Ulterior Motives

Is the Cop to Blame?

Officer Davis arrived at the lake in his range rover at five thirty in the morning. Although his shift didn't start until eight, he wanted to get some extra time to search for Toni.

He opened his door and hopped out, and he wasn't surprised when no one was there yet, even Toni's parents had gone home to rest.

Walking towards the lake, he tried to think like the young girl - just as he had told Cheryl to do less than a week ago.

A photo of a red rose was missing. The half finished crossword had the word 'Austin' on, which is where she had a key to. Inside of her vinyls was a poem about a long distance relationship... so what on Earth is its significance? The description of the redhead by this lake. Finally, the ring in the sand.

Without warning, an idea came to him that hadn't so much as crossed a single brain cell in his mind previously. It came like a pregnancy to a teenager - unexpected yet welcome. A deep, dark idea that, although would explain these clues nicely, would certainly upset the family.

Maybe she ran away to be with someone she loved. What if, perhaps, the redhead was real? What if the piece of writing wasn't just something that had been concocted inside of a hormonal teen's mind, but maybe it was all real. She could have taken this person to this lake.

It all began to click in his mind.

The red rose - a universal symbol of love.

Austin - this lake was on the outskirts, maybe that wasn't the best link but it was all he could come up with.

The poem - the long distance relationship is why she ran away, to be with the person she loves.

The piece of writing - maybe it was her way to keep a memory.

The ring - was it a gift from the person she loves?

Lake water lapped up to the man's boots, forcing him to step back from it a little.

Despite the fact that he had figured out a possible theory as to why the girl ran away, he now needed a where and a who. Where was she now? Who was she with? Most importantly: was she safe?

He concluded that, to answer any of these questions, he needed evidence. So, he got to work searching the last known place of the girl.

He started on the right side of the lake, going deep deep into the infinite forest, the orange unsullied leaves creating a shelter over his head, isolating him from the real world.

He searched and searched for hours until he made his way out of that part of the forest, empty handed. This wasn't a one man job, so he decided to wait for Officer Blossom, who was due to arrive in ten minutes - at eight o'clock.

Whilst he was waiting, he saw people begin to arrive to help search, Toni's parents were the first to get there.

'Hi, is Cheryl here yet?' Mr Topaz asked the officer, a frown appearing on his face when he didn't see her.

'She should be here soon, her shift starts at eight,' he replied with a smile, as he flicked his wrist to see his watch. Eight oh four it read.

After about ten more minutes of waiting, Davis began to worry. She was a fairly new cop, so usually she'd be on time.

He picked up his flip phone and decided to call her.

Ring.

Ring.

Ring.

'You have reached Officer Cheryl Blossom's answering machine, please leave your message after the tone,' a robotic voice said, followed by a bleep.

'Hey Cheryl, Officer Davis here, just checking everything is okay since you're a little late. Don't worry though. Just let me know that you're okay. See you soon,' he told the phone, hoping that Cheryl would respond soon.

He headed back towards the waterfall, the number of people searching beginning to grow. Considering that people wouldn't have checked the top of the waterfall,  he decided to head up there to see if there was any sign of Toni.

After about ten minutes of climbing what seemed like in infinitely tall mountain, he reached the top. What he would find next would take him off guard.

At the top of the waterfall was a tiny piece of paper, so he crouched down and picked it up, cringing as his knees both cracked - his left then his right.

Unfolding it, he saw a familiar sight staring back at him. It was Officer Blossom. Well, a drawing of her. It was signed at the bottom in cursive handwriting by Toni.

It all clicked in that moment. He had been suspicious of the fact that Toni was with a redhead and Cheryl had taken it so seriously before for sure, but he hadn't seen this coming, not one bit. He knew that Cheryl was into younger girls, but fifteen years younger? Really?

Then it dawned on him. Blossom hadn't turned up to work that morning.

~~~

Author's Notes:

So everything has been revealed.
Or at least from the perspective of Officer Davis.
Do you think his theory is right?
What do you think of this turn of events, I bet no one was expecting it! 💛💛