Mr. Hoover looked really tensed from his face. Why wouldn't he be? His only daughter had been missing during the time when a serial killer was targeting her.
Detective Sam entered the house and sat on the sofa in the drawing-room.
"Now, tell me. Since when did you not see your daughter?" He asked, crossing his legs.
"I don't know, sir. I fell asleep in the evening. When I woke up I called for her but I didn't get a reply. I thought she must have been sleeping as well. So, I got busy in my regular works," Mr. Hoover answered. His forehead was shining because of the sweat.
Sam had followed Claire to that hotel in the evening. He even dropped her at home, but he never thought that she would go missing.
"Hm… When did you come to know that she was missing?"
"When I called her to have some snacks I prepared, she didn't answer me. I found it strange, so I went up in her room to check on her but I didn't find her there."
Sam went into thoughts. If he had not seen Claire since evening then I meant that she didn't meet him even after he dropped her at her house. Suddenly, he realized something.
He could remember what she said when he met her in the hotel.
…
"Ah… yes… but I was here to meet someone. Heheh."
"Who is this 'someone'?"
"J-James, of course."
…
He knew where to search for her. He stood up from his seat and said, "I will bring your daughter to you safe and sound, don't worry."
Mr. Hoover joined his hands and uttered, "Please, find her."
Sam nodded and left the house while dialing a number from his cell phone.
"Hey, John, send some police officers at Kanugo Hotel," He said when John received the call.
"What happened? Is everything alright?" John asked, noticing the rush in Sam's voice.
"Claire has gone missing from her house…"
"What?" John reacted in shock. "Weren't you keeping guard outside her house?"
"It's a long story. I don't have the time to explain the stuff right now," Sam said while he called a taxi and sat inside it.
"Okay, I am sending some police officers," John said before Sam disconnected the call.
Sam had been working as a detective for years now, but he had never felt this uneasy before. He didn't know what he felt when he suddenly heard that Claire had gone missing. A kind of fear and pain in his chest erupted when Francis Hoover mentioned it.
"Come on, move faster," He directed the taxi driver.
Meanwhile, Claire was staring at the pass like something she took out from the envelope.
She read what was written on it. "Blind Dancing Event…" She uttered when she took a read.
She couldn't understand why Alex gave her this pass. It was an event hosted by some rich person as a celebration of his birthday.
It was a blind dance event where every person had to wear a mask on their faces and pick their partners randomly for dance. It seemed like Alex wanted to meet her at the event.
She looked at the date and it was two days from the present time. She had no choice but to wait.
She took a taxi and went away just before Sam arrived and rushed inside the hotel in her search.
"Have you seen a girl with blonde hair? You know, she was here a while ago," He asked the female staff.
"She just left from here," She answered.
"What was she looking for?"
"Sorry, sir, I can't tell you."
Sam frowned after hearing it. He had to use his authority to take out the information from her. He took out his ID card and showed it to her before she agreed to cooperate with him.
"It could be more important than you think. Someone's life could be at stake," He mentioned and kept back his ID card.
"Sir, she was searching for someone called Alexander Stone. She was insisting that he was staying here," The female staff mentioned, trying to remember everything clearly.
As far as Sam could remember, John mentioned Claire's missing boyfriend whose name was Alexander Stone. This lost boyfriend could be the masked serial killer, and he felt like he had finally reached him.
"What did you tell her?" He asked.
"Sir, we told her that no one of this name is staying here. Then one of the customers gave me an envelope to give it to her before checking out. She returned and took the envelope with her just a while ago," The female staff told.
"Envelope…" He uttered with a quizzical expression and asked, "Do you have any idea what could be inside that envelope?"
She shook her head sideways and replied, "No, sir."
"Who was that person who left the envelope for her?" He asked.
Meanwhile, Detective John was sleeping on his desk as he was tired from the investigation going on. He snapped out of his sleep when a police inspector entered the police station and said, "Sir!"
"Ah, yes…" He uttered after rubbing his eyes.
"There is good news, sir. We might have gotten one step closer to the masked serial killer," The police inspector mentioned, making John stand up in a flash.
"Yes, tell me."
"Sir, Jessica had confirmed it. The person who arrived at her house with the name Professor Ryan was none other than Alexander Stone."
John had a smile on his face as the mask from the killer's face had dropped now. "I knew it!" He exclaimed and looked at the police officer. "Claire had gone missing. Sam is searching for her."
The police inspector frowned. "How, sir? Did the killer…" As he was speaking, John, spoke.
"There is a high chance that she met the killer. In other words, she met her boyfriend. There is something more to this, and she is a part of it." He stared ahead into nothingness. "We have to find out."