Chapter Text
Vanessa and Amir cuddled on the couch, watching some cheesy rom-com after successfully putting their young son to bed.
"Oh, why don't Janelle and Tim just confess already? They are obviously head-over-heels for each other!" Amir groaned.
"Because there's no humor in that, hun," Vanessa replied, hand digging through the popcorn bowl. The two were thrown out of the leads' buffoonery by small, rapid knocks on their front door. "Who could that be this late?" Sitting the bowl on an empty couch cushion, Vanessa made her way to the door as the knocks continued. "I'm coming! You'll make a dent in the door if you-- oph??"
"M-mrs. Pump's m-mom!" Skid cried, jumping into Vanessa's arms as she tried to keep balance. He looked up at her, tear-stained face framed by a messy bob cut, struggling to get something else out through his sobs. She shifted into a hug, pulling Skid close as she patted his back to calm him down.
"Shh, there there mijo. Are you okay? Where are your parents?" Skid only whined, hugging her tighter. Vanessa tilted her head through the door, curious to see what got him so worked up he ran here for comfort... and saw smoke rising into the night sky, reds and oranges lighting his house down the road. "Ah-A-Amir! Call the fire department!"
"Is the kid doing any better?" Wade asked.
"Well he's not using Pump as a support blanket anymore, so hey, progress!" she said, sitting next to her husband. It was meant as a joke, but the worry on their faces and the strain in her voice betrayed how torn up they were over him.
Being listed as the de facto caretakers for the boy, Vanessa and Amir got custody of Skid after his parents' "death" when none of his other family came forward to care for him.
"Death". In quotations.
Because none of them believed that was true - that it was just a freak accident and they died in the fire, especially considering they didn't find the bodies - which was why Vanessa called in a favor from her brother.
"So did you two find anything?"
"We looked around when we could," Wolf began, "place's still swamped with cops, and they weren't too happy to see us."
"But?"
"They would've left something behind. Bones, teeth - those don't burn."
"And if their bodies were there, Wolf would have smelled them!" Wade added.
Vanessa and Amir stared at Wolf, eyebrows raised. Wolf began to sweat, stammering out "So we've investigated a lot of house fires! Y'think it's that hard to tell burned meat from charred wood?"
Amir shrugged and the two turned towards each other, unaware of the daggers Wolf was glaring at his partner. "So they are most likely not dead. But then where did they go? Why did they leave their son behind? No tiene sentido!"
Wade cleared his throat, looking anywhere but Wolf's direction, "Uh, well, if the house was burned intentionally like we think, maybe whoever did it just... took them?"
"That doesn't make sense either!" Vanessa shouted, "They're lovely people, we've known them for years! Who would want to hurt them? And even beyond that, what would you gain from taking an architect and a photographer while leaving their child behind?"
"Pettiness? Jealously? Greed? Those are great motivators. As for the kid, maybe whoever did it thought the fire would deal with him."
"You are... very cynical."
"Comes with the job," Wolf shrugged. "Speaking of. If there's one thing this job's taught me, everybody's got somethin' going on behind the scenes."
"...Could you look into their pasts, then? See if there's anyone that would pull something like this?"
"Of course!"
"You gonna start paying us?"
And now it was Wade's turn to glare. "It was a joke!"
"Get better material." Wade got out of his chair and went for the door, Wolf following suit, but not before turning to face the Hildagos.
"When that kid's in... better shape, ask him about what happened that night. We need all the pieces we can get."