Four weeks turned into six weeks, Ryan talked to everyone who was in the area when Alice went missing, and no one had the information he needed. That was until he met a farmer by the name of Walter Gibbons, he didn't know the family personally, in fact he was a grumpy middle-aged man.

Michelle called off sick, so Ryan had to go talk to Mr. Gibbons alone. He hoped he wouldn't be met with a shotgun in his face. He got out of his car and began trekking up the dirt path that led to Mr. Gibbons quaint cottage looking house.

He got up on the porch and knocked on the man's door, he heard someone was inside so he knocked again and spoke. "Mr. Gibbons, I know you're in there, I'm Detective Bowen, I need to speak with you in regards to the Alice Blair case."

The screen door opened to reveal an older man, also known as Mr. Walter Gibbons, he looked at Ryan in confusion. "I'm not apart of that girl's murder, so why are you coming to my house and disturbing me?" He asked.

"I can assure you sir, this won't take long. I'm interviewing a lot of people that may have known the Blair's or have any information about the young girl's death." Ryan explained.

Mr. Gibbons sighed, "Yeah, I don't know the family. Sure, what happened is terrible, but if it doesn't affect me personally. Then I don't care, now get off my property."

Ryan was annoyed as the situation was, he really didn't have the energy to argue with the man. But he NEEDED any and all information. "Sir, I need to talk to you and have you answer some questions."

"I don't have to answer your darn questions, now go away."

Ryan sighed, he really didn't want to argue with this guy, "Mr. Gibbons, if you don't want to answer my questions that's fine. Although, we can keep doing this the hard way, and I'll be back with a search warrant to make you answer questions."

"I'm exercising my first amendment rights Detective, I told you to go away." Ryan nodded, and started leaving, he was definitely going to have to go back to the station and grab a warrant.

If only the investigation could go smoothly but alas it can't, simply because some people don't know how to cooperate. The one thing he was happy about, was not having to at least talk to Mr. Gibbons for at least a few hours. He was also happy to not have a shotgun in front of his face, it would take a while for the warrant to actually get processed so he'd better do it quickly.
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Meanwhile with Michael Blair, he sat at his desk in his office looking over different projects he had to do to keep his mind off of Alice. It's clearly not working, since everywhere he looks he just sees Alice.

Michael's boss tried telling him it was okay to take a few weeks off, but Michael insisted he needed the distraction, Laura started distancing herself from him too. Then again, he was doing the same thing. They often got into arguments and would apologize a few hours later, they didn't want to show how stressed they were around Scott.

The last thing their son needed was his parents getting a divorce, of course he loved his wife, so he wouldn't do that dramatic and drastic thing. Scott's teachers are worried, he's been spacing out, falling asleep during lectures, and Tyler told his mom's he was worried because his friend wasn't eating much.

Which Michael made a mental note of, he had to talk with Laura about getting Scott into therapy. He needed to talk to someone, he can't just sit and be sad, sure it's okay to feel that way, but it's not what Alice would want for him.

The only therapist that was remotely in the town was Dr. Petra Hendricks, she was supposed to be a really good therapist. Some people in town go to her office and get appointments. They've said she's really good at what she does, Micheal wants to help his son so he's going to talk with Laura about it.

Michael arrived home at seven pm seeing his son helping set the table as Laura was finishing up dinner. He walked over to Laura and kissed her cheek, then going over to Scott, ruffling up his hair. "Hey kiddo, how was school?" He asked.

"It was fine, nothing much happened." Scott replied nonchalantly.

Michael knew he had to keep the small talk to a minimum, if he bombarded him with questions Scott would just stop talking all together. So he would only ask one question, after Laura brought the dinner and put it on the table everyone sat down.

The room was filled with uncomfortable silence, no one was talking, the only sounds that were heard were the scraps of utensils on the dish ware. "So Laura how was your day?" Michael asked, trying to make the mood not so quiet.

"My day was fine, how was yours honey?" She asked, looking up at her husband. Scott was just picking at his food, he was barely eating. Even at first glance he looked so numb and bored, like he didn't even want to be eating dinner with his parents. "What's the point of having dinner together, when not everyone is here?" Scott asked.

"Because we're a family, eating family dinner Scott." Michael said.

"It sure doesn't feel like a family." Scott mumbled.

"What did you say?" Laura asked.

"Nothing, I'm not really hungry. Can I go to my room?" Scott asked.

Michael sighed, "Okay, sure." Scott got up from his seat and went upstairs to his room. Laura looked at Micheal wearing a saddened expression.

"What are we going to do about him?" She asked.

"I don't know, he needs to talk to someone, he can't keep his feelings bottled up inside. I think it's time we send him to therapy." Micheal replied.

"I agree, do you know someone that can help?"

"Yeah I do, her name is Dr. Petra Hendricks, everyone says she's the best."

"Then maybe we should make an appointment." Laura said.

Michael nodded, "I'll call her office tomorrow."
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The End of Chapter 8