November Falls

Chapter 2

When the Unsolved Cases Detectives took on a new case, there was a routine they tended to follow. Joe would go down to records - in the basement of the department, the rooms they had worked out of until recently. While he was digging out the boxes, the others readied themselves for the start of a case.

Sara cleared off the whiteboard, snapping photographs beforehand, just in case they needed it later. Anika called in a coffee order; no matter how dedicated they were, there was no way they were tackling a new case on the department sludge, adding in a few pastries because, hey, it was nearly lunchtime. Ted brought the Lieutenant up to speed on the progress of their other cases (all but ready to go to court, DA willing), probably staying longer to chat about their upcoming fishing trip. And Evelyn had the unenviable job of storing away all the newspaper clippings she had been going through for the past three days. For a refreshing change, since he had no work of his own to do, Nick leaned against his desk and offered 'helpful' advice.

Of course, as soon as Joe came back with the case file and sundry evidence, the atmosphere in the tiny bullpen was all professionalism. When a new case was on the brink of being opened, there was always a sense of anticipation. A fragile hope that this time they could do what their predecessors had failed to. That maybe this time they could offer closure and justice to hearts that had been mourning a loss for far too long.

"Alright," Nick announced, striding to the whiteboard with a marker in hand. "What do we know about Adam Mitchell?"

"He disappeared sometime between two and three am on the morning of May 25, 1996," Sara stated, reading off the file before her.

Nick hummed and made a note on the board, his cursive bold and readable.

Evelyn flipped through her file, scanning the dulled text. "Mother, Louisa, died when he was eighteen. Father, Isaac, died three years later." She tapped her pen on her lip, tilting her head at the file. "Only living relative seems to have been an adopted sibling. A younger brother, Luke."

"Any significant other on file?" Ted wondered, busy looking through Adam's college transcripts in case they offered any clue what happened to him.

"Fat lot of nothing," Anika reported, tossing her file back onto her desk. "Either this kid was a monk or the detectives couldn't be bothered recording that."

Nick scrawled a big question mark under the heading S/O. "Okay, then. What about this brother?"

Joe happily took that one, searching him on the mainframe. "Lucas Mitchell; a few parking tickets, a citation for jaywalking, and a juvenile record for vandalism of school property."

Nick added that to the board, commenting; "Fairly normal for a teenager, then."

"Who reached SAT times without wanting to vandalise some school property?" Joe agreed affably, taking an obnoxious slurp of his coffee.

Evelyn raised her hand sheepishly.

"Come on," Anika smirked, peering at her with disbelieving caramel eyes. "Seriously, Hardy?"

Evelyn shrugged, feeling the heat prickle in her cheeks. "My mom was a history teacher and Dad was on the job. I kinda had to behave." She took a sip of her too-hot coffee, hiding the sad smile on her face. "Don't get me wrong, it did suck sometimes. But I got into the Academy off it, so I can hardly complain about my lot."

"Aww, there's no need to make the rest of us look so bad, Evie," a very familiar voice teased.

Evelyn spun around in her chair, coffee sloshing over onto her hands. The slight burn helped with the shock which lay heavy on her chest. Her eyes shot ice at the visitor, belied by the smile which was threatening to burst over her face.