When She went Missing II

Traylor Dray decided to try Kristine's number one more time after trying repeatedly last night but to no avail. He didn't want to get worried and assume the worst, but the longer it took without hearing from her, the more he got nervous at each passing second wondering what could have happened to her.

The last he heard from Kristine was during their phone call when she asked him to run a background check on Sam Wilby.

And when she said she would keep surveillance over Sam outside a motel she saw him enter, which was kind of strange.

Why a motel though?

Taylor tracked down Sam's entire background and found a hidden information about Sam's formal records about being in detention when he was a teenager and his victim was none other than Jayson Taylor. Who also helped him go scout free and dropped all the charges against Sam.

That was where their friendship started. But what surprised Taylor after finding out about that was, why Jason helped Sam when he was the victim whom Sam nearly killed.

Why the sudden chivalry then from Jason...?

Taylor wanted to report this to Kristine who would be more surprised and shocked than he was after knowing it.

There seemed to be a link between Sam and Jason for a long time now.

Even though Sam formally live in Textile State and attended Flexton high school for a short period when he stayed with his grandmother, there were no records of him and Jason being friends or knowing each other.

Formally, the Flexton school divided students into A and B sections to meet the targeted class number and differences in their courses of study.

Even though school block A was a few miles away from section B block, students from A never associated with the B blocked section, since they were at war with each other after every sporting activity between them.

So the only times section A and B were ever together were either for Sports competitions or on graduation day at their Prom party festivals, before they complete high school. Since that aspect was normally combined as part of a celebration.

Meanwhile, Jason was in section A along with Kristine's sister Rhea and the others, while Sam was in B even though they were in the same grade.

However, what could have happened to make Sam hold a gun to Jason and get accused of snatching Jason's purse when Sam came from a Wealthy home himself.

Taylor held Sam's background file in his hand as his mind ponder on what exactly he was missing in his investigations, but his mind came out blank.

He realized he might need Kristine's help on this, for further investigation, since his intuition kept driving at a connection between those two from the very beginning.

Starting with Jason saving Sam from detention and helping his sister...Thea, who was sick till her recovery.

There seems to be something in common between those two. And their meeting doesn't seem coincidental.

Both of them are hiding something from each other, and whatever it was, they would have to let Sam spit it out himself.

To Taylor's understanding, Sam first met Jason through that incident here in Textile State long before the unfortunate incident that struck his family, when his parents were found at home from a gunshot wound...dead!.

"Nothing seemed to fall into place here....Or was he getting the entire order of the occurrences wrong?" Taylor thought to himself.

It seemed Sam helped Jason to execute his vengeance on Kristine's sister out of loyalty to his friend, but it didn't look personal, which was what he wanted to report to Kristine immediately.

But her phone had been off since last night.

"Mr. Taylor Dray, the boss is seeking your presence at her office right now!" Taylor was startled into reality inside the surveillance room by one of the senior staff from the marketing team where Kristine was going to resume working after her three days' leave.

"How did she know I was Taylor Dray? Like me, did she develop a crush on me too?" Taylor was more excited about that senior's mention of his name than the fact that the boss called for him.

He completely forgot to pay attention to why his boss would call for him in particular, when he only resumed working three months ago after his transfer.

Due to his position in the Walker Empire's perfume branch, he could never associate with the main boss since the head of their surveillance team was there as a bridge to the boss.

Suddenly, the statement the senior said began to sink deeper into Taylor's mind, and here comes the shock for the first time.

"What!? what could she want from me? I surely hope I am not getting fired." Taylor stood up in attention when the statement finally registered.

His crush on that senior since his transfer there had his mind occupied, and when she called his name, he got so affected that, he didn't realize this was the first time he was ever called in front of the Boss since his transfer to this company branch with Kristine.

Taylor got up and made his way toward the Boss's office on the 14th floor.

On his ride through the elevator from the first floor, his mind went back to Kristine as his worries resurfaced.

"Could something bad have happened to her? Did she confront Sam Wilby and he did something to her? No! Kristine wasn't an easy prey for a pest like Sam Wilby. Her blackbelt record in all her taekwondo lessons as well as all her awards in their college fight competitions could prove she wasn't a piece of cake in protecting herself.

"But What exactly could have happened?" Taylor wondered aloud alone in the elevator.

He has been trying to call Kristine to report all the interesting details he gathered from his investigations but he was repeatedly hearing the switch-off voice from her phone.

During their last call, he remembered Kristine complained that her battery was below the minimum percentage. Which made sense when she sent that weird text about covering for her with her family if he doesn't hear from her.

"Oh shit! not again...where are you, Kris?" Taylor hissed in silent frustration as he dialed her number one more time.

He was so relieved that Kristine was on three days off from work, which made the tension less for him to handle, otherwise, he would have to make up another lie to cover for her with their boss... Kaylan Walker.

Whom he was meeting face to face for the first time, and he seemed quite nervous and curious about the reason behind this sudden audience with her.

"Could it be that he was about to be recommended for a promotion?" A smile carved Taylor's face and soon vanished like it was never there.

"How can I think of promotion and getting excited when Kristine was currently missing, and he had no idea what situation she was currently in." The bell door from the elevator dinged, which showed he had arrived on the 14th floor.

Kaylan Walker...His Boss's office!

She was an overworking new Boss whom they have known for merely three months since he and Kristine transferred here.

Reports accumulated through the gossipmongers within the company were that, their Boss Kaylan was formally a legendary badass heiress in the business world, running her father's company which blossom over the years.

She married her father's friend and business partner's heir to the Walker empire...Ryan Walker.

It's been circulating recently around the company that, she came here for a fresh start to take her mind off a depressing incident that threatened the Walker household after their fifteen-year-old daughter went missing ten years ago, through a kidnapping case.

There was still no trace of their daughter nor the kidnappers ever since the incident took place.

The abductors neither called and asked for any ransom nor did the cops ever apprehend those behind that act.

It was like they vanished from the surface of the earth along with their daughter.

Even though it was still an ongoing case till date, since the only person who witnessed and survived that kidnapping incident was Kaylan's husband's brother...Travis Walker, and he had been in a coma for ten years now.

That was why the case was still pending.

Taylor knocked on the door to Kaylan's office and he heard a firm statement ushering him inside.

He nervously closed the door behind him and took frightening steps toward her desk.

All of the sudden, his tension had risen to a maximum level.

"You are Taylor Dray?!" Kaylan asked in a soft voice.

"Yes, Maam... I mean Yes Boss." Taylor stammered.

"Maam is okay! Well, Mr. Dray, aren't you shocked to see me here?" Kaylan uttered in her famous Bossy tone.

"Huh?! what do you mean Maam? I don't understand!" Taylor could feel the sweat piling up on his brow despite the refreshing cold breeze from the air conditioning.

"I heard you made a call to one of my staff's homes and claimed I went on a business trip with their daughter, someone named Kristine Sanders...Did you or did you not?" Taylor felt his jaw drop from shock.

He had to gulp down his saliva countless times to finally find his voice.

"Have you gone deaf now!" Kaylan stared at him sounding impatient.

"Yea...h Maam, I mean.. No! Maam I...I

"Would you pull yourself together and answer my question? Did you or did you not?" Kaylan stressed her question.

"I did...Maam. But I couldn't come up with any other lie at that time. I was forced to say that to cover for a friend so her mom wouldn't get worried." Taylor finally found his voice.

"So, Where is that friend of yours now?" Kaylan asked as if interrogating him for a crime.

"She had something personal to take care of, but she didn't tell me what it was. And her phone had been switched off since. I still can't reach her." Taylor confessed worriedly.

"How dare you!" Kaylan got emotional and suddenly held herself together. She looked like she was fighting a battle just to hold her cool.

"Do you know what it feels like for a daughter to suddenly go missing, and a mother to have no idea where her daughter was, or how to find her, or what happened to her, or in what situation she was currently in? How could you lie to a mother who was worried for her child's safety with that silly excuse? If Kristine doesn't come back by the end of the day, you should consider yourself fired! You may leave now! just pray and hope nothing bad happened to her or else..." Kaylan waved her hand in a gesture to make Taylor leave.

And as soon as she heard the door shut behind him, Kaylan dropped her bossy mood and wept her eyes out, crying for her missing daughter...

"Annabelle! Oh, Annabelle sweetheart....where are you?!

Taylor on the other hand paused by the door and heard his Boss's cries which broke his heart even more than her statement about getting him fired.

"So it was true...she had indeed lost her daughter. It wasn't just rumored.." Taylor murmured to himself as he wrote an emergency leave and immediately book a flight to Riley State to search for Kristine.

As Kaylan wiped her endless tears that never ceased to flow in all those ten years her daughter went missing, her phone suddenly rang and she wiped her tears and pulled herself together before she picked up. It was her husband Ryan calling...

"Hello Honey...Are you back from your business trip already...I

"Good news honey...I just got a call from the doctor. My brother had finally woken up from coma..." Ryan broke the news excitedly while Kaylan was shocked she nearly choked on her tears.

"Finally honey...we have a link we have been waiting for to trace Annabelle." Ryan mumbled, as if coming to terms with this reality.

"I am on my way right now!" Kaylan rose from her seat and place a call to a secretary.

"Tell the pilot to get the private jet ready immediately!" Kaylan ordered in a raspy voice from all her tears, it took a while before the secretary couldn't even recognize her Boss's voice. But she did as she was told immediately...without delay!