Midnight Storm

Chapter 8: The Case

I woke up and went downstairs only to realise I had to be at work in five minutes! I ran upstairs and got dresses as fast as I could, then slid down the banister like I was sliding on ice. I drank my coffee, it burned my mouth and throat as I drank. I brushed my teeth while tying my shoes and the putting my blazer on and trying to pack my bag at the same time. I just locked the door when my brother came with the mail. He saw I was in a rush so he simply said 'Letter from Hope, now run man, run!' I thanked him as I ran to my car with the letter in my hand. 'No worries!' He called with a smile, then he jumped on his bike and sped down the street and disappeared around the corner. I put the letter in between my teeth and almost threw my bag in the passenger seat. I started the car and drove. I got to work, parked and sprinted inside with the letter still in my gritted teeth. I sat down, placed the letter on my desk and collapsed in my chair panting like I had just un a marathon. 'Are you ok?' Booth asked cautiously 'Yes thank you I am fine. Just ket me catch my breathe' I panted. 'Where is Maria?' Booth asked. 'Morning sickness. She isn't coming in for a few hours if she does come at all.' I said as I rested my head on the back of my chair. I sat there staring at the ceiling feeling dizzy for a good thirty seconds before my boss came in. 'Sorry I am late everyone, but I thought you might like to meet a special someone.' He said proudly. We all looked at each other confusedly and curiously. My boss turned around, he was cradling a baby in his arms. 'His name is Elijah.' He said smiling shyly. 'Congratulations Sir.' Booth said cheerily. 'What is going on?' Maria said curiously from the door. 'I thought you were not coming for a while' I said. I ran to her. 'Are you ok?' I said as I ran. 'Yes I am fine now thank you.' She said kindly. I hugged her, 'there is a letter from Hope on my desk. If you stay for a second in our lunch break we can read it.' I whispered. 'That is great! Thank you Mark' she said, then kissed my cheek then walked elegantly over to my boss. 'Oh Sir, he is absolutely beautiful!' She said as she turned and walked to her desk behind mine gracefully. I walked behind her, sat at my desk and started my work. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the clock chimed and all of our colleagues and our boss went to lunch. Maria slid over her desk when the door closed, 'A letter from Hope! I wonder how she is going.' Maria said. I patted my hands on my lap, gesturing for her to sit on my lap. She sat down on my lap cautiously, 'Don't worry, I've got you' I said and I felt her relax a bit. I put my arms around her waist and she opened the letter. 'Oh no, no no no no. How?...but...Oh my gosh.' She muttered and mumbled. 'What's wrong?' I said concernedly. 'It's Hope, she said someone had been attacking her. Using their powers in some way, I don't completely understand but she said she believes it was her Aunt Rebecca, her mothers twin sister. She sounds like she has been having a rough time at school as well, she sounds stressed.' Maria said, she was starting to stress out. I had never seen her this stressed, she was even hyperventilating! 'It's going to be okay Maria. Just breathe, in and out.' I said as reassuringly as I could considering I was freaking out as well. I took the letter out of her hands that were now shaking and I helped her up off of my lap carefully. As soon as we both stood up she threw her arms around my neck and cried into my shoulder. I hugged her 'Shh, it is all going to be okay Maria, don't worry. I'm here, shh, I'm here.' I whispered. I wrote a note to my boss explaining that Maria was not well and that I would take her home again and take care of her, I placed it on his desk Maria still leaning my my shoulder. I put my arm around her so she could lean on me more if she needed it as she was still crying.

That evening I wrote a letter to Hope with Maria. We read over her letter again and realised she was starting to get depressed. She was really genuinely worried. We told her to go and talk to Mr Loraine since he was the teacher she trusted the most. We tried to be as comforting as we could through the letter. We put the letter in our mailbox and went to bed. The next morning I went to the office to pick up some documents and files so that Maria and I could work on the case from home. When I got back I realised the letter to Hope was still in our letter box 'hmm, thats strange. Patrick should have been here this morning' I walked in to the house to the strong scent of french toast. 'Sorry, I thought I would make brunch while you were gone.' Maria said. 'Thank you Maria. That is very kind of you.' I said. Then sat down the papers on the table. We ate while we sorted through the files. 'I think I found something' Maria said quietly. 'What did you find?' I asked curiously. 'Here, it is a photo of Hope's mother and her sister when they were about 16 or 17. 'Look closely at her sisters eye.' Maria said. I looked a bit closer and realised her sisters eyes were white. 'Is she blind?' I asked confusedly. 'Yes, sadly. The only problem is we don't know who is who. We should ask Hope when she comes home.' Maria said and she looked at her hands as she wrung them nervously. 'Don't worry Maria. We will figure this out.' I said as I put my arm around her and rubber her shoulder comfortingly. She leaned her head on my shoulder, kissed my cheek and we got back to work. We worked together until about 10:30pm and Maria went up to bed. However I kept working on the case, 'I don't know what it is about this but I have never been this attached to a case.' I thought to myself as I worked. I found some more photos but the one thing I could not find was Hope's Aunts file. I looked and looked for hours through that humongus pile of files, documents and photos but I found nothing. I decided to look through the photos of the crime scene once more, and I saw something very interesting. There in the ashes was the remains of a file, it had to be Hope's Aunts. I had this strange feeling and I knew, just by looking at the smoking ash that Hope's Aunt file had been destroyed in that fire place. The one piece of evidence we needed was in that ash, and I was going to get it.