Lilium

Five

Five

Besides the two suspensions on her school record (one of which was for her less-than-subtle disagreements with a teacher), Lilith Johnson's history was clean. As a result, the fact alone that she was considered a murder suspect was almost outlandish.

One strike against her was that, due to the amount of psychologists she'd visited, it was hinted in Oliver's workplace that Lilith was at the risk of facing debilitating mental issues. The second strike was the frequency in which she changed therapists. Aside from the newest one, a woman named Anika Longsly, Lilith left each therapist after having visited them once.

So what changed?

Oliver reclined in his chair, biting the tip of his thumb and raising Lilith's folder to eye level. Seeing his younger sister's sullen frown made his stomach turn.

What are you getting in to?

He sighed and set the file down, turning next to the one beside it. The folder he'd asked for that morning. The one on Anika Longsly.

Oliver flipped through the folder almost absent-mindedly. Nothing really set Anika apart from the other therapists Lilith had visited. Rather, while still being more stable than Erik Carter (and really, who wasn't?), there was nothing about her that would've tempted Lilith Johnson to stay.

But then, why had she kept jumping ship in the first place?

Oliver switched again to Lilith's file, read it through for the fifth time that day, and finally set it back down.

This doesn't make sense.

He looked up only when Arthur stood before him and rapped his knuckles against the desk.

"Morning, Sully."

"Hard at work?"

Oliver shrugged. "You could say that."

Arthur looked to the pile of folders on Oliver's desk. "I see you've been doing some reading."

"Indeed."

"Anything interesting?"

"Only the confusion."

"Ah." Arthur took several steps back, coming to a stop against Rei's desk. "Of what sort?"

"Things aren't adding up," Oliver replied.

"Oh?"

Oliver handed him Lilith's file, then Anika's.

"Switched between six shrinks, leaving the first after only one meet and going to the next. In one case, the therapist died a week after their visit, so that one is justified. Otherwise, the only person I could see her leaving was Erik; he was an outlier. But then there's Anika Longsly. There's nothing that set her apart from the others, so why has Lilith stayed?" Oliver shook his head. "It doesn't make sense..."

"How many times have they met?" Arthur asked.

"Twice. And if the schedule is to be believed, they met earlier today as well."

"That's not unusual. Maybe she likes this one. Or maybe she was forced to stick with her."

Oliver arched an eyebrow. "My father has us well off. Money isn't an issue."

"You mean he has her well off. And that's not what I meant."

"Lilith's temperamental, but there had to have been a reason..." Oliver trailed off, his thoughts taking him elsewhere. It was only when Arthur snapped his fingers in front of Oliver's focus that he came back to.