High School Sweethearts ; Phan

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: EVIDENCE

The darkness of the night had settled over the town, the moon rolled high into the sky and beamed down on moon faces as they glared up at it's ever knowing presence. The figure stands outside a home, on the back patio, which was just a few feet of concrete surrounding the back door. Flames were sparked, the figure's eyes crossed as it held the flame in front of the rolled paper, burning it down to the leaves that were rolled inside. 

They were never too keen on smoking, but times like this had them rolling. They put the lighter away once the joint was burning evenly, sighing heavily and taking a long drag, blowing the smoke into the direction of the moon. It stared down at them, at the black of the night and the dark of their clothes. They didn't think the moon liked them, they turn away.

A swift hand, and suddenly a device was exposed, it's screen flashing awake. It booted up, the figure easily typed in the password, taking more hits off the joint as they kept it between their lips. It was all over the news - the leading investigator of the Lester case had been murdered, leading to officers thinking the missing boy and the dead detective was connected. That was a mistake on the killer's end, how obvious of them was it for them to kill Alexandria Johnson, they were practically begging the police to follow up on her investigations. But since the case was private, the officers had to get consent from the Lester's to open the case again - it had been about two weeks since the boy had gone missing. Usually, people in this town gave us easily, most crimes went unsolved. 

The figure swiped across the screen on the phone, scrolling through the messages of the stolen device. It was not their's, but none other than Phil Lester's. 

.

.

.

Alexandria Johnson had been dead for five days.

The police were practically giving up more and more by the minute. The case had tumbled around from local detective to local detective, no one wanted to pick up the case. No one wanted to try and solve something they knew they couldn't solve. 

The boy just up and disappeared - no witnesses, no location, just a messy love story with an unexpected ending. Sheriff was still looking into the Daniel Howell boy, while also mourning the death of the young investigator he had grown to know. Too young to die, too young to be caught up into something bigger. But her death had confirmed one thing: she was onto something.

Sheriff drank himself into the evenings and worked all night, sleeping until noon and repeating it all over again. He drank stale water from the cooler down the hall by reception. He locked himself in his office, sighing in defeat as he tried calling the Lester's over and over, yet no one responded. He needed their consent to open the files that Mrs. Johnson left behind. He thought back to the board he found in her flat, with the string and the different locations she had circled. He wondered how many brains she picked to find all of those little clues - and yet Sheriff couldn't even open the fucking files.

And where the hell was that missing phone? 

He had gone over all of the evidence they found (which had been closer to none, compared to the witnesses and slight hints from people [plus the twisted lie that Oscar weaved to save his high school reputation]) and he hadn't found the phone. No one had found the phone.

A list of places Sheriff notes that he needs to visit:

- Lester home 

- Alexandria's flat

- The road Phil walked down on his walk home before disappearing.

Grabbing his phone he dials the Lester's once more, holding his head in his left hand as he knows they won't answer but decides to keep listening to the ringing anyway. Unexpectedly: an answer.