Chapter 4 - Taking the case

"I'm hurting, Karl. Just look at them all. Strays, every one of them. Aah it hurts me so much they have not been touched by our god. It is painful to see them like that. Oh god. Forgive these foolish ones for not knowing your power and forgive this foolish son of yours for not showing it them!" Joseph suddenly broke down crying on his knees while mumbling incoherent words to himself. Everyone hurriedly passed by and pretended not to see anything.

Karl who stood by the side pulled out a cigarette and lit it. He was more than used to his partner's antics by now and was not bothered by it. If anything, of all the partners he had received, Joseph was surprisingly the only one he had been able to get along properly with.

"The other forces have begun to move. You need to be careful. Don't stand out too much." Karl spoke out when he saw Joseph stand. He had waited for him to finish his prayer. "Huh? Does it matter? I'll just send them all to our god. Let them come." Joseph answered in an excited tone. It did not matter to him if he could fulfill his duties as a faithful servant then that was all he cared about.

"I'm serious. Don't do anything to draw too much attention. It is almost time. Don't fuck it up like always." Karl walked away right after without waiting for a response from his partner, quickly merging with the darkness of the alleyway.

"The hell you mean like always?" Joseph scratched his head with a disinterested look. He turned his head to the side and spotted a red head walking with her boyfriend towards the park across the street. A savage and lecherous smile bloomed on his face and began to follow.

…

The next day James woke up a little later than his usual. Since he did not have anything to do all day that day. Apart from occasionally helping his father with his work, he did not really do anything else. His father, Jonathan, was a private investigator. James liked helping with some of the cases his father got. Although his mother complained most of the time, he could not stop. His mother, Sandra, felt she had a heart attack every time their father was out on an investigation. She would rather their son not follow in the footsteps of their father, considering her husband sometimes up taking some more than less desirable cases.

Today, Although James woke up late, it was a bit earlier than he planned and all of it was by some yelling, sobbing and wailing noise downstairs. Although he may have preferred to sleep a little more, the sobbing was much louder than he could handle. He quickly put on a shirt and walked downstairs. When he got there, it Looked like the whole family was downstairs.

It did not take long to find the culprit. A woman who looked to be in a late twenties with a baby in her arms. All her yelling and sobbing was causing the baby to cry as well. Having had enough, Sandra could not take it anymore. "Look at you. Even if there is a problem how can you put your child in such a situation." She took the baby from the woman with a glare and begun to calm the baby girl down. The woman, although in a mess, finally realized what she was doing as she mumbled apologies with wet eyes to her daughter.

"Mrs. Greggory. I can't begin to imagine what you are going through, but for the sake of your daughter, you need to calm yourself." Jonathan spoke calmy to the woman. He was an averagely built Caucasian man with a face full of beard. He had not once gotten angry at the yelling of the woman before him. As a P.I. he naturally knew and had seen many times what the woman was going through. Mrs. Greggory nodded her head a few times with her trembling body, in understanding.

"Now, please explain it from the top. Janet, please make us a cup of tea." Janet quickly stood to prepare the tea. Usually, the family was nowhere near when their father had a case, except for James, but the commotion had brought the entire family out together.

"My husband, Matthew did not come home last night. I went by his office and Racheal, umm, she's the receptionist, she said he left for home out like he usually does but he never came home. I know something bad must have happened. He always comes home first even if he needed to go somewhere after, which was almost never. Always." At this point she began to sob once more, "Please find my Matthew. Please."

Aside from the woman sobbing, everyone else in the room was quiet. At some point Sandra had been able to put the baby to sleep. After a short while, the woman finally calmed herself and looked and Jonathan in anticipation. "Normally a person is considered missing only after 72hours." Jonathan raised his hand to stop the woman when he saw she was about to speak. "He may be stuck somewhere and unable to reach you. Of course, we cannot rule out the possibility that something has happened." Jonathan stayed quiet for a short while, seemingly in thought.

Mrs. Greggory looked despaired when she heard the words of Mr. Colson. She had gone to the police station, but she was driven away with the same words. She did not know what to do until one of her friends who sympathized with her referred her to Mr. Colson. Mr. Colson stared at the woman who looked like she was about to break at any moment and felt pity. He decided to find the man for various reasons. If he was in danger, then he would bring him back, but if he was having the time of his life elsewhere, he would bring him back with more than a few smacks for both him and the woman sitting across from him.

"Alright, Mrs. Greggory. I'll take the case." Mrs. Greggory, having heard Jonathan's confirmation smiled in relief then immediately passed out on the couch. Jonathan quickly moved to place her properly on the couch while Sandra covered her in a blanket and tried to make Mrs. Greggory as comfortable. For her to pass out like that after a whole night showed just how she much she had been worrying about her husband. Sandra looked at Mrs. Greggory for a while and started thinking about her husband. His work was something she never approved off, but she could not get him to stop no matter how hard she tried. She finally gave up and decided to support her husband.

Seeing the situation, she began to fear for her husband once more, but this time for a completely different reason. Seeing his wife standing there with a worrying look, Jonathan walked over and hugged her without saying a word. He already knew what his wife was thinking and could only try and comfort her this way.

James who was seated on the couch had a frown on his face. His mind wondered to a few things before he shook his head. Janet who had also returned from clearing the table at some point had a worried look on her face. The situation seemed a little off. There was too much of a coincidence with what she felt at the dojo, and the sudden disappearance. It could be nothing, but her gut was telling her it was definitely not nothing. She was about to speak out when James shook his head at her. James stood up from the couch and went back upstairs.

Jonathan Colson quickly freshened up and left the house. The earlier he tried to find the whereabouts of Mr. Greggory, the faster he could potentially save him. That was, if nothing bad had already happened to him. If there was anywhere that he needed to check first, then it would be the last place the missing person was seen. that was the office.