Harry and Scott watch Louis walk out of the hospital from their Rover, he's tiny and has a slight limp as he walks. They expect him to be picked up, to stop and wait for someone to come along. Instead, they see him begin to walk out of the hospital to they assume the direction of his home.

"We should offer him a lift" Harry says as he sees Louis clearly in pain.

"Now who's turning soft" Scott scowls

"Shut up" Harry says

Scott and Harry always banter back and forth with each other, their relationship is strong and they hardly ever fight. Louis, for some reason has affected them both and they don't want to admit it. They are in Windsor Peaks to solve a murder case,  not to be distracted by some university kid.

Scott smirks but remains silent as he and Harry speed off, they pass Louis, who looks up and holds eyes contact as they do.

By the time Louis makes it home he's tired, he opens the front door and heads to the lounge to find Noah pacing back and forth across the lounge room, on his phone. When he sees Louis he visibly relaxes

"Oh thank fuck, he's here Jake he's just walked in"Noah says and he hangs up the phone

Louis looks at Noah confused

"I thought you'd be in class" Louis says

"Shit Louis! Jake and I have been worried sick, your phone was going to message bank, we couldn't find you!" Noah panics

"Sorry, my phone and backpack...." Louis trails off

"Are you okay?" Noah says

"Yeah, sorry, I thought you'd be in class and I had no way of calling you, to let you know" Louis says

"Let us know? It's all over the news, everyone knows. Did you walk home from the hospital?" Noah asks worriedly

Louis shrugs as best he can

"Lou! You should have asked the hospital to call me. What happened?" Noah asks as he leads Louis to the couch.

The place is moderate size, it's cozy like Louis loves, the lounge room leads on from the kitchen with grey carpet,  the boys have a grey couch that sits in front of the flat screen TV.

"I was hit from behind, pushed into the intersection and hit again" Louis says as he sits down

"Jesus" Noah says

"Noah, detectives from London showed up, they told me there was no sign of a third vehicle, they think I'm lying and that I caused the accident, that I killed that guy...but I didn't" Louis tells his friend as he holds in his tears

"What? They can't be serious!" Noah says angrily.

"They told me I could be up for manslaughter, Noah....I'm scared" Louis says vulnerably

Noah brings Louis into a hug and just holds him close.

"You have me and Jake and this whole bloody town behind you Louis, some arsehole detectives from London aren't going to get anywhere with this" Noah tells him reassuringly

Louis hugs Noah tightly in thanks before he leans back and wipes his tears.

"You need to rest, let's get you to bed okay, You can catch up on classes during the week" Noah tells him.

Louis nods and let's Noah lead him to his bedroom. His bedroom is the main room, where his parents room used to be. Grey carpet, Louis grey and white king size bed in the room, it's changed since he lived there, but it still has the same feeling of safety. The main room has its own ensuite too, which Louis is thankful for. As well as a bay window that overlooks the woods, its his favourite spot to sit, especially in the winter.

Louis ends up thankfully falling asleep, he's exhausted and wants to forget this day ever happened.

...

Harry and Scott pull into the station in town, it's much smaller than their bureau in London.

They walk in and greet the receptionist on duty, she guides them through the door which opens to a wide open space. There are interrogation  rooms on either side, a kitchenette and a door at the back that leads to the cell block where prisoners are held before they are taken to the county jail. It's neat and tidy and the fixtures are all new, yet still screams small town. 

They are taken through to the stairs at the back of the room and told to head up. Once they reach the floor above, they come face to face with the bullpen, all eyes are on them as they walk through to the back of the room to the office marked Deputy. They knock

"Come in" Dan says

Harry and Scott open the door to see Dan sat behind his desk. The office is spacious and the windows look out over the Main Street of town.

"Deputy" Harry greets

"Detectives, come in, have a seat" Dan says as he gestures for the two in front of his desk.  

"I've just been speaking to the London office" Dan says as they all sit.

"You weren't notified we were coming?" Scott asks confused

"Seems I may have missed the email" Dan says apologetically.

The boys nod

"We've taken up residence at the motel off Main Street, we will hopefully be out of your hair within the next week or so" Harry says

"No trouble, I've cleared out the spare office next door for you, it's all yours" Dan says

"Appreciated" Scott says and Dan nods

"If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to be privy to your investigations, if something is happening in my town I'd like to be on top of it" Dan says

Harry and Scott like Dan, they've heard good things about him and how he runs his precinct. He's a no bullshit kind of guy and Harry and Scott respect that.

"Of course, we plan to get you up to speed on why we are here" Harry says

"We have been tracking a serial killer for the last few months. He's been targeting men, early twenties. We've had four bodies turn up in as many months. All raped, sodomised and their femoral artery sliced" Scott says

"Shit" Dan says concerned

"And what makes you think he's heading here?" Dan then asks

"We have been tracking a suspect for a few weeks, his last known whereabouts was near here, he used his credit card two days ago at a truck stop just outside your town" Harry says

"Could he have just passed through?" Dan asks

Harry and Scott look to each other before they respond

"The man killed at the intersection this morning, was our suspect" Harry says

The look on Dans face is unreadable, he's taking it all in.

"So case closed?" He asks

"Not quite, Louis Tomlinson, we spoke to him at the hospital, claims there was a third car involved in the accident" Scott says

"There were only two on scene" Dan says confused.

"According to Louis, he was hit from behind and pushed into the intersection, where he was slammed into by our suspect" Scott states

"Shit, okay, so it was a hit had run? I don't have any information back yet, but as soon as I do I'll pass it along to you" Dan says

"Thank you" Scott nods

"So you think the real serial killer tried to kill your suspect?" Dan asks in realisation

"We think there's more to this, yes, there was always something odd about the suspect and we are hoping to find out more while we're here. We also think it might have something to do with Louis" Harry says

"Louis?" Dan asks

"If you can forward everything you have on Louis, his background etc, we'd appreciate it. Discreetly of course" Harry says

"Look, Louis is a god kid, he wouldn't get himself caught up in something like this" Dan says defensively

"We're not saying he's a suspect, we're just saying he might be...." Scott trials off

"He fits the profiles of the victims?" Dan says in realisation.

"Look, we don't know just yet, it's his word against the scene presented at this point. He could either be up on a manslaughter charge for distracted driving.....or if he's telling the truth about the third car, he could be a target" Harry says

Dan is reeling, he feels helpless and doesn't want Louis caught up in this.

"Okay, well, I'll rush the reports, if I find anything else out I'll let you know. Just keep me in the loop. If there's a serial killer in Windsor Peaks, I need to know" Dan says, his tone urgent

Harry and Scott nod, they get up and head to the office next door. They source some whiteboards and set the room up accordingly. They need to get to the bottom of what's going on and work out if and how Louis comes into the whole mix