Chapter 39: Guessing

In the parking lot of the church, representatives of the church council were already waiting for us, namely Rebecca and David.

"Hello!" I said.

"Hello," Rebecca replied. "Why do you need Polina?"

"We need complete information on the girl she told me about yesterday," I quickly responded.

"Something happened to her?" Rebecca asked, hurrying alongside me towards the church.

"We suspect that she's being used in our case," I said.

"What?" Rebecca exclaimed.

"We'll continue the conversation when I see Polina," I said.

"But this is important," she insisted.

"Important? It's important that she might be in danger. Every second counts," I replied.

"Yes. It's better to discuss this in our office," David, who had been silent until now, said.

We quickly walked to the office, where Polina was already sitting with Sofia. Both of them looked worried.

"So, hello," I said quickly. "We need any information on that girl, especially the date when she disappeared. And...," I began.

"And we need one of you to describe what she looks like," Samuel interrupted.

"Oh, yes, of course," Polina said.

"You can come over here. I think it would be better not to disturb Polina while she's giving her testimony," Samuel said, motioning for Sofia to come closer.

"Got it," she said, looking at Polina with a questioning expression.

I moved closer to Polina, reducing the distance between us to half a meter. Taking out my notebook, I began jotting down her words.

"So, what can you tell me about her?" I asked.

"Well… as far as I know, Judy was a little over 26," she replied uncertainly.

"Did Judy live alone?" I inquired.

"It seems so. We didn't really socialize with her, and we only found out about her house accidentally when we gave her a ride a few times," she answered.

"Do her parents live in this town?" I asked.

"No, we learned from the police that they live on a farm. I'm not sure, but their farm might be nearby," she replied.

"Did she visit the church alone or with someone the last time?" I asked.

"Alone. Yes, alone. I'm sure. I never saw her with anyone, not even a friend. I don't know why, but she seemed like an outcast," she said.

"So, you mean to say she was withdrawn and unsociable?" I asked.

"Probably. Honestly, I don't really understand this kind of thing, but it might be what it's called. She didn't even talk to the locals. We only found out about her because her house is relatively close. After a few times of giving her a ride, we got to know her a little. If it weren't for that, we probably wouldn't have noticed her disappearance," she said sorrowfully.

I pondered her words. So, the girl was asocial. She lived by herself, which made it easy for someone to abduct or exploit her, as it's difficult to help such people when they have no one around. If not for their previous conversation about her, I wouldn't have even known about her. After all, the AI couldn't identify her as a helper.

"Understood. Thank you for your help," I said.

"You're welcome, but I hope that you'll be able to find her and help her if she's a victim," she said.

"Of course, it's our duty," I replied.

Meanwhile, while I was talking to Polina, Samuel was talking to Sofia to get a composite sketch of the missing girl.

From Samuel's perspective, he asked, "So, Sofia. Describe Judy to me."

"Well, um, she's 25 or 26 years old. She's short and a little chubby. I wouldn't say she's overweight, but maybe plump. She has a bob hairstyle, and her hair color is black. Her eyes are a little small, I think. I don't remember much else," she said.

I entered this description into the image generation program, and within minutes, a row of 20 images appeared before me. I handed my phone to Sofia so she could show me which one resembled the missing Judy.

"Here, she looks like this one, but something's missing," she said.

"Wait a second," I said, pressing the regenerate image button based on the photo she selected.

After getting new variations, I showed them to her. Unfortunately, even after several generations, Sofia said something was missing in these photos.

It was only on the 8th generation that she pointed to a photo and said, "Yes, that's her. She's almost the same as in real life."

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"Yes, I'm sure. Although I didn't talk to her much, it's definitely her. Even her aura is present," she said.

I looked at the photo of a girl with an appearance close to that of an Asian. Perhaps her mother was from an Asian culture. Although Sofia mentioned her weight, I couldn't really see it in the photo. But perhaps the AI representation of the photo didn't capture that detail.

After examining the photo, I sent it to the database to search for information on her. Within half a minute, I received details about her.

Judy Alvarez, 26 years old. Works at the library. Has no criminal records and has not been involved in any illegal activities. Father is Kimberly Alvarez. Mother is Sofia Lee.

That was all the information we had on her, meager and brief. It's surprising that the only coincidence here is the name of the mother, which helped in creating the photofit of the girl.

As I finished, I noticed that James had just finished gathering information on Judy. I thanked Sofia for her assistance and stood up from my chair.

From James' perspective:

After thanking Pauline for her help, I looked towards Samuel. From what I saw, I could tell that he had just finished the photofit of the girl as well. So now we have her data. I think we can track her down quickly with the help of AI.

I stood up from my chair again, thanking Pauline and the others, Rebecca and David, who were present. Thanks to their quick reaction, we were able to gather some information on her.

"Thank you for your prompt reaction and help," I said to them.

"Feel free to reach out to us if we can help in any way. We are always ready to assist you," Rebecca replied.

After bidding farewell to them, Samuel and I left the church and headed towards the address that the AI had sent us. The place we were headed to was the last place where she was caught on the city cameras. It was unclear where she went after that. On the video, she was with an unknown person walking nearby. It was more than a week ago, which coincides with the date of the last murder.

I hoped that she was still alive. Considering the fate of that girl, her body could be torn apart, which I did not want to see. It would be a strong shock and trauma for me to witness that with my own eyes. Therefore, I prayed for her well-being.