Case File #3

"It's been 2 whole weeks Em, still nothing but prank calls!" Sharna let out a sigh "No one is taking me serious, they think I'm a freaking joke"

"It's been just 2 weeks, no one becomes successful in that little amount of time"

"No one trusts that I can do it. It's not like there ain't any crimes in this whole town or the neighboring cities" Sharna was furious, she was starting to get worried that maybe she didn't do the right thing and she wasn't used to sitting at home doing nothing.

"Shar I totally trust and know that you can do it. You've always amazed me with how intelligent you are"

"That's so sweet" Sharna drank her last sip of coffee "but it's not enough for me, I'm sorry" she gave her a sad puppy face then she left for her morning run.

Emily was preparing breakfast for her and Tyler as he approached he said "Morning sweetheart"

"Hey"

"Why do you look so down? Did something happen?"

"I'm worried about Sharna, I've never seen her like that so... so lost"

"From what I've seen, Sharna is a pretty strong person, but she just lost her job, her boyfriend and her home, so just cut her some slack"

"I know" Emily sighed "I just wish I can help her, you know, make her feel even just a little better

Tyler swallowed his food and asked "So what do you suggest we should do?"

"I think we should get you kidnapped"

Tyler laughed and continued eating

"Ty, I'm serious, and maybe we should let Wyatt in too" 

"What the hell?! I can't believe you're talking seriously and why does your ex boyfriend have to be involved?"

"Wyatt is Sharna's brother and I'm sure he'd wanna help." she moved closer to Tyler and rubbed his shoulder "What Wyatt and I had was a very long time ago and we decided to stay friends for Sharna, so never worry about him"

"You have to admit though I'm a pretty cool fiance for allowing my fiancee and her ex boyfriend, who happens to be her best friend's brother, to kidnap me" he said joking

"The coolest" she smiled at him

Sharna was on her run when she decided to "accidentally" pass by the hospital in which Johnny works to "accidentally" bump in to him. Her phone rang, it was Emily, starting her plan.

Sharna didn't want to answer at first after their morning conversation "No one understands" she thought "I'm such a planner and the worst part of it, is how ambitious these plans are. I've always had a plans and backup plans, but now, and for the first time in my life, I have none"

Emily kept calling again so finally Sharna answered "why have you been ditching my calls?"

"umm..."

"Sharna it's important" Emily tried her best to seem worried and to fake cry.

"Em, what's wrong?"Sharna stopped running to listen carefully.

"It's about Tyler, please come home ASAP!"

"I'm on my way, don't worry" Sharna ran back home in a hurry, she opened the door and found Emily sitting on the couch crying and her face buried in her fist. Opposite her in one of the leather armchairs sat Wyatt shaking his leg nervously.

"I came here as fast as I could, what happened?" she turned to Wyatt "and what the hell are you doing here? Oh my God Em, are you cheating on Tyler?"

"Of course not!" she said angrily "I called Wyatt, because you weren't picking up. Tyler is missing"

"How?"

"I was eating breakfast with him when my phone rang, I went in to answer cause it was charging in my bedroom and when I got back he wasn't there, he didn't even finish his food and the door was open then I heard the sound of a car pulling away"

"Did you see a plate number"

"No, it all happened so fast"

"Maybe he just got a call from work or something" Sharna said

"No Sharna! Emily screamed "It's Sunday and I found this note on the table"

"We've been trying to call him for a while now, but his phone is turned off" Wyatt added

"Can I see the note?"

Emily handed her a small note that said "$150,000 for your beau, or you hear bad news in 2 dawns"

Sharna nodded "hmm.. well I'm pretty sure your fiance is playing you" she laughed "I'm no handwriting expert, but I also am observant enough to recognize his handwriting"

Wyatt and Emily exchanged a look and didn't know what to tell her.

"And my suspicions are proved after that look and awkward silence. What the hell are you guys doing?" Sharna was angry, but more at the fact that they felt that sorry for her.

"We didn't even get to finish the plan" Emily said as she wiped her fake tears.

"Hey, don't be upset" Wyatt said patting Sharna's shoulder "We were just trying to remind you that you're a great detective and one day everyone else will know it, the important thing is that you know it"

"Exactly. Plus we couldn't bear seeing you that upset"

"I don't need you to feel sorry for me. I already have enough pity for myself. Yes, I'm lost right now, but I don't need any more sympathies" Sharna left the house and as soon as the door was closed, Tyler opened the door that lead to the basement and came out of his hiding place saying "So, can I get out now?"

Meanwhile, Sharna didn't know where to go, she just knew that she didn't wanna go back, because she felt humiliated "I know that they were just trying to help" she thought "but I'm not the kind of person who wants to be helped. I've always been a strong person and I don't want the people close to me to see me otherwise" she went to the library; Rivertown has a huge historical library and free wifi "I'm going to binge watch old episodes of buzzfeed unsolved" she said to herself.

A few hours passed, Sharna was still at the library trying to ignore any calls from her brother and friends when she started getting hungry, so she decided to go to the nearest food place.

A couple of blocks away was Fred's Cafe & Bar owned by Freddy Humphrey, a retired military guy who also happens to be a great chef.

Sharna went in and the place was all empty except for its employees and a huge table in which 5 middle aged men wearing all black suits sat along with 3 women of the same age, a woman in her 30s, 2 women in their late 20s, a guy in his early 20s and 3 kids, a boy of about 5 or 6 and 2 identical twin girls of mid teens.

Sharna walked over to the counter, then a waiter approached saying "I'm sorry miss, but the place is booked for tonight"

"Oh I didn't know," Sharna said "can I at least get a cheese burger to go?"

"As long as you take fries too" a voice came from behind that belong to Freddy Humphrey himself.

"Thank you so much Mr. Humphrey" Sharna smiled "so how is everything going on?"

"Well, the business is going well and Lena will go in to labour in a couple of weeks, the doctors say"

"You'll be a grand-dad" said Sharna excitedly

"Don't make me feel so old" he laughed "Anyways, how's your new job going?"

"There's literally nothing going" Sharna said sadly

Freddy was an old family friend, he knew Sharna's dad before the incident.

"I'm sorry to hear that" he said "I need to get going and check on the food"

"Of course and thanks again"

Freddy left and Sharna's phone was dying, so she had nothing better to do than watch the little meeting that required reserving the whole place.

There were so many small chats in between the group and suddenly one of the 5 middle aged women stood up from her seat walked to the door and left. Then a while later, one of the 5 men stood up and started talking. His voice was harsh and it seemed like his smokes a lot.

"I think it's time for a toast" he said "today is our 10th anniversary. I'm sure our business had its ups and downs, but we stand strong through it all... together. Everyone raise your glasses, and kids raise your milk" he laughed "to our company, to our unity and to our great future"

Everyone raised their glasses and a few seconds after the man took his first sip, he started coughing and the coughing didn't get any easier, soon he started coughing blood. Everyone in the table was concerned and didn't know how to help, meanwhile Sharna was busy with her burger.

"mmm... my God, I love your burgers" she said to Jeff, the bartender 

"Thanks for letting me eat here"

"Mr Humphrey's orders"

In less than a couple of minutes, the man stopped coughing blood and fell on the ground dead. The place was empty and the man was hunky so the sound of his fall was very loud and obvious.

Sharna turned around and saw the dead man with his blood covering his face and the upper part of his neck.

"Oh my God!" Sharna said to herself "This is a sign, it's my chance!"

Sharna pulled out her old police badge from her pocket, she didn't submit it when she left the police department, part of her didn't wanna let go.

"Close the door Jeff" she said to the bartender "No one gets out of here, I'm police detective Sharna Davis and there's a crime here that needs to be solved" she said confidently

"Why did I have to be so cheesy" she thought