Rachel Shore's Answers

Chapter 2: I'm not a detective

The responses came in so fast that I had a really hard time keeping up with them all. The first day I already had 40 messages and by the end of the week there were 130. I spent most of my free time shuffling through them. I looked for any notes that seemed similar to the ones I had already seen and marked the profile name of the person who sent it and the platform used. After combing through what I had picked out I began to see some notes that were exactly the same except for a small phrase here and there. Most of these notes were the same. I also noticed a more mature style of speaking in those notes. I can't explain it well but for example one note that I had briefly flagged said " I am sad and I wanna figure it out on my own" Whereas several notes had this exact sentence. "My grief is too strong and I need some time." I can't explain what I mean when I say they are two different age groups writing these but there is a difference. As I began to reach out to the people that sent me these notes I noticed a pattern. All the ones that I think are fake are not from birth parents. There are foster parents and adoptive parents and not even one is a girl. As I combed through the others that didn't get my attention I noticed that there were enough girls that there is a definite target on boys but few enough run away kids ran from their birth parents comparatively I don't think I have a case on that. I decided to reach out to the families that lost the child and ask if the kid was ever found. Since I flagged 30 messages I decided to ask 30 unflagged people and 30 flagged people. Not everyone responded and many didn't even know but of the flagged notes not one kid had been returned to his family or to the system. The others however were mostly returned.

Each day I got closer and closer to the answers I was looking for and each day I knew more and more that I would find out what happened to my brother and why. The more I thought about what I had found the more I thought that maybe this information could be used by the authorities. I decided to pull together what I had found and organize it. I knew if I brought it to the police someone would believe me. Since it was late I decided to wait for morning.

I came to the police station with all my files and copies of all these notes. When I showed them to the police they chuckled.

"What evidence is there to back this up?"

"This is evidence" I argued.

"Maybe we will look into this but we have a lot of cases that actually matter. Have fun with your conspiracy's"

As I walked out the door I heard " That wasn't cool. I know she had some crazy theories but you can still be polite"

...

I sat on the edge of my bed discouraged. I knew that the police wouldn't fully believe me but I hope they would at least look into it. I didn't expect to be shut down that harshly either. I'm really disappointed right now. I thought that since I found some evidence they might be willing to listen to me this time. Then again if I found some evidence maybe I can find more.

It doesn't matter how much evidence I find if no one believes me. If no one is willing to take me seriously I don't think I could fight these people if I chose to take it that far. This is so hopeless. Why did I even decide to do this in the first place. I just want to know what happened to Willie. I felt first one tear then before I knew it I was sobbing and couldn't hold it in. It took me quite a bit of time to finally get myself back under control. Why did I let myself dream. I should have known nothing would come from it. I just sat in that grief for several minutes when the phone rang. It's Kallen. Why is she calling me right now? Does she know?

"Hi" I said lamely.

"Hello. How are you."

"I'm doing well." I answered knowing full well that was a lie. "How are you?"