Chapter 10

I don't why, but I feel happy. Oliver has been teasing me about this for the whole week. He kept asking me why I an being happy. Serious? Is there something about being happy? Why does it have to be a big deal? Honestly, I don't even know why I am in a good mood these days. All I know is that I feel great.

"Hi, Chris! Good morning." Mary Sue greeted me. I almost bumped into her while buying some drinks before going to the station.

"Hey, hi! How have you been?" I smiled widely.

"We just saw each other yesterday. Are you okay?" Mary Sue responded, laughing lightly.

"Huh? Oh, yeah! Haha! Duh? Right, uhm. Will you come to our house tonight?" I hesitantly ask while scratching the back of my head.

"Oh, sorry. I have a date tonight." My smile disappeared with what I heard.

"What?" I asked, trying not to sound too disappointed.

"Yeah, I have this suitor who is so persistent. Anyways, see you around?" When Mary Sue left, I sighed.

When I left the grocery store, my mood changed. As I arrived at the station, I saw Oliver talking to an older woman. She looked nervous and is about to cry. I heard her explaining something when I approached them.

"Hey, man." I greeted Oliver and smiled at the older woman.

"She's asking us to look for a woman who might have been taken. She said it'd been three weeks since her niece showed up. Her friends have been looking for her, too, as well as her boyfriend." Oliver explained. The older woman is trying her best not to cry.

"I'm the only family she has, and she will not just disappear." The older woman said in a said voice. My heart breaks for the older woman. I'm confident that she and her niece is very close.

"Don't worry, Ma'am. We will do everything we can to find your niece." I sincerely said.

Oliver took her to our desk officer to get her official statement. While I turn on my computer and set up my table, I remembered my encounter with Mary Sue earlier at the grocery store.

'Come on, Chris. Job first.' I said to myself inwardly.

Oliver and I were about to go back to our tables when the captain called for a meeting. Everyone gathered in front of his office and waited in anticipation.

"Other cities are reporting an increase of missing women cases for the past three months. I wrote a recommendation for the curfew to our city mayor, and he has agreed to it. At three o'clock in the afternoon, I will announce the effectivity of the curfew by tomorrow. Police officers will be stationed on all entry and exit points around Burton Grove. I will need everyone's cooperation to ensure the safety of our city and its citizens."

I immediately called my sister to remind her to be careful and inform our family about the curfew. I agree with our captain's decision. It's to implement a curfew this early than wait for the situation to get worst.

Handling two cases is very stressful. Our investigation about the dead body found in the riverside is still progressing slowly. We have interviewed all of the victim's friends, neighbors, and family members, but they can't give us a plausible suspect. All of them have suspicions, but none can stand in court.

'Now this missing woman's case. What is going on with Burton Grove? Damn it!' I pinched my nose as I sighed in frustration.

"You okay, man?" Oliver asked. When I open my eyes, he's already sitting at my table.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I lied.

"Hey, man. Don't worry about your sister, okay? She's smart, and she's fearless. Nothing bad will happen to her." I smiled at what he said.

"Thanks, man. Come on. We've got a lot of work to do." I said as I pat his shoulder.

We left the station with the ultimate goal of finding a concrete lead to solve the dead woman's case.

When we arrive at St. Luis, our first stop was the victim's neighborhood. We need to endure that we gather all the information we need before moving to the next item on the list. As we passed by on an old two-story house, I saw a kid staring at me by the window. I looked at the angle of their house, the victim's home, and it has the perfect view.

"Hey, kid. How are you doing? Do you have something for a handsome detective like me?" I tried to be as friendly as possible because I can see that he has something to say.

When the kid got out of the house, I was stunned by what he has to say. I had to quickly call Oliver and the kid inside their home so that the killer won't notice him.

"That piece of sh*t!" Oliver exclaimed when I told him what the kid told me. "He got me with all the crying."

"This kid is twelve years old. He knows what he saw. He even described the car the father used on dumping the body." I said, convinced that the kid is telling the truth.

He always sneaks out in the middle of the night to the fireflies on the edge of the woods behind the victim's house. On the same night that the victim was confirmed to be dumped on the riverside, he said he was about to go back home when he saw the victim's father carrying the lifeless body of his daughter into the trunk of an old Impala. The one that we saw beside the house.

Oliver had an idea; we knocked on the victim's house and asked them if we could impound the car for DNA processing. The mother of the victim was confused, but the father was in utter shock. Only seconds passed, he started wailing and blabbing.

We immediately placed him under arrest and took him to the station. His wife was devasted, and she could stop herself from crying as he hit him forcefully. Who could have blamed her?

When we arrived at the station, I saw Mary Sue with her suitor. My mood immediately changed, and I almost walked away. But I have a job to do. I don't want to look unprofessional in front of everybody.

"Chris! Oh, thank god. I need your help; our house has been ransacked. My dad was badly beaten. My mom saw the guy who did it, but they were so afraid that he might retaliate if we go to the police." Mary Sue looked so distressed; I felt terrible for her.

"You know what, miss? I can handle that better than this loser." Kevin Guzman interrupted our conversation.

"You can't even solve your case, Guzman. Knock it off." The captain said when he heard what Kevin said.

Kevin walked away with a sour face as I lead Mary Sue to our desk officer. After the formal complaints were filed, Oliver and I headed to the perpetrator's house to arrest him.

I went to Mary Sue's house to ensure that Mary Sue is okay, but when I saw her and her suitor having an intimate moment, I decided to just leave them alone.