Deputy Elijah Odugu stared at the phone in his hands. In calling Ash, he'd probably broken five police conduct rules. If anyone found out, it could cost him his badge.

A tapping in his window made him jump. He turned to see a fellow police officer leaning down to speak with him and rolled down the window.

'Sheriff wants to speak to you.'

Elijah nodded and stepped out of the vehicle.

'At least they caught it early. Could have lost the entire building.'

'When can the fire inspectors get here?' Elijah asked.

'Sheriff's on a call with them now, but they won't enter the building until it's deemed safe.'

'And the fire crews? What are they saying?'

'Same thing we all think. Arson. No doubt about it. That one room was blazing like the depths of Hell. Rest of the building didn't really catch.'

'Accelerant?'

'Possibly. But I'll leave that to the inspectors.'

Elijah looked up at the still smouldering building. It was the corner roof that had suffered the most damage. He'd bet his next pay packet that it was the hidden room behind the bookcase. He still needed to talk to the fire crews before he could confirm that.

They both stopped in their tracks as they saw the Sheriff visibly shaking in anger as he talked briskly on the phone.

'I need you here,' he barked into his phone before grimacing at the response. 'Just get here as quick as you can then.' He pressed the end button on his phone so harshly that Elijah thought the thing would snap in half.

'Blasted inspectors,' he swore and then sneezed.

'What's wrong with the inspector?' Elijah asked.

'The regular guy is down with the flu. And the replacement is out on another job,' the sheriff said, pulling a used tissue from his pocket and blowing his nose.

'Must be the same thing that's going around the station. Garcia and Williams are already off sick,' the other officer pointed out.

'And O'brien. He called in this morning,' Elijah said.

The sheriff swore and pushed the tissues into his back pocket. 'We're stretched thin enough as it is with Romaro on maternity leave. Why they thought a rookie was a suitable replacement for a seasoned officer like Romaro, I'll never know,' complained the sheriff.

'Tomos isn't so bad...' the officer trailed off under the evil eye of his superior.

'With the way this flu is hitting the station, he may be the only one left,' Elijah said.

'Heaven help us. It was hard enough with the missing girl. And now this,' exclaimed the Sheriff.

'What's the latest on the missing person's case?'

Elijah was glad the other officer had asked. He didn't want anyone thinking he was taking a special interest in what was happening in Charity's case.

'O'brien was supposed to be calling on Jim this morning with copies of Charity's...sketchbook. Along with a collection of the photos found with it.'

All the men's faces turned grim at the mention of the photos. It wouldn't be an easy conversation to have with the Pastor given their sexual nature.

'Who's going to take point with O'brien now sick?' the officer asked, clearly hoping that it wasn't him.

'That's where you come in, Deputy. I need to stay here for the inspector, so you get to question the pastor.'

'What a treat,' Elijah drawled. He didn't think his day could get any worse, but his boss had just put the final nail in the coffin.

'And what about the Hawthorne sisters? I saw the sketchbook. There was no mistaking those drawings.' The officer shuddered.

'We've sent a copy to the shrink. I want her opinion before I bring the sisters in for questioning. Until then, we keep it under wraps. Not a word to anyone about the sketchbook. Understood?' He pierced them with a hard gaze.

'Yes, Sir.'

'You got it Boss.'

'Taylor, go get those photographers back behind the police line. They're always trying to push their luck,' bristled the sheriff.

'On it.' The other officer marched off, already waving his hand at the crowd that was tiptoeing past the line as though no one could see what they were doing.

'You'd better get to Jim's,' the sheriff said, turning to Elijah. 'I want to know how well they really know their daughter. If it turns out she was hiding a lot from them...'

'Then we got to question what they're telling us,' finished Elijah.

'Approach it gently. This is still a family with a missing child. But don't be afraid to push. I feel like we're stumbling around in the dark with this one. Two good suspects, one with previous history with the family, and then there's the sketchbook. I can tell you that was a big surprise. Stop by IT as well. They're going through all the CCTV to see if we can track her last whereabouts.'

'Bus stops? Taxi ranks?'

'Everything and anything. They're also checking the hospitals. If that girl left, then I want to know about it.'

'But you don't hold out much hope?' Elijah could see it in the man's gaze.

The Sheriff grumbled under his breath. 'Something tells me it's more than just a runaway. Never heard of a runaway disappearing without their purse,' he admitted.

'I see your point.'

'Get over to Jim's. Let's start tying up these loose ends.'

Elijah hesitated, and the sheriff watched his indecision with a frown.

'Something to add?'

'It's about the fire.'

The sheriff's bushy eyebrows rose. 'And?'

'I think we should get the sniffer dogs involved.'

'The fire crews already swept the building. No bodies in sight.'

'And you know how well the squatters hide themselves. They could have missed something.'

'I see your point. Suppose we'd better be thorough. I'll get on to it whilst I wait.'

'Right, Sir.' Elijah headed back to the car, pleased at his small subterfuge. It wasn't exactly protocol to get sniffer dogs involved, but it was not too far off reasonable given the size of the building, and its history of squatters.

Elijah flagged down a passing fire warden, her face smeared with soot from her coat.

'What can I do for you, Deputy?'

'Just a quick question.'

'Jeff'll be out soon to give the full damage report to the sheriff.'

'I can't stick around. There's somewhere I need to be. I just wanted to know where the worst of the damage is?'

'Top, left corner. Looks like an old hidey hole in one of the attic spaces. Had to go through what was left of a bookcase to get there. Very Harry Potter style.'

Elijah schooled his expression. He'd expected as much.

'Thanks for the info.'

'Anytime Deputy.'

Elijah headed back to his car, wondering what someone was trying to hide by burning the hidden room. If Ash was right, could the ghost's body be there?

***

Elijah pulled open the doors to the station, his shoulders stiff and only a few inches lower than his earlobes.

'Rough day?' The officer on reception peered over his monitor, watching as Elijah shook the rain off his jacket.

'You could say that. Any messages?'

'Sheriff's still at the old science building. They got the sniffer dogs out scoping the place whilst they wait for the fire inspector.'

'Keep me updated.'

'You'll be the first to know,' the officer promised, his gaze slipping back to the screen.

'I'll be with IT,' Elijah said.

The officer murmured something which could have been a "sure", though Elijah could tell he'd lost interest in their conversation.

He patted the reception desk in response and went down the hall.

The IT hub, as it had been billed when it first opened, was just a room equipped with multiple screens and a hard wired link to most of the city's CCTV cameras. Affectionately, it had become known as the nerd cave. A paper note taped to the door attested to that. Underneath that was another note which said the inhabitants of said bat cave only did work for coffee. Which, in hindsight, was only a partial truth. Still, Elijah carried in three fresh mugs with a packet of cookies under his arm.

The room was dim as usual, the most light coming from the screens themselves. Outlines of two people could be seen huddled in front of them as the images flashed by too quickly for Elijah to really follow. He was glad it wasn't his job to look through the endless footage, hoping to spot just one person.

Two heads turned around at exactly the same time, their nostrils flaring at the treat he'd brought them.

'Coffee. Coffee. Coffee,' sang Maria, who wheeled her chair forward with too much enthusiasm and almost collided with her partner's chair.

'You act like I didn't just get you coffee an hour ago,' grumbled her partner, Louis.

'But the Deputy uses the good stuff, not that instant crap.'

'There's nothing wrong with instant coffee.'

'It is if you love coffee.'

'Then next time you can get the coffee and I'll just sit here.'

Elijah listened to them bicker back and forth. You would have thought they were siblings given the way they argued with each other. But this wasn't the case.

Maria had suffered her whole life with a growth deformity. Her legs were shorter than they should be and her one shoulder was three inches higher than the other. But despite this, an infectious smile was never far from her face. Her sharp wit and excellent IT skills had endeared her to the rest of the station.

Louis was Maria's opposite. He stood at over six feet tall, his bulk enhanced by spending much of his spare time training in the gym, when he wasn't LARPING with friends. Gang tattoos poked out of the collar of his shirt, proof of his colourful past before he turned his life around.

Whilst Maria was forever smiling, Louis' face rarely strayed away from a scowl. His face seemed permanently frozen that way, despite his usually helpful disposition.

Elijah put the coffees down and handed Louis the cookies, effectively bringing their argument to an end.

'How was the trip to the pastor's house?' Louis asked as he opened the packet and placed two cookies in front of Maria. She huddled over her coffee, inhaling the precious coffee fumes. Her eyes practically rolled back in her head at the heady scent.

Elijah's lips thinned. 'The pastor thinks the pictures are fake. A trick of the Hawthorne sisters to discredit him and his family.'

'Think that's possible? One of them did find the stuff,' Louis noted before swallowing a cookie whole.

Elijah sipped at his coffee. 'Charity's fingerprints were found on the photographs. We didn't find any other fingerprints.' Mostly because Ash had worn gloves when she'd discovered them, he thought to himself.

'Sounds like they're real to me,' Maria piped up.

'It certainly looks that way.'

'And the sketchbook? Is it really that bad?' Louis asked.

'It's not a pretty read. The pastor and his wife claim it was planted in her room.'

'But only her fingerprints, right?'

'Bingo,' Elijah said. 'You two got anything?'

'Diddly squat. We've run her photo through facial recognition and it's picked up nothing after she left the sorority at 7,' Maria said, her smile dimming.

'We've consistently been checking in with the local hospitals and bus depots, but no one matching her description has been seen,' confirmed Louis.

'And the CCTV around the campus?'

'Her housemates were telling the truth when they said the last big storm fired the circuits.' Maria wheeled herself over to a big map. They'd tapped a clear sheet of plastic over the top and Louis had drawn around the areas that weren't currently covered by CCTV.

'That's the whole campus,' exclaimed Elijah.

'The university's going to have to face some tough questions over how it keeps its students safe,' tsked Louis.

'So we're blind here,' summed up Elijah.

'We're trying to track all the mobiles that were at the frat party to confirm if anyone saw her,' Louis said.

'Since the Sheriff is starting to doubt the Hawthorne girl's statement that she saw Charity the morning after the party,' added Maria.

'You've heard his current theory?' Louis asked.

'That she argued with her housemate Jess Hawthorne, possibly over something related to her sister Ash Hawthorne, and that the two girls have kidnapped her, possibly killed her?'

'I don't buy it,' Maria admitted.

'Me either,' agreed Louis. 'Other than the older Hawthorne's rocky relationship with the pastor, there doesn't seem a motive. Unless we just haven't found one,' he wondered aloud.

'What about that email address I gave you? Any leads on linking that back?' Elijah asked.

'We traced the IP back to a number of laptops in the IT building. But here's the tricky part; they're shared devices.'

'Meaning anyone could have accessed them and sent the email.' Elijah drained the rest of his coffee. Everywhere he looked, there were dead ends.

'Only students or faculty members have access to that library, since it's a key card entry.' Maria tried to remain positive.

'But we checked, and up to 900 students and 50 faculty members have access,' Louis pointed out, earning a rare scowl from Maria.

Elijah looked away, peering at the CCTV footage as it scanned crowds looking for anyone matching Charity's photo. He'd hoped for a more positive conversation with IT.

They all froze as the door crashed open, rebounding off the wall as the officer on reception fell through the door.

'Jesus, Adams, take it easy on the interior, we're not made of money.' Louis grimaced.

'Sheriff needs you at the science building,' he wheezed as he pointed at Elijah.

'What's happened?' Maria asked.

'Sniffer dogs found bodies.'

'Charity?' she asked at the same time Louis said, 'bodies?'

'Don't know,' the officer said. 'But the sheriff's about to have a coronary.'

'So would anyone else if they just discovered bodies, plural,' Louis said.

'Those poor people. They must have been caught up in the fire,' Maria cried, pressing her deformed hand to her cheek in sympathy.

'I'd better head out,' Elijah said, pulling on his coat. He heard the other discussing the bodies as he left the station.

Though he knew Maria had been wrong. Those bodies had been there long before the fire.