Finding Emma ✔

2. Emma Is Missing

Nathan scowled; his left hand had a taut grip on the porch's railing, while his other hand clasped Emma's smartphone. He had found the device a while ago when he tried to call her. The picture of their wedding was the first thing he saw when he unlocked the smartphone, making his heart fill with remorse.

A black and white police car with a blue, red, and white light on the hood stopped in the driveway. Nathan stepped on the front lawn as two police officers stepped out of the car.

"Detective Smith, Inspector James said your wife might be kidnapped," a younger officer said after he came hurriedly to stand in front of Nathan.

"Might?!" Nathan narrowed his eyes, taking a dangerous step toward the officer. "She really got kidnapped! I got a message from her kidnapper ten minutes ago."

"Er..." The officer scratched his tousled hair, clearly uncomfortable with Nathan's outburst. He looked at his fellow officer in helplessness, who shook his head.

But Nathan had no time to play games when his wife was out there with God knows who. He kicked a pebble at his feet and watched as it landed near Emma's potted plants.

"Greetings, Detective Smith." The older officer, Ralph, nodded at him. "Don't mind, Murray. He's new. So, the wife of yours is missing. I guess you had examined your house?"

Nathan nodded. "Yes. But no signs of struggle are visible, nor are there any clues that might belong to the kidnapper. My strongest guess is that the kidnapper abducted her while she was outside of the house. Ten minutes ago, I got a text from the kidnapper saying he wants me to find him or I won't see my wife again."

Ralph signalled his young colleague to jot down the information. "Did he tell you to deliver a certain amount of money in exchange for your wife?"

Nathan shook his head and handed his smartphone to Ralph. "I had replied to his text asking what he wanted from me, but there has been no response yet."

"Send the number to the cyber troops. Maybe they can figure out where he lives. Is there anyone who you might believe has been holding grudges against you?"

"Not that I know of. But my duty is to investigate crimes. So, I may or may not have given some people reason to hate me."

"How about the neighbourhood? Is there anyone known for bad records?"

Nathan shook his head. He and Emma had resided in the neighbourhood since the beginning of their marriage. They had stayed with his parents for the first couple of months, but then he was transferred to the town's police department. It was a small town and quite far from the main city, but Emma loved it here, and he's happy if she's happy.

For a year and a half, they had mingled with the community well, and they even had an annual feast in the community hall. So, he didn't think it was one of the people here who kidnapped his wife.

"Nathan?"

He turned around to the source of the voice and saw Mrs. Tim glancing at the police officers in confusion before looking at him. "What's going on here?"

"Emma's missing. Do you see something that might help us?"

Nathan watched as Mrs. Tim's face contorted with confusion before she widened her brown eyes. She let out a gasp, and her hand flew to her chest. "Emma's missing? B-but I thought... I thought that..."

"What is it, Mrs. Tim?" He asked immediately, feeling that Mrs. Tim knew something.

"I saw a man carrying her in his arms and taking her inside his car. I thought... It's you...I wasn't wearing my glasses at that time. If I knew..." Mrs. Tim's eyes brimmed with tears by the time she was done, clearly regretful that she couldn't stop the abduction.