A Hard Case

Chapter 1

Lucas Philips looks around at his new house. He had just moved out of his parent's place. The house was two stories and had seven rooms, a bathroom in each and one not, a kitchen with an island, and a good size living room. Lucas has gray eyes and raven-black hair. He unpacked quickly and went for a walk. When he got to the park he paused to look at a bluebird. As he did he noticed a pregnant woman sitting on a bench. With blonde hair. He couldn't see her eyes at the moment. She was watching a young child play. After a few minutes of watching her, he went over.

"Hello."

The woman looked at him. Goodness! She has green eyes. "Hi," she said, politely.

"I'm Lucas Philips."

"Kaitlyn Chapper."

"Your first," he asked, motioning to her midsection.

She smiled. "Nah, this is my second. My first is over there." She pointed to the slide. A girl about three was getting off the slide. She had the same hair as her mother.

"She's cute. How old is she?"

"Three." He guessed correctly then. "Her name is August. I hope you don't find it rude but how old are you?"

"Twenty, you?"

"Nineteen. Where do you work?

Nineteen, he thought. "I'm a detective. Where do you work?"

"I am a writer."

"Married?"

She shook her head. "August! Time to go home. It was nice meeting you, Mr. Philips." He watched her walk away, thinking. She seemed nervous, He thought to himself, is it because she found out I am with the law? He went home and tried to sleep but couldn't. All he could do was think about her. Giving up on sleep, he went on his computer and googled her. Turns out her parents were murdered by a store manager. They died when she was thirteen. She was then put in an orphanage. She ran from that orphanage when she was sixteen.

Probably when she was pregnant with August, he thought. He dug deeper and discovered that the manager had gotten bailed out. The manager had found Kaitlyn and had raped her. He hadn't gotten arrested for it. August's father was the same person who killed her parents. Lucas had arrested the store manager a month ago. Lucas made the decision that he would go to the park again. Hopefully, I'll see her there, Lucas thought. With that thought, he went to bed. In the morning he made himself breakfast and coffee. After eating he put coffee in a travel cup and left.

She was there, sitting on the same bench. He went over to her.

"Hello, Miss Chapper."

She looked at him and smiled. "Hi, Mr. Philips. Nice to see you again. Did you come here just to see me?"

"Yes. I found something out about you."

"Like?"

"Your parents, the store manager, and who August's father is."

She sighed. "How?"

"First, I am a detective. Second, I googled you. They put most of the things on there."

"Ah, the web. You can find anything there. They let him go. He didn't get any jail time for raping me."

"Yeah, they let him go. What no one seems to realize, however, is that I had arrested him a month ago. I can assure you that he is still in jail." He will stay that way, he added silently.

"You did? That's great! I was worried he would come after me and take August."

"Who is the father of the child you are currently carrying?"