Missing

"Here, Mrs Harrington." The deputy set a cup of milky tea before the woman sitting wide-eyed and shaking at his desk. "It's well-sweetened, to help with the shock."

Her glassy stare met his for a moment. She gulped, curling a finger around the handle with a nod.

Detective Holmes pressed record on the machine, taking out a pen and notepad. "This is Detective Natalia Holmes, missing persons case 006-A. The date is Thursday, the twenty-eighth of October, 1993, and the time is eighteen-hundred hours. If you feel able, could you state your name for our records?"

"Y-Yes... Um... I'm Maeve Harrington."

"And the name of the person you've reported missing?"

"M-My daughter, Lydia. Lydia Harrington, age fifteen."

"That's perfect." She scribbled her notes. "Now Mrs Harrington, you called up the station earlier this afternoon, at approximately three-forty-five, correct?" She nodded. "I'm afraid we didn't manage to get all the details during your call, so would you be able to start from the beginning? Take your time."

She took a sip. "Yes... Um... It was yesterday. In the morning. Lydia got up and ready for school. I made her breakfast and gave her her lunch. She asked if she could have a sleepover at her friend Tiffany's. I said fine, but I asked her to call me when she got there. She gathered her things, and headed off to school."

"That was the last time you saw her?"

She dipped her head, wrapping a hand over her mouth.

"Did you hear anything from her after that?"

"No. She never called. But you know, a teenager and all that. I just figured she forgot, or couldn't be bothered. I sent her a message, wishing her goodnight. This morning, I figured she would go straight to school. I went grocery shopping at midday, and I saw Tiffany's mom at the supermarket. She told me she thought Tiffany had stayed over at our place. I sent Lydia another message; she never replied. I tried getting in contact with her other friends' parents. When she didn't come home from school, that's when I called you."

"Has your daughter ever done anything like this before?"

"No... I..." She bit her lip. "Well, maybe... There was one time, she told me she was going to a slumber party when she was eleven. My neighbour brought her home - she'd found her at the mall. Her friends had all snuck into a PG-13 movie. But-But, she promised me she'd never sneak behind my back like that again. She stopped hanging out with those kids when they went to a different middle school. I mean she... She yells at me sometimes, and she doesn't always do what she's told, but she's a bright girl, she wouldn't go this long without telling me what's going on."

"I understand." The detective added that to her notes. She heard that a lot when it came to teens around town vandalising property or shoplifting make-up at the mall. It was always the kids who were little angels in their parents' eyes, the ones that could do no wrong. It would probably turn out that she'd gone to a party and had too much to drink. She'd probably be sleeping it off at her boyfriend's place, and her phone battery had died, or something like that.

Nothing interesting ever happened in their town. The biggest story the police had to their name was about the mall itself - when the public had campaigned against it being built, saying it would destroy their small town 'aesthetic,' and drive small businesses into the ground. In reality, it had just about saved the town from being taken off the map.

Detective Holmes had mainly returned to work at the local station as a favor to her brother, the mayor. She didn't want to tell him that since her accident, big-city work had gotten too much for her, and though she'd been glad of a break, she couldn't deny her boredom. The occasional stolen bike or missing pet was nothing on serial murderers or drug gangs she'd investigated at her old job.

Still, a missing teen... It could turn out to be something more.

"What about her other relationships? Friends, boyfriend, her father?"

Mrs Harrington shook her head. "Her father's serving in the navy. He won't be back until March of next year. She doesn't have a boyfriend as far as I know, although there is that Dale Smith boy she hangs out with. She insists they're just friends. Then there's Tiffany Williams, Amy Jones, Jennifer Brown, Heather Moore, and Sarah Martin."

"And they all attend the same high school?"

"Yes. East Avenport High."

"You got those, Walker?" She called over her shoulder to her deputy, passing him a note with those names.

"Got it." He left, shutting the door gently behind him, though it still creaked. The interview room was as old as the rest of the station, with panelled walls, an exposed bulb hanging from the ceiling, and the district odor of pine and coffee. Detective Holmes got a headache anytime she went in there.

"Any others? Does she do any clubs? Sports? Any volunteering or part-time work?"

"No clubs. She works at the mall on weekends - the tech store. She's really good with computers."

Pretty unusual for a teenage girl, but Holmes wasn't one to judge.

"It's all nonsense to me. But Lydia likes it, and she thinks there'll be a future in it for her. It's got to be better than anything this town can offer." She brushed away tears. "Sorry."

"You don't have to apologize, mam." She handed her a box of tissues. "We'll be able to make a good start with that, but if there's anything else you can think of, anything at all..."

She thought long and hard for a while. "It's... No, it's probably nothing."

"Every bit helps us get a better picture of your daughter."

"Well... The manager of the store where she works. When I've spoken to him... He's a bit odd, and not in the usual sense. I gave Lydia some mace in case he ever tried anything funny. I don't know his last name, but his name badge says Cole."

"Alright, we can look into that too. I'll put out a police bulletin and we'll start looking into this right away. Feel free to head home, we'll call or visit if we find anything."

"Thank you." She blew her nose, delicately gathering her purse as she stood. The detective stopped the recording and followed her to the exit.

"Walker, anything yet?" She approached her deputy's desk with a hand pinching her brow.

He was just finishing up a phone call. "Alright, come down to the station at your earliest convenience so we can take a statement. Thank you."

"Has someone heard from Lydia?"

"No. That was Mrs Williams... Tiffany's missing."

***

Avenport police were fully mobilised by the next morning - as two missing persons cases soon became seven. All Lydia's friends had been reported missing by worried parents and teachers.

The town had never known such a buzz. The press soon got involved, though Detective Holmes refused to interact with them, only requesting that they help get the message out about the missing teens.

Most of her employees had never had to work on such a big case, so were a little out of their depth. While they interviewed the parents, Holmes went to the tech store where Lydia worked.

The store was empty besides the manager, Cole. The hairs on the back of Holmes' neck stood on end just looking at him.

She furrowed his eyes at him. "Cole Reed?" He looked up from his paperwork. "I'm Detective Natalia Holmes, and this is Deputy Darrell Walker."

Cole snickered. "Detective Holmes? Seriously? Like Sherlock?"

She shared a look with Walker - shaking her head. "Anyway... we're investigating some missing person's cases, starting with Lydia Harrington, one of your part-timers?" She passed him the flyer with Lydia's photo.

"Lydia? Missing?" He scratched the back of his neck.

"Not just her..." Walker started, handing him the other posters. "Amy Jones, Jennifer Brown, Heather Moore, Dale Smith, Sarah Martin, and Tiffany Williams."

"Oh..." He shivered. "I had wondered why Sarah never showed up for her shift."

"They all work for you?" The detective tilted her head.

"Um... The girls do - evenings and weekends. They each do an hour or two, either in the stock room or out front. They're good kids - very knowledgeable."

"Do they like working here?"

"Well, they like the employee benefits."

Walker shared a look with Holmes. "Benefits?"

He raised up his hands. "It's a new company scheme - to get more women into the industry. All female workers get what we call, 'tech points' for every sale or any time they properly answer a customer question. They get enough points, they can trade them for any of our products."

"So free cellphones? Laptops?"

He stuttered. "Er... I mean, if they got enough, sure."

They were doubtful, but after reading their contracts in the office, they confirmed his story. Still, something about it seemed off.

"So according to their contracts, Heather would've been the last person here?"

"Yeah. She did two hours on Wednesday evening."

"Did you notice anything strange about her? Odd behaviour? Nervousness?"

"I don't know. She clocked in, I took my break, and when I came back, I had stuff to do in the office. The next time I saw her, she was finishing her shift and clocked out. You can check the security footage if you like."

***

The security footage showed Heather at work. There weren't many customers that day, but she seemed happy enough to do her job. The only thing that stood out was, close to the end of her shift, Dale Smith showed up to talk to her - they recognised him from the photo his parents had given them for the investigation.

"Is that Dale? I wonder what they're talking about. It's too fuzzy to lip-read." They could analyse their body language though. They seemed to be having a normal conversation, until Dale handed a piece of paper to Heather. She read it as he walked away, then tore it in two, crumpled up the halves, and threw them away.

Holmes immediately went looking in the trash. It hadn't been emptied, so it was easy finding the scraps. She laid them on the desk, piecing them together.

"Eleven PM... 8X9 series... page four."

"What?"

Cole stepped forward, scanning his eye over the note. "The 8X9?"

"You know it?"

"It's a CPU. Hold on, I think I have the product specifications... Here." He took a booklet from the shelf - it was sticking out amongst the others, as if it had been taken out recently. "We always keep spare copies of these things."

Walker skimmed through to the correct page. He read over the text a few times. It had been well disguised to look the same as the print, but the string of numbers across the bottom didn't appear anywhere else. "This has been added by hand. Any ideas?" He showed it to both of them.

"Seven digits. Could be coordinates." Holmes considered them carefully. "It's not far from here. Come on, she could still be around there."

***

They took a full search party to the location in the booklet.

It was along the road leading out of town. There wasn't anything out that way besides pine forest. The trail led to a lumberyard, but it hadn't been in use for years. They found Dale's car parked at the side of the road, with footprints leading off into the woods.

Holmes' GPS confirmed that the supposed meeting location was up ahead somewhere. They followed the footprints uphill, though with it getting late, it became more and more difficult to follow.

"Kinda spooky out here, huh?" Walker muttered.

"Unnatural is the word. These trees were grown strictly for timber. Nothing else can live here. That's why it's so quiet."

There was a clearing ahead, with a cabin on the far side of it. They imagined it was used as a bunkhouse for the lumberyard staff. Holmes felt a sinking feeling washing over her. It was something she'd felt before, while on a serial killer case in the city. The scene stunk of convenience - convenience for a killer. Secluded. Secret. She knew to trust her instincts.

"Walker, with me. Everyone else, hold back for now."

The two proceeded cautiously, stepping lightly and keeping out of line of sight with the windows. Guns ready, they approached the door.

With a nod, Holmes kicked the door open.

"Police!" She yelled, shining a flashlight inside. Her light illuminated the faces of four of the missing girls. They each looked exhausted, terrified, unkempt and a little worse for wear, but otherwise alive.

"Heather? Sarah? Amy? Jennifer?" She lowered her weapon and her light as they covered their eyes. They had cuts over various parts of their faces and arms. She signalled over her shoulder for the others to come over. Looking between them, she muttered, "Where's Lydia? Tiffany? Dale?"

They appeared dazed, hesitating before pointing to the door behind them. Holmes headed in.

The bunkroom lay beyond. Boxes of pc games and various software discs lay around. Lydia was leaning over a bed where Tiffany lay. Her breathing was ragged, and torn bedding had been piled around her middle. It was stained a dark red.

"What the hell? Lydia?"

She looked up, her mascara smeared down her face. "Huh? Who are you?"

"Natalie Holmes. Your mom asked me to find you. Are you alright? What happened?"

She had a smaller injury on her arm, though it still looked nasty. "Well... It's my fault... It's a long story."

***

The search party brought their vehicles up the side road to the cabin, while a couple who were medically trained called for ambulances and took care of Tiffany.

Holmes and Walker sat with all the girls in the bunkroom. They'd broken a lock to get into the pantry - apparently Lydia and her friends hadn't eaten since they went missing.

"Why don't you start from the beginning?" Holmes began.

Lydia sighed, stumbling over her words a bit. "It was Dale's idea that we should work at the tech store. If we pooled all our points together, we could sell the free stuff ourselves. Each of us were pretty into computers, and there was nothing illegal about it, so we said yes. But Cole made us uncomfortable. He asked us to be his girlfriends and... do stuff for him. We wanted to quit. Dale told us to meet here to talk about it. He wouldn't let us quit. He said we had a good thing, and if we had to do a few favors for Cole, we should. I refused, and Dale grabbed me. He threatened me. Tiffany found a knife and attacked him, but he was stronger, and he stabbed her. I used the mace my mom packed for me, and everyone tried getting the knife off him. I think it was Heather that took the knife, and... He stopped breathing. We panicked, and buried him out in the woods. Tiffany got worse. We couldn't leave, and we couldn't call for help - I'm the only one with a cellphone, and the battery died."

"None of you tried going for help?"

"I'm sorry. I guess we were all in shock. The others were just getting ready to go when you showed up."

"Well, your mom's been very worried about you. We'll take you all to the hospital first, then we'll have to take statements from each of you. And we'll need to find Dale."

"Will Heather go to prison? For killing him?"

She sighed. "It will be brought before a judge. It's pretty clear from your injuries that it was self defence, so you'll hopefully not have to worry about that. We'll look into Cole as well. If what you've said is true, he could be put away for a long time."

Walker came back in. "Detective, they found Dale."

"And?"

"Deceased, definitely."

"Right..." She pinched her brow. "The ambulance will be here soon. In the meantime, could you get statements from the others?"

"Before I do..." He ducked out for a moment, coming back in with a mug of hot tea. "It's well-sweetened, for the shock."