The next morning Cal and Gillian had a quick breakfast at the hotel and then headed out to the Williams residence. They lived on the very edge of the Town of Blacksburg on Treetop Ridge Road. The house was very isolated. The closest neighbor was a half-mile away. They arrived just before 8:00. Detective Scott was all ready there.

At 8:15, the police had cleared the Williams' house and Cal and Gillian were allowed inside to look around. The detective had told them not to touch anything without telling him first and to stay out of the kitchen. The first thing they noticed was how neat the house was. There wasn't an item out of place, with the exception of the kitchen, which was a mess from the shooting.

As they slowly walked through each room, Cal and Gillian noticed there weren't too many pictures anywhere. They saw pictures of Garrett and Megan when they were younger posing with whom they believed were their parents. There were no siblings on either side.

Gillian stopped and stared at the grouping of pictures. Cal turned and came back to her when he realized she wasn't with him.

"Only children, older parents." She felt a twinge of sadness.

"Kindred spirits." Cal watched Gillian's face. He often wondered how someone could manage so much empathy.

"Not too many pictures of Garrett's parents. The last ones I see were at the wedding." Gillian walked a little further down the hall. "The last picture I see of Megan's father looks to be about 10 years old. The last one of her mother seems fairly recent, maybe just a few years."

Cal stopped beside her. "So, very little family, and not too many friends outside of work it would seem."

"Basically they had each other. No wonder they were so close." Gillian turned to him. "No pictures of any children, anywhere."

"Nope. I'm gonna go with, they didn't have any kids."

Gillian shook her head. "Then what happened? Why would she turn on him like that?"

Before Cal could even think about answering, Detective Scott called out to them. He had found something in the Master Bedroom.

On the top shelf in Megan's closet, they found several journals. Cal walked around the bedroom looking at items sitting out on the dresser and chest while Gillian grabbed a journal and started reading through it. She had flipped through a few of them when she noticed it. "Cal?"

He walked over to her and read over her shoulder. He read a few paragraphs. "She's talking about her son."

"Yes." Gillian flipped back a few pages and let him read over her shoulder again.

"Oh, now that's interesting." Cal took that journal from her and she picked up another one.

"She writes about a boy named Ian in all of them." Gillian flips a few more pages. "She's written about all the milestones in her son's life. But, they aren't in order. They're all dated, but the milestones are all out of order. She talks about his graduation from kindergarten and then a few months later she's writing about his 10th birthday." Gillian shook her head. "What are we missing Cal?"

Detective Scott walked out of the Master bathroom with a paper bag. He handed it to Cal. "These are prescription bottles from the medicine cabinet. All for Megan Williams. I don't recognize all of them but the ones I do know are anti-depressants."

Cal looks in the bag and then over to Gillian. "And the puzzle comes together."

Cal, Gillian, and Detective Scott sat in the living room of the Williams' house and went through the journals and the bag of prescription pills.

Cal had pulled the pill bottles out and sat them on the coffee table. He was reading the bottles to the detective who was writing all the information down. "The same doctor prescribed them all. Wellbutrin. That's for depression. Buspar. That one's for anxiety. Ambien is a sleeping pill. Those are the most recent." Cal set those aside and picked up a few others. "Paxil, Effexor, Zoloft; all for depression. Xanax, anxiety." He looked at one bottle and didn't recognize the name. "Gill?"

Gillian looked up from the journals. "Yeah?"

"Klonopin. Know what that is?"

"Anti-anxiety." She went right back to the journal.

"Thank you. That's it." Cal put them back into the evidence bag. He looked at the detective. "Someone should probably check with her psychiatrist."

Detective Scott nodded. "I put a call in to her. Just waiting for a call back."

Cal looked over at Gillian again. She was intently focused on the journal she was reading. She had a sad expression. He was worried about how this case would affect her. He walked over, sat beside her, and asked quietly "You okay?"

She looked at up at him. "Yeah. I'm fine." She looked back down at the journal and shook her head. "This is just weird. She talks about Ian as if he is real, but when she describes events around him, she's the only one involved. She mentions her husband some, but he isn't actively involved." Gillian closed the journal she had been reading. "I think this son is something she may have made up."

Cal thought for a second. It was possible. "You mean like to fill a void or something since she wasn't able to have children?"

Gillian nodded her head. "Maybe." She looked across the room. "Detective Scott?"

The detective walked toward them. "Did you find something?"

Gillian stood up and set the journal on the table. "Maybe. Are we able to speak to Mr. Williams yet?"

"Hang on, I'll give the hospital a call."

Cal piped up "He doesn't need to be able to speak, as long as he's conscious that'll do."

The detective was dialing his phone "copy that."

Forty-five minutes later, Detective Scott was leading them into Mr. Williams' hospital room.

"Mr. Williams, I'm Detective Scott. This is Dr. Cal Lightman and Dr. Gillian Foster. They're assisting us with this case." The detective then backed to the other side of the room.

Gillian came closer so Mr. Williams could see her face. She waited for Cal to get where he would be able to see before she started. "Mr. Williams, we need to ask you a few questions about your wife. We know you can't speak, but that's okay. Dr. Lightman and I are trained in reading micro-expressions, so we'll be able to understand your answers."

Mr. Williams' face relaxed. He had gotten worked up when the police had tried to talk him the day of the shooting. He wasn't able to tell them anything and they were asking the wrong 'yes or no' questions. He hoped these people would do a better job.

Gillian saw his face relax. "We know that Megan shot you and we know she said it was because you killed your son." Mr. Williams' eyes rolled. "Hang on. We found Megan's journals in her closet." Mr. Williams flashed surprise and then shame. "That embarrasses you." She paused and looked at Cal. He nodded at her and then gestured for her to keep going.

"We know that Megan isn't able to have children." There was sadness on his face now. "Ian wasn't real, was he Mr. Williams?" His eyes closed and when he opened them his face showed complete resignation. Gillian kept going. "Did Megan create Ian to help with the fact that she couldn't have children?" Sadness again.

Gillian looked over at Cal. Suddenly it hit her. "You and her therapist were the only ones who knew about Ian right?" Mr. Williams nodded almost imperceptibly. "You were embarrassed when I said we had found the journals. No one was supposed to find out about Ian, were they?"

Gillian looked away for a moment and thought back to the conversation they had with Nathan Andrews the day before. She looked back at him. "Megan told Nathan about Ian." Anger and then shame. "Was that the deal? She could keep the illusion of Ian as long as she didn't tell anyone?" Sadness and then contempt.

Cal had given up watching Mr. Williams. He was now staring at Gillian. He could see the wheels turning in her head. He could all ready see the sadness on her face. Empathy in spades. She couldn't stop the empathy she felt any more than he could stop seeing things on people's faces.

"You were trying to protect her. As long as she said nothing about Ian, she could hold onto him as her son. But when she told Nathan, you had to shatter her illusion."

Mr. Williams closed his eyes. Tears ran down the side of his face.

"You told her that Ian had died to try to bring her back into reality. She saw that as you killing him and she acted out against you." Mr. Williams showed sadness and regret. His tears were still falling. Gillian showed her own sadness. "I'm so sorry Mr. Williams." He closed his eyes. "I'm so, so sorry."

Cal and Gillian followed Detective Scott back to the police station. He wanted them to talk to Megan Williams and see if they could get her to admit to their theory. Yes they had gotten the story, so to speak, from Garrett Williams. But at the moment he couldn't speak, which left some holes in their case.

Mrs. Williams was waiting in the interview room when Cal and Gillian entered. Gillian took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She sat across from Megan and Cal stood in the same corner he had been in before.

"Megan. My name is Gillian. We talked yesterday, do you remember that?"

Megan looked up at her. There was no recognition on her face.

"Do you know why you're here Megan?" Gillian wanted to see if she had really come out of the fog a bit.

Megan showed shame followed immediately by sadness.

"Do you remember what happened on Sunday? In your kitchen, with you and Garrett?"

Megan showed fear and her head shot up to look at Gillian.

Gillian wasn't sure what the fear was about, but she could guess. "I saw Garrett a little while ago; at the hospital."

Megan's eyes went wide. "He's alive?" Tears of relief pooled in her eyes.

"Yes. And he's worried about you."

Megan covered her face with her hands. "I hurt him!" Megan started sobbing.

Gillian looked over her shoulder at Cal. He gave her a reassuring look and she turned back to Megan. After Megan calmed down, Gillian tried again. "Can you tell me what happened, Megan?"

Megan put her hands on the table and looked back up at Gillian. She bit her lower lip and started shaking her head. She then brought her hand in front of her mouth. Cal and Gillian recognized her self-hushing behavior. Megan was trying desperately to keep herself quiet.

"Megan. I know about Ian." Gillian said this very quietly. She wasn't sure what kind of reaction she was going to get.

Megan looked down in shame. She started crying quietly then whispered, "I broke the promise."

Gillian was confused. "The promise?"

"I promised Garrett I would never speak of Ian to anyone if he would just let me keep him. I promised. I promised." Megan was retreating again.

Gillian didn't want to lose her. "Megan. I understand how you feel; why you created Ian."

Megan showed contempt. "Don't patronize me. You don't understand. No one understands!"

Gillian took a deep breath. She didn't believe in sharing personal information during a case but she identified so strongly with the loss this woman felt. "No Megan. I do understand." She waited for Megan to look up at her. "I know exactly how you feel." Gillian could feel the emotions building in her chest.

Megan studied Gillian's face for a few seconds. "You do. You do know." Megan sobbed suddenly. "I've ruined everything. I hurt Garrett. I was so stupid!" She took a deep breath "I just snapped. It was like I had no control. He didn't deserve that." She covered her face with her hands. After a few moments she calmed down. She looked up at Gillian. "I'm sorry for you. It's so unfair. It's just so unfair…" she put her head in her arms on the table and cried.

Gillian was barely controlling her own emotions. She reached out and put her hand on Megan's arm. "I'm so sorry for you too."

Cal felt a lump in his throat. He hated seeing Gillian like this.

TBC