Puzzle Pieces [#Wattys2016]

3 | A Dangerous Background

"Shar? Sharlene, are you alright? What's wrong?" She asked worriedly. Sharlene could barely get her words out.
"M-Max is missing," she cried.

Claire was stunned into silence, and Max's mother resumed her sorrowful sobbing on the phone. Claire couldn't speak. She couldn't believe that Max was gone. She said she was sorry to Sharlene, although she didn't know she was saying it. It was an automatic response. Inside, she was falling. She was falling fast, into that dark place she had worked so hard to climb out of. She was being pulled back in, all by the absence of one person. She hung up the phone, and fell into bed, crying.

She had fallen asleep, and she didn't dream. Her thoughts were all black, or replayed memories of her and Max. She woke up a few hours later, her tear stained pillow beneath her.

She looked at the clock, which read 2:47pm, the : flashing rhythmically. She dragged herself out of bed, and got dressed. She figured she might as well go and comfort Sharlene, as she probably needed someone there with her right now. She got in her car and headed over to Max's house.

As she pulled up to Max's house, she noticed cop cars in front of the property. She decided to park on the street, then she walked up the paved walkway and went inside. She had stopped knocking years ago. As she walked inside, Sharlene greeted her with a hug, tears tracing tracks down her cheeks.
"I can't believe this," Sharlene stammered.
"I know," Claire replied emptily. "Me either."
Claire stepped back.
"Come in," Sharlene said.
Together they walked towards the kitchen, where a police officer sat at the table. Sharlene sat down and Claire took the seat next to her.
"Hello," the police officer greeted Claire. "I'm Officer Leroy. I'm the lead officer on Max Lunn's case. And you are-"
"Claire Walker," she stated.
"Ah, Max's girlfriend. Yes, now, do you have any idea where Max could be? Or what could have caused him to disappear without alerting anyone else first?" the officer inquired.
Claire stayed silent for a moment before asking in response, "How do you know he left on his own?"
Sharlene took in a sharp intake of breath.
"What are you suggesting?" Officer Leroy asked suspiciously. "Withholding information from the police-"
Claire cut him off again. "Yes, I know, I know. Well," she paused, not sure whether releasing this information was for the best. She had sworn to Max that she would never tell a soul, only her and his mother having known about his past. She decided to tell a little, although it was hopefully enough to help them find him; if that was the reason for his disappearance.
"He has a history with a.. bad crowd."
"I see," the officer stated. "Continue."

Claire explained how a few years ago, Max had been involved in drugs, and drug deals, the whole sort. That was when he was 14. Max, being 17 now, has realized how much of a mistake that whole deal was. He had turned his life around. Although, as only Claire knew, there had been a few clients in the past whom Max had never kept up his end of the deal with. She had felt like something would eventually come up again from that period of his life again, but she had prayed that it would not be for a long, long time. As she explained, the officer never mentioned how all of this had gone on under their radar, or how illegal all of the stuff she was telling him was. All he was concerned about was finding this poor boy, who had turned his life around only to have his past most likely attack him as soon as he wasn't looking.

He took notes, and thanked the girls for their time. Claire had mentioned Max's favourite bar, that even though he was obviously underage was where he usually went to cool down after one of their arguments, which had happened again last night. After the officer left,
Claire decided to go out to the bar to look for Max herself.