The Shoebox Murders: Sometimes The Past Is Better Kept Hidden

Chapter 1: Emily (cont.)

"Emily! What are you doing? Emily! Emily!" What's going on? Why can't she hear me? All I could see was the lake and Emily standing knee deep in the dark water. The sky was a dark orange causing her to look like a silhouette in the water. I couldn't see her face, but I could tell it was her. I walked over to her in the sand, my feet sinking every step I took. Just when I was about touch her shoulder, she turned around to look at me. She didn't look like her missing persons picture. The Emily that turned around was a beat up, decomposed, scared Emily. She kept mouthing something. "Find me." I looked down to see what she was holding. It was a shoe box. My eyes went wide and my jaw clenched. My hands started shaking as I reached out to take it from her. Almost too scared to open it, I knew I had to. Just what I was afraid of; it was her right foot. I looked up to see if she was still there, but as soon as I looked up, she was whisked away by the tide.

I woke up drenched in water and sweat. Sand in my bed, my heart racing. It felt so real I had to make sure it WAS just a dream. But seeing her in my dream, I knew I had to find the rest of her. Even if it took me three years or a month. I was determined to find the rest of her and her killer. Even if that's ALL I was doing. 

I went back to the website where I saw Emily's picture to be sure it was her that I saw in my dream. It was. The same facial structure; the high cheek bones, almond shaped eyes, round lips, slightly pointed chin. Her hair was even the same. Short, curly, almond color with butterscotch highlights. Her eyes were green like an emerald just like in my dream. I still couldn't get to the realization that Emily was trying to speak to me in my dream. I knew I had to find the rest of her and give her closure so she could rest in peace.

From the missing person's website, there was a link to Emily's Facebook page. I went to it and noticed she has a lot of friends. She posted a lot about current events and fairs she was apart of. The most recent post caught my eye though. It was a video of her talking about a charity she was doing for kids that couldn't afford to stay after school for help on homework or projects, and kids who couldn't afford books and writing utensils for school. She was trying to recruit people to join or donate.

In the video, it looked as though she was outside at a park under a canopy with tables set up with information about the charity and a donation box. But, in the background there was a man watching her from the street. At first it didn't catch my eye until I noticed him move. He pulled out his phone and tried to look inconspicuous, but he was trying too hard. You could tell he was up to something. The man just stood there with his phone out watching Emily. Poor girl didn't even notice the man in the black hoodie and baseball cap. 

I zoomed in closer on the man so that I could see his face. He looked young, about Emily's age. I took a screen shot of his face and tried to do an image search for this guy so that I could get more information on him. Surprisingly enough, something came up. A Facebook page with the name Zac appeared. I clicked on the page, and his picture came up in his profile. HIs name was Zac Penn. HIs page had a bunch of pictures of him and Emily together. Other posts where love quotes and romantic shit directed to her. It almost seemed likely they were happy and in love. However, the most recent posts were about him still loving her and wanting her back, with pictures of her talking to guys and smiling. Pictures she probably didn't realize were being taken. Zac was obsessed, which means he could be a suspect. So, I grabbed my phone and called the private investigator for Emily's case. He picked up on the first ring.

"Hello? James Little speaking." He said with a soothing voice.

"Hi! This is  Billy Jean Kimberly, the jogger that found Emily Paris's hand a few weeks ago."

"Oh! Hi Miss Kimberly. What can I do for you?"

"Please, call me Jean. I wanted to know if you knew anything about Emily's ex-boyfriend Zac Penn."

"Ahh, yes. Zac Penn. Well, we did talk to him when miss Paris disappeared."

"What did Zac say? Did he know her for long and did he have something to do with her disappearance?" I asked curiously and anxious.

"He did not have anything to do with her disappearance at all. Mr. Penn told us he hadn't seen her since she filed a restraining order on him for stalking her after their breakup. Penn told us that the night of Ms. Paris's disappearance he was at the bar trying to get with this young drunk girl. He said that he was with his buddies until nine-thirty at night but didn't leave the bar until two o'clock in the morning. His alibi did check out." James explained to me.

"Okay, thank you. I was just suspicious and just wanted to get to know the case better. But, thank you for your help on Mr. Penn. Do you have any other possible suspects or even any new leads on the case?" I asked hoping he was say yes and that he would tell me so that I could investigate with him.

"You're welcome Jean. We support you trying to help us with this case. If you have any information or other questions, please call me. However, we do not have any other suspects or possible leads on the case." I was disappointed, but that didn't make me stop digging.

"Yeah, sure! Okay. Thank you again for your help!" He said you're welcome and we both hung up the phone. Upset that I didn't get anymore information on Emily's case, I kept looking into her life.

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Well, I hope you guys liked this chapter just as much as I liked writing it. Tell me what you guys think about Zac and what you think is going to happen when Jean finds out more about Emily.

Please comment and vote and I'll answer any question y'all have. I would also love your feed back on what I should do or change before I update the second chapter. Thanks loves!! xoxox