The Missing Link

034. Hailey Gomez

“What should you do if you see us doing our jobs?” the woman asked though they couldn't see her clearly because of the beams of light that messed with their eyes that caused temporary blindness.

“Don't you dare!” Ferrer commanded, his gun still pointed forward, trying to blink his eyes to give it clarity. He and Raine heard the clattering of tools all around them and Raine knew that whoever saved her life before is not present at that very moment anymore. And for those three days that passed, the search for that mysterious shooter was just stopped for reasons she doesn't know.

After putting on gloves and tying her hair up into a bun, the insane woman took one of the tools she had—a dissecting scissor — and then leaned down towards one of the unconscious police officers. “Hi, there, mister,” said her with a grim smile on her crimson lips.

It was finally then that Raine finally realized the face—it was Molly.

The world seemed to pause around her as if she was transported into a different place running in a paused time. She found herself standing inside her memory where she recalled her time when she first saw Mrs. Beatrice Suarez and her family.

At the moment she said to Zane that she will leave him alone at that time for a while back at the province to look around, she didn't leave him. Instead, she secretly followed him, listening to their conversation. The two were standing in front of her—exactly where she saw them in front of the house back at that time.

“She was already expecting us when we arrived,” she whispered to herself that only she could hear at the moment.

“Come in,” said Mrs. Suarez.

“There was a faint smell of lavender that wafted from the air as I slipped inside the opened gate and went towards the side of the house where a window is present—however, it was shut along with the others,” she continued.

“I warned Betty she was a bad influence,” said the late Mr. Aaron Suarez who was talking about Amara.

“The poor girl was out of her depth here, love. I only wanted her to feel at home,”—said Mrs. Betty and then continued—“I thought there’d be two of you. Where’s the young lady?”

“She was expecting me more than Zane,” said Raine.

To see what was going on because of the clatter she heard, she decided to appear back towards the gate where she rang the doorbell.

“I thought you weren’t coming, ma’am,” Betty remarked to her back then. Raine paused her with a swiss of a hand and stared at her whole body—scanning for clues under her purple rubber slippers, green shirt, and dark blue pants.

Right handed based on how she opened the gate two times for Zane and her. Had eyebags—probably stayed up late. Has a thin body, probably malnourished or underweight. Walks fast but casually. Her movements are gentle and while she handed the coffee, there were no shaky hand movements.

“A rose petal. A single red rose petal. But what I don’t understand is why he’s turning such a small, trivial thing into something so big,” said Betty.

“It sounds genuine that she doesn't know about the meaning of those words,” Raine said.

“I’ll prepare the guest room upstairs for you. You can sleep there. And yes, you two may stay for the night,” Mrs. Betty had replied.

Accepting them instantly was another suspicious act.

“As her friend, she confided in my wife about these things. My wife would then tell me, and we agreed to keep it between ourselves—away from all those nosy people,” Aaron had spoken.