Finding Mia

IV

MIA

'Hey, I need to talk to you,' Mia was walking through the campus, heading to the library, when a voice stopped her in her tracks. Mia turned, unsure if the person was speaking to her, and the Coach who came into view made her sigh and fold her arms across her chest. Mia raised an eyebrow at Wymack as he stopped in front of her. 'Don't look at me like that.'

'What do you want, Coach?' Mia asked.

'You told me you needed to come to every practice and every game while Neil was on my team,' Wymack said. Mia nodded in agreement. 'And so far you've hardly been to one since the rest of the team showed up. Why?'

'I've been doing other things,' Mia shrugged. 'I have a life, you know.' Wymack swallowed and remained silent. Mia sighed and settled into her other hip. 'Look, I trust Neil to be alone for periods of time. I was just overexaggerating so you'd take me seriously.'

'Why did you think I wouldn't?'

'Because Neil is the only person who ever has, and I don't trust middle aged men. Don't take it personally.' Mia said. Wymack nodded and was silent again, obviously not liking the way this conversation was heading. 'Fine, if you must know, I've been doing research.' Wymack frowned.

'Research?'

'Yes, research,' Mia turned around, knowing Wymack would follow. She was going to show him, then. She had the briefcase with her, she was going to figure out what had happened to Kayleigh Day, because Mia knew nothing about her death was accidental.

She didn't tell Wymack any of this, however, until they were in her little corner of the library, and she'd taken out all her things. 'Can I?' Wymack asked. Mia nodded and he picked up the files and photos, looking through them thoroughly. When he'd read enough, Wymack looked up with a frown. Mia was sitting across from him, arms folded. Watching. 'You're researching Kayleigh?'

'Yes,' Mia said. 'But more specifically, her death and the events leading up to and following after it.' Wymack nodded slowly and went back to reading the files.

'And you're sure it wasn't really an accident?' Wymack asked a few minutes later, looking up from the files with a hopeful gleam in his eye.

'And you're sure it was?' Mia responded. That seemed to both confuse and clear Wymack's mind, because he stood, leaving the files on the desk. 'Remember, nothing said or learned here leaves here.' Wymack nodded and left, letting Mia get back to her research.

By now, she had a board with transcripts of every interview Kayleigh or Tetsuji had been part of in the year leading up to Kayleigh's death. There were personal accounts from Kayleigh's family members and close friends back in Ireland, and members of the extended mafia had been in contact and were willing to send over their own knowledge of Kayleigh Day's relationship with Tetsuji. Mia was the first person to show interest in Kayleigh's case in ten years, after it had been dropped a few years after her death.

Kevin would probably be one of the last people Mia would tell about her private investigation, mostly because of his tendency to not listen to anything Mia had to say if it didn't involve Exy. Even if it was about his own safety. Mia bet on the idea that he was in denial about it all, convinced that his mother's death was an accident.

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Mia proved Wymack wrong by going to practice that night. She showed up late, not having any real reason to be there, but showed up nonetheless. It was pretty uneventful and normal - fights between Kevin and Seth, Kevin yelling at the players, Andrew standing around in goal doing absolutely nothing - and Mia sat in the bleachers, watching from afar. Nobody even noticed her come in. Not even Wymack, standing on the outside of the court while the team scrimmaged.