The Test

Chapter Five

                   

Derek

    Yawning, I pushed my glasses up to my forehead, and rubbed my hand over my face. Humphrey, my boss, had left this case on my desk last night, and I had been here ever since trying to work through it. With my eidetic memory, I had already memorized it, but having the hard copy helped.

    I had gotten pretty far, and I was just waiting on Justin to get back to me on some details.

    My phone started ringing where it was beside me, and I looked down to see that Layna was calling. There as a pain in my chest as I declined the call, and pushed the phone away. It wasn't the first time I had done this, but it still hurt the same every time.

   My phone dinged, notifying me that I had a new voicemail from Layna. I looked down at the framed picture on my desk, a small sigh escaping my lips.  In the picture, I was holding her in my arms, and she was grinning like crazy, her hazel eyes sparkling in the sunlight. My cheek was resting on her forehead, cushioned by her curly red hair.

    I ran my thumb over her face, overcome with a deep feeling of longing. I missed her like crazy every single day I was here. Leaving her was the only decision I regretted about moving to Florida.

    I should have swallowed my pride, and begged her to come with me. But being the coward that I was, I couldn't tell her how I felt about her.

    But even when the perfect moment came, I couldn't spit the goddamn words out. Instead I had run, like the idiot that I was.

    Justin chose that moment to burst into my office, a crazy, shit-eating grin on his face. "We got it!"

    And with that, any thought of voicemails and redheads disappeared from my mind as I grabbed my suit jacket off the back of my chair, and ran out of my office.

***

    I didn't get home until the following morning, and all I wanted to do was collapse on my bed and sleep until next week. As I undressed, I played through my voicemail, freezing when Layna's voice filtered through the speaker on my phone. The fear in her tone was palpable, and I wanted to kick myself for ignoring her call. I nearly fell over trying to grab my phone to redial her and make sure she was okay.

    Just as I was about to click the enter and call, my phone started ringing. It was Steve. I sank down to the floor, my knees like jelly as I answered.

    "Hello?" I whispered, my heart banging against my chest because I knew. I knew. Something had gone terribly wrong.

    "Derek, its Steve," Layna's dads voice broke, and my heart stopped. He had been crying.

    "What happened?" I asked my voice barely above a whisper.

    Please be okay, Layna. Please, please, please, please, please, please. Not my angel, please God, let her be okay.

    "She's missing," he said, "Someone took her."

***

    It was only a three-hour plane ride from Florida to Toronto, where Layna lived. My flight got in at noon, and as soon as I landed I grabbed my luggage and rushed straight to the police station.

    When I walked in, I was directed to the detective that was in charge of Layna's case by the guy working at the front desk. When I knocked on the door of his office, a large man opened the door. He was huge, his height along with the muscles that were present all over his body. His brown eyes looked over me like he was seeing everything about me, unravelling all my secrets. It was a bit unnerving; usually I was the one giving that look to others.