A woman and a man are sobbing in front of a casket. They are hugging each other and the woman is repeating the same words over and over, "My baby… My baby…".
The scene shifts to a boy who looks to be around 10 years old sitting on a staircase in a black suit. He can hear a couple of voices coming from the living room.
"Lay down your accusation or…"
Bang! The boy jumps in shock from the loud noise and sees the man from the previous scene stomping out of the room. As the boy tries to stand up he hear someone say, "Connor, are you still asleep?". Connor shoots up from the bed and after a moment shakingly says: "Y… Yeah, I'll be out soon."
"Okay, man."
Connor's looking at the reflection in his bathroom mirror, in the reflection, looking back at him, stands a young man with black hair, brown eyes and light brown skin. "I'm... crying?"
"Come on, get it together!" he says and splashes some water in his face.
"Woah, zombie incoming!" James says towards Connor coming out from his room.
"Didn't you get enough sleep?"
"I couldn't sleep…" Connor replies with a tired voice.
"A nightmare?"
"Mmmm…" Suddenly Connor feels a tug on his clothes, he looks down and sees the boy he had almost forgotten about. "Bread, bread!" He says while trying to give Connor a whole loaf of bread. "You know english!?" Connor exclaims. "Oh, I just have been teaching him a couple of different words. He is a really fast learner!"
"Thank you." Connor says while taking the loaf. The boy shows a big smile and runs back to the table to wolf down his own breakfast. "Hey, hey easy! Easy!" James says while trying to stop the boy. "Calm down!"
Connor just watches them brawl while sitting down to start eating his breakfast. James can't catch the boy. He just slips through James arms like a slippery otter. In the end the boy sits victorious atop the defeated James while still eating his food but with a mischievous grin this time.
"Pffft. How could you lose a brawl to a child?" Connor says with a laugh.
"He's so slippery, you really can't get a hold of him!" James says amazed.
"Anyway, you should hurry up and eat or we will be late to work."
***
"Well, well, well! If it isn't the best friend detective squad! Still roommates, or have you stopped being such a cheapskate Connor?" A shorter white man with blonde hair walks up to the trio with a friendly smile.
James gives the stranger a big bear hug lifting him up from the ground. "You're killing me here James!" says the man with the little air he has left in his lungs.
After gasping for air a little while he turns around to Connor and sees the boy that is shyly looking at him from behind Connors legs. "Who's this? You have a little brother?"
"What? No, he's just a boy that appeared at our doorstep!" Connor retorts almost defensively.
"But you look quite similar..."
"You're right, Per." James says while stroking his chin, both of them now looking at Connor and the boy.
"You both have black hair, and light brown skin. Although this boys eyes are darker, they look almost black." Per says while looking the pair up and down. "You sure he's not your brother?"
Connor looks down. "He really is similar to Eli..." he thinks.
"No… He just appeared yesterday on the doorstep and it doesn't seem like he speaks English either."
"Although he is a quick learner!" James chimes in.
"Hmmmm…" Per says while furrowing his brow. "What does he speak?"
"We don't know…"
"Wait, maybe you know Per. You traveled a lot before becoming a forensic expert!"
Per walks up to the boy. "Hey, can you talk? Talk?" He says while pointing at his mouth.
The boy just stares at him with a confused look and tilts his head.
"Oh, well…" Per says with a slightly disappointed look. He looks at the clock and exclaims, "Sh*t I have a meeting I need to be at, I need to go guys! See ya!" before running off.
"We should also get going too."
They begin to walk towards the secretary at the front desk. A tall muscular police woman with red hair was the on duty secretary today.
"Hey, Beth we found this kid outside our door last night and he doesn't speak any English. Have any missing reports come in?"
"I can check, one moment."
"None for any kid in the area… Sorry." she says with an apologetic smile.
"What is going to happen to him now?"
"I can call another detective that maybe can find his parents, but it may take some time so Social Services will have to find a place for him to live in the meantime."
"Should we leave him here then?"
"Do so, I can watch over him." She says.
James gets down on one knee and hugs the boy. "Hope you find your family soon, kid!" He says with slightly teary eyes.
As James and Connor are leaving the boy tries to follow them but Connor stops him. "You have to stay with this nice lady, okay." He says, nodding towards Beth.
As they walk away, the boy just stands there watching them.