Chapter 2: Can I Help You

The same evening, Jessica walked into a police precinct that was in her neighborhood with confusion all over her face and wet hair dangling. As it stood, she had exhausted every possible person and place where her sister could be. Going to the police was now the only option she had left and the situation she feared the most. Going to the police also meant she had to hide the black bruise she had under her eye behind a pair of dark sunglasses. This was because her makeup was compromised due to the heavy precipitation outside.

Advancing inside, she was quickly greeted by a very chaotic environment with phones ringing off the hooks; cops dragging rebellious criminals across the room to an in-built lock-up; cops going in and out of the precinct. She appeared invisible to everyone as they stepped past her. However, holding tightly onto the thin strap of her handbag, she went over to a receptionist's desk.

"Uh, I would like to report a missing person—"

"Name?" A bubble-gum-chewing lady officer cut her off.

"I'm Jessica," she didn't quickly notice what the receptionist wanted.

"Ma'am the name of the missing person you're reporting," the woman rolled her eyes.

"Oh, it's Laurel, Laurel Isaacs."

"Laurel Isaacs," the receptionist repeated while typing her name onto her computer's screen. "What is Miss Isaacs's relationship to you?"

"She's, she's my sister."

"And how long has she been missing now?"

"I don't know...about seventeen…eighteen hours now."

The receptionist suddenly stopped typing and looked up at her with contempt. "Ma'am to file a missing person's report, the person must be missing for at least twenty-four hours."

"I know, but this is unlike my sister. She went to a party last night with a friend and she did not return home."

"Have you checked to see if she's with this friend of hers?"

"Yes. In fact, her friend did not return home either. They're both missing."

"Well, I'm sorry. There's nothing I can do at this moment," the receptionist ended.

"So that's it?" Jessica could not believe it, especially after convincing herself that if anybody could help her find her sister, surely it would be the police.

"I'm afraid so...next in line," she unremorsefully went on, calling out to a man awaiting his turn behind Jessica.

"No, you're not done with me yet," a wrinkle immediately appeared on Jessica's speckled forehead.

"Ma'am, I've already told you that I can't help you until twenty-four hours have passed. Now, if you don't mind stepping out of the line, I have another person to assist."

"No. My sister has been missing for eighteen hours and I've already spent the entire day searching for her. I'm not going anywhere until you get up off your fat ass and do something!" Jessica said frustratingly, surprising the people behind her and outraging the police receptionist.

"You know what, I'm not going to stand for this," the receptionist said in a huff, pushing her chair back and getting up.

"Funny, that would seem to be the first," Jessica glared at the woman's plump body type.

"You little—"

But just in time a ranking officer, who, all along, was watching them from his desk, stepped in. "Don't worry about it, Gladys. I'll take her from you. Ma'am, if you would now come with me," the bronze-skinned officer kindly said to her, directing her to his file-covered desk. He had low, wavy black hair that mirrored the waves of the ocean. Also, noticeably, a black beauty mark was under his faintly red lips. "I'm sorry about that," he unbuttoned his grey jacket before sitting down. Jessica also followed him and sat on a folded chair that was at the side of his desk. "I'm Detective Reynolds by the way," he introduced himself, fixing his desk's name plaque, which read 'Detective Mario Reynolds'.

"I'm Jessica."

"I apologize again. Things are pretty hectic here at the moment. Everyone is on edge. I don't know if you know this, but just last week City Hall approved a budget cut for the department. Hashtag, defund the police. Many of us are worried that we're gonna be out of a job soon."

"No. I did not," Jessica pushed a section of her hair behind her right ear as she tried to act like she cared.

"I was lucky to get a job here when I did. But right now, we're spread too thin, and crime has gone up in the city nearly two hundred percent. But despite everything, I'm willing to assist you as best as I can."

"I appreciate that, detective."

"So, you said your sister was missing."

"Yes."

"And it has been eighteen hours?"

"Correct."

"And you're absolutely sure she is missing and not hanging out with friends?"

"Yes. I've tried calling her several times, but it went straight to voicemail with no answer. Laurel is always on her phone."

"Alright, can you do me a favor? Write down her phone number here," he handed her his pen and notepad. So, she did and returned them to him in short order. "Thanks," he said. "I'm gonna make one of the boys in I.T. see if they can get a location on her phone."

"Okay."

"Look, I'm going to be blatantly blunt with you—"

"You wouldn't be the first today," Jessica remembered her conversation with the woman at the Social Services office a few hours ago.

"Pardon me?"

"I meant, continue."

"Yeah. I've just started working here. Three weeks, to be exact. But I've seen many cases like this one that almost always stem from a problem in the home. Maybe you and she had a very heated argument, and she has found somewhere to cool off...probably with a boyfriend." At this point, Jessica started to drift into a trance. "Miss Isaacs..." The detective's voice dwindled as Jessica fully fell into a self-inflicted trance.

In her trance, she reminisced on an altercation that occurred between her and her sister some days before her disappearance. The memory opened with Laurel in a fit of anger stuffing some clothes in a suitcase.

"Laurel, what are you doing?!" Jessica stumbled upon her in her room.

Yet Laurel didn't answer her. She just zipped up her suitcase and stepped past Jessica with it.

"Laurel?!" Jessica followed her down the stairs. "Laurel, wait."

"No, let her leave. There'll be one less mouth to feed around here," Tony smirked while sitting on his couch smoking a cigar and watching Laurel heading for the front door.

"Tony, stay out of this!" Jessica pointed her finger in his face. Butch, who was sitting at Tony's feet, growled at her. Even so, Laurel opened the front door and stormed out. "Laurel, wait?!" Jessica went after her yet again.

It was raining heavily outside, as Laurel dragged her suitcase down the porch and through the mud towards the front gate. The squealing sound from a sky train passing over their heads on two parallel metal rails could be heard. These rails, by the way, ran just behind their house and most of the community. Also, this train did not run on top of the tracks as was traditional, but instead, the train ran underneath it!

"Laurel, will you stop!" Jessica suddenly grabbed her arm, stopping her in her tracks. "Where are you going?!"

"Anywhere but here! I'm so sick and tired of people telling me what I can and cannot do and I'm tired of this shit-show," Laurel pushed her suitcase into the mud.

"What are you talking about?" Jessica frowned for a minute. "Laurel, look, I don't have time for this. Stop this foolishness. Come back inside."

"No! He's not my father and you're not my mother! I don't need either of you! I'm on my own."

"You're on your own? I'm sorry, but who has always been there when you needed something to eat...when you needed clothes...somewhere to sleep? Don't you dare stand there and say that you are on your own! You are so ungrateful. I have given up everything for you."

"I never asked you to! I never asked for a shitty home and a pathetic sister who drops her panties for every freaking dude she meets!"

Instantly Jessica landed her hand across her sister's face. In hindsight, her action was really a terrible reflex. But Laurel was left completely dumbfounded while she held her now red cheek. Jessica, realizing what she had done, quickly fell to her knees and hugged her, saying, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

"Let me go. I need to leave," Laurel said while bawling.

"Please don't. Look, I'm sorry. Okay? You get on my nerves sometimes, but you're my baby sister," Jessica then released her from the hug. "I know what it's like to be fifteen. There are a lot of things going through your mind. You're becoming a young woman. But Laurel, you need to finish school. I didn't and I'm still paying dearly for it 'til this day. I don't want the same thing to happen to you. Can't you see that? I only want the best for you."

"Well, you have a weird way of showing it," Laurel wiped away her smeared mascara eyes.

"Tell you what," Jessica got up off her knees.

"What?"

"Let's make a deal. If you finish high school, I promise I'll get out of your skin and let you do whatever you want."

"Anything. Yeah right. You're lying."

"I'm telling the truth. Of course, I want you to go to college. But that will be your decision."

"How do I know you're not just saying that to get me back inside?"

"Okay, let's pinky-swear," Jessica held out her pinky finger.

"What? I'm fifteen, not ten."

"Come on, it'll be fun."

"This is stupid. Why should I believe you?"

"Because you were right. Tony is not your dad. I'm not mom, and I can never replace her. Laurel, I can't baby-spoon-feed you all the way through life. I see that now. Soon you'll have to go out on your own and learn how the world works. I had to. But I still want the best for you and if I can help to make it a little easier for you, I will."

"Okay. I just have to graduate from high school?"

"Yep."

"And you'll get off my back?"

"You can do whatever you want."

"Alright, you have a deal," Laurel finally gave in and, with Jessica smiling, they pinky swore in the pouring rain.

Jessica shortly returned to the present to hear the detective calling out her name, "…Jessica?"

"Sorry."

"That's alright."

"Look, we did not have an argument. Well, not recently. We had one a week ago, but that's not the point. The point is, we made a promise. I know my sister. She would never run away. Not like this."

"Okay. What about her boyfriend?"

"I've already checked with her... I should say former boyfriend and she's not with him. He said she ditched him for another guy at a party."

"Do you know the identity of this guy?" Mario got his pen ready to write on his notepad.

"Unfortunately, no."

"Where was this party?"

"It was at Club Frixtion."

"Club Frixtion? What age did you say your sister was again?" His right eyebrow suddenly arched.

"She's fifteen, but she's going to turn sixteen in a couple of days from now."

"Regardless, she's not sixteen and you have to be sixteen to get into parties like those. It's state law."

"I know, but we were once teenagers. You know what it's like. She just wanted to have fun."

"And how is that working out for either of you right now?"

"Asshole."

"Yeah? Well in these streets you have to be careful of nothing."

"You cops are all the same here. Pigs."

"And you're irresponsible. I'd say we're about even at this point," he responded unapologetically.

For a moment, Jessica was silent with anger. But she later asked, saying neutrally with a surprisingly calm composure, "Can you help me or not?"

"We can put out an A.P.B on your sister, but that is all we can do until it has been twenty-four hours to officially put her on the missing person list."

"I will take anything I can."

"Do you have a recent photo of your sister?"

"Yea," she replied, quickly digging in her handbag for it. "I took this one from her room today," she said, still searching vigorously through her bottomless bag. Suddenly, her sunglasses fell down her face, revealing the bruise under her eye.

"What happened to your eye?" The detective quickly asked, watching her as she hastily placed the sunglasses back on her face.

"It's nothing," she shrugged.

"It doesn't seem like 'nothing'. Who did this to you?"

"Here," she finally found the picture and gave it to him. "She used to have red hair like mine, but the one with the purple hair is Laurel. The other girl is her friend, Nelly Prendergast. They were both at the party and are both missing. Here is my address and phone number," she said while writing on the back of the photograph. After she had finished, she quickly got up to leave.

"Hold on," he got up too. "Here's my card. Call me if 'nothing' happens again," he watched her carefully as she hesitantly took his card with her head down before dashing out.

Up Next: Chapter 3: Who Are All These Girls