Missing

5

Chapter Five

The Next Day

The first thing I saw that morning was the diary, leering at me from the desk, waiting to be read. I hadn't worked up the strength to flick through the countless pages of recounts about the girls he has slept with, the things he had done. But the time called where I had to approach it whether I wanted to or not, I couldn't let it just sit there and gather dust while clues lay in the pages.

Flicking to the last page which held the haunting note, I read over the words again which I had almost memorised. There were no clues as to where he was going, only that he must have left fearing for his life. There was also still the question as to why he waited till Friday to leave if he wrote the note on Monday. Turning the page behind I saw it was covered in his distinctive scribble. It felt wrong to dig into his diary which wasn't mine after all, it was like I was letting myself into his inner thoughts without permission. Shaking that feeling off, I turned my attention to the first line, I was ready to spot any clues that came my way.

Today I sat at home.

Tomorrow I will go.

It became apparent the chances of it being a kidnapping case were slim to none and Mark Smith had ran away. But he had ran away from someone. Some people.

Flicking back to the start I saw that his other entries had been whole pages and not two lines, I decided it worthy of my time to dig into those parts as well. I started on December 19th 2014.

Kelsey- Anne hooked up with me today, but she was crap in bed. Lol.

"Who uses lol in a sentence?" I asked myself before getting back to the task at hand.

Brent and I hung out at the park today and man we smoked so much weed, when I came home my mum thought I had been hit on the head because I was acting all dizzy and disoriented. Brent was talking to me about this thing I could do to get more money, well he was talking bout something he saw in a film that earned the man thousands. Maybe I'll check it out,I don't know.

The writing stopped there and it was signed with a scribble that I could vaguely make out to spell 'Mark'. After reading it I was lost, if only Mark had written down what it was then I could know where to start looking. It was obvious, looking further in, that he enjoyed this new way of making money but he never talked about the details. Only about the money and the things he spent it on: drugs, clothes, alcohol, cars, motorbikes. He was making a lot.

I have to take this to the police, I thought to myself. I didn't care that the first time they had ignored it and carried on with their stubborn ways. I had enough proof to show that Mark was part of an organisation, an organisation that he was running away from.

Driving through traffic I kept replaying what I would say to them to change their mind, I was after all only a 'naive' young girl. They would have to listen to Mark's words instead.

Stepping out of the car I walked briskly towards the police station still running over what I would say.

"Hello madam," the voice startled me and I looked up to see a police officer standing in front of me. He gave me a kind smile, his eyes crinkling, and showed me inside.

"What can we do for you?" He asked as we walked towards reception, the building was a lot bigger than I thought.

"Um I'm here to talk about Mark Smith.."

He cut me off, "Let me guess, he was your ex boyfriend and you want us to find him immediately which we can't do but I'll tell you we'll work harder just for you."

"No actually, I'm Kansas. I'm here to help you solve it, I solved a case a while back about the serial rapist alongside this department," I tried to look confident but I knew he wasn't convinced.

"Well the case isn't up for discussion. Mark Smith was kidnapped, why would he run away.." That when I got to cut him off.

"He was running from people, an organisation that he had joined around December. He must have done something to upset them and he ran in fear of his life," I narrowed my eyes as he looked at me like I was spouting rubbish.

"How would you know? Where's your proof?" He was no longer a kind police officer, he was patronising.

I held out the diary, already prepared with post stick notes on important pages, "His diary is my proof. The last entry in it talks about 'them' coming after him. In December his friend Brent tells him about a way to get money through a group of people. Friends of his say a week prior to his disappearance he was acting jumpy and scared, he didn't come out with them as much and he didn't have any money. Apparently he was loaded before, had enough money to buy whatever he wanted. Mark Smith did something that had repercussions. He ran from his actions."

I smiled smugly at the officer as he struggled to find words and instead just kept staring at the diary I had handed him.

Finally he found some words, "We will investigate this diary and will give it back to you, by the latest, tomorrow afternoon. Thank you Ms Kansas for your help in the case, I'm sure we will be in touch. Sounds like you are already a true detective- I'm impressed."

I couldn't stop grinning while he complemented me and after a few 'goodbyes' I walked out of the police station feeling like I had accomplished something. The first thing I did was call Lacey who was overjoyed at the news that the case was finally being looked into properly and then I began to drive back home.

The traffic was heavy and rain fell down viciously; I looked out the window as we were stuck in the standstill line of cars. Somewhere, maybe many miles away, Mark Smith was running. Running from something very dark.