crowswork
Lily Ellison slammed her door and sulked into her room. She hated her father. She even hated her Uncle Blair.
How hard was it for them to see that she was grown up. She was almost sixteen... in ten months or so... and she could take care of herself. She was a junior in high school, for gosh sakes, a Sentinel, a black belt.
She had been taking care of herself for years... well except for her dad, Blair, grampa Bill and Naomi and Sally and Caroline and Simon and the guys in Major Crime and... well, she could take care of herself if they ever gave her the chance.
Now they had grounded her for sneaking out of the house.
So she went for a ride with a football player. Big deal!
It wasn't a date. And so what if he tried to get her to fool around? She took care of things herself and made him sorry he ever tried laying hands on her.
"I'll show them." Her dad's squad had been searching for the 'Internet Butcher'. The mad man had been luring teenaged girls to Cascade for almost a year. Their bodies -- six so far -- turned up along the banks of the Cascade River.
It wasn't hard to keep up with the case. Uncle Blair was consulting as a profiler and her father was in charge of the case. After he lost his leg in a shoot-out five years ago, Jim Ellison had taken over Simon's job. He still worked cases but left most of the daily grind to the officers in Major Crime. Uncle Simon was the Chief of Police now.
Uncle Blair had lost his wife Megan in the same shoot-out and had moved back into his upstairs apartment, in their old Victorian. It had been easy to get the files out of his computer. The 'Butcher' liked young girls with blue eyes and red hair. The police kept mention of the pink ribbons they'd found stuffed inside the girls throats, out of the press
Lily used the special photo program that her best friend, Sam -- otherwise known as Simon James Banks -- set up for her, to make the pictures. She turned her shoulder length sable hair into a long mane of rich copper gold.
She took some of her old pictures from last year at the beach -- when she looked a lot younger. Then she added one of herself in a little plaid skirt and unbuttoned white blouse that she took with her own web cam. Not that she showed anything, but it was pretty hot, if she did say so herself. Then she posted the photos -- along with some silly dither about wanting to be a ultra-model or a singing star on Idol of the World -- on a couple of 'find a friend' sites.
Lily flopped sullenly on her bed and opened her laptop. "Let's see if any you freaks liked my profile."
Dressed as a turn-of-the-last-century Catholic school girl, Lily walked into the library. The short skirt was itchy wool and the knee-socks made her feet sweat. The long, red wig she wore, was pulled into braids on either side of her face and tied with pink ribbons. It was how he asked her to wear it.
"This jerk thinks I'm fourteen and he's telling me to wear pink ribbons and blue panties." Lily whispered to herself. "Ewww."
She'd arranged the meeting in the library because it was a public place. Well, that and it was the only place besides school she was allowed go.
Tough to go undercover when you're grounded.
Lily let her senses expand the way Blair had taught her. The Library was old and fairly empty. There was a story hour going on in the corner. Several children were listening to a story about bees and buffalos. One by one she studied the men present. Two young men were chest deep in thick books at a table. Another prowled the stacks near the front.
Then the smell hit her. She'd smelled it before -- but never up close until recently. It was disturbing similar to the over-excited football player she'd tossed out of his own car. Lily looked around and saw the man standing above her on the curved staircase across the enormous room.
He was around thirty-five, average sized with average features. The one thing that made him different was that he wasn't reading... he was watching the little kids in the story circle. He hadn't seen her yet. Lily took a deep breath and shook her head. Now that she'd seen him, she realized she was in over her head.
"Dad?" She had dialed her phone without even realizing it. "I'm at the library."
"Isn't Sandburg supposed to pick you up..."
"Listen Dad." Lily interrupted in a low urgent voice. "The Butcher is here. I arranged to meet him and..."
"You what?" Lily heard as her dad ordered half the Cascade Police department to the City Library.
"I'm safe. He hasn't seen me but he's watching some little kids."
"Get out of there now!" She could hear the elevator doors open as her father jogged toward his car in the echoing police garage.
"I'm safer in here with people." Lily whispered. "Just hurry." She looked up and saw the man looking directly at her.
He smiled.
Lily dropped the phone into her purse without turning it off. She knew her dad could still hear everything that was going on. She walked over and sat down at the table near where the two students were sitting.
"Hi Laurie." The Butcher dropped into the chair next to her. The 'excited' smell coming off him almost made her gag. "I'm glad to see you got away. Your dad sounds pretty strict."
"Yeah he is." Lily smiled. To herself she added, 'and he's big and tough and he's gonna send your sorry butt to jail forever.'
"He doesn't understand that people grow up at different rates." He leaned closer and looked at her chest. "I could tell just from talking to you that you were mature for your age."
"Wow." Lily simpered and blinked. "I'm like always telling him that. I'm like... Dad... I'm grown up and all that. I knew you understood."
The man picked up one of her braids and sniffed it.
"Lily Blair Ellison!" The voice hit her like an electric shock. "What is going on?"
"Uncle Blair!" Lily jumped up and spun around. The red wig stayed in the Butcher's hand. Sirens howled as several police cars pulled up around the library.
"You lying little bitch!" The Butcher grabbed her arm and shoved her hard across the table.
Blair Sandburg may have been a tenured college professor and his curly hair may have gone mostly grey. But no one touched his darling Lily Belle. She looked up just in time to see Blair go after the other man in a flurry of tweed and leather elbow patches.
"Watch out." Lily heard the snick as a knife appeared in the Butcher's hand. She reached back and grabbed one of the huge books and threw it at the man. Then she kicked him in the chest as people raced past them for the exit. The kids were running and screaming and the librarian was calling for an orderly evacuation.
"Freeze!" Jim Ellison bellowed. Behind him was a small army of uniformed officers. He had his weapon drawn, but the children were in the way.
The Butcher looked around and Lily could see when panic turned to rage. He grabbed Lily's foot when she kicked at him and dragged her off the table. Blair ducked as the knife flashed close to his face. Then Lily hit the floor head-first with a thud. Jim Ellison, moving faster than he had in years, pulled the man away from his family and made him drop the knife. Lily's eyes widened as she heard several bones snap.
Then it was over.
The Butcher was cuffed and dragged away. Blair was dusted off. Lily was throughly hugged by her father, then her uncle and then her father again..
"Dad?" Lily muttered from where she was crushed against the broad chest.
"Lily." He hugged her for a moment longer then held her at arms length. Her Mary-Janes dangled inches from the floor as his hands wrapped around her upper arms. "You are in so much trouble."
"I'm sorry?"
"You will be."
Lily looked at her Uncle Blair but he looked even more angry than her father. "I'm so sorry that I thought I could go after someone like that and I realized it when I saw him looking at those little kids and I called you cause you said no matter what I could always call you." Lily drew in a loud breath. "You said I should never be afraid to tell you anything and I'm sorry I did something so stupid but I did call you."
Her dad looked from her to Blair. "She learned this from you."
"She's your daughter." Blair grumped.
"Could you put me down, Daddy."
"Don't 'daddy' me." Jim set her on her feet and frowned at her until she cringed.
"I know I'm in trouble." She turned to Blair.
"You'll be lucky if you don't end up in a convent school." Blair snapped.
"I guess I deserve to be grounded."
"You deserve to be bricked up in the coal bin in the cellar!" Blair said sarcastically. "But that's against the law and you know what a stickler your father is about that!"
She thought she saw her dad's lips quirk for a second as he looked at his Guide. That was good. Almost a smile.
"I do deserve to be bricked up." She didn't have to fake the sniffle. "I deserved to get dropped on my head on the marble floor too."
"You hit your head?" He fathers' long fingers ghosted over her skull as he looked into her eyes.
"I'm okay." Lily really felt like crying when she saw how worried he looked. "Might have dented the marble."
Jim shook his head and sighed. "Let's go get you both checked out. Then we'll go home."
"And I get grounded?" Lily couldn't resist asking.
"Until you leave for college." Maybe... hopefully... he was joking just a little.
"Dad!" Lily followed him to the door. "Uncle Blair?"
"Convent School, Lily Belle."
"Grounded sounds fair."
~ The End ~