CHAPTER 6

   29 DAYS EARLIER

"Young man, we find it very suspicious that you were present at both disappearances. The scene of your sister's disappearance and that of Emily. So either you start talking or you're going to be here for a while".

Officer Hank pulled the chair backwards to sit in the four cornered room, the interrogation room. Just the appearance could make anybody crack open like an egg.

No proper ventilation was installed and the heat alone could well tears in your eyes adding to the heat emitting from the suspending energy bulbs.

"Detective, I've told you all I know and what happened. Emily left our place and we decided to go over to the street, which was publicly denounced as a crime scene may I add, as an act to mourn my sister and we found a note"

"It doesn't look like you were mourning your sister Maxwell, atleast not according to the street cameras. You were searching for something, like you hid it, should I say the note? and call me Officer not detective".

Max cringed at the use of his full name, he was fed up at this point, lack of proper sleep, dehydration and a little sprinkle of starvation was gnawing at his sense of respect for the elderly.

"DETECTIVE.." Hank scowled at the boy before him, he hated stubborn recalcitrant children. "I just told you that I don't know..."

The creaking metal doors was pushed aside, startling the duo. A man properly clad in suit walked in, the aura around him suggested his lust for power, his polished shoes reflected the light from the bulbs, the cufflinks that married the hems of his suits at his wrist looked like pure gold, were they?.

Max's mouth was left agape as he set his briefcase smelling of pure leather, pure expensive leather on the silver table before him.

"How can you just barge into my interro..." "Count 1" the man interrupted Hank at the middle of his brewing anger. "Unlawful arrest and interrogation without a presense of a lawyer" he paused for effect, Hank raised his brows in utmost confusion

"count 2... Max have you eaten?" Max's head ran miles who was this before him? How did he know his name? Who hired him? Did his parents send him?

"N..n..no" he stammered through his dry coarse throat. "From the texture of your voice, you sound dehydrated. Count 2 human starvation and deprivation of basic rights. Count 3 Abduction and molestation of an underage, count 4..."

Officer Hank had had enough he stood toe to toe with the man. " Who are you? You think you can just come in like you own the place and start reciting the Constitution and you expect me to quiver?" Hank was turning red at this point.

The man calmly wiped a spittle from his face ,he reached into his inner pockets and brought out his card. Attorney Clansel.

Officer Hank's face paled "Have you seen a ghost?" Clansel chuckled , a proud chuckle after winning both the battle and the war.

A top attorney who never lost his cases, he had been tasked with the burden of handling tougher cases like sentencing a murderer who was caught on tape to community service instead of life imprisonment or even death, this was a work over.

"I'm... I'm" Hank stammered, " not so much of a talker now are you?" Clansel smirked. Max was lost, the battle of manly prowess was won by the man in front of him dressed expensively due to the look on Officer Hank's face, but he still didn't understand how.

Clansel signalled for Max to get up, he did, unopposed by Hank, Max left the dingy room, only smelling fresh air after the past 17hours.

"Did my parents hire you?" Max asked trying hard to satiate the plethora of questions in his mind,

"No, Jack's dad did. He was worried about V... Jack" he quickly covered his mistake. " Jack hadn't been home and hadn't replied his texts either. He got worried and even more worried when he found out about the unlawful arrest from Emily's neighbour. That's when he called me".

They finally arrived at the checkpoint. Max collected the box containing his belongings; his belt, his phone and his sweater. Max saw Vivian, Jack, no Chris.

They all had the same appearance reflected , dishevelled and unorganized. Max clearly remembered that Chris was apprehended too. Four adults burst through the glass door all running towards their kids.

Vivian's mom and dad were roughly the same height, both had the skin colour of burned umber. They overshadowed her with hugs and kisses.

Jack's father drew his son into a forceful hug, it was evident that they didn't do it often. Jack's mom had passed away few years back creating a breach in the father-son relationship. There was no feminine touch in their lives. What surprised Max was the subtle glances Jack's dad was giving Vivian.

He didn't have enough time to put it to mind as he spotted his mom. Max was confused, his mother hadn't indulged him in a conversation neither had she made an effort to talk to him for the past two weeks plus after the heart breaking news.

She opened her arms wide, Max's eyes filled with tears, he rushed into them. He had missed it, hugs, maternal hugs filled with love, comfort, safety and warmth.

She started crying " Max I'm sorry I've not been available to talk to you, with your sister's kidnap and death and..." "It's okay mom, I understand".

Max truly did. Max pulled away from the mom as she wiped her face, arranged her dress and went to the checkpoint . The three other parents did same, they were angry, they had to give the receptionist a piece of their minds.

The trio were left standing awkwardly. "We should talk about it" Max was always breaking the silence. Jack looked up.

" I don't think I want to guys, seeing Emily disappear before our eyes is not just something you forget"

"Exactly my point Vee, it is not something you can forget and it can drive you insane by just trying to bottle it up knowing that this thing is still out there lurking behind the shadows waiting for us"

"Us?" Jack's voice quivered in fear

"I feel like it's not just a coincidence. There's a connection". Their parents were coming back, Max whispered "meet at my place by 7pm today, we'll talk about it". They nodded in confirmation.

The drive back home was filled with silence but not uncomfortable silence. "Don't worry, your dad's not home". Max's mom spoke, Max turned and looked at her.

He forced a smile. He wasn't thinking of his dad, he was thinking about the meeting this evening. Less than ten minutes, they arrived at their home.

"Your food is on the kitchen island" Max's mom turned and smiled at Max as she ruffled his hair.

He unbuckled his seatbelt, pecked his mom on the cheeks and mouthed a thank you. Max headed straight for the fridge, he downed a bottle of water to calm his aching throat.

The aroma that wafted from the food he uncovered on the island sent his eyes rolling into his skull. He dived into it and moaned, there's nothing like a mother's food.

Spaghetti and beef sauce was his favourite. Eating faster than his mastication ability, small droplets of spaghetti hit the tiled island. His mom walked in and chuckled.

" Slow down or you might get constipation". She walked to the fridge, poured a glass of milk and pushed it to him."thank you" he spoke with his mouth filled with food.

"That's disgusting" they laughed.  "When you're done, you can head to bed, I've already taken permission from the principal to excuse you from school this week".

He visibly sighed, a sigh of relief as she walked up the stairs leaving him to his thoughts. He speedily finished the sumptuous meal and downed the glass of milk. Fatigue set in as he walked up the stairs.

He pulled his clothes for a quick shower. Coming out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist , he wore his pyjamas although it was only 9am.

He texted Chris asking about his whereabouts while telling him about the meeting by 7. He locked his phone and laid on the bed, immediately his head touched the pillow, he switched off like a bulb.

The monotonous iPhone ringtone woke Max up, he sluggishly woke up to check the caller "Vee? What does she want?" Max whispered to himself. He picked the call and placed it on his left ear as he yawned.

"Vee?"

"We're outside, where are you? It's cold"

"What? It's not even..." Max brought the phone to his eyes ; 7: 14pm. "Oh shit, I'm coming", she ended the call.

He tiptoed as he opened his door to avoid waking anybody up. He slid the glass door seperating the kitchen from the backyard, open. He spotted his friends by the wooden fence.

At least he was happy Chris still remembered where the spare key was for the passage through the fence due to all their night outings.

"Are y'all going to stand there?" Max laughed as he waved them over. He told them to walk in quietly to avoid alerting his parents.

Max locked the door as they all tiptoed to his room. In the safety of his room, Max turned on the light. Max waited as they got comfortable; Jack on his bed, Chris on the reclining chair and Vivian on the bean bag.

"You cleaned, finally" Vivian spoke, Max shrugged his shoulders " I didn't, mom did". " So thank you all for coming " Max started his prepared speech

"don't sweat it, they were our friends too. We need to do this for them" Chris shrugged. "Let's go over my findings" Max made a move for his drawer

"Wait" Chris spoke halting him , "whatever you have cannot be compared to mine", "what?" Max was confused.

Chris brought out a couple of files and photos and handed it to Max. Max quickly scanned through, his eyes bulged,

"where did you get this?" Max whisper yelled. Vivian stood up from the bean bag to get a glimpse at the paper. "Chris this is evidence, real crime scene evidence that has not been published yet, how did you get this?" Vivian looked at Chris.

"My Uncle works with the station investigating this case, so I took some of the evidence I found enlightening on my phone and printed them out later"

"Which uncle?" Jack moved to have a look "Officer Hank". "The man that insisted on being called Officer not detective?" Max asked

"Yes". "So that's why you had an early release?" It was more of a statement than a question. "This isn't right Chris" Jack started fidgeting " I want justice for them but this is just wrong". "I agree with Jack" Vivian supported him.

"Before you condemn me, do you know they have already found Emily's body?"

"What!?" they exclaimed. "But they never said they did" Max had worry all over his face.

"It's just like what happened to Reina, she was found the next day, dead by border patrol, floating on the river". Max sat on the floor as tears welled up.

"It's all in there, they carried out an autopsy of Reina's body before it was approved by your parents and when they found nothing but an inscription on the forehead they clothed her and dumped her by the river bank and anonymously tipped a reporter".

Chris spread out the paper in Max's hands on the floor. "Emily was found dead with her head sticking out from the earth. She was buried alive.

She was found by another patrol officer under the town's bell". "Why haven't they said anything?" Vivian asked as she took some papers to cross-check its authenticity, Jack followed suit.

"They want evidence before public interference. Now check this out, that mark that was on her forehead, Reina's forehead? R? Something similar was done on Emily but this time it was an E ".

Max's mind ran a marathon, the mark was the same cursive ,the perfection as his sisters'.

" The most disturbing fact is that in the site of all the disappearances and body dump site, there was this particular triangular mark, meaning it's the same person or group of people", Chris pointed at the mark on the two sites.

"Group? But we only saw a shadow of something which means one" Jack asked. "They believe it's more of a group job than a person since someone has to draw the signs simultaneously while the other stalks the victim till the final kill"."But we didn't see any mark on the street nor did the media say anything about it" Max recovered from his mental breakdown.

"That's because the police cleaned it, they didn't want the town to freak out. If they find out that there's a serial killer loose or this deaths are a little bit connected, there will be pressure on them".

"Well that's awfully convenient because there really is a serial killer on the loose" Jack shouted. "Keep your voice down", Max hushed.

A notification sound was heard from Vivian's phone. She looked at it; ' I'm all alone baby, I crave your touches and I need your warmth' Vivian smiled. It was getting late anyway.

"I have to go guys. My mom just texted me, we need to be in church"

"But it's late" Chris looked up.

"Well it's kind of an all night programme".

"Oh, should I walk you down?" Max asked, this caused Vivian to smile "no it's fine, I'll just get a taxi" Max smiled, stood up and hugged her.

Vivian exited the house of Max, used the open compartment in the fence at the backyard after unlocking the glass door. She blew air into her hand and rubbed her shoulder to keep warm, she halted a taxi.

Few minutes later, Vivian arrived the doorstep of her lover. She looked around and knocked on the door, it opened immediately.

"Is he coming home?" Vivian asked

"No, we're all alone baby".

"When are we going to tell Jack?"

"Soon baby, but not now. Right now I want to put your mouth to good use".

He dragged her in for a lust filled kiss. Jack's father smiled as their lips parted leaving only a string of saliva between them. He pulled her in and slammed the door shut.

Few kilometers away three boys tried as hard as possible to discover a sort of pattern in the killings ,another was making patterns on the bed while something lurked in the shadows watching Vivian.