The girl

It was a painful day, Anna spent an entire afternoon going through her mother's things sorting them out. Every object brought back a happy or painful memory like her prom dress, a bracelet she got for mom on mother's day, a trophy she broke in anger after her mother caught her smoking. She was really missing her sister. She heard a truck in the driveway. Mark entered the room with half-empty boxes. 

“You haven’t packed yet?” Mark asked

“Sorry babe, I will take them storage don’t worry”

Mark gave her a hug

“How are you doing?” Mark asked 

“I am alright, I wish Sarah was here”

“Well, I am here”

Mark and Anna were in a relationship for the last 5 years, Mark worked as an Accountant for a studio and Anna as an Assistant set designer. They were the polar opposite of each other. Anna was creative, bold, a free spirit, and Mark soft-spoken, calculative. Their chemistry was a mystery to everyone. They were the perfect example of the ‘opposite attracts’.

“Sorry, I have to work at night today. I fucking hate tax season” Mark said

“It’s okay babe Storage is not far and boxes are not heavy I can go alone,” Anna said

“Do you want help packing the boxes?”

“No its fine, take my car and leave the keys for the truck ”

Anna started packing. She finished packing around 6 pm. “It's a 45-minute drive to the storage 30 min unloading I should be home by 8 - 8:30,” she thought

◇◇◇

Anna unloaded the boxes and locked the storage. Checked the locks twice, a habit she inherited from her Dad.

The truck started picking up the pace as she left the storage facility. She put the radio on and started singing along to the song. After a short time radio picked up static she looked at the radio and slapped it twice.

“Stupid radio”

She looked up and suddenly saw someone running across the road. She started desperately pressing the brakes and frantically turning the steering wheel. She crashed the truck into the tree on the side of the road airbags opened and cushioned the blow to the head but a big piece of the metal pierced through under her collar bone. She looked through the broken windshield. There was a girl standing in front of her with fear in her big green eyes. “BAM !!!” Anna heard the gunshot. The girls fell down the road. The man emerged from the side of the road. With a gun in his hand, he started walking towards the girl.

“No, please no” the girl pleaded

Anna tried to move her hand to unbuckle the seat belt but she felt tremendous pain and couldn't move. Anna watched helplessly as he put the gun on the girl's head.

“Don’t please don’t” the girl pleaded again

He pulled the trigger. Anna closed her eyes, tears coming down her closed eyes.  

◇◇◇

“Anna, Anna can you hear me, “ Mark asked

Anna started opening the eyes. She saw Mark and could not control her tears

“He killed her, he killed her” Anna cried

“Hey, hey calm down, What happened? ” Mark asked

“They  didn’t find the girl?” Anna asked

“No, What are you talking about? Someone called 911 after they found your crashed truck. Paramedics brought you to the hospital, you have been unconscious for the last 18 hours”

“Please give the phone I want to tell the cops” Anna begged

“Ok, ok I will call the cop. Can you please lie down? You just had surgery” Mark said

“Hello Anna I’m detective Martinez and this is my partner detective Brown you told the officer you saw a murder can you give the details one more time”

“Yes, a young girl between 15-16  white, Green eyes dirty top and jeans”

“Did you see the killer ?” Martinez asked

“He had a hoodie on, in the ’30s maybe. Did you find a body? “ Anna asked

“No,  we have been to the scene didn’t find body, shell casing or anything,” Brown said

“Please find that monster detective he killed that girl” 

Mark holds her hand tightly

“Can you come outside for a second Mark?” Martinez asked

“Sure”

“How is she doing ?” Martinez asked

“Fine, Doctors said her vitals are normal,” Mark said

“Any head trauma,” Martinez asked

“Mild concussion nothing to worry about. Why are asking these questions detective”

“We checked the area, talked to paramedics, even talked to the guy who called 911 nobody saw anything. There is no evidence of murder whatsoever” Martinez said

“She is not imagining things, detective. She told you she saw a murder and I believe her ” Mark said

“OK, we will let you know if we find anything ”

◇◇◇

Three days later Mark brought Anna home. She had to wear a cast for 2 next weeks. Mark took a leave of absence for a few days. His boss was pissed as it was in the middle of the tax season he didn't care as he knew he was not going to fire him over this.

“Did you call the detectives?” Anna asked

“Yes, they haven't found the body yet and the investigation is going on,” Mark said

“Can we go to the precinct?” Anna asked

“Anna please I’m sure they are doing everything they can ”

“I know, I know but please Mark, every time I close my eyes I see her big green eyes ”

“Ok, let's go”

◇◇◇

Anna and Mark were waiting at the desk for detective Martinez. After a short while detective shows up with a bunch of files his Hand

“Good morning, Anna how can help you,” Martinez asked

“Just wanted to know about the investigation,” Anna said

“Let be honest Anna, we don’t have body or evidence of murder it's going to be difficult to investigate,” Martinez said

“What about the blood,” Anna asked

“Yes, we tested for the blood we only found yours didn’t find any other blood on the road. My boss not going to invest resources into investigating a murder with no body or evidence “ Martinez said

“What about a missing person?” Anna asked 

“Checked that too., Not anyone matching the description” Martinez said

“Please go home, Let me if you remember something,” Martinez said

“Sure, Have a nice day detective” 

◇◇◇

Anna and Mark was sitting on the couch with popcorn

“Come on Anna you did everything you can,” Mark said

“Wish I could do more for her” Anna said

“What are you wanna watch today,” Mark asked

“It's your day. You told me you wanted to watch 'Band of Brothers' ” Anna said

“Are you sure? It's about the War” Mark asked

“Yeah I'll be fine”

After watching about 50 min

“This is the gun, This is the gun he used” Anna exclaimed

“What Luger?” Mark asked

“Yes”

“It's about 70 years old, are you sure?” Mark asked

“Yes I’m sure” Anna yelled

“Also the first shot how did I miss this ” Anna Shouted

“What first shot?” Mark asked

“He fired the first shot but he missed it and hit the tree. The bullet may be still there “ Anna explained 

“Let's go,” Anna said

“What? let's call detective Martinez ” Mark said

“Please mark, We will call him on the way” Anna 

“Do you have to play Batman? ” Mark asked

“Yes Robin ” Anna joked

◇◇◇

Anna finds a bullet lodged in the tree. Anna and Mark wait for the detective to show up. Detective and CSI teams remove the bullet from the tree.

“Ballistics can take a day but loss like its fired from antique like you said,” Martinez said

“Do you believe me now?” Anna asked

“Yes, I also found out somebody cleaned the road,” Martinez said

“What do you mean,” Mark asked

Martinez points towards the road 

“ This section of the road was cleaned by bleach. I questioned everyone but no one from the department cleaned the scene ” Martinez explained

“So, you think he came back and cleaned the scene,” Anna asked

“Yes, you told me he wasn’t carrying anything other than a gun. There are no stores here. Paramedics were here right after the accident. He barely had a 1-2 hour window to clean it up after paramedics left and the CSI team showed up. Where did he find supplies?”  Martinez exclaimed

“The storage facility” Anna yelled

“What,” Martinez asked

“Just like you said it's the only place where he can get the supplies and fits in the time frame,” Anna said

“We can't get warrants to search all the storage,” Martinez said

“Can you give me photographs of everyone who owns the storage?” Anna asked

“Sure, Give me an hour,” Martinez said

◇◇◇

Detective Brown led Anna and Mark into the room. Anna saw a man crying. Martinez was interrogating the man.

“Why did you kill her Patrick,” Martinez asked

“Money, she was my cousin. My uncle's daughter. Her parents passed away a week ago. Everything was going to to be mine until she showed up ” Patrick said

“Why there was no missing complaint,” Martinez asked

“She was troubled used to disappear my uncle got tired” Patrick explained

“How did you kill her,” Martinez asked

“Put a bullet in her head, I was gonna kill that bitch in the truck too but my gun jammed and the car showed up so I took her body and dumped it in the freezer I keep in the storage,” Patrick said

“We are done here, word of advice it's not easy for child killers inside be careful ” Martinez sneered

Martinez entered the room from where Anna and Mark were watching everything. Anna hugged the detective.

“Thank you, detective,” Anna said

“It's my job, Anna, by the way, how did you find out the killer from the photograph even though you didn’t see his face ?” Martinez asked

“Eyes detective,” Anna said

“What?” Martinez asked

“Green is rare eye color Patrick has the same green eye color its genetics” Anna explained

“How did you know they were related?” Martinez asked

“I wasn’t entirely sure but the way he killed her I knew it was personal. My dad was COP he always told me husband gets killed you look at wife, wife gets killed you look at husband. Investigation start from the family” Anna explained

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