Missing

Chapter 8

Hello everyone! :) Chapter 8 is finally here! I once again want to apologize for not updating in a very longtime. But hopefully that will now change and the chapters will be posted more often now. Please do tell me what you think of this chapter and if you have any suggestions, then please do tell. Thank you for your support :) xXx

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Paul was currently standing outside of Maria's house, inspecting the white bricked exterior of the house. He rang the doorbell twice and waited patiently for Maria to come. He took out his cell phone to find it was switched off.

Stupid phone, keeps switching off when I need it the most.

He powered it back on and placed it back into his jacket. The front door opened up slightly to reveal Maria standing there looking a bit disheveled, her grey hair slightly out of place.

Paul gave a brief smile before speaking, "Hello Madam, I need to speak with you regarding a few matters."

Maria opened up the door fully a second later and smiled, "Sure Officer, follow me."

Paul followed after her into the living room and sat down on the sofa to face Maria, who sat on the adjoining sofa. Upon inspection of her appearance, he noticed a deep scratch mark on her cheek which looked as though it happened recently. Maria followed his gaze and touched her cheek gently with a small smile.

"Oh this officer, don't worry about that. I was just cleaning around the house and a sharp thing fell onto me, that's all."

"Oh ok, you might want to put on some cream, to stop it from infection," Paul advised looking at the mark, which seemed more like a scratch from an animal than an object. He looked at her to find her grey eyes had darkened a bit.

Was it always this dark?

"Sure thing. What is it you need to talk about?" Maria asked him.

Paul took a deep breath before speaking, "Maria what do you know about Emily's disappearance?"

Maria gulped slightly and looked at the floor in front of Paul, "I only know of what I've heard." She looked up into his eyes which gave away nothing.

"Around 9PM on the day, where did you go?" he questioned.

Maria's eyes widened and then looked around the room, then back to him. "I... was visiting a friend of mine, was important."

Paul sighed and noticed how her hand was playing around the ring rather nervously, the opposite of how composed her face was.

"Where was this friend of yours living and what's their name?"

"Is the address and name important to know?" She asked, her dark eyes fully focused on Paul. The officer found her stare weird, even a bit threatening.

"Yes," he ordered.

The old woman replied after a good pause, "A few doors down from here, name is Elizabeth."

"Exact address please."

The old woman furrowed her eyebrows, "She lives on Old Heaton Street, door number 66."

Paul replied, "Thank you for that," while writing it down in his notepad. His phone suddenly was vibrating and checked to see it was Jeanne.

He got up from the sofa, "Please excuse me for a second."

"Sure officer, take your time," she smiled at him and watched him go out.

Paul walked out into the cold weather and stood in her garden, proceeding to answer Jeanne's call. Maria sighed shakily and walked to the kitchen to drink some water.