" the child's voice faded.

"Stay with me now," Lilly said. "Hold on. Help is coming. Just hold on."

[beautifulcoldstorm]

Ch. 2

Will Jeffries, Scotty Valens, and Kat Miller met up at the corner of the alley where Lilly was. "Rush!" Scotty called. Lilly looked up from where she was- walking beside the gurney that held the child- and waved them over.

"What happened?" Kat asked when she reached Lilly. "I was driving when the white horse over there" - she pointed to where the trailer was as the two horses were being led over there- "literally came out of no where. When I got out of the car, it looked as if the horse wanted me to follow it. I did, and I found her."

"Who is she?" Scotty asked.

"And where is she from?" Jeffries asked.

"I don't know who she is, but I can tell you that she's not from around here. Her skin's a little dark to be from here," Lilly replied.

Suddenly, the black horse reared and nearly bolted, causing the girl to start and say something incoherently. Lilly turned to her and shushed her quietly. Scotty was next to her and stared at the black. "That's some horse there."

"Apparently he's a stallion," Lilly replied, looking at the horse for only a moment, before turning her attention back to the girl. She had quieted enough that Lilly was able to let her go into the ambulance and turn back to the tent where the girl stayed.

The dog whimpered as it was led away. Scotty looked at it, then at Lilly. "How many animals does this kid have?"

"Three," Lilly replied as she watched the struggling stallion. "Dog's name is sapphire."

"Rush," Kat called. Lilly turned to where Kat was- inside the tent. "You might want to take a look at this."

Lilly walked over to her. "What is it?"

"Take a look at this," Kat said. She was on a laptop that probably belonged to the girl, but what was really surprising was what was on the laptop. A file was open, and all that was on there were picture...

... of Lilly Rush.

Scotty looked at it as well. There were a couple of pictures of him, but that was it. Mainly it was only Lilly. "Somebody's been stalkin' you."

Lilly glared at him for a moment. "Why would a teenager want to stalk me? A female teenager for that matter."

Scotty shrugged.

Lilly turned back to the laptop, but she couldn't shake the feeling that there was something weird about this girl. And that it had probably something to do with murder.

FI

Lilly stood outside the room where the little girl was. Apparently, she had a slight case of pneumonia, but they had caught it early enough that they could treat it before it had gotten any worse. Lilly took a look at her file, but there was nothing that was going to lead to Jane Doe's identity. Until she woke up, that is.

Footsteps are heard behind her, and she turns to see Lieutenant John Stillman, her mentor and boss. "What's the news?" he asked her.

Lilly shook her head. "She has pneumonia, but that's it. Until she wakes up, she's just Jane Doe."

John took a step closer to the window that divided the girl's room from the hall. "Doesn't look like she's from around here," John commented.

"I don't think so either," Lilly said. "I think she's from the south. That's pretty much the only place you can get a tan like that on the east coast."

John nodded. Kat and Scotty came in then. "We pulled up every missing child report we could find," Scotty said. "None of them come close to the description of her."

"Are you saying she might be a runaway?" Lilly asked.

"It's possible," Scotty replied. "But we can't find anything out. Maybe the animals could give us a better knowledge of who she is."

"Wait a second," Kat said, staring at the window.

"What?" Lilly asked.

"I know her."

"What?" Scotty asked.

"How?" John asked.

"She tried to pick pocket me once. She either saw my badge or something because Veronica said that she had her hand in my purse, but she didn't take anything."

"Not uncommon for runaway's kids to try and pick-pocket for money," Scotty commented.

"But how many kids manage to go empty handed and unnoticed about it?" Kat asked.

"Not many in my experience," Lilly agreed. She looked at the window, seeing that the girl was still sleeping, she turned back to the others. "How about we go grab something? She's not going to wake up if we just keep staring at her."

"Eventually, maybe," Scotty smirked. Lilly rolled her eyes.

As the group left, unbeknownst to them, the young girl opened her eyes slowly, making sure that no one was looking inside her room. She started to cry as memories of the day came flooding back. She had known that she was going to be caught sooner or later, but she didn't want anyone to find out this way. She just had to hope that she was still able to explain everything when the person she was looking for returned.

FI

The group ordered drinks at a bar. "Any cases that have any new evidence?" Lilly asked.

Kat shrugged. "None that I know of. It's been slow. Maybe that kid has a connection to one of our colds."

"I doubt it, Miller," John said. "She's not from around here. Lilly thinks she's probably from the south."

"Why's that, Lil?" Scotty asked.

"Where else can you get a tan like that?" Lilly asked.

"There are tanning salons," Kat pointed out.

"For a teenager?"

Kat shrugged. "Maybe."

The group chuckled and took another sip of their drinks. Suddenly, Lilly's phone rang. "Detective Rush," she said. There was a moment of pause before she replied again. "Alright, thank you."

"What is it?" Scotty asked curiously.

"She's awake," Lily said. "Jeffries and Vera are there, but apparently the kid's not talking to them."

"What do you mean?" Kat asked.

"She's not being cooperative. They said that she's talking in code or something."

FI

"No!" Jane said again.

"Alright, kid," Vera said irritably. "We're all you've got to talk to. Where are your parents?"

"Haven't you noticed, Buckskin?" Jane said. "I ain't got no parents."

Nick sighed. "I give up."

Jeffries chuckled. "That just shows you that you should never have kids."

"Ha ha, very funny, Jeffries."

"Look, I'm not talking to either of you. I want to talk to Pretty Palomino."

"What the heck is a Palomino?" Vera demanded.

"Look it up for yourself. It's the same thing as a buckskin. Just slightly different."

Jeffries looked out the window and saw that Rush, Valens, Miller, and Stillman had arrived. He turned to his partner who was having a glaring contest with Jane, and apparently, Jane was winning. "Give it a break, Vera. We'll give someone else a go. "

Jeffries walked out first, followed by Vera, who stopped at the door briefly. "Bye," Jane said. With that Vera was out completely.

"Kid's insane," Vera said as he reached the others. "Keeps calling me Buckskin, and Jefferies Bashful Black."

"Wonder what she would call us," Scotty mused.

"She also has a slight southern accent," Jeffries commented. "I think Lilly's correct that she's from the south. But someone needs to go in and find out where she's from."

"Depends on which one of us she will talk to," Vera said. "Keeps saying she wants to talk to a 'Pretty Palomino.' And she also has that sassy attitude that you would expect from someone raised in the country."

"I'll try," Kat offered. She was a mother after all; maybe she could reach out to the kid. Stillman allowed it, but they still came out with the same results. Scotty tried next, followed by Stillman, and still no luck.

"Is there any way we can make her talk?" Nick asked. "Threaten her or her animals?"

"But then she could just be telling us what we want to hear," Kat pointed out. "We need to have her say it herself."

"Wait a second," Scotty said. "A Palomino is a horse."

"So?" Nick asked.

"A Buckskin is too. You said she call Jeffries Bashful Black, right?"

"Yeah."

"What if she's basing all of this on skin tone and hair color?"

"I'm not sure I understand this," Stillman said.

"Neither do I," Kat agreed.

"I think I do," Lilly said, pulling up an image on the laptop. She had decided to do a little research while everyone was trying to talk to Jane, and it looked like it was about to pay off. "Black horses, Pintos, Buckskin's and Albino's are all color breeds."

"A Palomino is too, right?" Miller asked.

"Yes," Scotty said.

"So, who here is Palomino?"

Lilly looked from the screen on the laptop to the girl, whose head turned away when Lilly saw her. It finally all clicked. "Me."

FI

The girl turned her head as the door opened and Lilly stepped through. "Finally figured it out," she said. "'Bout time."

Definitely need to take a different route with this one, Lilly thought. She stepped toward the bed. "What's with the code talk?"

"I like to do that to confuse people. I'm also crazy about horses, in case you haven't noticed."

"We've noticed alright."

"Good."

"But why did you want to talk to me specifically? Why not Kat, or anyone else?"

"Because, believe it or not, you and I are similar in a lot of different ways."

"Like, what?"

"That's not important. It's not the real reason why I wanted to talk to you."

"Then what is the real reason?" Lilly asked getting a little annoyed with the games.

Jane sighed. "Six months ago, a fire was started in a small town called Apopka in Florida. The house was burned to the ground, and it was believed that all occupants of the house were dead. Only two skeletons were recovered, though. The alleged third victim's body was believed to have been devoured by the fire. Their bedroom was the starting point of the fire."

"Why are we talking about this?" Lilly asked.

"Because, there was no third victim."

"What?"

"I'm the third victim. I'm the missing body wasn't recovered."

[beautifulcoldstorm]

Ch.3

Lilly and the rest of the squad stood outside Jane Doe's room as Scotty came in with the file. "The kid's name is Lisa Hazelton," Scotty said.

"Lived in Florida for most of her life, but was born in Massachusetts," Kat said, reading a copy of the file.

"Explains why she doesn't have the accent sometimes," Jeffries commented.

"Let's focus on the case here," Stillman said.

"Well, she was right when she said that the fire started in her room," Scotty said. "I'm not sure how she found that out."

"Even bigger question is how did she escape?" Lilly said. Everyone shrugged.

"So, many questions, so few answers," Scotty said.

"Maybe she was at a sleep over," Nick suggested.

"No," Kat said, shaking her head. "Not possible. They wouldn't have marked her dead then."

"So, what's a girl from a small town in Florida, doing here in Philly?" Lilly asked walking back to the window.

"Family, maybe," Vera said.

"Wouldn't she be with her family then if she had any here?" Kat asked.

"Whatever the case," Stillman said, "her case is cold and is in our department."

Everyone nodded, knowing they needed to get to work. Scotty and Lilly stayed at the hospital, while everyone else went back to the office. Lisa looked up from the DS she was playing. "Come back for some more answers?"

"Yes," Lilly said sitting down on the bed. "You're what? Fourteen, fifteen?"

"Twelve," Lisa said. Lilly looked at Scotty, but then looked back at Lisa when she said, " Almost thirteen. I know, I look older than what I really am. Everyone says that. Someone thought I was sixteen at one point."

"How did you end up here in Philly?" Scotty asked.

"My horses," she replied. "Luckily I also do horse shows. Won too. Speaking of my horses, where are they?"

"They're with animal control-" Lilly began, but was cut off as Lisa shot up.

"Animal control? You can't leave them there; they won't know about his past nor how to treat him."

"What do you mean?" Scotty asked.

"Cobalt was abused. Let's just say he prefers a lady's touch. Anyway, he requires special care. That's why I sent Star to you-" she clamped her jaw when she realized she said too much.

"What?" The detectives asked in unison.

"Never mind. Look, just get Cobalt out of there. Put him up in a stable where they can keep him in a pasture or something. Please."

"Okay," Lilly said, getting up. "Let's go, Scotty," she said.

"We'll be back," Scotty said, following his partner out.

"I ain't goin' anywhere," Lisa said, picking up a book to read.

FI

"What was that all about?" Scotty asked.

"If we want to get the information," Lilly replied, walking quickly out of the hospital. "We're going to have to play her game."

"Which means we start with the horses?" Scotty guessed.

"We start with the horses."

FI

It didn't take long for Lilly and Scotty to reach the office and then swap out partners. Kat went with Lilly while Scotty and the others stayed behind to look over some things from Lisa's laptop. "Check this out," Nick said, taking a closer look at one of the pictures. John and the others walked toward him. "Isn't that the Mark's house?"

"Yeah," Scotty said. "What the heck was she doing there?"

The others shrugged.

"Well," Will said, "at least we know she's been in Philly before."

"Bingo!" Nick said triumphantly. "I finally found a list of friends and enemies."

"How?" Scotty asked.

"There's a journal on here."

Jeffries walked over to Vera. "This one looks promising. 'Two men came by to fix our fridge, but I have a feeling it might be more than that..."

Six months ago...

"Thanks for fixing the fridge," Carl Hazelton said.

"Anytime," Fred, the person who fixed their fridge said. His partner was touring the house, Lisa was in the living room. She watched the other man carefully; he looked suspicious to her.

"You have a lovely home," the partner said.

"Thank you," Liza said.

"Hopefully we can stop by again."

The thought sent a chill up her spine. "I'm going upstairs, mom."

"So, she leaves them downstairs?" Scotty asked.

Will nodded. "That's also the last entry until the day of the murder."

"Will, look up the credit card records for the Hazelton's. That would have been expensive to fix a refrigerator."

Will nodded. He returned an hour later. "Fredrick Carlston, was the only person that was working for Cold CO. that made routine visits to houses. His partner was Michael Jackson. Not the singer." He added when he saw everyone's faces. "And guess where they live now?"

"Don't tell me," Vera said. "Philly."

"Yes."

[beautifulcoldstorm]

Ch. 4

Lilly and Kat arrived at the Animal Control Center, and headed around the back where the horses were kept. "Why are we doing this again?" Kat asked.

"Lisa said that her horse was abused. I'm guessing that she wants him out in the pastures until she gets out," Lilly replied. "The other reason why we're here-" she was cut off by a squeal and a loud crack as something hit the walls of the stall. "Is to gather some evidence from the animals. She's holding out on us, and I want to know why."

There was another crack. "Man, that horse has some anger issues," Kat commented.

"Or he really hates being confined," Lilly countered. Lilly looked around and saw a stable hand not too far from where the two detectives were standing. "Excuse me," she called. The stable hand looked up and walked towards them.

"Can I help you?" the stable hand asked.

"Detectives Rush," Lilly said, flashing her badge while Kat followed suit. "Miller. Philly Homicide."

"Homicide?" the hand replied, startled.

"Relax," Kat said. "We're just here to check out the horse."

The hand snorted. "Good luck. Ever since we got that thing out of the trailer it's been doin' that." Another loud crash. "Won't cooperate with anyone."

"Have you tried tranquilizers?" Kat asked.

"No. No one wants to go near that thing."

"Well we're going to have to do something," Lilly said. "Otherwise-"

She was interrupted by her cell phone. Not recognizing the number, she ignored it. But then it rang again. "Rush."

"Hola," Lisa said on the other end.

"Lisa?" Lilly asked in shock. "How did you get this number."

"Stole it," Lisa replied with a giggle. "Card fell out of your coat pocket."

Lilly rolled her eyes. Followed by another squeal, and crack. "Whoa! Is that Cobalt?" Lisa asked.

"Yes," Lilly replied.

"Put me on speaker."

"Why?"

"It's either that or someone's going to get hurt. I don't think that stall is going to last much longer."

Lilly sighed, then pressed speaker on her phone. "Cobalt," Lisa called. "Cobalt..." The black horse stopped what he was doing and %#$%ed his ears. "Are you causing trouble again? You need to stop right now and let the detectives take you out. You know that your mate likes the blonde. I know you can trust them both..." The black horse just looked at the phone inquisitively, as if he expected his owner to appear out of no where. "Okay, one of you needs to get a halter on him right now. I don't know how long his calm state is going to last."

FI

At Philly PD, Stillman and Valens were behind the glass as Jeffries and Vera interrogated Fred Carlston. "Wait, wait, wait," Fred said. "You think I have something to do with a murder? Give me a break."

"Do you remember the house you visited on June 16?" Jeffries asked.

"Six months ago? Not really."

Vera took out a photo of the Hazelton's and placed it on the table.

"Oh, yeah. They had a nice kid. I forget their last name though... Harper, Hiesman..."

"Hazelton," Nick said.

"Yeah, that's right," Fred said. "But what does that have to do with me?"

"The day after you fixed their frige, their house burned down."

Fred looked shock at that.

"Both Hazelton's died, their kid barely managed to escape."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Fred said, "The last time I saw them, they were alive."

June 17

Lisa and Liza walked into Sear's. "Mrs. Hazelton," Fred said, looking up from his register. "How can I help you today?"

"Actually I just wanted to stop by to give you these, and thank you."

"Our pleasure, Mrs. Hazelton."

"Mom!" Lisa called. "I want to go to the bookstore."

"Alright, Lisa," Liza said. "Kids."

"I know what you mean," Fred said.

"That was the last time I saw her or the kid," Fred said.

"What about your partner, Michael?" Jeffries asked.

"Michael? I haven't seen him in... over a month."

"So, you have no idea where he is?"

"No."

FI

"Well, that was worth the trip," Kat said. "No branding at all on either horse? That's strange."

"We'll have to ask her," Lilly said. She was leading Sapphire, a weimerer, to the car. "But maybe a little company will do her some good and hopefully allow her to open up more."

"Hopefully," Kat agreed.

FI

"Brought you a visitor," Lilly said as she came into Lisa's room.

"Who?" Lisa asked. Saphire walked right in. "Saphire!" The dog walked right up to her, resting her head on Lisa's lap.

"Who's Fred?" Lilly asked.

Lisa shrugged. "I don't know."

"Maybe this will refresh your memory," Lilly said. "The person you saw at the mall with your mother..."

"Oh, that guy!" Lisa said. "He was nice. Not as creepy as that other guy. I think that his name was after a famous singer."

"Michael Jackson," Lilly said.

"Really?"

"Okay, Lisa," Lilly said, "no more games. What happened that night?"

Lisa paused for a moment. "I-I don't remember exactly."

"What do you mean you don't remember exactly?"

"Look, I have memory suppression issues okay? I can hardly remember what I did last week. Comes from being picked on half your life. Want to suppress the bad memories, but eventually you end suppressing all memories and it takes awhile for it to come bak. Pretty much the only time I can remember is if there's an object that's from that night."

Lilly looked at her skeptically, then shrugged. "Alright, then."

She walked out a minute later.

FI

"So how did your chat with Lisa go?" Kat asked when Lilly walked in to the squad room.

"She can't remember anything," Lilly said in a tone that said she did not believe it.

"What?" Kat asked. "She gave full description of the case. How can she not remember anyhing?"

"That's what I want to know. She claims to have memory suppression issues."

"And you don't believe that?"

"Nope."

"Are we sure this isn't some wild goose chase?" Vera asked. "I mean, for all we know, the kid could've started that fire."

"We'll know soon enough," Scotty said. "I talked to the doctors, and they said that Lisa was responding well to the antibiotics. She can be released tomorrow."

"But then she would be handed over to Child Services," Kat mentioned. "We all know what a bad idea that is."

"So who is she going to stay with until all of this is sorted out?" Scotty asked.

Lilly sighed. "She can stay with me." They all looked at her. "What?"

"Now that that's sorted," Stillman said coming in, "What have we got on this 'Michael Jackson' guy?"

"Neighbors haven't seen him for a few days," Scotty said. "His ex-wife said that he was out on a camping trip. But that was over a week ago."

"So basically we have a kid who isn't talking much and a missing suspect," Vera said. "Something ain't right."

"Or someone's hiding more than what they're let on," Lilly said.

[beautifulcoldstorm]

Ch. 5

Police headquarters

"Enough games, Lisa," Lilly said to the pre-teen in the interrogation room the next day. "Tell us what happened that night."

"Nothing happened," Lisa said, not looking at Lilly.

"Funny," Lilly said sracastically. "Because yesterday you were telling me that you didn't remember."

"Okay, fine, you got me," Lisa said, finally looking at her. "I lied about remembering that night. I wasn't lying about my memory issues, though. Depends on how significant is for it to sink into my memory or get suppressed and eventually erased." She sighed. "The last thing I remember was going to bed..."

"Night Lisa," Liza said as the twelve year old got into bed.

"Night, mom," Lisa replied.

"No reading tonight, understand me? You have school in the morning."

Lisa rolled her eyes. "Okay, mom."

Liza turned out the light and left the room. Lisa turned on her music. She opened her eyes a minute later, making sure no one was by the door, and took out her booklight to read another chapter of her book...

"What happened after that?" Lilly asked when Lisa went quiet.

Lisa looked away again, staring at the walls of the room.

"Lisa," Lilly said. "Lisa!" Lisa snapped out of her trance and looked at Lilly. "Lisa, what happened after that?"

"I have no idea. The next thing I knew, I hear someone breaking in..."

Lisa woke up as someone broke into the house downstairs. There was some shouting as her parents started arguing with the culprits. Lisa got out and hid under her bed. She layed there, expecting for someone to come up. She jumped and gasped when she heard two gunshots...

"Gun shots," Lilly said, "are you sure?"

"Would I be here if I wasn't?" Lisa retorted. "Next thing I knew, I smelled smoke and got the heck out of there. I knew I was the only survivor, and no one saw me because of the thick smoke. Made it easier for me to blend in and become invisible."

"How did you get out?"

"The fire started in the corner of my room. But, there was also a fire downstairs, somehow. I escaped by going into the next room and jumping out of the window. I only managed to save a backpack and some stuffed animals. Luckily the tree was near the window so I didn't get hurt."

"So your parents died of gunshots?" Lilly asked again. "That wasn't in the coroner's report."

Lisa shrugged. "I don't know. But that's all I can tell you."

"Why didn't you tell me this before?"

Lisa looked at her darkly. "Because I have fitful dreams because of that night," she growled. "Not really something I want to talk about. I know you have things you don't want to talk about."

Lilly nodded and looked at the mirror. Scotty and John were standing behind it, observing the interrogation. "You think she's telling the truth this time?" Scotty asked as Lilly stood up and left the room.

"Quite honestly, Scotty," John said, "I don't know what to think."

"She's telling the truth," Lilly said coming in.

"How can you tell?" Scotty asked.

"She's very good at lying and manipulating, but she's bad at hiding her feelings sometimes. She had that look in her eyes that told me she was afraid."

FI

"Is there anything else that can lead us to the killers?" Vera asked.

"Not really," Scotty said. "Main reason why it went cold. Most of the evidence went up in flames."

"Got some good news for ya," Kat said coming in to the squad room.

"We could surely use some," Scotty said.

"Found out where Mike was. Hiding in a cabin in the woods. Not too far from where Lisa was."

"Where is he now?"

"Lil' and Jeffries are interrogating him now."

FI

"I already told you," Michael said, "I don't know nuttin' about any murder."

"Mike," Lilly said, "you were hiding out not too far from where I found the daughter of the people who were murdered. Why were you even near her?"

"I don't know who you're talking about," Michael said.

Lilly laughed.

"She's an orhpan now," Jeffries said. "Only you and your partrtner Fred, were at their house around the time of the murders."

"Which puts you two at the top of our suspect list," Lilly added. "Now that little girl has been through enough to last a life time."

"I don't know what-" Michael said before Jeffries cut in. "Where were you on the night of murders?"

"What day was that again?"

"June 17th," Lilly replied.

"I was... I was at the store. Left, then I went to a drug store to get some aspirin."

"Have anyone that can confirm that?" Jeffries asked.

"No. But I wasn't at the Hazelton's if that's what you're asking."

Lilly and Jeffries looked at each other then left the room. "Don't skip town," Jeffries warned.

"What do we do now?" Lilly asked. Lisa was on her laptop, glaring at Vera.

"If Lisa can recognize the voice then maybe we can get a confession out of him. No one knows that she lived."

"Except we said that she did." Lilly sighed. "I'll ask her. Maybe we can solve this one after all." She walked over to Lisa, who was watching something on the internet. "Lisa," Lilly said. Lisa turned to her. "How good are you at remembering voices?"

Lisa shrugged. "Not the best, but I can definitely identify someone. Do it all the time when I listen to the radio."

"That's good," Lilly said. She looked at Jeffries who nodded, then turned back to Lisa. "You said that your parents were arguing?"

Lisa nodded.

"Is there a particular phrase you remember?"

"Uh..." Lisa said. "I don't think so..."

"Think, Lisa," Lilly said. "This is very important."

"You owe me," Lisa said hesitantly. "That's about all I can remember decyphering."

"Okay, good," Lilly said as Lisa got up; leading her to one of the back rooms. There were several men there on the otherside of the window their backs turned toward them. "You know how this works?"

"Yes, I've watched one too many crime dramas not to know how this works."

"Number one speak," Jeffries said into the intercom once Lilly told him the phrase.

"You owe me."

"Number two."

"You owe me."

"Number three."

"You owe me."

"Number four."

"You owe me."

"Number five."

"You owe me."

Lisa shook her head slightly at the first four as she concentrated on their voices. She didn't shake her head at number five, though, and Lilly saw a flicker of recognition in her eyes. Jeffries continued down the line. "Number six-"

"Wait," Lisa said. Jeffries turned to look at her. "Have number five repeat himself, but in a more angrier tone."

"Number five repeat, more angrier."

"What? This is insane-"

"Repeat yourself, number five," Jeffries repeated more forcefully.

"You owe me."

"That's him," Lisa said. "No doubt about it, that's the son of a gun who broke into the house."

"Okay," Lilly said. "Thanks, Lisa."

"Number five stay," Jeffries said into the intercom. "Everyone else, you are dismissed."

Lilly walked Lisa out then turned back to Jeffries. "Well, now we can put him at the scene of the crime."

Jeffries nodded as they walked out.

"Lilly," Lisa said beside the door.

Lilly turned to her. "Yes?"

"I think there's something I forgot to mention. There were two men there. Not just one. I just now remembered that. He's one of them."

"Did you recognize the other voice at all?"

Lisa shook her head. "No."

"So, we have one, but where's the other?" Lilly said as she turned back to Jeffries.

Will shrugged.

FI

Lilly took Lisa back to her house later that night. "Thanks again for letting me stay over," Lisa said as they were putting down the sheets on the couch. "If Foster Care is as bad as I hear it is, I think I would probably have ended up in a couple of fights."

Lilly shook her head at Lisa's exaggeration. "I just thought that maybe staying at a real home would be better for you until this case is solved."

"Well, I do like cats. Especially Snow's fur," Lisa said, pointing at the three-legged white cat.

"Most people call her tripod," Lilly said.

Lisa giggled. "Well that's mean. If anything Snowpod is a better name."

Lilly smiled, finished putting the sheets on the couch, said good night, and headed upstairs to her room.

FI

"Anything, new?" Lilly asked as she came into the squad room.

"Where's the kid?" Vera asked.

"Asleep at home," Lilly replied.

"Well nothing new as of yet," Scotty said. "But we're bringing Michael back in for some more questioning."

FI

"Oh, boy," Kat said to Michael in the interrogation room. "You've done it this time, Michael. Double murder with an attempted third."

"What?" Michael asked.

"That's going to get you the needle in your arm," Jeffries added.

"I already told you I wasn't there."

"We have a witness who says otherwise," Kat said.

"She recognized your voice,"Jeffries put in. "I would start talking if I were you."

"The deal's not going to get any better."

"Who's the witness?" Michael asked.

"Who's your partner?" Kat countered.

"What?"

"Our witness said you had a partner also. Things are not looking too good for you as it is."

"Give us the name of your partner," Jeffries offered, "and we'll talk to the DA about making a deal."

"I want a lawyer."

On the otherside of the window, Lilly, Scotty, and John sighed.

"What happens now?" Lilly asked.

"Go over the evidence again," John said. "There might be something we overlooked."

Lilly nodded and followed Scotty out. They ran into Detective Vera, who had a smile all over his face. "What are you so happy about?" Scotty asked.

"Turns out that some of the jewelry that belonged to the Hazelton's was pawned," Vera said. "Particularly an amethyst necklace worth over a tquarter million dollars."

Scotty whistled.

"The guy paid cash?" Lilly asked.

"Yes, but he didn't hide from the cameras, and he even left his name and address there."

"Who does that?" Scotty asked.

"Someone who's gloating about a crime they did," Lilly said. "Is that a picture of our perb?" Vera nodded and handed it over to her. The picture showed someone in a baseball cap with sunglasses, but his entire face showed otherwise. "Maybe if we run this through facial recognition we'll get a hit."

"Way ahead of you, Rush," Nick said. "His name's 'Pyro', aka Johnny Smokescreen. Has a history of playing with fire and works with Jackson. Guess where he's living right now?"

"Philly."

FI

"Well, well, Johnny boy," Scotty said, "looks like you have quite a rep."

"Arson, joy riding, battery, assault on a teacher," Lilly read off, "quite a life."

Johnny smirked. "You have no idea."

"Ah, but you forgot about the murders, Lil," Scotty pointed out.

Johnny laughed. "What murder? I haven't killed anyone."

"Now that's where you're wrong," Lilly said. "June 17th. Where were you that night?"

"Probably out partyin'," John said casually. "You know how we college kids like to do that."

"Well, I know how you boys like to get your game on," Lilly countered. "And I know how some of you like to watch people suffer."

"And animals," Scotty added. "Tortured three cats when you were ten. And that's just the beginning."

"Tell us what it was like, John," Lilly taunted. "To watch the life go out of the Hazelton's eyes as you watched them die. I bet it didn't make a bit of a difference. "

"Who?"

"The people you killed six months ago," Scotty said. "What happened? Did you just decide to break into the house because your buddy, Mike, gave you the address and you knew that they had jewels?"

"We have a witness that can put you at the house the night of the murders," Lilly said. "They'll be coming tomorrow for a voice identification."

"And if it's you..." Scotty shook his head. "That'll be the end of it."

"If you're going to charge me with somethin'," Johnny said, "then do it. Otherwise I'll be back here tomorrow, and go home a free man."

[beautifulcoldstorm]

Ch. 6

Lilly brought dinner home that night. She wanted nothing more than to just drop dead into bed, but she knew that Lisa would probably want something more than a sandwich; so she bought some pizza. As she entered the house, Lisa was on the couch making something that involved yarn. It looked like she was knitting. "What's that you're knitting there?"

Lisa rolled her eyes. "It's crocheting and- do I smell pizza?"

Lilly laughed. "Better come get it while it's still hot."

Lisa dropped what she was doing and raced over to the pizza box. "Pepperoni, my favorite!" She grabbed three slices and then sat down at the table. Lilly only grabbed one.

"So what's the difference between knitting and crocheting?" Lilly asked.

"Stitches I hear are different, " Lisa replied. "And then there's the fact that knitting has two needles, while crocheting requires only one. Knitting is also harder."

Lilly nodded and took another bite of her pizza while Lisa went for seconds. "Do you think you can come back in tomorrow for another voice recognition?"

Lisa nodded. "If it means you finally caught the dirtbags."

"You do realize after this case is over I will have to take you to one of the Foster Care centers, right?"

Lisa nodded sadly. "Yeah. But, you'll still come to visit, right?"

Lilly nodded. "Sure will."

FI

Lisa sat behind the mirror as she watched Lilly interrogate Johnny. She turned to John a few minutes later and nodded. Scotty went inside the room. "Well, looks like your luck just ran out, Johnny boy."

"What are you talking about?"

"Our witness just confirmed that you were the other person at the house was murdered."

"Question is," Lilly said., "who gets the deal? We know you had a partner, and we have him in custody also. The first person to talk gets the deal..."

FI

Meanwhile, in the other interrogation room...

"Johnny's talking," Kat said. "Looks like he's going to get the deal first."

"Johnny?" Mike asked.

"You know," Vera said, "your partner at the store? He worked in the back with you while Fred worked up front. Said that the gun and arson thing was all your idea and that you pulled the trigger."

"What?" Mike exclaimed. "That's a lie! He pulled the trigger!"

"Thought you weren't there that night?" Kat said.

Mike sighed. "Alright, I was. But I was only there to get the jewelry, okay? Nothing else. Johnny tagged along. And.. that's when it all went south..."

Johnny broke a window with a loud CRASH. "Sssshhhh!" Mike said. "Do you really want to get us caught?"

"Relax, will ya?" Johnny said, as he climbed through the window. "No one's up around this time anyway."

Michael folllowed. He led Johnny to the jewelry box that was on the counter in the kitchen. The lights went on, and the two men turned to see the couple behind them.

"What is this?" Carl demanded.

"Just a little payment," Johnny said.

"I want you to get out of this house before I call the cops."

"You owe me!" Mike said, hoping that the fear didn't show in his voice.

Liza headed toward the phone, and Johnny brought out his revolver, shooting her in the back. "Liza!" Carl cried. Mike looked at Johnny stunned. Johnny turned the gun on Carl and shot him also. "What are you doin'?" Mike cried. "Do you realize what you've just done?"

"Fixed some loose ends."

"They have a kid."

"What?"

"They have a daughter."

"Look, I'll take care of this, just go."

One hour later...

Lisa crawls out from under her bed, grabbing a bag and the closest stuffed animals she could find. She didn't need to go downstairs to know that her parents were dead. It was obvious. Lisa went into the bedroom next door and opened the window. The branch was really close to the window; it only required a small jump to get across. She climbed down the tree and ran as fast as she could. Leaving the life she knew behind...

Mike signed a confession and was led out by Kat, while Lilly and Scotty recieved the news from Jeffries. Scotty led him out. Lisa walked over to Lilly, and the two watched the killers go.

FI

Kat went home after work and hugged her daughter. They started to talk about school and how their days were.

FI

Scotty was in the evidence room, closing the lid to the Hazelton cases and marking them closed. He had the paper work now to send to Florida. First, though, he called his mother from his cell phone to see how she was doing.

FI

Lilly and Lisa went to the Foster Care center the next day, a trailer behind them that held the horses. Lisa got out of the car and started to walk toward the center. Lilly watched, and saw the Hazelton's standing not too far from where their daughter was. Lisa turned toward them and smiled. They smiled back as they faded away. Lisa turned back to Lilly, and Lilly followed Lisa inside the Center.

[beautifulcoldstorm]

Author's Notes: Okay, I tried to make this as close to a Cold Case episode as possible. Any ideas on stuff that can make this story possibly go smoother, let me know. It may be choppy, because the only thing I really had was Lisa meeting Lilly, the two finding out who the murderers were, and Lilly dropping off Lisa at the end. You'll see what happens in the sequel.

Oh, and this is taking place in season three or four (not sure yet. I'm pretty sure I want it around the fourth season, though).