#113: Lana's Screw-Up; Declan Goes Back to Derek's

Meanwhile, Lana--having unloaded her difficult kid at least temporarily on Derek and Kelly--was able to concentrate on her police job, and now had been given the first case of her very own.

She traveled to the scene of the crime, took photos and collected evidence,

and interviewed witnesses.

She returned to the police station, familiarized herself with the analyzer machine,

and tested her evidence.

She then cross-referenced her findings against the police database.

She added clues to her crime scene map,

and eventually filled the board.  She had deduced that the suspect was a blonde woman who hated children.  'Geez, that describes ME!' she thought.

She was very excited to issue her first All Points Bulletin,

then returned to the neighborhood of the crime scene.  After Lana asked several people whether they'd seen someone matching the description of the subject, and those people started pointing fingers in a particular direction,

a blonde woman suddenly fled the scene.

Lana caught up with her and took her back to the police station to interrogate her.  'Geez, I've got to work out more!' Lana thought, panting from the short run.

_______________

The suspect, Lillian, seemed shy,

so Lana chose to play "Good Cop," and pretended to be Lillian's friend.

Then Lana started presenting Lillian with the case evidence, and with the case file.

Based on Lillian's responses, Lana eventually realized that the woman was innocent, and that she had arrested the wrong person.

She checked the evidence again, and saw that she had incorrectly written down in her Notebook that the suspect was female, when in fact no clues had addressed gender.  She also noticed that she had missed a clue that the suspect was wearing a jacket.

"So why did you run when you saw me?" Lana asked the woman.

"Because you were looking at me funny!" Lillian explained.  "And--you're kind of scary."

Lana apologized and released the woman.

By that time, it was too late in the day to do any more work on the case, so Lana left the police station, dejected.

_______________


"Boy, did I screw up today," Lana admitted to Frankie, the bartender at the Rattlesnake Bar.  "I'm SUCH a loser!"

"Oh, come on," he laughed.  "How bad could it be?"

"I arrested the wrong freakin' person, Frankie!" she said glumly.  "The woman was totally innocent.  And she was about the nicest woman I've ever met."

"I'm SURE it's not that bad, Officer," Frankie comforted her.  "And tomorrow is another day."

But what Lana was actually wondering was just how many hot bartenders the Rattlesnake Bar employed.

_______________

Derek waited at the bus stop for Declan to return from school.  (Kelly had, unsurprisingly, not called Derek at all that day.)

"Wait--" Declan said as he hopped up onto a barstool--"YOU'RE going to cook me dinner???"

"Yes," Derek answered firmly.  "Yes I am.  You like grilled cheese, don't you?"

(Alice had reassured Derek that all kids liked grilled cheese, and had instructed him how to make a decent one.)

"I guess," Declan said, sounding unsure.

But Declan liked it,

and Derek was even able to get the kid to do his homework.

Later, Derek tried to interest the boy in playing chess.

"Don't you have a TV???" Declan demanded after a short while.

Derek soon gave up, told the boy it was bedtime, and took him upstairs.

Derek had gotten a twin bed delivered that day, and had put it in the nursery (and removed the as-yet unneeded bassinet, as well as the huge pink bear).

"This is the UGLIEST room I've ever seen!" Declan shouted angrily.  "This is even uglier than my mom's TRAILER!!!"

"I WANT TO GO BACK TO THE HOUSE WITH THE GIRL WITH THE BIG TITS!!!"