Precious Illusions

part 2

"This is it," Andy Trudeau confirmed. He gently eased the car up to the curb, as he calmly placed it in park, abruptly freeing the key from the ignition, and tossing it into his jacket pocket. He watched as Phoebe got out of the passenger side, her eyes flicking briefly to his, settling on them a moment, while she hesitantly took a step toward the barren piece of property. She quietly sighed, brushing a shoulder-length, curly strand of brown hair off her cheek, trying to ignore the fact that the wind had begun to pick up speed. The leaves began twinkling on the tree in the distance to her right, making reflective splashes of green and gold in the blackness, tainting the area with vivid color.

"I don't see anything out of the ordinary," she told him, shrugging. "Looks like your average crime scene in a quiet little neighborhood."

He laughed, as he followed behind her. "Hardly. Morris and I were on this street a few weeks ago, arresting an older man for indecent exposure. Flashed a group of women carpooling it to work. One of them actually went into catatonic shock."

She couldn't help but smile. "Bet that was fun."

"Oh, you have no idea," he added, returning the smile. "I'd take homicide any day over that."

"So you really think it could have been a ghost?" she tried, glancing again at the empty confines of the lonely house, her line of vision moving curiously over a decayed pile of flowers that had fallen over and browned to match the dull shade of the lawn.

"Knowing what I now know," he started, "I can't exactly get myself to rule it out yet."

"How close do you think they came to the house when they got here?"

"The paramedics?"

"Cole and Paige," she brought forth. "I mean, if he never even met this guy at work, never talked to him...why all the bad energy?"

"Assuming it was bad," Andy pointed out.

"I'm guessing it had to be if he didn't wanna stick around to find out."

"Can you feel anything?" he prompted, waving his hands about, as he gestured fondly towards the place in front of them.

"Feel anything?"

"Energy?" he brought forth questioningly.

"I'd have to touch something inside," she confirmed, shrugging. "But first things first. I'm not even sure if I'll get a premonition telling me where he is. I mean, if Paige is right, and he's shielding himself, the best we can hope for is the history of this house- what he could've known about it."

"Thought you might say that," he added, a fairly amused expression falling over his face.

"Does that mean you can get me inside?"

"Yeah, well, just don't tell Morris," he offered, extending a hand, as he waited for her to approach the closed door. "He's already convinced I lost it the day I gave up my right to bachelorhood to be with my childhood sweetheart. Who, mind you, also just happens to be a witch."

"But you were married before, weren't you?"

"Not to a witch," he emphasized, nodding.

"Gotcha," she added, pointing a finger at him, as she shot him a small grin.

"Although, I now get the impression Morris has finally come to terms with what the four of you can do."

"Mmm, stranger things have happened."

"I honestly doubt anyone's going to miss this guy at Jackman, Carter, and Klein, though. If what Cole told Paige is true, then I guess it's also safe to assume he doesn't even have anyone doing his laundry or making his bed."

"But the fact that he was a loner really gets me. On the other hand, his neighbor obviously cared enough to call tonight, so that could just indicate he might not have been a total jerk, right?"

"She's seventy-seven," he filled her in. "Mrs. Pollack. She wasn't exactly too forthcoming on why she did it, either. Chances are, she probably just wanted him to shut up."

"Did she see anything?"

"She didn't even have her glasses on. She said she was already in bed with the lights out and a copy of her- and I quote, 'most favorite love story ever,' in the VCR, all set to go."

"Gone With the Wind?"

"Titanic."

"Oh. Well, I guess that explains a lot then."

He just stared at her, trying to mask a small smile, slowly tilting his head with interest. "Okay, and what's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, if you're not into that kinda thing."

"Just for the record, I'm not. But that still doesn't explain to me how you know whatever it is you're not saying."

"Doesn't matter," she quipped lightly, "because My Heart Will Go On."

He let go a soft chuckle, hands on his hips, as he glanced briefly at her. "Look, it's a chick flick, I get it, all right? I'm just really fascinated by the prospect of this actually connecting itself to Derek's death in some way or another."

"Well, we can safely say that whoever it was planned on having some noise in the background, otherwise they wouldn't see fit to go through with their plan." She considered it a moment, mulling it over. "Hey, is there a basement in there, by any chance?"

"If you can call it that," he mused. "The guy who originally sold him this house wasn't exactly big on cleanliness being next to Godliness, so you could probably just call it a really tiny crawl space with lots of cobwebs and spiders."

"You and Darryl didn't check it out?"

"Didn't really see it as being necessary." He carefully eased the front door open, dropping the small key into an evidence bag he tucked securely in the pocket of his windbreaker. "Then again, I can't imagine anyone wanting to go down there to begin with. But just so we're clear, this probably isn't going to go over too well with Internal Affairs."

"I-"

"All things considered, I can't say I really give a crap."

"Now that's the spirit," she insisted, giving him a quick pat on the shoulder. "Let Internal Affairs probe all they want. It's just like you said- if it wasn't you, it'd be one of us. We need answers, Andy, and we're trying to find them. It's that simple. If anything, I'm surprised they haven't already caught on to what Cole's been up to these days."

"Yeah, well, there's always a first time," he offered, raising a brow.

She took in a breath, slowly letting it out. "You know, even if we could get down there in that musty old basement, it's still not going to tell us why he was so spooked."

"You think maybe he recognized this place before the renovations?"

"They remodeled it?"

"Yeah. I'm pretty sure it was in the paper awhile back. Back when I was still alive, in any case," he quietly joked. "I didn't pay too much attention, and nothing really stood out. I somehow doubt it has any relevance, though."

"I wouldn't be so sure," she told him, as she cautiously stepped into the black foyer. "You got a flashlight with you?"

"I don't think they cut the power," he added, as his hand fumbled carelessly in the dark for the switch located to his left. "Should be just the way we left it. In any case, I'm sure Mrs. Pollack will be back to watching her Titanic in no time." He grinned at the thought, rolling his eyes. "Given what we have to go on, the elderly were a pretty easy target in all this, so if a thief wanted to make off with some jewelry, he or she would've had it made. Yet whoever...whatever committed this crime, wasn't interested in any nearby neighbors or valuables. Just Derek."

"Derek's apparently got an elevator."

Andy nodded. "Yeah, he obviously thought he was living the good life. But like I said, nothing gave us any indication that anyone had used it from the outside. Everything was locked up tight for the evening."

"Maybe innocent little Casper found his way to the Underworld," she mused, kidding only slightly, as she forced her feet to hesitantly take another step. A sudden spell of cold began to wash over her, the bottoms of her shoes gracing a fairly plush looking carpet. "Could have made some friends on the side of evil and became one big bad ass demon."

He just frowned, as he continued flipping the switch up and down, failing to get any kind of a response out of it, the space around them futher drawing them into a vast pile of nothingness. "Dammit," he whispered.

"What is it?" she called back, immediately tensing, as she halted her steps, coming to a complete stop right in front of the elevator. A slight chill ran down her spine, her lips quietly parting. "Andy?"

"It won't come on." He shrugged, coming over to stand beside her, his face a clear mask of puzzlement. "I don't understand it. I mean, when Morris and I were by here earlier, the place was lit up like a damn set of Christmas lights." He silently drew his weapon then, hitting the button on the elevator, his blue eyes immediately noting the same refusal and inability to operate, as the air around them remained oddly still. "Good thing this guy wasn't on the thirteenth floor anywhere, because I'm not exactly in the mood to take that many stairs right now."

"You think somebody might've done this as a joke?"

"What purpose would it serve?" he countered. "There's no one here to benefit from it anymore."

"You've got a point there," she added, her eyes fighting to train themselves in the gloom that casually surrounded them. "Something's definitely a little off about this place, and I'm guessing the murder was far from it."

"The common theory about ghosts, is that they usually inhabit and haunt the places they die in, right?"

"It depends," she added. "I mean, Jackson Ward stuck around Alcatraz long enough to find a body without doing any real damage. But as soon as that guard became his ticket out, he was already haunting and hurting the people that put him away."

He nodded, flashing a tight smile. "Yeah, believe me, I remember."

"When Frankie and Lulu took over both me and Cole, they made us two totally different people who robbed jewelry stores and carried guns in churches."

"What?"

"Okay!" she lightly clasped her hands together, offering a rather embarrassed chuckle. "So...what else seems plausible?"

"This guy was a lawyer, right? If it really was your typical run of the mill ghost behind the dirty work, he or she could have picked Derek because he might have been responsible for their downfall, or someone close to them. Ward was capable."

"I think that's stretching it a bit in this scenario," she declared, tossing him a quick look. "For starters, why let him get ahead in his career and prosper? Why not take care of him a hell of a lot sooner?"

"I'd hardly call living here prospering," he joked.

She smirked. "Still, we probably shouldn't discount it." They had climbed the stairs to Derek's bedroom, where the door was as closed as the one they'd entered through downstairs, the narrow hallway filled with numerous shadows from curtains that fluttered briefly when they passed them.

"Ladies first," he offered, somewhat amused, as he abruptly gestured to the door.

"And you're not exactly being a gentleman, if-" She immediately brought her speech to a standstill as soon as her slender hand clasped the doorknob, gasping, a flash of foreboding weaving its way into her system, allowing her to see a single fragment of the future. The events rapidly started to unfold in her head and she found herself powerless once again to stop them. She saw the silhouette of a thin, fragile figure cloaked in layers of shadow, her bare feet gracing a worn carpet that was somewhat plagued with dried clots of blood, its shade of red ripening in color as it quietly aged, undisturbed. The long, straight hair whipped frantically about the person's face, their profile entire shielded, as they calmly placed a long finger to their lips. She was sure it was a woman, even as the premonition began to fade away as soon as it had come, permitting her mind to fight its way back into the confines of the real world.

"Phoebe?"

"I..."

"Are you all right?" Andy's voice sliced through, concern troubling his handsome face, as he quickly put a hand upon her shoulder, giving it a squeeze. "You okay?"

"I think so," she whispered. "I just...I don't get it. I mean, I saw her, I really saw...she was just there."

"Saw who? Where?" he pressed.

"I don't know. I just did," she continued, shaking her head. "It must have been what Cole sensed earlier. It had to be. I don't know how else to explain it, but I...I felt her in there."

"How did she-"

"Afraid," she noted, finally looking up at him. "I think she was afraid. Which might not be so bad, except we don't even know who she is or if she really even exists in some kind of physical form."

"But you just said you saw her in your vision," he reminded her, apparently puzzled.

"Yeah, but it could just mean that she's tied here somehow. That she may be appearing and disappearing at random. It doesn't mean she's here on a permanent basis."

"Right. Well. Why don't you just go on in there and introduce yourself then."

"Andy, I saw the future- chances are, she hasn't even gotten here yet."

"The power was cut," he pointed out.

"Yeah, but that doesn-"

"So we wait."

"No, I think the best thing to do right now, is to find Cole. He's connected to her, Andy. I don't know how or why, but I can feel it."

"Do me a favor and don't run this by Morris either, all right?"

"Darryl knows what we do, remember?"

"Not...that," he countered, his voice suddenly lowering itself. "I don't exactly think we should be dragging Cole into this with Internal Affairs already on my ass. I'm starting to see the bigger picture here, and it isn't very pretty."

"Trust me, it's really not going to be an issue."

"You ready?"

She carefully nodded. "Might as well get it over with."

She placed her hand on the knob again, gently easing it open, her slender frame crawling underneath the yellow crime tape that prevented entry. Andy ducked and followed her in, noting the vague slice of light that shone through from the drapes parted slightly by a nearby window, letting in the glowing piece of moonlight from up above. "You smell that?"

"I see it, too."

"What are you talking about?"

"To your right," she whispered. "On the wall. There." She slowly extended her index finger a few feet ahead.

"Can you make it out?"

"Death and the accused," she quietly read. "Death is worse than dying."

"In her blood, or what's...presumed to be her blood," he noted, securing and tucking away his weapon once again, as he glanced around the room, shrugging. "There's no one here, but that's still pretty fresh. I'm going to have to make a call."

"But you told me th-"

"I think this just got top priority," he responded. "Might even knock them off our scent, if we're lucky. Listen, if you can get Cole to come down here to take a look at this before they arrive, we'd probably be a lot better off."

"Easier said than done." She just stared at the large words scrawled in red, her brown eyes tracing the fancy script, her lips slightly pursed in confusion. "It doesn't make sense."

He recovered a small cell phone from the pocket of his jeans, his thumb perched above a number as he prepared to dial, his eyes not meeting hers. "Yeah, I thought we already made short work of that explanation."

"No. I mean death, in general. You're dying, right? Which will eventually lead to death if it's serious enough- so why say that at all? It just defeats the purpose entirely."

"She's got fingerprints," he volunteered, gesturing with the phone in the direction of the fancy cursive. "Could be our ghost isn't really so much of a ghost, after all."

"Corporeal," she stated, her voice just above a whisper.

"Why don't we just call her human?" a voice interrupted behind them, a cleverly coated dose of sarcasm buried in it. "I mean, truth be told, you probably already have all the proof you need now, don't you? Send in the troops and charge?" Cole Turner blinked in the darkness, his blues completely empty, as his unshaven countenance regarded the wall with a faint flicker of uncertainty, his arms crossing themselves over his chest. He laughed then, a speck of noise amongst the newly guarded silence that had sided with the equally vacant air, placing his bottom lip casually over the top, as he considered weighing it all in. "Although, I'm guessing it wouldn't really be a good idea, seeing as she's apparently quite pissed off for reasons that even I can't explain. Well, see, actually I can, but then I'd probably risk destroying my own life for the greater good. Let's be honest- a sane mind is a terrible thing to waste."

Phoebe turned to look at him, every muscle in her body tensing, a brief shiver coursing up and down her spine. He was still clothed in the same apparel he'd left for P3 earlier in, so she knew he hadn't been back to the house since. His dark hair remained covered by a baseball cap. His hands had come to rest listlessly at his sides, but his fingers seemed to threaten to clench themselves into fists, the bones in them opening and closing at random. "Where have you been?" she finally asked him, still not choosing to take a step forward.

"Around."

"Cole."

"Phoebe."

"In case you haven't become fully aware, this isn't funny," she informed him, her pretty face shifting into a tight frown, as a wave of annoyance fought to cloud her entire being.

"Oh, I can see that," he softly mused, his voice low. "But thanks for enlightening me, just the same."

"We came out to look for you when Paige said you didn't come back with her."

"This is none of Paige's business."

"Yeah, I'm getting that," she offered, her expression still trying hard to mask the strange disbelief she was beginning to feel regarding his indifference in attitude. "I was just worried about my husband, is that too much to ask?"

"In this case it is. You have no idea what you're doing."

"Oh, don't I?"

"No."

"Well, why don't you enlighten me then?"

"Sometimes the facts just aren't enough," he told her simply. "Sometimes to see the truth, you have to hear things you're not necessarily going to like."

"No kidding," she snapped, a bit too quickly, almost instantly regretting it.

He shrugged, calmly waving a hand toward the wall, watching as the revelation splattered across the paint quickly disappeared, leaving the area completely blank and unchanged in its appearance. "We need to talk. I'd call it a hunch and say you don't want to talk here."

"He just tampered with the crime scene," Andy muttered quietly under his breath, more to himself than to them, a hand drawing itself through his dark hair in bewilderment. "He just tampered with the damn crime scene."

"Now there's no one to call," Cole told him, his eyes dangerously meeting the inspector's.

"Look, I get the fact that you've got plenty of magic to go around here- but you can't just be completely oblivious to the fact that this...woman is in need of some help," Andy professed impatiently. "She's trying to tell someone something. You don't just go and do this to amuse yourself. She needs someone."

"It doesn't matter," he insisted plainly. "It won't matter."

"You say that because you don't think we can do anything," Phoebe started, her voice trailing off, as her eyes grew dim, her hands placing themselves into the pockets of her jeans, the soft curls around her face bouncing slightly when she began to approach him. "What's wrong with you?"

"You only knew me for what I was before- not what I did."

"Oh, I know a lot of what you did, Cole, but I'm certainly not going to give you the satisfaction that I see you differently because of it," she brought forth, her voice cutting through shards of ice, as she slowly narrowed her glance at him.

"You think you do, but you can't even begin to."

"Okay, I guess two can play this game," she observed, hands springing angrily to her hips, as she came even closer to him, her heart immediately feeling a deep ache inside when he abruptly chose to back away. "So what don't I know? Hmm? What am I still so clueless about that you've apparently had locked away up there these past few years? What's so terrible that it's making it so damn hard to face me? Because I'll tell you right now, whatever it is, it's not worth taking everything you have and pretending it never existed."

"Sometimes it might be."

"How can you be positive this is even conne-"

"You don't think I have the ability to recognize someone who's obviously suffered more than life enough?" he demanded.

"What kind of suffering?" she pressed, gesturing toward him with her palms, becoming all the more frustrated by the minute. "What happened here?"

"You weren't supposed to come here. I mean, for the love of God- Paige finds one little thing that can tie me to this, and suddenly she wants to stop by and check every nook and cranny. I didn't ask for an intervention, Phoebe. I didn't ask for you to go snooping around where you don't belong."

"Then you know something about this house," she suggested, softening somewhat.

He shook his head. "There's a lot you don't understand."

"There's going to be no logical reason for that man's death, is there?" Andy spoke up.

"You mean they set him up?" Phoebe put in, shrugging. "That's- why would they do that?"

"Look, this'll go a lot easier if you would just come home with me," Cole reiterated. "It's not exactly a short story, and you probably want to sit down when you hear it. In fact, I'd recommend it."

"I get that this is hard for you-"

"Do you?"

"Yes, I do," she emphasized, her small frame trying to maintain its composure, as she felt herself flush slightly.

"Tell you what. I'm going to go wait in the car," Andy confirmed, giving a slight nod. "When you guys are ready to join me, you're more than welcome to. Sound good? All right. I'll just...yeah, I'll just be right outside."

Cole tried to fight back a small smirk, as he watched him leave, his blues almost immediately resuming their intensity when they re-focused themselves on his wife again. He was fully aware she continued to stand her ground as best she knew how, most likely oblivious to the fact that her foot was absentmindedly tapping itself across the carpet.

"Okay, since when is something so disturbing and awful that we can't even discuss it in front of Andy?"

"Not everything warrants his approval- which, if you don't mind me saying, is besides the point. This is between us."

"Yeah, and they're going to have to know. I mean, Paige already told everybody how you freaked out earlier. It's not news, believe me."

"Freaking out, is putting it mildly," he assured her.

"So where'd you go?" she repeated, a bit more sternly, her voice taking on a slight edge to it.

"Mopped up the guilt?" he suggested. "Tried to make penance for my wicked ways?"

"Without me?"

"Don't sound so crushed," he said quietly, the corners of his mouth twitching into a small smile in spite of himself. "Chances are, you wouldn't have wanted to be in the same room."

"Why now? Why-"

"I don't know. I haven't figured that out yet. But I'm beginning to doubt anyone's behind it. It doesn't- what I...well." He almost appeared to struggle with it, his brow creasing, as his line of vision found the comfort of the ground below, his lips trembling ever so slightly. "Even if the consequences were different, it doesn't change the fact that I hurt someone, Phoebe. Someone who probably meant something to someone, somewhere."

"Your human half wouldn't have wanted to-"

"Did we forget who we're dealing with here?"

A bit taken aback, she swallowed hard, forcing herself to look up at him, forcing herself to meet his gaze head on. "I know you killed innocents. We've been through this. I know what you were, who you reported to, what they asked you to do. It can't touch you now, because it's over and done with. That's all there is to it. If we continued to dwell on every mistake we've ever made, we'd be questioning the right to call ourselves human, Cole."

"Even so, I should have questioned mine a long time ago."

"Don't say that," she whispered.

"Why do you think I was in the pain I was in when the Furies attacked me? Why do you think it was so damn hard to even move once they'd found us?"

"I guess I assumed it was because of all those victims, and not just one. I mean, you'd said as much before that, and I didn't want to push you about it. I didn't want to bring up memories that you've obviously kept with you for years. It just didn't seem right."

"What if there was that one?" he began. "One that carried pain so much greater than all of the others? One that made you look back and realize just how much you'd give to take it all away?"

"You're not talking about a spell, are you? Because I've already learned my lesson in messing with history, thank you very much. Remember Tempus?"

"We're talking about an innocent woman's life here," he told her. "A young woman who knows me as nothing more than the monster that tried to hunt her down and kill her. But..." he added, his voice fading out, his eyes becoming somewhat vulnerable, as he ran a hand helplessly across his jawline. "Not before I used her to my own advantage and messed with her head until she was incapable of feeling anything. I made her into virtually nothing, so I could gain the upper hand. I destroyed a life filled with hope and promise and love. I destroyed her."

"Cole, it's okay-"

"I had her blood on me when it was over. I had it everywhere," he confessed, his voice becoming incredibly hoarse. "And when I knew that I was finished? When I knew I'd done exactly what I was asked to do? I took pleasure in the fact that the torture I put her through was purely of my own doing. That I did it because I wanted to. That I enjoyed it, Phoebe. Do you have any idea what that means?"

She was silent then, her heart literally catching in her chest, as she felt a sudden numbness wash over her, masking her deep within its presence. She started to open her mouth to speak, but closed it again, noting the single tear that had somehow found its way down his cheek without his knowledge, drawing itself over his skin with faint precision, spilling over bone. It hit her then that maybe it was because she didn't know what to say. She didn't know what to tell him to make it better. Maybe there was nothing that could, maybe all it took was remembering how much he'd already believed, choosing of his own free will to live his life as a good man. Or maybe she was suddenly incapable of saying it altogether- that she'd simply shut herself down again when he needed her the most. She'd listened and she'd heard, but she couldn't get herself to smooth over his worries this time- couldn't get herself to come forward with the fact that she could mend a crime so vicious and without care, as the one he'd briefly described with the disturbing details simmering in her mind. But she knew she loved him. She just always thought it would be enough, and right now, she could already sense that he was starting to pull away from her. A quiet sigh escaped her, as she let herself move in his direction, calmly throwing her arms around his waist and laying her head against his chest. "Sometimes what we want and what we do, aren't necessarily who we are," she finally whispered, shutting her eyes tight in relief, as she felt a strong hand envelop her back, gingerly fingering her frame with love and warmth, as the other ran its fingers lightly over her brown curls.

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