The Perfect Witness

Detective Daryl

Five days later

I'm startled awake by the light tapping of someone's tiny knuckles on my wooden door.

Tired, I slowly peel open my heavy eyelids to see my mother weakly standing in the open doorway.

Dejection filled every wrinkle and crevice of her once bright and brilliant face, her features sitting heavy as she painfully held back what I imagined to be a storm of tears.

I wearily push myself onto my elbow, glancing up at her. "Hey Mom, um what's up?" My voice drifted quickly from my lips so as to not disturb Vincent.

I glanced over at the window only to see darkness still creeping its claws through my blinds.

"Sweetheart, I think you should wake up Vincent and come meet me in the kitchen." My mom's voice trembled with every syllable as the brightness continued to escape her eyes.

She quickly disappeared back into the hallway with slight sobs escaping her mouth.

Partially rolling onto my stomach, I glanced over at my sleeping boyfriend.

"Vince..." I lightly whispered. "Vince!!" This time the words escaped my mouth with a tone of anger.

The man still didn't stir, so I angrily jumped off the bed, hauling the blanket along with me. "Vincent, get your ass up!"

I stomped my left foot hard against the wooden floor in hopes the noise would startle him; but the only reaction I got was his eyes slowly opening.

"What time was it?" Vincent meekly asked, rubbing the sleepiness from his eyes.

"My mom said that we need to meet her downstairs." I stared blankly as he just tiredly eyed me.

"Why? What's wrong?" His eyes drifted to the blinds to see the same darkness that continued to crawl through.

"I don't know V...she looked really upset."

"Okay." Vincent breathed, hauling himself out of bed.

The two of us quickly trudged down the stairs, hearing quite a commotion the further down we got.

I saw two armed cops standing like statues at the doorway and another one patrolling the kitchen as he, I assumed, waited for Vincent and me.

"Mom...what's going on...?" My voice faintly wavered as I vigilantly eyed the cops.

"Hi Ms. Anderson, my name is Detective Daryl."

A tall man with brilliant green eyes and dirty blonde hair stuck out his left hand for me to shake.

I looked the man straight in his eyes before glancing down at his outstretched hand.

His fingernails were cleanly cut, and his palms callus free.

A pit of unnecessary anger bubbled in my chest as I ignored his hand and weakly said hi back.

"Not much of a morning person?" he asked, laughing at his own joke. "On a more serious note, your friends Annalise Lafayette, and Lucas Siber have gone missing. According to their parents, they have been missing for over twenty four hours now." His voice held a highly authoritative tone that rippled through the quiet morning air, not wavering once.

"What the fuck did you just say?" Vincent questioned, his voice loud and booming compared to the detective's.

"Mr. Jones, would you please refrain from such vulgar language? We were here to ask you two a couple of questions." The detective motioned for Vincent and me to follow him to the living room, where the three of us took a seat on the coach.

"At first glance, it looks like the two ran off together, but their parents haven't noticed any missing clothing or bags. Do you know where they could have gone? Or of anyone who would want to harm your friends?"

Cody and Dustin's names immediately popped up in my head, but I kept my mouth shut. After what they did to me, I know better. Instead, I asked, "Could their disappearance be connected to the beach house murders?"

"In all honesty, I don't think so. Those killers were found quickly after their attack. The men who confessed to those murders said it was just a random robbery gone bad. But that could be a possibility, Ms. Anderson."

I breathed in deeply, trying to steady my voice. "Okay-um-what's the next step? How-how do we go about trying to find them?"

"Well, first things first, I need you two to answer some questions." Detective Daryl crossed his hands in his lap, staring us down.

"Um-of course." I replied, turning to face Vincent.

The boy had a stern look on his face, almost like he didn't trust the detective.

"Have you two talk to or been in contact with either of them in the past twenty four hours?"

"Uh-no. Vincent and I have been avoiding our phones after the funeral and just been relaxing."

"Did they try to contact either of you this weekend?"

"She just said no," Vincent snapped, quite annoyed with the detective.

"Okay Mr. Jones. Now I know this was a lot of information for you two, but I do have a couple more questions." The man looked between Vincent and me, searching for us to agree. "Now do you think the two would have run off together?"

"Absolutely not. Annalise was a stellar student and wouldn't risk losing her academic scholarship. And Lucas was one of the best players on the football team, the kid's also banking on scholarships. So no, absolutely not."

"Thank you for that information, Mr. Jones. So you're then suspecting foul play?"

"I don't know! Isn't that your job to figure out?"

"Vincent!" I whispered, grabbing for his arm in hopes of calming him. "It's not his fault they're missing."

The boy looked down at me with anger roaring through his soft blue eyes. An anger I'd never seen before.

"What were the next steps, detective Daryl?" My mom asked, from behind us.

I looked back to see her leaning against the wall, arms crossed over her chest.

"Later this morning we're going to set up a search party and if nothing is found we will work with volunteers to do more searching. We will most likely post the details on our website and Facebook, so keep an eye out. The parents will also be sending out information, so again, watch out for that stuff."

"Why did you come to us first?" Vincent bluntly asked as the officer finished his sentence. "It's..." He casually looked down at his phone, "It's six in the morning."

"I know Mr. Jones. The parents gave us a list of names of people we could ask for information from. So we wanted to get through the whole list before we set up the search party. You being here with Ms. Anderson only helped us get through the list quicker."

Detective Daryl finished up, explaining how everything's going to go, politely thanked us, and left.

"What a way to start the morning," I cautiously said, lightly laughing to lighten up the mood.

"Ivy, don't." I felt Vincent grab my hand and tightly squeezed it. "Let's get a little more sleep and then get everyone together, okay?"

"Okay, V," I whispered, holding on tight to his hand. 

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Becca xoxo