The Day They Disappeared

Chapter 9

I checked my cracked watch and sat up from my position on Ali's floor. "It's almost 9, Ali. I have to get home."

"Just spend the night. We have so much to go over still. We have to make plans and get our information in order."

"Are you sure you wouldn't mind me spending the night?"

Ali nodded. "Yeah, it's fine. You can sleep in the guestroom or--" She stopped then called out to her mom. "MOM! Give the Connors a call. Will is staying the night!" Ali smiled at me.

"So I can stay in the guestroom or..." I paused, waiting for her to finish her previous statement.

"Or in Lucas' room. If you want. Everything is the same. We haven't been able to bring ourselves to move anything out of there yet."

"I uh, I think I'll sleep in the guestroom."

Ali bit her lip. "Yeah. That's fine. It was a stupid idea to bring up his room. I'm sorry."

I shook her comment off. "Its fine."

There was an awkward silence hanging over the space between us for a solid five minutes.

"So, uhm, we should get to work," Ali spoke after clearing her throat.

"Yeah, yeah, right. What's the plan or whatever?"

"I don't really have one yet but I kinda have an idea. You won't like it at all though."

I eyed her curiously. "What's your idea, Ali?"

"We could wait until he's out and then sneak into his hou--"

"SNEAK INTO HIS HOUSE? Ali, are you absolutely psycho? What the hell? No! We are not going to sneak into his house! That's breaking and entering, Ali! That's a crime! And if he his a crazy murderer and he comes home and finds us we could be killed next! That's dangerous, Ali. We are getting in way too deep. Maybe we should just call it a day and call off our little investigation. Lets just take his name to the police and let them handle shit, okay?"

"We won't be killed if we don't get caught and we won't be arrested if we aren't caught. We just have to play it safe."

"Are you serious right now? Nothing about your stupid idea is safe, Ali! Nothing at all!"

"Calm down, Will. It'll be fine. We wait until he's gone and we spend 20 minutes tops in there then we leave."

"Suppose I agree to your insane plan, not saying I am but let's just pretend I do, what are we going to do once we get in? What are we going to look for?"

Ali's eyes sparkled. "The souvenirs."

"Excuse me?"

Ali crawled closer to me. "The souvenirs, Will. The things he took from the bodies of all the kids. Amanda's bow, Lacey's little gold chain bracelet, Isabella's sparkly blue house key, ya know, those things."

"You think those would be in his house?"

"If he's the killer then where else would they be? He probably has them hidden somewhere. Maybe even in plain sight since next to nobody is ever in his home."

I sighed heavily. "I don't know, Ali. This is so risky and beyond dangerous. We could get ourselves caught up in something really bad. If we don't get murdered ourselves then we could get arrested."

"Then we better hope and pray that we've got evidence in our hands that points to Brian Wells being a murderer. They won't convict us for turning in a killer. We'll be rewarded. Thanked. Praised even." Ali's eyes widened with excitement and I could practically see the thoughts whirling around in her mind.

"What if we don't have evidence?"

Ali snapped out of her momentary daze. "We will have evidence."

"How do you know that though?"

"I just know it."

"But how do you know it, Ali? Just because you believe something that doesn't make it real."

"Stop questioning me and just accept what I'm saying. You and I both feel it deep in our hearts and souls. We both know Brian Wells is the killer. He murdered your little sister and put her in that plastic chair on your back porch. He killed Lucas and cut off his finger and hid it in the sandbox in town. He set Isabella up next to that swing in the park! He did it and you know it! I know it!" Ali was growing increasingly impatient with me, I could tell.

"You're right," I paused as I fully grasped what she had just said, "How did you know that?"

Ali looked slightly confused. "Know what?"

"That my sister was in the chair on my back porch? How did you know that?"

Without any hesitation Ali responded smoothly, "It was in the paper. And on the news. I'm sorry. Maybe I shouldn't have brought it up."

I shook my head. "No, no, it's okay."

"I can be so insensitive sometimes. I really am sorry, Will."

"Ali, shush, you're fine. I swear it's fine. You were making a point. I get it. And I agree with you completely."

I smiled at the beautiful girl laying on the bed beside me to show her everything was alright.

"You agree with me? So does that mean you're down with my plan?"

I looked down at Ali from my upright position on her bed. "Yes. I'm okay with the plan."

A huge smile appeared on Ali's face. "Great!"

I leaned down and planted a kiss on her lips. I could feel myself smiling as I was doing so. I pulled away to see Ali still grinning and her cheeks were flushed.

"So..." her voice trailed off.

"Your plan? Let's talk about it."

Ali perked up. "It's hot outside. He seems to leave his windows open. So we go to his house when he's not there and you get me through one of those windows. I'll go around and let you in the back. Then we just snoop and go through everything. We get what we need and we ditch. Then we go to the police and tell them what we did and what we found. Mr. Wells will be arrested and we will be heroes. Lucas and Danielle and everyone else will get justice. Wells will rot in prison. Maybe he'll even be sentenced to death. Or maybe somebody will kill him in jail. No matter what happens, we will catch the killer. We will get Lucas and Danielle justice. I promise we will."

I nodded. "Sounds like a good plan."

She smiled at me.

"So then that's what we're doing?"

"That's what we're doing. Promise me we'll be careful though."

Ali grinned and pecked my lips. "Of course. I promise that you'll be safe. We should get to bed though."

I smiled at her. "Right. Well goodnight." I got up off of the bed and made my way to the guest room. I passed Lucas' room on the way. His door was wide open so I shut it without even stopping to look inside. I knew every nook and cranny of that bedroom. Even though I wanted to see it one more time, I couldn't bring myself to look in there just yet because I knew if I did that I would fully expect to see somebody in there that was not in there. I wasn't ready to accept reality yet so I sauntered off to the colorless pitch black of the guest room and went to sleep.