The Day They Disappeared

Chapter 6

"Inez Gloria Ramos, the daughter of the well-respected Gloria Gonzalez, was abducted Friday night. Her body was found less than 24 hours later behind the Miller Diner--"

Mr. Miller switched off the TV and sat down in a chair across from me. The older man, who was starting to bald, looked at his cup of coffee while speaking.

"William, I've known you since you were a little kid. I trust you. The reason I phoned and requested you join me for lunch is because I'm scared for my baby girl. Florence is still a little girl. I'm scared for her with all of this happening. I think out of everyone in this town you could offer her some comfort. You know Florence and Inez's brother, Francisco, are friends and Florence adored Inez. She's having a rough time right now. I know Francisco and Gloria are in so much pain too so I could not possibly ask Francisco to watch after her. I know you lost little Danielle and Lucas and so I feel like you can comfort Florence as well. What I'm asking of you is to just watch over her. Make sure she's not interacting with anyone who comes off as shady, walk home with her after school, maybe even walk to school with her. It would bring me great comfort to know she's got somebody protecting her."

The dark-haired man gave me a pleading look. I completely understood where he was coming from and for that very reason I couldn't say no. Florence was his only daughter, his only child and he couldn't always be around to ensure her safety. Plus Lucas would be smiling down knowing I was watching over one of the cutest girls our age.

"I'll do it. I'll keep an eye on her."

Mr. Miller set his coffee down and clapped his hands together in a praying motion. "Praise the Lord. Thank you, Will. I owe you."

I shook my head and waved him off. "You don't owe me. I'm glad to do it. I don't want to see somebody else fall victim. I want to help even if it's only by walking your daughter to and from school to make sure she's safe."

The cheery man gave me a big smile which caused his mustache to look sort of lopsided. "God bless you."

I couldn't do anything more than give him a small forced smile as I went to leave. I was only hoping that I could protect Florence well enough since I couldn't even protect my own sister.

~~~~~

Ali twisted back and forth on her swing as she spoke. "So you're going to be like Florence Miller's guardian angel?"

I chuckled. "More like a bigger and stronger friend to protect her but sure."

Ali smiled slightly. "That's really nice of you, Will. I'm sure her folks really appreciate it."

"I just want to help in any way I can. There's a monster among us and nobody knows who's next."

"You think there will be more?"

I shrugged and leaned against the pole closest to her swing. "Yes, for sure. The murders may end in this small town but that doesn't mean that they won't start somewhere else. Maybe they'll get close to the monster and he'll freak out and bail. After a while if he still isn't caught then he'll get cocky and start again. It'll be a never ending cycle until the asshole is caught."

Ali thought for a moment. "You think the killer is a boy?"

"Obviously. Hell, a grown man not even a boy."

"Why?"

"What do you mean why? A girl couldn't do this. Girls are so proper and tame and weak."

"Girls can be strong." Ali argued.

"Not this strong, Ali."

She continued to twist on her swing. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"I wish I could do more than just watch over one girl though." I sighed and looked down.

"How about you watch over two girls? Me and Florence!"

I smiled slightly. "I could watch over you too if you want me to. But I kinda wanna do a little more. I wanna snoop and spy and get a list of suspects."

"That's what the police department is doing, Will. They're good at their jobs. I'm sure they have suspects."

"If they had suspects everyone would know about it. This is a small town, Ali."

Her shoulders slumped and she bite her lip. "Well uh, we could do some snooping. But we would have to be careful."

I looked at her curiously. "Where would we even start?"

"Well we could start looking in the direction of the loners and freaks of this town, right? There's a handful. I assume the sick bastard would be a loner."

I shook my head and stood straighter. "Yeah, that's right. You're right." I immediately slumped back down. "We couldn't investigate on our own. The probability of us snooping and getting caught up in a situation we couldn't escape is very likely. I know neither one of us would want to put our parents in the same situation again."

Ali clicked her tongue and looked down. "Yeah, I suppose you're right. So how about we don't get ourselves caught up in a bad situation?"

I stared at her, confused. "Ali, we can't go and do something like this."

"Who says we can't? You? If you're the only thing in my way then I don't have to worry about much. Besides, I'm a great sleuth. I was always able to find out when Lucas was going to play pranks or when he snuck out."

The mood of the conversation shifted instantly at the mention of Lucas. Ali's voice dropped its powerful, convincing tone and opted for a more sullen one. After a brief silence Ali spoke up again.

"Maybe you're right. Running around and sticking our noses into places that they don't belong could cause us and our families a lot of trouble and heartbreak. I guess I just got tangled up in the idea of catching who took my brother's life away from him." The tiny blonde girl glanced up at me. "I just want to know, ya know?"

I nodded my head and sighed. "I understand where you're coming from, Ali. Maybe we could do a little bit of sleuthing. Get some suspects at least and hand them over to the police, let them take it from there. That way we could possibly help out at least in the slightest way and we don't get far enough in that we can't get out."

Ali's face lit up ever so slightly. "Really? You would do that with me?"

I nodded once again. Ali moved away from her swing and threw her arms around me. Her face was buried in between my shoulder and neck and in a muffled voice she whispered, "This means more to me than you think, Will. Thank you."

I smiled even though she couldn't see it and held onto her tightly. Part of me understood where she was coming from and why she wanted to help out but another part of me found it strange that she wanted to do it so badly even despite the risk. Ali was always more adventurous than Lucas and I. She must have gotten that trait from her real parents because her adopted parents, Lucas' real parents, weren't really all that outgoing. I pushed away all the thoughts overcrowding my mind and just took in this moment with Ali.

Even though everything about this moment seemed genuine and emotional, I couldn't help but feel a slight uneasiness about what was going to be happening.