Auld Lang Syne -Probable Cause (Backdated)

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Adrienne and Wade question Adam Stillman, the young boy Wade saw Molly talking to a few days before.



Adam Stillman's house looked like all of the others on its street. It was a two story structure, blue with white trim and a red door. Eight reindeer sat on the lawn, peeking out from under the snow, while a deflated Santa Claus lay nearby, sprawled out like he'd drank too much leftover eggnog from Christmas.

"Ten points for each reindeer you take out, and fifty for Santy Claus," Adrienne suggested to Wade as they approached the house.

"Don't tempt me," Wade said, lips quirking despite himself. "Besides, it looks like somebody already took Santa out." Pulling up to the curb, he put the car in park and cut the ignition. "Let's go see if this kid's causing our current problem."

"I can't decide if I want him to be or not," muttered Adrienne as she stepped carefully out of the car through the snow and proceeded up the drive. "On one hand if it's just the kid doing something unintentionally, it might be an easy fix," she said, only slipping twice and yanking Wade's arm both times to keep herself from falling on the way up to the house. "Or it could not be an easy fix and we might have to hurt him to keep him from hurting Molly." She cursed loudly when she nearly went down again on the front steps as she knocked on the door, grabbing at Wade again to keep from slipping off the stoop.

Adam opened the door and blinked at them warily. "Hey. It's, uh... Wade, right? Molly's teacher?"

"Molly's friend," Wade corrected, leaning casually against the door frame in an effort to make himself sturdier to Adrienne wouldn't pull him over if she went down. He had a feeling that landing on top of her wouldn't be appreciated - and this way, she could yank on his arm all she wanted. Maybe he'd buy her some work boots or something with better soles for excursions like this. They could be her 'interrogating possible suspects' shoes. Everybody needed a pair. "We're actually here to talk about Molly, if you've got a moment. Something's happened and we're trying to figure out why."

The boy's wary look turned to concern and without really noticing, he pushed the door wide, peering up at the two adults.

"What happened? Is she okay?"

"Why do you think Molly wouldn't be okay?" Adrienne asked with a raised eyebrow. Sure, he looked concerned, but maybe he was just playing with them. "Is there any particular reason why you think she wouldn't be okay?"

"'Cause... 'cause he said something happened." Adam was starting to look genuinely frightened now. "Usually means something bad."

Wade reached over and put a hand on Adrienne's where it was still clutching his jacket. "Molly's having some trouble remembering things and we're a little worried about it, that's all. Sometimes that can happen if somebody's tried to help a friend forget something bad that happened to them. Did Molly talk to you about what happened this past spring at all?"

"No", he said, brow furrowed with a mix of thought, worry and confusion. "I know I didn't see her at the store for awhile, but I just thought she'd found another one or gone on vacation or something, and then she came back and she didn't say anything happened."

While Wade talked to the kid, Adrienne let go of Wade's jacket and stepped past the kid into the house, touching the kid's shoes and jackets that were hanging in the front closet.

"Okay," Wade said, trying to keep the kid's attention on him rather than Adrienne, who seemed to be making herself at home with Adam's shoes or something. "So she didn't mention anything bad happening?" Crap, Wade hated this kind of thing - he was going to wind up sounding like a total whack job - which was saying something, given the way he usually acted. "You didn't try to... I don't know, maybe make her forget something bad? Can you do that? Make people forget things?"

"What? No!" Adam stared at him. "I can't do anything cool like Molly can. And I wouldn't hurt her."

"I believe you wouldn't try to hurt her," Wade said, keeping his voice calm and even as he glanced up toward Adrienne again to see if she was getting a read on anything. "We're just trying to check out all the angles."

"Speaking of angles," Adrienne muttered, getting up as Wade glanced over at her, "I can't find any angle here. There's nothing. No lights, no sounds, no crazy wafty... wafts of cloudy weirdness he sent out at her or physical changes I can get off his shoes or coats to indicate he did anything to Molly. Which I guess corroborates his story," she shrugged, the pointed stare she'd been giving the kid turning into a slight smile. "I guess I should tell Emma?" she offered.

Wade wasn't sure whether he was disappointed or not - on the one hand, it would've been convenient if the kid was the problem because then they could probably figure out what he'd done easily enough and Emma could fix Molly without any further delays. On the other, though, at least one of Molly's friends wasn't totally cray-cray and messing with her head. "Well, Adam - looks like we can move on to the next possibility. Thanks for talking to us this afternoon - we'll keep you posted on Molly and I'm sure she'll be excited to see you the next time she's at the comic shop. McFrosty - shall we?"

"Yeah, we shall," Adrienne nodded. "Thanks kid." She turned away, still clutching Wade's bicep to prevent any more sliding. "How much would it cost me if I asked you to carry me to the car so I don't slip anymore?" she postured offhandedly.

"Wait", Adam said, stepping hurriedly out of the house and looking between the two of them. "I want to know what happened. Somebody hurt Molly? Can I help?"

Wade paused for a moment, tipping his head to the side before saying, "We're not sure Molly's been hurt, necessarily. Just that she's having trouble remembering things. The best thing you can do for her is... send good thoughts her way, okay? If we think of anything specific that you could do for her, we'll definitely let you know."

While Wade placated the kid, Adrienne sent out a mental message to Emma. #We're leaving the Stillman place,# she told her sister. #I couldn't find anything to indicate that the kid is responsible for what's going on with Molly, and Wade grilled him while I searched and seems satisfied that he's being honest about not having powers and not wanting to hurt her.#


~That's not entirely unexpected,~ Emma sent back to her sister. ~But we had to try. Come back to the medlab. Both of you. There's been - developments.~