Birthday Surprise

Chapter 5

Josh
"Hello," Gomez says.
"Are you the only cop in town now?" Claudia asks.
"Claudia," Courtney scolds.
"It's okay. I understand that you're upset but I need you to tell me what you know," Gomez says.
"We were celebrating Carmen's birthday until she went out to get her jacket from my car. We waited inside because we thought she'd be back in a few minutes," Maria says.
He basically asks us what else.
"We noticed that she wasn't back after ten minutes, so I went out to see what happened," I add.
"Did you see anything?"
"I saw the car and found the keys by one of the tires but I didn't see her anywhere. She didn't come back into the restaurant at any point."
"Is it possible that she got a ride from someone?"
"She was here with us enjoying her birthday dinner. She only went out to get her jacket. The jacket isn't in the car anymore, so we figured that she was able to get it. Besides, Carmen is honest enough to just tell us if she wanted to leave," Courtney said.
We nod in agreement.
"Carmen hates taking Ubers so we figured she didn't do that either," I say.
"And the car was right there. She had the keys already," Claudia says.
Gomez makes a note of our statements. Even though he knows most of our names, we still have to provide them. It seems stupid but I can see how it made sense. He looked at me.
"How have you been holding up?"
"For this?"
"No. Your sobriety."
My eyes widen.
"I've been sober since I was released. I haven't thought about doing that or any substance."
He nods. He lets us know that he will investigate this and walks towards Maria's car.
"I'm sorry for my rude question. I just didn't expect to have to see him again. Or any cop for that matter," Claudia says.
"It's okay. I didn't want to either, especially not for this," Maria says sadly.
"Talk about rude questions, asking you if you were sober," Courtney tells me.
"I get why he did but I was still offended. I would never do anything like that again."
"I know. You've been good to us," Maria says.
"Thanks."
Miranda joins us.
"What's the latest?" She asks.
"The 'latest' is that Gomez showed up to take our statements," Claudia snaps.
"Who?"
"Officer Brian Gomez. He handled Andrea's case," I say.
"Oh."
"Since you're here, he might want to get your statement," Courtney says.
"Right. Well, it would just be the same thing as yours."
"That doesn't matter. You're still a witness," I snap.
"Why are you getting snippy with me?"
"Shit, I don't know. Maybe because I'm heartbroken over someone kidnapping my girlfriend," I say sarcastically.
"Josh, we're all upset. But it literally won't help our case if we argue with a cop nearby," Courtney says.
I sigh.
"You're right. I'm sorry, Miranda."
"No, I understand. I'm hurt too. I just think we should be there for each other instead of argue."
"Yeah. We will."
We end up staying at the restaurant for almost three hours. I'm not exactly losing hope but I definitely don't feel any better. We've made almost no progress because there's no evidence in or near the car. Even when we can go home, we don't want to leave without Carmen. Miranda has to convince me and Maria to leave, which we eventually do.