Case File #12

(3rd Crime) 

Sharna grabbed the gun and walked over to the car, the man seemed scared

"Get out of the car" Sharna said strictly "and show me both your hands up" he got out and did as she asked.

"It's not what you think it is" he said terrified

"So you have not been following us?" Sharna asked raising her eyebrows

"I'm a reporter, that's what I do!"

"So what exactly are you reporting on?"

"Everyone knows Tom Arnold is now working on the missing kid's case, I was just doing my job" he said "If, for once, I have some exclusive news, I will finally get some recognition, so yeah I have been following Tom, but who are you?"

"I'm Detective Sharna Davis" she said proudly

"Never heard of you" he said and Sharna gave him an angry look

"Never heard of you either"

"I can show you my badge if don't believe me. However, you'd need to let me move"

"No, don't move, where is it?"

"My wallet is in my left pocket"

Sharna pulled the wallet from his pocket and opened it, she found his newspaper ID card.

"Is this a picture from high school, Matthew Miller?"

"I wish I can say yes, Sharna Davis" he laughed because he always looked so young compared to his real age, he had no signs of facial hair.

Tom was still is his car wondering what's taking Sharna so long, so he got out and walked over to them, overhearing their conversation.

"Oh please stop flirting we still have a long night" Tom said

"We're not flirting" they both shouted

"Doesn't really matter, who is he?"

"A newspaper reporter who's been following you" Sharna said knowing that he'd probably be even more arrogant after hearing this.

"I don't know what's with you reporters, I always have you around; it's like I'm a magnet" he smirked proudly

"I have a theory about the kidnapping" Matt said

"Good" Tom said "keep it to yourself"

"I wanna help" he said

"Just let him say what he wants to and get it over with"

"Thank you Sharna, a pretty cool name by the way" he said smiling at her

"I know" she said

"About 6 months ago, during the last school semester, a girl called Lily was kidnapped from a nearby school and she actually came back home 3 months ago" he said

"You think the 2 cases are related" Sharna said

"Exactly!"

"We can get into that later if you're not busy tonight, but now we have another place to be, so move it" added Tom arrogantly

"Can I come too?" asked Matt

"Sure" Tom said and they walked back to the car

As Sharna and Tom closed the doors and started driving again, she said "I can't believe you invited a stranger on this case with us, what if he's not on our team"

"Keep your friends close and your enemies closer" Tom said wisely "Plus we have a gun"

"which I'm pretty sure is not a real one, I used to work at the police you know"

"Shoot me" he said confidently

"No I won't, you're crazy and I don't trust you"

"ouch" he said joking "you said yourself that you think it's a fake"

"What if it's not, I don't wanna go to jail"

"Where's your sense of adventure"

She pointed the gun towards his leg hesitantly, "just do it" she heard Tom say and then she pulled the trigger. A small orange flame appeared and Sharna sighed in relief.

"It's a lighter" he shouted in enthusiasm "isn't it cool?"

"Very" Sharna was tired of all of his stupid ways

"I thought first of getting a bubble gun like the one in that third Home Alone movie, but I think that one is even better. Protection and lighting cigarettes!"

"Well, smoking will kill you some day"

"So will your boringness" he laughed

Soon they arrived at their destination and met up again with Matt "So who are we visiting?"

"Rodger, Ben's dad and you" he pointed at Matt "You have diabetes and will need to go to the bathroom, but you'll instead look around the house

"Yes Sir" said Matt

"Kiss ass" Sharna said underneath her breath, she wasn't satisfied with Tom's idea about involving a stranger and she wasn't crazy about the fact that he was such a fan on Tom.

They rang the door bell and waited for a while outside then a tall bulky man opened the door, he had a small brown untidy beard and wore wrinkly clothes that did not seem to have been washed for a while according to the smell of it.

He led them inside saying "I'm sorry for the mess" then they all sat down in the living room

He offered them a drink, but they decided to get to the point.

"Don't worry Mr. Rodger, we'll do our best to get you back your son" Sharna said sympathetically, she realized how miserable he was from the way he and his house looked.

"When was the last time you saw Ben?" Tom asked

"Four days before the incident, I drove him to school that day and by the end of the school day I took him out to a restaurant then we came here, I helped him with his math homework and at 7 his mom came here to get him"

"Did he seem any different?"

"No, he seemed okay, I'm sure of it!" he put his face in his palms "he's my only kid and will always be my only kid, we had to go through a surgery in order to have him in the first place"

"A girl named Chelsea said she saw him leaving with a woman that day, do you know who she might have been?" Tom said

"I don't know, we've always told him to keep away from stranger"

"That's the strange thing!" Sharna said "Chelsea thought they knew each other"

"Maybe it's one of his teachers or something" said Rodger

"Maybe a relative?" asked Tom

"We don't have relatives who live here except my handicap mother and Alice's older brother who would never hurt Ben"

"From what I've heard, you did not receive a ransom note" Sharna said and Rodger nodded in agreement "so one very probably reason for that kidnap would be revenge. If you really want Ben back, you'd need to be honest with us and say if there is someone that would want to hurt You or your ex wife by taking away Ben"

"Believe me if I knew, I would tell, but I don't think neither Alice nor myself have these kind of people in our lives"

Meanwhile, Matt was looking around the house, he went into the room next to Rodger's, it was full of toys and he realized it was a room for Ben. As he started searching the place, he suddenly heard a sound coming from the wardrobe, so he walked closer to it and another sound came out.

"Well it's certainly not Narnia in there" he thought before opening it, he was a little terrified for a moment then thought maybe it was Ben and his dad is hiding him from him mother. He walked another step closer, took a deep breath and opened it.

He was shocked as he saw a woman standing in front of him telling him to stay silent.

"Who are you?" he whispered

"It's Melissa" she said looking around in a worried look "please don't tell anyone I'm here"

"And why are you here?"

"I wanted to talk to Rodger, he wouldn't let me in or answer any of my calls, so I had to sneak in here, but I didn't know he had plans to meet with anyone"

"Why did you want to talk to him?"

The two of them walked to the couch and sat down trying to keep their voices down as much as possible.

"Rodger and I have been seeing each other for a while now, but when his son learned about that, he was really upset and so Rod dumped me" she sighed devastated "I just needed to talk to him, but he wouldn't let me"

"I'm sorry for that" he said sympathetically "but can you please tell me more about how Ben found out?"

"Rodger picked me up after work a few days before Ben was kidnapped, he wanted us to meet each other, so we went to a restaurant together the three of us and back here, but when Ben realized, he was really angry and he actually ran away, but Rod was able to convince him to come back and that day he broke up with me"

"So you think Ben might have ran away instead of being kidnapped?"

"Maybe?" she said "I don't know and why are you asking all of these questions?"

"Doesn't really matter, I'm gonna go downstairs now and I will not tell him you're here"

"Thank you"

He went down stairs and joined their conversation.

"So, Mr. Rodger, do you have anything else you'd wanna add?" Sharna asked politely

"I don't think so, but if you ever need anything, please tell me and I'll try my best to help you, but please you as well do your best!"

After their conversation, they decided to get some coffee on their way, they still had a long night of researching about the other kidnapping cases. Sharna suggested they'd go to her place because Tom's place was disgusting.

The three of them sat in Sharna's living room with files and papers surrounding them. They kept checking all the kidnapping cases and separating them into two piles, solved cases which are irrelevant to their case and unsolved cases.

"Guys, Detectives," Matt said "umm, there is something I think I need to tell you"

"Go on kid" said Tom

"When I went upstair in the house, there was a woman hiding and..."

"Are you freaking kidding me" Sharna shouted "You know Ben was kidnapped by a woman and for all we know it might have been her"

"I know, I should've said earlier, but..."

"But you wanted to keep it to yourself as an exclusive, ugh" Sharna nodded angrily

"Come on, the kid made a mistake Sharon" Tom said making Sharna even angrier "So what did that woman say"

Matt explained what Melissa said and that there's a possibility that Ben might have ran away, but still there's the mystery woman.

"Why didn't Rodger mention her?" Sharna wondered

"He probably just didn't want to take the fall if Ben ended up just running away" Tom replied

After a few hours of reading cases and discussing, they agreed that there are four more similar and relevant Case.

"Lily, the one I told you about is the last case before ben, you see she disappeared 6 months ago and she came back 3 months ago, the only one who came back"

"Alive" Sharna said with a crack in her voice

"We can set up a meeting with her and her family" Tom added "There are also Candice the missing girl from Ben's school and Jacob who went missing a year ago in a near by school"

"Markus went missing a year ago as well, but his body was found dead a few months after" Sharna said, she was really affected by this case and worried that it might be too late for Ben. She felt very devastated at both Tom and Matt as she felt they were doing it for the fame and not for the right reason.

"These 5 kids were kidnapped in a similar way, from their schools, all private schools; the kidnapper must know they're rich" Tom said thinking out loud

"Exactly!" Sharna said "it bothers me that none of the families received a ransom note"

"There must be another motive, I mean there must be a reason for killing Markus"

Sharna was really tired it's been a very long day, so she started yawning which Tom noticed.

"Guess that's it for tonight, I don't wanna keep seeing your throat overtime you yawn like that"

"I'm tired" Sharna's voice went sharp from anger

"I told you you need to stop being that serious" Tom laughed and so did Matt "Well, I'm leaving and I'll try to set up a meeting with Lily's parents as soon as possible"

Tom left and closed the door behind him leaving behind Matt with Sharna which she thought was strange, she really wanted him to leave, she needed a good night sleep, but she didn't wanna be rude and kick him out even though she thought he deserved it.

"I'll be leaving too" Added Matt interrupting her thoughts

"Thank God" she thought

"I just wanted to talk to you alone for a couple of minutes" he was silent for a moment "I wanna apologize, it was wrong to keep info from you, but you must understand I really need to prove myself as a reporter"

"Well, I really need to prove myself as a detective too, but that doesn't give me the right to hide info from you and save it for myself"

"You're right, we're supposed to be a team"

"Yeah and Tom Arnold is the leader" Sharna said sarcastically and they both laughed knowing that Tom is no leader quality.

"So you do joke Detective Sharna Davis" Matt said smiling at her

"I'm a fun person Reporter Matthew Miller, but you have to admit, it's a serious case" She sighed "These families are suffering and who knows what is happening to those kids and I'm afraid, no terrified to break the promise I promised to bother Alice and Rodger; what if we can't find him or worse what if he turns up like Markus"

"I understand and believe me I feel for those people as well, but you worrying won't change a thing except cause uncomfortable conversations with Tom" he joked trying to make the conversation less intense "You're Detective Sharna Davis and you need to focus and keep you A game"

"You didn't even know who am I when we first met" she laughed

"Still have no idea"

"You know what? LEAVE" she said joking, but she truly meant it "I REALLY need to get some sleep"

"See you soon then" he left and Sharna went directly to he bed without even changing her clothes.

The next morning Sharna woke up as her phone rang, it wasn't the first time to ring, but she was deep in her sleep the first time, so she couldn't answer. She reached with her hand to get the phone and it was Tom calling, so she answered.

"Wake up sleepy head" Tom said "What have you been up to last night, you seem tired" he joked

"What are you implying" Sharna said in a sleepy voice

"Whatever" he laughed "So get you butt up, we're meeting with Lily and her parents the Montgomerys"

"How did you set that meeting?"

"I have me sources" he said proudly

"I'll get ready a be there"

"NO" he said "Take your time, I still have a masterpiece to finish"

After that phone call, Sharna got up, took a shower, got dressed then went to the kitchen to eat breakfast, but she didn't have much yet at the kitchen, so she decided to go out to a near coffee shop 2 blocks away from her new apartment and check it out.

On her way out of the door, he phone rang. It was Matt.

"Hey" she said

"Did you get enough sleep?"

"Yeah, I really needed that. Did Tom call you?"

"He did and I though maybe I could come pick you up?"

"I'm going for breakfast first. Wanna join?"

"Sure, be there soon"

The two of them sat together eating breakfast, Sharna got a coffee and a chocolate croissant while Matt got a smoked turkey sandwich.

"So I did a little research yesterday" Matt smiled

"About what?" Sharna asked as she took a sip from her coffee

"The case of Businessman Steve and The Andersons" he took a bit from his sandwich

"Creepy much" she laughed "you were researching me, why?"

"Just curious"

Time passed by and soon they met up with Tom and went to the Montgomerys. They rang the door bell and waited for a while.

A skinny, late 30s woman open the door. Although she was well-dressed and elegant, she seemed tired and shaky.

"You must be Detective Tom" she said pointing towards Tom "I'm Penelope" she smiled weakly "My husband is waiting for you, didn't know you'd have company though"

"These are Sheila and Matt" he said

"Seriously?!" Sharna said

"Come in, I'll make tea"

They walked into the house and through a corridor that lead to Mr Montgomery's office. The door was open, so tom pushed it and they went in. Tom went in to shake his hand then Sharna and Matt introduced themselves.

"Take a seat" he said gesturing it and they all sat down

"I believe you wife should be here as well" Sharna said

"She'll be here in a few minutes with the tea. May I ask why are you here?"

"A kid has been missing, for a few weeks now. A woman kidnapped him from a school near by your daughters school, so we have some a reason to believe that maybe there's a link" Tom said

"You have no idea how those three months without my Lily affected us, my wife has been going to therapy since and Lily is suffering as well from PTSD. I don't think you should involve them"

"Mr Montgomery, two other kids have been kidnapped in a similar way and never even came back. Another one was was found dead. This is serious, we need you help cause maybe there's still hope for Ben and trust me I know your family must be fragile from such an event, but we need as much info as we can get" Sharna said

"We don't know much, Lily's mum dropped her off at school and when I went back to pick her up that afternoon she wasn't there and no body had seen her since lunch break"

"How did she come back then?" Matt asked

"People saw her wandering in a near by street with ripped clothes with blood stains on them" he was emotional and couldn't continue talking for a few seconds "She was lost, hallucinating and exhausted, but thank God they found her and they called the police"

"Did you notice anything different when she came back?" Sharna asked

"Of course everything is different, she's quieter, she's always afraid, she has nightmares and sometimes out of nowhere she starts crying. If I just knew who did that, I'd.." he was furious

"I promise you we'll do our best to find out and lock him or her away" Sharna added

"Michael" a voice came from behind the door "I think we should tell them" Penelope appeared and entered the door

"Tell us what?" Tom asked

""We didn't want to get Lily through interrogations by telling the police, it's enough what she's going through" said Michael

"When Lily came back" Penelope said "she had a large scar on her right side, so we took her for a check up at the hospital and we realized that she's missing a kidney" Penelope sighed "we wanted to tell the police but poor Lily has been through enough already"

"We understand" Matt said "but that take our whole case to another place, that's the motive I've been talking about" he turned to Sharna

"Mr and Mrs. Montgomery," Tom said "We don't want to be asking much but can we talk to Lily for just 5 minutes"

Penelope exchanged looks with her husband, but them he nodded at her and said out loud "Just one of you, because she'd get nervous from this crowd"

Tom, Sharna and Matt looked at each other, then Matt said "Sharna should do it, maybe the little girl would be more willing to talk to you"

Penelope grabbed Sharna's arm leading her to Lily's room

"Please be nice to her"

"Don't worry"

They went to the room and the little girl sat on her desk drawing, but as soon as they entered the room she turned towards them.

"Lily, sweetheart" Penelope said smiling "there's someone I want you to meet"

Lily was still expressionless

"This is Sharna, my new friends and she wants to talk to you, say hi"

"Hi" Lily said and Sharna walked over

"Ops, I must have forgotten to pour the tea, I'll leave you two for a few minutes" Penelope left the room leaving the door open behind.

Sharna sat down next to Lily as she continued her drawing.

"When I was young, I used to draw too" Sharna said "but I never was as good as you"

The little girl tried to smile

"Do you take art at school?"

"Not anymore"

"Why not?" Sharna was trying her best to be as nice as possible

"I don't go to school anymore, I'm homeschooled now"

"And why is that?"

Lily was silent for a few seconds

"School is dangerous" she said as tears were forming in her eyes

"You mean the kidnapping?" Lily nodded "Tell me who did it"

"I don't know, I don't remember anything after lunch" tear were streaming down her face

"Did you see people wherever you were? A man or a woman? Can you identify them?"

Lily was crying more and she started panting.

"If you remember something please tell me, I wanna help"

Lily started drawing a picture of a guy while crying until she started screaming. Sharna tried to calm her down, but she couldn't. She grabbed the drawing just before Lily's parents came upstairs.

"What did you do?" Michael screamed at Sharna

"I didn't do anything, she's having a nervous breakdown"

Michael held lily close to his chest to calm her down "It's okay baby, you're home with me and your mother, it's okay, you're safe"

Penelope gabbed Sharna's arm and pulled her out of the room "I think you should leave"

Sharna opened her handbag and grabbed out a pen and a piece of paper "His name is doctor Timothy and here's his number. He helped me through a tragedy as a kid and even though he's older now, no one can help her better"

Sharna along with Tom and Matt left the house, they noticed how upset and emotional Sharna was, so they decided to leave and meet again later to give her sometime.

Matt offered her a ride, but she preferred walking. She found herself back in front of the police station. She went in and asked for Detective Howard.

"What's got into you?" Howard said "You look awful"

She told him everything that happened "I feel awful for how Lily reacted, I forced her to remember things she wasn't ready to remember"

"Why did you come here then? I'm sure you're not out of friends"

"Maybe part of me values your opinion I guess"

"I don't want to add salt to your wound, but that is called showing weakness"

"It's not weakness, it's empathy"

"You wanted my opinion, didn't you? So let me be honest and hear me out. As a detective, you must separate your feelings from the case. This is a big case and you need to keep in focus, don't let feeling interrupt"

Sharna was on her way back home thinking about Detective Young's advice, she put her hands in her pockets only to find Lily's drawing which she forgot about and decided to call Detective Tom and Matt to tell them about it and decide what to do next.

Hey guys! Thanks for reading :) So what do u think of the new chapter? Please comment ur thoughts and vote if u like it, I'll be back with a new chapter next week. Case File #13 and #14 are the rest of this crime and then a new crime after that.