Chance and Reason

Chapter Fifteen

A/N: I am sorry for taking a while to update; I was away, but I am back now! Just in case you want to, a good song to listen to while reading the last part of this chapter is Losing Your Memory by Ryan Star. Thank you for staying with this story, it means a lot!

Following their phone conversation, it seemed that, without much effort on her part, Lauren Jauregui virtually disappeared from the face of earth. There was neither sight nor sound of her for almost two weeks, and Officer Shawn Mendes was ready to thrown in the towel completely and admit defeat until her unmistakable figure was spotted briefly on a CCTV camera in the north of the city.

Her absence was not just noticed by Shawn though; he was painfully aware that the committee investigating Agent Lucy Vives's death was not looking kindly on Lauren's unprofessional behaviour. The countless voicemails that he had left her highlighting such a fact had been pointedly ignored.

Camila, on the other hand, was the one person who was determined to totally disregard Lauren's sudden leave. While everybody else speculated, she cheerfully acted as though no such person had ever existed. The very mention of her name was strictly forbidden in her apartment.

It took almost a month for Shawn to successfully locate Lauren properly. From the evidence he had gathered, he was certain that she was staying in an old motel on the outskirts of town. Grabbing his wallet, car keys and bomber jacket, he left the office early and drove to track down the friend who had been missing for almost four weeks.

After a short argument with the bored woman slouched at the tattered reception desk, he was given Lauren's room number and dashed up the stairs to find her. Ignoring the hordes of flies buzzing around the single working lightbulb in the drab corridor, he hammered on her room door.

"Lauren, let me in or I swear I'll..."

His fist made contact with nothing but air as the door was hurled open.

"Congratulations, Officer Mendes. You found me,"

He stormed past the agent into the dingy room. Moth-eaten curtains were drawn over grimy windows, leaving only pinpricks of light to filter through the fabric holes. It was small, cramped, and smelt of damp.

"So this is where you come to sulk, huh?" he sneered, casting an eye around the filthy dwellings.

"Who says I'm sulking?"

"Literally everything about this dump," Shawn retorted, running his finger along the top to a shelf to leave a streak through the thick layer of dirt, "What the hell are you doing?"

"Taking some well-deserved vacation," she retaliated.

Her arms were crossed tightly across her chest, eyebrows bent into a permanent frown.

"I'm not the enemy here, Lauren, so don't treat me like I am. You've been AWOL for nearly a month and I want to know why,"

"Don't act like you care," she hissed.

"If I didn't care, I wouldn't be standing here right now," Shawn shouted back, "Do you know how much trouble you're in? Your sudden resignation didn't do you many favours with the investigation committee, but this has surpassed all else. Talk about not being granted permission to return to field work; this might well leave you without a job,"

"Maybe I don't want a job,"

"You're acting like a stupid kid! What's the matter with you?!"

Lauren shrugged moodily, throwing herself down onto the bed and staring up at the veiny cracks in the ceiling. Deciding that he was never going to get her attention at this rate, Shawn decided to play the card he wish he didn't have to.