It was seven in the morning and I was still sitting in front of the computer screen, watching the live-stream. It was horrifying, to say the least, but I felt like these won would be killed if I looked away. No, what was happening to the woman in the fra was horrible. She probably wanted to die, but I knew I knew that death was the final fate. You could recover from everything you had the chance to recover if you survived.
So, I watched.
Nash pressed his hand against my shoulder. "Evie, stop," he pleaded.
I didn't look away. "I can't. I need to make sure they don't die," I whispered. "When we catch these people, we can find the other victims, but for now, my sole responsibility is to make sure these people don't die a horrible death."
"You need food," he pressed.
"Would you mind bringing sothing for ? I really can't leave," I said. I gave him a small smile.
"Got it," he said slowly.
I looked back to the screen and huffed. I suddenly rembered that I needed to look at the people who were trapped with and phoned Sebastian.
"Are you awake?" I almost whispered. I heard him take a shuddering breath and groan.
"Yeah, I was awake a bit longer after I spoke to you. I had so thinking to do about the cold case I am handling," he said, his voice groggy.
"Anything you can tell ?" I asked casually.
"No, nothing concrete. I am just looking through all the evidence. I think I am getting sowhere. I should be able to crack the case, soon," he assured.
"Wow, my fianc is going to solve one of the longest unsolved cases in the world, huh?" I praised. I knew the pride in my voice was uninhibited.
"Indeed, I'll crack it in a couple of days. I have the profile ready. Just going through so extra speculations. Are you calling to wish good morning?" he teased.
"Absolutely not. I am calling you to ask a favor of you," I responded.
"Favor?" I could tell that he was off the bed and headed to the bathroom to brush his teeth.
"I was thinking back to what Alicia said. If I had dinner with the accomplice while I was captive, I must have thought he was kidnapped just like ," I told him.
"Or you don't rember him at all," he responded.
"Well, if none of the faces I rember are missing, I will be certain it is not a mory I can actively recall. I will go to Dr. Knight and ask him if there is another way to do it, then."
Sebastian was silent. "You can't do that," he said firmly. "I'll bring the file, but if nothing cos from it, you will stop."
And that was that. "What? You'll solve it without tornting my broken mind?" I asked. I tried to joke, but I knew my words were scathing.
"Yes, as always," he said firmly.
"Okay, just bring the files," I replied. We'd see what needed to be done when the ti ca. "See you in an hour!" I chirped.
I hung up the call and went back to watching the footage.
Nash rushed in after a few minutes and placed a bag of food on my table alongside files. "I got two copies. We identified so of the n and won," he said excitedly.
"Okay, so we have a location where they were disposed, right?" I asked.
Nash blinked. "This is the weird part. So of them are alive," he said.
"They are alive?" I asked. "These people were kidnapped and kept for so long and they still appeared alive?" I asked.
"Yeah. We already called so of them up. One of the victims is from another state, but I think we could get her on a video call!"
I pressed my lips together. I flipped through the pages and grimaced further. "So of them went missing while hiking and never ca back bodies never found. Others just appeared in ditches and people sent them to hospitals"
I gaped. "Yeah, people thought they overdosed and everything," Nash explained.
"So, he drugged them to acclimate them and keep them compliant," I muttered. I looked at the video again and felt my heart grow cold. "Then he must have given the girl drugs too, right? I don't know much about dication but this could lead to organ failure and other complications, right?" I asked.
Nash nodded. "That's why we are looking at talking to the living victims. If they rember so detail," he said.
"How about I talk to the victims while you see the locations they were taken and discarded. Maybe we'll get so clues?" I suggested.
"I'll do that." That was the thing. I was good at helping victims speak and open up. But Nash had a world of experience in profiling and locating criminals. I was mostly a nuisance, in my opinion, but I would try my best to help out in the case.
Sebastian must have entered without noise because I felt his lips on my hair. My lips perked up in a smile and I turned to him. But I saw his eyes fixed on the screen in front of .
"I am not going to ask you questions about this," he said frankly, but I could see that he heavily disapproved of what I was doing.
"Don't worry. This doesn't affect ." It was a small white lie, and I knew he didn't believe .
He pulled out a while from his bag and placed it beside . "You have a lot of work on your hands today. Give it a rest, okay?" he asked. He rubbed my hair, mussing it up. I didn't protest but Nash groaned and hissed sothing about public displays of affection.
Sebastian laughed.
"I'll Look at it during my break. What do you think?" I smiled.
"Work hard and don't forget to eat, okay?" He commanded.
"Yes, sir!" I responded. He walked out and that was that.
I prepared for the questions and as I waited, my eyes flitted to the file Sebastian had left.
I took in a cleansing breath before I opened the file. I read through the profiles, how they were each taken and murdered. My parents were right there alongside them. I found mine, as well.
Sebastian had been kind enough to add the news clippings about each disappearance, the autopsy results, and copies of death certificates just in case.
I went to the mories, grabbing at them and trying to recreate the monts I had spent with these people.
There were faces I had never seen, people who had been taken and killed before and I felt pity for them. I wondered if their families lived and what they thought. How did they survive?
But soone was missing. Indeed, soone was missing.
But when I thought back to the conversation I couldn't rember him giving a na.
The bite marks on his wrist from the ropes, the slight panic in his eyes but the smile the casual and helpless smile as he stared at .
Him eating the at, candles lit between us, his shirt white and pristine not a spec of dust on it.
In those monts, I had been dressed in a new white dress and hadn't thought much of it. I hadn't understood why Alicia, who wanted dead at all costs, played out this fantasy of a man and woman falling in love in front of her. She was the one who wanted love she was the one who wanted to be on my seat, but as she placed those dishes in front of , she glared at like I was the devil.
And now I knew why.
I knew who the accomplice was. And his face was a mild blur. I placed my head on the desk and closed my eyes. How many tis did I need to go over those monts to rember him in stark clarity?
At that mont, I wished I could draw. If I didn't rember his face how would I show it to the forensic artist who would recreate an image of him?
I had no idea.
Nash's phone rang and I looked up. His brow was scrunched as he listened. "What am I supposed to do about soone leaving a bag in the middle of an abandoned park?" he groaned. "I am already working on a missing person's case. Can't you find soone else?" he asked.
He sounded tired.
"Okay, okay," he said finally before hanging up.
"New case?" I asked.
Nash shook his head. "Man in his forties was out on a morning jog and found an abandoned side bag on the park bench. No one was around so he called the cops," he said.
"There were a few bomb scares in the past few years, so I suppose they were okay. What was in it?" I asked.
"Cryptic doll with a rope tied to it," he shrugged. "I think it's so sort of a prank or art project," he sighed. But then he paused.
"Nothing else?" I asked.
"A note saying 'I'm back'," he said more quietly. He picked up the phone and then dialed. "Sebastian!" he exclaid. "Do you mind looking at sothing?" he asked.
"What are you doing?" I asked incredulously.
Nash put up his hand to stop . "Yeah. They found a bag with a doll and a rope around their neck. Doesn't it sound familiar to you?" he asked.
My eyes widened.
"Right, you should go check it out!" Nash encouraged. The phone was cut imdiately. Nash looked up at and nodded. "Sounded like an article I read a decade back while I was in college" He bit his lip.
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