Missing Like You

THIRTY-EIGHT

DETECTIVE GABE GIBBONS
FRIDAY JUNE 24, 2022

It's officially been one week since Isabelle Donovan went missing and we're no further ahead than we were a week ago.

I've been sacrificing sleep all week, at the station until midnight, then up at the crack of dawn. Rylie says I look like a walking zombie, and that pretty much sums up how I feel. I've gone through everything and still, we have nothing solid to go on.

I reach for my coffee and take a sip. Rylie is sitting across from me. We're posted up in a coffee shop for our lunch break, though neither of us are eating.
"You consume that shit like it's heroin," she says, eyeing me.
"It might as well be at this point."
"Would you like me to get you an IV drip? An injection straight to the veins?"
"That would be ideal, actually. Probably save me a lot of money too."
She rolls her eyes.
"Where the hell is this woman?" I lean forward and open up the manila file folder, once again. I stare at the 8x10 photograph of her, as though it will provide me with some answers.
"She's pretty," Rylie says. "Any creep on the street could have spotted her and decided he wanted her for himself."
I close the folder and lean back again. "Dave is going to have my head."
"Relax. This case falls on the shoulders of the entire team, not just you."
"Yeah, but I'm the face leading this investigation. I should have more by now."
"Not your fault."
"It is my fault. Just like the Chambers' case."
"Please don't bring that up again."
I glare at her. "I'll never stop bringing up that case. She's the one that got away. The one I could have solved."
"Do you hear yourself? There's nothing you could have done, Gabe. He got away with it. You couldn't have saved her. She was gone from the beginning."
That silences me.

I think about everything we've done in the past week. I've sat down with Jason and gone through countless CCTV footage. I've canvased the area, talked to anyone and everyone she was associated with. The last known whereabouts that anyone can attest to seeing her is when she left Bee Hive at 5 o'clock on Thursday evening. After that, it's a mystery. I presume she went home and got ready for her date with Greenwood. But anything in between then is unaccounted for. What did she do once she left work that could have resulted in her disappearance?

Phone records came in yesterday morning, so that was a bit of a help. I scanned through everything from the past few months, but nothing stands out or strikes me as odd. I've traced every single number to and from her phone and there's nothing that is conspicuous or out of the ordinary.

Could Isabelle have known her abductor? That might make sense as to why we can't find anything, as well as why there's no sign of a struggle at the house. He could have come to the door and been invited in willingly if she knew him. I may need to double-back and re-interview every person I've spoken with thus far and then some. I need someone with motive, and so far, the only person who fits the bill is none other than her very own husband.

He is the main person of interest in this case so far. The lieutenant likes him for it, and so does Rylie. Though, quite frankly, it's not really up to them to decide. It's up to evidence and whatever I can prove.

We finish up at the coffee shop, signaling the end of our lunch break, and head back to the station. The lieutenant is nowhere to be seen, which feels like a bit of weight off my shoulders. I pretend to head to my office, then as soon as Rylie is out of sight, I switch my course of action and head directly to Cold's.

It doesn't take me long to find her name. Chambers, Alexandra. September 10, 2021. I bring the file back to my office and close the door behind me.