The Missing Pattern

Clues and Connections Part 3

The next morning, Calvin and I sat in the small office space the Bakersfield PD had set aside for us. The walls were bare except for a few maps of the area, and our makeshift board was already plastered with photographs of the three girls we'd spoken to families about—Kiara, Maria, and Tameka. Their faces stared back at us, young, hopeful, and full of promise. Yet beneath the innocence, a web of questions and clues began to form, weaving them together in a way that was impossible to ignore.

I took a deep breath, scrolling through the notes from yesterday's interviews. "It's too much of a coincidence, Calvin. Kiara, Maria, Tameka... all of them between twelve and fifteen, and they all disappeared near their schools or close to home. And now we're hearing about more cases coming in from other precincts."

Calvin leaned in, peering over my shoulder at the files on my screen. "I thought so too. It's like a puzzle coming together. But seven girls gone in seven days?" He shook his head. "If we don't get a lead soon, there'll be another before we know it."

I tapped on one of the files, bringing up the case details for the fourth missing girl, Elena Gomez. She was fourteen, last seen three days ago in a neighboring town, where her mother reported her missing. The details matched up with the other girls—she disappeared on her way home from school, no signs of struggle or any unusual behavior beforehand. "Elena's case came in three days ago, and now we're hearing about another one who went missing two days ago," I noted aloud.

"And it doesn't stop there," Calvin added, opening his notebook where he'd jotted down notes from a phone call with another precinct. "I reached out to precincts in neighboring areas. Three more girls are missing—two Hispanic, one Caucasian. Same age range, same patterns. All vanished without a trace, and no signs of any prior incidents that would have hinted at a problem."

"So we're looking at six confirmed missing, and one girl who came home the day after her disappearance," I summarized, feeling the knot in my stomach tighten. "But that's still six girls in seven days. And they all went missing in groups of three, from two different high schools." I paused, the weight of it settling. "What the hell is going on, Calvin?"

"That's what we need to find out." His jaw was clenched, his eyes steely. He reached for his phone. "I'm requesting all files on each case be transferred to us here at the Bakersfield PD. Whatever this is, it's bigger than a single town or a couple of precincts."

I nodded, feeling the gravity of the situation settle over us. "If we don't find out where these girls went, we're looking at the possibility of even more disappearances. Six girls in seven days—it's not random, it's planned."

I picked up a file, flipping it open to study one of the reports more closely. "And they're not all from the same racial backgrounds—Kiara's African American, Maria's Hispanic, and the others are Black, Hispanic, and Caucasian. Whatever's happening, it's not targeting one community specifically. It's like they're choosing randomly, but... something's connecting them. It's systematic."

"Let's start with what we know." Calvin pulled out his own set of notes and began to organize them on the table. "All these girls are in the same age range, mostly high school freshmen or sophomores. Most of them disappeared around the same time of day—late afternoon or early evening, around the time they'd be heading home from school or hanging out with friends. That alone tells us whoever's behind this has been watching."

"Watching... and planning," I murmured, the thought sending a chill down my spine. "They're smart enough to avoid leaving clues, and they're quick. If the disappearances are happening every day, it means they have a system in place to take them and move them fast. But to where?"

"We need to figure out if there's any common ground among them," Calvin said, pulling up the girls' school records on his laptop. "Are any of them part of the same clubs, sports teams, or activities? Did they attend the same events, maybe even pass through the same places before they went missing?"

As he sifted through the records, I continued to piece together what little information we had from family interviews. "Kiara mentioned meeting a new friend. Tameka mentioned something similar—plans to meet up with people she'd just met at school. Maybe they're being targeted by someone who's blending in as a student or who's actively pretending to befriend them."

"Could be," Calvin said thoughtfully. "We've seen it before—someone gains their trust, and the next thing we know, they're gone."

I grabbed the precinct phone and called up the officers from each jurisdiction, asking them to look into recent social media connections for each girl—new friends, anyone suspicious or outside of their usual circles. "We'll need all social media interactions reviewed," I said into the phone, scribbling a reminder for myself. "Any new connections, especially ones that might be linked to the times of their disappearances. And pull footage from any nearby security cameras, public or private, that might have captured them after school."

Calvin glanced at me, his eyes dark with concern. "If these girls were somehow lured or convinced to go somewhere willingly, it'd explain the lack of evidence. But it also means someone's out there right now, likely close to the schools or even posing as a student."

"And it means we're looking at someone organized," I replied, finishing my call and hanging up. "Or worse, an entire network. This kind of planning takes resources and people on the ground. We could be dealing with traffickers, a group who's been scouting the area, looking for vulnerable targets."

The thought settled between us, heavy and uncomfortable.

"Let's set up interviews with the teachers and any school counselors who had recent contact with the girls," I said finally, breaking the silence. "Maybe they saw something we missed. Anything out of the ordinary, a stranger hanging around, maybe someone who came up on their radar for other reasons."

Calvin nodded. "Good call. I'll contact school administrators and set up those meetings. And let's also speak to students, especially those who might have spent time with these girls in the days before they went missing. If they were approached or someone tried to get close to them, they may have mentioned it to friends."

I looked up at the board, where the girls' faces stared back at us, their images almost haunting. Each girl represented more than just a missing persons report—they were lives upturned, families broken, and time slipping away. Seven days, six girls. The math was horrifying. We had to move fast, faster than the predators who'd taken them.

Kitty put down her notebook, her expression hard. "We're going to need a task force for this," she said quietly, "and backup, maybe even state-wide resources. Whatever's happening, it's systematic and dangerous. We're not just looking for these six anymore, Calvin. If this is what we think it is, there could be even more out there."

Calvin nodded, feeling the urgency of my words. "Then let's start putting pressure everywhere we can. Whoever's behind this—they're on a clock, just like we are. And the longer they think they're safe, the closer they get to making another move."

With that, we gathered our files, ready to cast the net wider, determined to find the answers before another girl could be taken.