Peek-A-Boo

Chapter 7

"I'm sorry, I can't make it today. Another missing person is filed and I have to do an over time. You know how short staffed the department is." Lisa said from Jennie's phone.

"Okay. Make sure you don't overwork yourself. How about Rosé?"

There's a pause in the other line before Lisa replies, "She has a stomach flu."

They both said their goodbyes. When Jennie hangs up the phone, the silence of the apartment takes over her again. With nothing better to do, she decides to read Jisoo's novel journal.

There are many random ideas written in it but one particular topic caught her eye, Delivery Boys Missing, the same thing Lisa pointed out the other day.

Delivery Boys Missing:
In the quiet small town of Priwen, 5 delivery boys went missing during of Feb 25-29. Search parties can't move further due to lack of information.
---Daily News, 1991

Grandma Manoban said that weird things happen here during leap year.

Goosebumps travel from Jennie's spine to her neck at how similar it is to Jisoo's case, even the date matched, and that this incident already happened to Priwen before.

"Wait, what date is it?" She checks her calendar, Feb 27.

"Another missing person is filed today."

Lisa's voice echoes through her mind. It didn't take long before she put the pieces together. Only one flaw is, David's not a delivery boy, he's a barista at the café. And the new missing person is unknown to her. Regardless, these are missing people and Jennie feels compelled to get to the bottom of this with 2 things in mind; to prevent anymore missing cases and to find out what happened to Jisoo.

Jennie's finger furiously taps on her phone and dialed Lisa's number. The latter answered after a few rings.

"Who's the second missing person?" Jennie demanded.

"What?" Lisa heard the question but was taken off guard so she had Jennie repeat it. "Why do you wanna know?"

"Come on, answer me."

Lisa heard that tone before. "Is it because of Jisoo?"

"Please, Lisa."

"Jennie I told you--"

"I'm going crazy!" Jennie shouts and a moment of silence creeps its way until she spoke again, "I read Jisoo's journal. I read the old newspaper clipping. Please help me." Her voice soft but broken, like a glass with cracks waiting to be shattered.

Lisa sighs in defeat. "Meet me at the café in 30 minutes, I'll tell you all I know. But once this turns into obsession, you will stop. I mean it."

"Thank you."

***********

The yellow light illuminates everything in a soft and relaxing ambiance, the exact opposite of what Jennie is feeling. She's anxious despite her collected exterior. Lisa knows something she doesn't. And a girl who she's never seen before is occasionally glancing at her, which doesn't help her situation in the slightest. The girl has long wavy chocolate hair, sharp monolid eyes and an aura that Jennie can't quite read.

"Finally." Jennie said when Lisa walks in and seats in front of her.

"Promise me you won't revert back to being a terrible person." Lisa's expression is stern.

Jennie knows what she's talking about, this past few years she neglected everything in pursuit of Jisoo. Her life was in a complete mess, still is. But now she's putting up an effort to change that. "I promise."

Lisa glares at Jennie before proceeding. "So there's no leads to far. Second missing person is Bob Fletcher. 22 years old, works at the candy shop near the book store. No reason for running away and also no leads to who would take him."

"I found this News clipping from 1991 in Jisoo's journal. It says that five delivery guys went missing that year. What bothers me is the date, they disappeared the same week when Jisoo did, February 25 to 29. And now, the same thing is happening."

Lisa looks at the piece of paper. "Yeah, I remember this. Jisoo went to the town's museum and read this. She even asked Granny about it."

"One thing though, David and Bob aren't delivery boys."

"So is Jisoo."

"What?"

"So is Jisoo." Lisa examines Jennie's face before continuing. "Look, David was employed at this café, but he was working an extra shift at the Pizza Shack the night he went missing. He was delivering a pizza in Red Velvet St. Bob was recently fired from the Candy shop and started working at Domino's Pizza, disappeared on his first night while delivering a pizza to, you guessed it, Red Velvet St."

"Why Pizza delivery boys?" Jennie said mostly to herself. "Did anyone else went missing 4 years ago?"

"Just one officially filed."

"What do you mean 'officially filed'?"

"It was reported. But someone else claims that their neighbor went missing but no one filed because they don't have any relatives that would."

"How did you know this?"

"Jennie... don't mistake me for a cold hearted person. I feel guilty for asking Jisoo to cover my shift that night. I became a cop with the motivation to solve this kind of cases."

"Did you..."

"I conducted my own investigation. It's hard to see you descent into a bottomless pit because of my mistake." Lisa casts her head down.

"No no no." Jennie places her hand on her companions back to try and soothe her. "It's not your fault. We'll figure this out."

"1991 is a leap year, right?"

Jennie quickly searches on the internet if it is, "Yes."

"Then I'll be scanning reports off all February leap year cases. You should talk to Granny."

Jennie seems baffled. "Why?"

"I never believed in her paranormal stories, but I have a hunch that it has to be based on something. Maybe it's worth knowing."