122 Missing (17)

Some people did not treasure their lives. The day's meeting was regarding the new companies they might take under their wing, and some of their representatives decided to ingratiate themselves with Kyro before the meeting even started. However, when one man left almost in tears, the others finally realized that this was a minefield they should approach with care.

The meeting then passed in relative calm.

When Kyro returned to his office, it was past one o'clock. Opening his email, he found that there was a message from the detective.

[Why would you have me investigate some missing girl in another continent? My connections are great, but they're on this side of the Atlantic.]

'Missing girl?' That part startled him. Why was she missing? It brought her no advantages, did it?

He quickly clicked on the attachment and opened the pdf file. The first page had a dossier style introduction. On the left there was a photo of the girl, while on the right there was some basic information about her.

[Name: Iris Surname: Warren

Age: 23 Date of Birth: 09-17-1994

Sex: Female Country: United Kingdom]

Below were a number of her social media accounts, but he passed them by for the moment and looked at the 'Background' section.

[Iris was born in Kendal in 1994. Her parents were both British and happily married for three years. When Iris was four, her parents were in a car accident. Her mother died on the spot, while her father was brought to the hospital, but his life could not be saved. Two days later, he died as well.

After that, Iris went to live with her mother's older sister Madeline Nicholls, who is a graphic designer. She didn't earn much from that, so they were part of the lower middle class.

There are few records of Iris' life after that. She has never attended any competitions or won any prizes. Her school life lacked any achievements.

Once she finished high school, she took a year off before starting her studies. There's no data regarding what she did during that time. When she applied for college, it was for one place and a degree in Economics. Her marks during exams were average, neither too good nor on the verge of failing.

This year, on May 29th, she disappeared without a trace. She came to class, stayed for half a lecture, then was gone before anyone could notice. No one has seen her since then. The strange thing here, her aunt has not reported this to the police as a missing person's case.]

Kyro leaned back in his chair, trying to make sense of what he'd read. This did seem like a perfect profile for someone nefarious, and that last comment about the aunt was highly suspicious. Yet this life could also be true. The girl did act like she had nowhere else to be besides his place.

'I really need some damn answers,' he thought while massaging his temples.

…

When Iris woke up, it was already past midday. For a moment, she lay without moving, hoping to fall asleep again. In her subconsciousness, she knew that something bad would happen once she opened her eyes.

Her stomach growled soon, though, and she forced herself to get up. Blinking, she noticed that she was covered by a blanket. 'That wasn't there yesterday,' she noted, puzzling over the matter. 'Kyro must have put it on me!'

And then the dam was broken. The memories from yesterday came crashing in, and she dug herself under the blanket to hide her face. "I'm an idiot, I'm such an idiot!" she whispered, almost in tears.

Instead of acting like a person, she had been stuttering and not saying anything, avoiding him. In his own apartment. She was a stranger, more or less, yet acting like it was fine for her to stay here without any explanation. When he wanted to talk, she even fell asleep!

'He must think I'm a fool and a joke by now.'

But it was too damn embarrassing! First, he mentioned seeing what happened in the warehouse. Then, he asked about how Lucifer got injured, and his voice when she said that it was to protect her… It was full of so much incredulity, she wanted to die from shame…

'Argh… He'll probably want to talk to me when he wakes up again, and this time I won't be able to avoid it…'

She stayed hidden for a bit longer, debating whether she was more hungry or more afraid of meeting Kyro. The latter was an incredibly scary proposition, but she was starving.

Without making a sound, she crawled off the sofa and went toward the kitchen. On her way, she noticed that the bedroom's door was open, and light was coming in there from the open curtains. She sneaked closer to get a better look, and her face brightened up with a wide smile.

'He's not home!'

This was the best news there could be. Even if it was delaying the inevitable, she did not mind. Anything that allowed her to stay around here for a bit longer was a welcome turn of events.

Freely then, she went into the kitchen to raid the refrigerator, but there was nothing there besides a pack of blueberries, five eggs, and an old tomato. 'This… I know my refrigerator was lean when I lived alone, but this… There's nothing to eat here!'

She wanted to give Kyro a good talking regarding the state of food in his apartment, but he wasn't around. Thus, she was forced to just scramble the eggs with salt and pepper and keep quiet. At least there were blueberries for a desert.

When finishing the last berry, she couldn't help but lament to Lucifer, who had come over to check on her, "I've turned into a human, so why is my diet still the same as when I was a fox?"