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What She Never Knew	By : SisterWine Category: 1 through F > Cold Case Views: 481 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Cold Case or any of its characters. My Characters are The Canne family, Monica and Stacy and Travis DiNuccio. Please do not sue. This is FICTION. I make no money.

Chapter List
- 1-One
- 2-Two
- 3-Three
- 4-Four
- 5-Five
- 6-Six
- 7-Seven
- 8-Eight
- 9-Nine
- 4
- 5
- 6
Scotty looked up from writing and held the pen at the finish of the last letter he wrote. "That didn't strike you as odd? I mean, you had just seduced the houseboy and then turned around and told him how cheap he was by leaving a five dollar tip on the nightstand? Then, to make matters worse, you parade yourself around in front of him like nothing happened. Did your boyfriend see this?" He sat back and shifted to hold up the pen and help her focus on what he was saying. "I've already talked to Sergeant Hicks of the LAPD and he remembers that night that Mark, your boyfriend, was picked up for trying to do a beer run in the Hollywood Hills area. Hicks said he didn't want to talk about why he had dirt and dried blood on his clothes. Maybe you can tell us what happened?"
"I don't know what happened!" Jennifer's brow furrowed and she shifted on the bed. Worry graced her expression and she shook her head and stared at Scotty. "All I know is that Becky sent Travis out for some groceries. He didn't have a car so I drove him... to the store. When we came out, Mark and his friends were parked in front of my car. Mark was a jealoous but a good guy. Travis really liked Mark's car; a gorgeous, cherry red convertable from 1967. Cherry, right?" She glanced from Scotty to Lily and back, taking a ragged breath. "Mark was talking to me and his friend noticed Travis 'staring' at the car." She bit her lip out of nervousness. "Mark asked Travis if he wanted to go for a ride. Travis thought about it and-- I could see he really wanted to. But, he said no and that he had to get the groceries home so that Becky could fix supper. Mark promised that he would take Travis home and that they would follow me." She shook her head and shifted nervously. "I should have said something. Mark... All Travis wanted was to belong, have friends." She stared at the floor and raked her bottom teeth over her top lip, thinking of what to say. "They were behind me for like two blocks. When I got home, no Mark or Travis. I called him on his cellphone and he said Travis wanted more of a ride and so, they were going up to the Hills, to watch the sunset. He said he wanted to show him the sign." She stared at the ceiling as the memory flooded her mind. "I should have done something... gone after them. Anything. Maybe Travis would still be alive...?"
Lily looked up from the sketches and stared at the woman. "This was a week after you and Travis got romantic...?"
Jennifer nodded. "I would give anything to relive that day and stop him from getting in that damned car."
"So, how did Mark find out about you two, if Travis never said anything?" Scotty's eyebrows knitted together as he listened.
"I don't know. It could be the end of the world but, you'd never know it from Travis. Like I said, Mark was a good guy but really jealous about his girl. He always treated Travis like... subhuman. At home, at school, anywhere they came face to face. Sometimes, it was intentional." Jennifer paused to look at Scotty. "Every Sunday, Travis would slip away and walk down to the cemetery, to put a rose on his mother's grave. One of those days, Mark and I were coming back from getting ice cream at the mall and saw him walking. Mark crept the car behind him and chased him down. He drove up onto the sidewalk and forced Travis to jump into some lady's yard and cower behind a tree. Mark didn't even stop, he just drove away laughing like it was the most funniest thing ever. We were still in high school then."
Lily moved to grab a tissue from the box on the night stand and hand it to Jennifer as she asked her next question. "Were any charges filed?"
Shaking her head, Jennifer wiped her eyes with the tissue. "Nope. Couldn't find any trace of Travis, anywhere. Like he... he vanished. All they had was Mark's word and all he would say was that he and Travis had 'a disagreement' and then Travis walked away." She sniffled and jumped as her mobile rang from sitting on the nightstand. Moving to pick it up, she stared at the ID. "My sister. She's watching my son." Flipping it open and pressing the green button, she held it to her ear. "Hi Ray." Trying to hide the sadness in her voice, her breath caught as she hear another voice on the other end of the line. "Hi baby! How was school? Yeah? Good job! I miss you too, so much. I'll be home soon, okay? I won't miss it. I promise. You be a good boy and I might bring home a big surprise for you, okay? I love you, too. Can I speak to Aunt Rachel, please? Homework before TV!" She paused and glanced up at the two detectives that both watched her and listened to her. "Ray, um... yes, he can have a cookie before bed. Listen, Ray, I'm going to need to stay here for a few more days. I kn- I know... I know. Ray...? Thanks." With a sigh of relief, Jennifer hung up and dropped the mobile onto the bed, next to her.
Lily asked if she could borrow the sketchbook and eyed it with an idea. On Jennifer's agreeance, the two detectives left and headed back to Lily's car.
"How's a sketchpad gonna help solve this one? He disappeared off the face of the earth." Scotty stopped at his door and waited before opening it.
Lily opened her door and then leant over the hood to talk to him. "Maybe nothing but, drawings this good, would you do something else, if you escaped with your life?" She smiled as Scotty finally caught on to her thinking and then turned to sit down in the passenger seat, the sketchbook on her lap.
~~~~~~~
"There's gotta be five hundred art galleries in the city alone. That's bettin' that he's still here, if alive." Scotty closed the door after sitting down and buckling his seat belt. Sliding the key into the ignition and turning it, he glanced down at the sketchbook and sighed, thinking about the hundreds of hours they would have to ask every single art gallery in town, just to find one missing person.
Lily nodded and wasn't looking forward to the work, either but she had an idea of where to start. "So, we go back over the investigator's reports and find Travis' last known vicinity. We can start there." She sighed as Scotty pulled away from the curb and headed back to the precinct.
After a debrief with the boss and given the go-ahead while the lull continued, Scotty pulled the investigator's file and searched for the phone number to contact him. Clearing his throat and picking up the desk phone, he dialed the Los Angeles number and waited for the man to answer. "Mister Landis? My name is Detective Scott Valens with the Philadeplhia Homicide. I understand a young woman came to you a few years ago, looking for an old houseboy her family took in. Her name's Jennifer Canne. Ring any bells?" He sat down in his chair and cleaned off a place to write in his pad, pen poised to take down what the man said.
"Yea, I remeber her. She was looking for some kid by the name of Trevor... or something like it, right?" The man on the other end scratched his head and leant back in his 40's style swivel chair. His voice was hard, even though the years mounted against him and the drink caused it to become rougher than it was. He fancied himself a noir detective, even though he had retired from the LAPD and started a proper agency five years before Jennifer knocked on his door.
Scotty nodded. "Travis. Went missing back in '99."
The older man of 67 nodded and took a swig of his bourbon in a small glass tumbler, replacing the bottle back onto his desk. He fashioned himself as his hero gumshoe and often used archaic methods in his work yet, he managed to get high results and promising leads that often turned into a solved case. This case though, was the one that go away. "I remember now. The Canne Case. You were suckered into it, too, huh?" He took a gulp of his drink and replaced the glass onto the desk, beside the bottle.
His pen still poised to write but he set it down and glanced up at Lily, who stopped at her desk and sat down in her chair. "What do you mean, 'suckered into it'?"
Artie Landis sat up and poured another drink for himself, taking another gulp before answering the question. He found his daily life consisting of sitting in an old office with a slow moving ceiling fan and a yellow light, exciting. "I'm gonna tell you the same thing I got told. 'Leave it alone.' He don't wanna be found."
All colour and expression draining from Scotty's face, he shifted in his seat. "Told by whom? Travis? You're telling me you found him? Why didn't you say anything? Why tell her you didn't find him? Or, did he buy you off with even more than what she was paying you?" Tracing over and over the capital letters at the top of the page with his pen, he showed it to Lily, "TRAVIS FOUND" and then replaced it on his desk and readied his pen again.
Landis shivered and sat back in his chair. "Look, I did my share walkin the beat. After 40 years on the job, I've seen my share of crimes against humanity and a lot more. I read the police reports, interviewed the family and friends, they all said the same thing. Picking at a scraped knee never heals. Think of it as Witness Protection. Have a nice day, Detective."
"Mister Landis, murder is still pending on this case. Now, even though they never found his body, Jennifer's boyfriend was still arrested wearing blood and dirt-stained clothes that he wouldn't account for. Travis is the only one that knows what happened that night. Even attempted murder should be punished. Don't you agree, Seargant?" Scotty almost yelled into the phone, thinking the man would hang up after telling him goodbye but there was never a tone stating that the call had ended.
Silence gripped the line for a long while until Landis sighed and opened a desk drawer to rifle through his old files. Finding the file he wanted, he pulled it out of the drawer and slapped it down on the desk, opening it with a sigh. "He had a dame in West Pilly by the name of Terri Donovan. She worked at a sandwich joint, downtown. I stopped in for a bite to eat, got lucky. After that day, case closed. I told her what I was told. Now, I'm telling you. This ain't no Halloween prank gone wrong. He deserves his peace. Let it be." Landis hung up before Scotty could ask more questions.
Scotty scribbled down the name before he hung up the phone that was already buzzing the dial tone in his ear and smiled as he turned to his partner, holding up the pad for the second time. "Got a name."
~~~~~~~~
It was just after 10AM, the next day, when Scotty opened the door to the hole-in-the-wall deli, The Bread Wrapper, and followed behind Lily as she walked in. It was a cozy place with wooden tables and benches and checkered table cloths. The smell of fresh baked bread weighed thick in the air as they stepped up to the countre and caught the manager's attention.
"Sit anywhere, folks!" The man of 43 waved to them and smiled as they stepped up to the highrise glass case, displaying the breads and meats.
Scotty held up his badge and introduced themselves and asked if Terri was working.
The smile dropped from his face as Ed Carson stepped closer to them. "She works four to close. She do something wrong?" The man swallowed and wiped his hands on his bibapron. His blue eyes widened in horror of what might have happened to one of his most requested waitresses.
Lily took a breath. "We're Homicide, actually. We reopened an old case from Los Angeles and were given her name."
"Oh god," The colour drained from his face and he immediately felt ill, "did something happen to Joe?"
Scotty shilfted. "Joe?"
Ed reached behind him and untied his apron before waving them around to the back room, where his small office was, for privacy. "Joe is her boyfriend. His sister comes here every year, from LA. Nice guy but, I can't imagine he did anything wrong." He talked over his shoulder to them as he lead them down the short hallway to the office and offered them a chair in front of his cramped desk. He sat down in his chair and was handed a candid photo of Travis, from Jennifer's party. "Yeah, yeah, that's Joe. Looks so young, there."
Lily held the photo and watched as the man nodded, staring at Travis in wonder. "Does 'Joe' ever talk about Los Angeles?"
Shaking his head, Ed leant on the desk in curiosity and shock of having two Homicide detectives questioning him. "No. He gets kinda anxious when his sister comes to town, though."
Lily replaced the photo in her billfold as Scotty asked what she was thinking.
"This sister, ever see her? Can you describe her?" Scotty took out his notepad and pen to write down the description.
Ed swallowed and took a long breath. "Well, she's older than him, by a couple of years. I'm pretty sure he's adopted but she has blonde hair, blue eyes, pretty. Her name's uh... Rayanne-- Rachel. She's a doctor, I think." He looked from one detective to the other. "Why is Philly Homicide looking into a case from LAPD?"
Scotty looked up from writing as the familiar name hit his ears and leveled his tone at the worried manager. "They think a witness might be out this way. Joe ever tell you anything else about himself? Like a last name? How long he's lived here?"
"His last name's Carmine. Joseph Carmine." Ed cleared his throat and shook his head again. "No, no. He said he's lived here for about six years. He just said it was a bad time and, I guess, after that kind of accident, a man deserves his privacy. But, I don't get the feeling like he's a bad kid, ya know? I mean, he treats Terri good, takes her out, hangs out here, draws in his sketchbook, that sort of thing. The gallery down the street has a couple of his paintings." Again, he eyes shifted from one detective to the other, trying to read them as either real or fake cops.
"Have you ever heard the name, Travis DiNuccio?" Lily asked.
"Nope. You're telling me, Joe is this Travis guy? Not possible. I know crazy things happen in California but, this kid... he'd never do anything violent." Ed gave a short laugh and leant back in his chair, not really wanting to believe what he was hearing about someone he called friend.
Both detectives looked at each other but neither would confirm or deny the answer to the question. "Do you have an address for Terri?"
~~~~~~~~
Old City, PA
Scotty noted the small, single-person lift at the end of the hall and noted the fancy carpet on the floor that had only been replaced six months prior. "This place is nicer than my building." He grinned as Lily tossed a sarcastic smile over her shoulder at him. "Seriously. I might pick up a brochure, even if it's the wrong address."
"Maybe we could get them to let you look around to better decide?" Lily snickered as they approached the door.
With the same sarcastic tone, Scotty teased back. "Think so?"
Lily knocked on the door of 4H whilst Scotty stood just out of door range, in case anything went wrong. They waited for a minute but paused from knocking again as they heard movement coming from inside and then the chainlock sliding into place before the door opened.
"Yes?" A puzzled young man with short black hair, wearing a gray jumper answered the door. Due to the chain being in place, the door only showed two inches of him.
Scotty turned from his sideways stance and looked at the young man closer. "Joseph Carmine?"
The man took a ragged breath but refused to let the detectives see his worry. "Yes. I'm Joe. What's this about?" He held his breath and hoped it was about the broken street light and the armed robbery last Thursday that he witnessed.
He could see the anxiety of the young man's expression as he held up his badge. "I'm Detective Valens and this is my partner, Detective Rush. Might we have a word with you? We are investigating a report of a witness from Los Angeles, of an incident that happened back in '99." Scotty had wanted to keep it as light as possible in hopes that he would open up and talk about what happened. But, just in case not, he wasn't holding his breath.
"Los Angeles." Joe repeated, half questioning. "No, I'm sorry. I can't help you."
Lily removed her billfold and held up the photo of Travis at the party. "Do you know this man?" She showed him the photo and paid close attention to his expression as he stared at it.
Joe swallowed, his breath ragged. A shiver ran down his back. His eyes widened at the sight of the original photo. "No, I'm sorry. I can't help you. Please go away." He turned away from the photo and started to shut the door when Lily spoke again.
"Travis. This is you, isn't it?" The door was halfway closed when her words stopped him and it opened again.
Joe paused but didn't look at them. "He died. Ten years ago. Leave him dead." From behind him a voice spoke up and asked him who it was and he turned to acknowledge them. "It's the police, scratching old wounds again."
Whilst Joe had turned to talk to the woman behind him, Scotty looked in and saw a metal crutch Joe was leaning on. The metal band around his forearm and the handle he held onto was more than enough evidence to remind him of what Landis was talking about. His eyes fixed to the cane and he nudged Lily to notice it too.
Lily lowered the photo and glanced over at her partner. "Philadelphia Police, ma'am. Mind if we have a word?" Lily spoke up.
Joe turned around, anger apparent on his face. "Yes, I do. The man in that photo is dead. Died in Los Angeles. Not your concern. Good day, Detectives." He closed the door and moved away from it. Hushed voices came from inside as the two detectives turned away and started to walk back to the lift.
The door opned behind them and there were footsteps coming towards them, hurriedly.
"Hey, you the two asking about Joe?" A woman young woman stopped a few feet from them and folded her arms as they turned around.
Scotty spoke up as the woman stopped. "Terri?"
A stern look on the woman's face told them she was just as unhappy as Joe, at their showing up. "Yea, I'm Terri and you people need to stop harrassing him. I don't know what went on 10 years ago but, this is harrassment. Whatever happened, it took years for him to just hold my hand and not flinch at every little thing around us. Years more still to become intimate. You people followed him from Seattle, Chicago, Tucson, Decatur and now here. So, you can go back and tell Miss Priss to get some good therapy, have a nap and then get on with her miserable life. He's spoken for. And then, you can leave us alone. He's been through enough torture and pain. Don't you think he deserves that much?" Long curly black hair had been tied back with a red ribbon, letting the light catch her light bronze skin. Her thin frame hidden under baggy jeans and an old sweatshirt.
"Look, all we want is to ask him what happened the night of June 14th '99. The LAPD has the suspect's version but he was the victim. They'd like to close their case. Also, 'Miss Priss' wants closure, with him, too." Scotty held up his hands to show no contest. He could see she was pretty upset and not for the first time. It wasn't their intention to harrass him, however, they needed answers and Joe was the only witness that had them.
Terri shifted and thought about convincing Joe to give his say and to finally confront Jennifer and the life he had no choice but to leave behind. A chance at freedom came with a hefty and painful price and she wasn't sure she wanted him to go through it again. "That's up to him. I want this over as bad as he does but you don't understand the amount of pain and nightmares he's had to overcome." Terri fumed as she turned and stormed back to her apartment and shut the door behind her.
Scotty and Lily waited for a moment, hearing raised voices come from the same flat they had just left. Then, the door opened again.
Continued.
- 4
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- 6
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What She Never Knew