Without a Trace

Chapter Three

Instead of being surprised, or happy, like I thought he would, Haden just gives me a look of sympathy.  "Willow, Emma's dead.  I know it's hard to accept, but it's true."  Of course he would say that.  

"It sounds crazy, but why else would he have attacked me?"

"There's no solid proof that she's alive." he argues.

"There's no proof that she's dead either."  I retort.  "Actually, I think that right now, there's more of a chance of her being alive than dead."

"Why would she have stayed missing all this time then?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out!" I exclaim, frustrated.  "Clearly, she got caught up in some dangerous stuff.  Maybe she's just trying to stay safe."

"So why would you look for her?!" Haden's becoming frustrated as well.  "Willow, this is dangerous.  You already got hurt.  I don't want it to happen again."

"Well, that's not your choice to make."  I say stubbornly.  "I'm looking into this whether you like it or not.  If there's even a possibility of my sister being alive I have to find her."  I start to walk away, but he grabs my wrist.  

"Okay." is all he says.

"Okay?" I say.  

"Okay." he repeats.  "Let's find your sister."  I smile.

"You're gonna help me?"

"Of course I will." he says, also smiling.  "I think that it's dangerous, but I'm not about to let my best friend get herself killed." I laugh and hug him.  

"What did I do to deserve a best friend like you?"  He just laughs and hugs me back.

"So, where do we start?"

"This looks so much easier in movies." I complain.  Haden and I are in my bedroom looking at all of the information we have about Emma's disappearance and the guy who attacked me.  

"Go over how Emma disappeared again." Haden says.  

"You already know the story though."  I don't really feel like going over it again.  I've told the police this at least a dozen times.

"Maybe there's something we're missing."

"Fine."  I begin.  "The day before she went missing, Emma said that she spent the day over her friend's house.  But when the police asked her friend about it, she said she hadn't seen her at all that day.  Then the next day, she and I were watching a movie together when she got a phone call.  She left the room to take it so I couldn't hear any of it, but it seemed urgent.  After that, she told me she had to go out for something.  She wouldn't tell me what.  She was definitely acting weirdly though, kind of overly nice.  Like this was the last time she was gonna see me."  Haden nods.

"So she knew she was going to leave."  he says.  "You don't remember anything about the phone call?  Like, did you here a name or anything?"  I think back to three years ago when she went missing.  We had been sitting on the couch together, eating popcorn.  Her phones had gone off.  I try to remember if I saw the name of the contact, but she had hid it from me. 

"Nothing." Suddenly, I think of an idea.  "If we call the cell phone company, do you think they could find out who she was calling then?  I know it was three years ago, but it's worth a shot."  Haden calls the cell phone company and gives them certain pieces of information like Emma's number, my mom's name because she paid for it, and our location.  Finally, he hangs up.