Ella relaxed when Joe hugged her, she wrapped her arms around him tightly, though he smelt slightly of sweat and..ocean breeze? Jesus Joe did you shower. She pulled away when he spoke again, grabbing her hand and taking her towards some stairs. She was confused at first, walking slowly behind him before getting to large dimly lit room. In the middle of the room was a large glass box, book shelves lined up on three sides with old antique books lined perfectly on them. Her eyes shifted to Joe as he held up a book. Of course he fixed books. It was so..him. But..it didn't make her feel better. She walked over to the glass box, slowly taking a step inside and looking around. She walked up closer to the books, tilting her head as she admired them. They were so old..so fragile. Like her neighbor. Who died. Now Evan. Who is missing. Why did it seem like everyone around her was disappearing. She turned her attention to Joe as she played with her necklace.
"you and Evan would get along" she said suddenly, her voice slightly raspy from all her crying. "He would never admit it but things that were made years ago fascinated him..you kind of remind me of him but like..different at the same time" she smiled softly before her lip began to quiver again. She recollected herself, taking a deep breath as she looked away. "It's nice though, I can tell Mr.Mooney takes care of what's valuable to him, and it's sweet that you follow in his footsteps" she continued glancing back to Joe. She looked at him for a moment before her eyes squinted and she walked up to him.
"What happened to your eye Joe? And your hand" she asked as she leaned in closer to examined his bruised eye before looking down to his wrapped up hand. She wondered if it connected to where he suddenly had to go last night after leaving her alone at the bar. Should she tell him about her tinder hook up? Friends tell each..when they're hooking up..right? But now wasn't the best time. She was still clearly upset from Evan and that was her main concern right now.
"Will you come with me? To Evan's house? He stays with his brother but I haven't searched his room at all but I'm sure Marco won't mind if we just have a look. Maybe Evan left something, anything to tell us something-I just-I need to know. He wouldn't just..leave me Joe, not without saying something" She begged grabbing Joe's hand and holding it up to her chest. Her pleading eyes flickered between his until he agreed making her smile and wrap her arms around his neck to hug him. She walked out the glass box, turning to see if Joe was coming but her eyes glanced to something else that shined in her eyes. She looked behind Joe to inside the glass box, something was in the corner on the box, peeking slightly out from under the old dusty rug that laid on the floor but just enough for the light to hit it just right. Her eyes narrowed for a moment as she tried to get a better look but was interrupted when Joe began walking again. She smiled shaking it off, it was probably just a scrap of metal or something Joe dropped when he fixed his books. They went back upstairs so they could head to Marco's and Evan's place once Joe was done with what he had to do left at Mr. Mooneys.
...
It didn't take long for them to get to Marco's, Ella knocked on the door before it was swung open by Marco. He looked frantic for a moment before realizing it was Ella. And his eyes looked to Joe with a puzzled glance.
"Yes..?" He asked looking back to Ella.
"We want to search Evan's room"
"Ella-"
"Please Marco! The police are going to put this on the back of their list and if we act quick enough then maybe we can still find Evan before something bad happens to him" she pleaded with him. Marco sighed, looking at her and then to Joe. "He's just a friend who is also concerned about Evan.." she explained quickly which seemed to be enough for Marco to let them in. He stepped to the side, as Ella rushed in but Marco placed a hand on Joe's shoulder as he past. He didn't say anything, instead his eyes did the talking as they looked Joe up and down. His brows narrowed as he let Joe go and closed the door before disappearing back into the living room.
The first thing Ella looked for in his room was his phone. She knew he wouldn't leave without it but if he wanted to be found maybe he would leave it as a clue. She looked through his drawers, in his closet, in his bathroom.
"I am literally living my true crime fantasy and I am sucking it at right now. I mean, I have to think what are the patterns. What are the clues that he left on his own or that something happened to him-oh! His laptop!" She said running over to his bed and throwing back his pillow. He always kept his laptop under his pillow. 'Nobody ever checks the pillow' Evan once said. "His laptop is connected to everything on his phone so we can check his text messages, his posts-oh! We can even check the last location of where his phone was!" She said, the most excited she's been all day as she looked to Joe. She smiled at him. "You're a genius for thinking of this Joe"
