Hidden Allies

Chapter Five

  Emma waited five minutes before her mom showed up. She heard the mechanical voice of the elevator and then the sharp step of heels on tile.

  April Marsh was a beautiful woman, now moving into the latter half of her fifties, but one would never guess her age from her appearance. April had kept herself young at heart and in mind, which also seemed to translate physically too. She had very little wrinkles and didn't feel any aches due to the passing of time. She had a few silver streaks mixed in with her auburn hair, but that just added to her style.

  All the young YouTubers were coloring their hair now. Hers was simply natural.

  Emma stood up as April Marsh strode over and embraced her daughter.

"Oh, hunnie, I'm so sorry. Things have just been so busy."

"I know, mom." Emma mumbled and April held her out at arms length to get a better look at her. Although they spoke more frequently over the phone, it had almost been a month since they had seen each other face to face. Emma was just a few inches shy of meeting her mother in height. April sighed and gave a smile that was a little sad.

  Her little girl was all grown up.

"Mom, I need to talk to you." Emma began.

"About Ari? I know. I'm so sorry that I couldn't take your call yesterday."

  The two women sat down. Emma wondered where to begin. "Did the FBI talk to you?" Emma asked.

  April nodded. "I thought that it was a bit of a stretch that the FBI should be called in on something like this, but the company board made that call. They figure that this was a case of corporate espionage."

"Corporate espionage?"

"That's what I heard." April shook her head. "I'm still shocked about it. I can't imagine what you might be going through, dealing with something like this again." April squeezed her daughter's hand.

  Emma squeezed back. Years earlier, when she and Ariel were in junior high, something similar had happened. On a field trip to New York City Ariel had gone missing. There had been a three day search before she was found wondering in Central Park.

  Emma had cried her eyes out during the whole ordeal. When the two had been reunited they made a pact to always be best friends and never leave each other. Emma had no intention of letting that promise be broken. As a child, there was nothing she could have don't to help her friend. Now she planned to do everything she could to get Ariel back safely.

"It's hard," Emma admitted. "But I'm going to do what I can to help." When her mother didn't interject, she continued. "One of the agents showed me a picture of a guy that Ari used to hang out with. They figure that he may have something to do with her disappearance."

  April looked up thoughtfully and shrugged. "They didn't show me any pictures, but they did ask about any suspicious men seen about the premises."

"And?"

"I haven't seen anyone suspicious. You know I'm always in my work."

  Emma groaned within herself. She half expected this. Her mom was indeed usually buried in her work, so it was a long shot that she would have noticed anything odd. Besides, Ariel didn't work directly under her mother. While Ari studied computer engineering and programming April was focused on chemical engineering.

"What about the other staff? Would they have noticed anything?" Emma asked, not willing to give up just yet.

"The FBI and police questioned everyone working that day, and they're looking at the security footage." The older woman suddenly grew more serious, noticing the gleam in her daughter's eyes. "Look, Emma. I know that you're worried and want to help Ariel, but I don't want you asking too many questions to the people around here."