(Based on a true story in honor of my great-grandmother Gladys Reyes who may rest in peace.)

It has been 33 years since my great grandmother had been murdered. My family had been telling me a lot of different stories about what happened but, to be honest, I don't think anyone actually knows what happened except her killer(s). Unless there is someone who does know something and just don't want to share with the rest of us. Wouldn't be surprised.

Some people in my family claim she was running away from someone or something. Others say she was at the wrong place at the wrong time, and someone even said her death involved witchcraft since she was into that kind of stuff. There was one theory that most of my family believed in, it was that my grandfather Edgar Garcia was the killer.

Edgar was a constructor with a history of violence, drugs, and other unknown crimes. Mostly violence. He had been in many fights and even beat up a woman one time. He suffered from split personality because of his awful past of abuse which people think is what triggered him to kill Gladys.

Before her death, Gladys had disappeared and was reported missing and was last seen with Edgar. On that same day, the neighbors called the police because they heard screaming from inside her boyfriend's house, but no one showed up. Which really makes you think; Why wouldn't the police show up? And if they did show up, would she still be alive?

Now on to the present time, I have finally been able to catch a break from some cases to work on this one. I promised my mom that when I grew up and became a criminal investigator that I would look more into the case so that I could find my family some closure and really understand what happened that day.

As soon as I woke up, I did my morning routine which changes every day for precaution in case someone is stalking me or trying to kidnap me. Some people would probably call me paranoid but it's just how I roll I mean this world kind of sucks and you can't tell me otherwise.

After I left for work at 6, I went to get coffee and drove over to the station. When I got there, I had this weird and uneasy feeling telling me I should just turn back and go home and forget about doing this. Usually, I would listen because I trust my gut, and it's always right. But I won't. I can't. I need to do this, everyone's counting on me and I can't let them down.

Pushing the eerie feeling aside, I get out of the car and head into the station. When I walk in, I was greeted by everyone and sat near my partner's desk. His name is Felix Hunter, but I just call him Lix. We've been partners and best friends for three years and at first, we really hated each other but now we are practically inseparable.

"Hey Lix," I say Happily.

"Oh hey, aren't you supposed to be on break?" He asked confused.

"Yeah, but today I finally decided to look into my great-grandmother's murder since I've been so busy with other cases I haven't had the time to properly look at it," I say while turning on my laptop.

"Do you want me to help you?" He asks while peering over my shoulder.

"Maybe I should just work alo-" Before I could finish, he had already cut me off.

"Great! I'll help" He says smiling.

I roll my eyes playfully at him, he will never let me do a case alone even if it's not a dangerous one. He loves helping people hence why he joined the police force. It's one of the things I like most about him.

"Don't you have other cases to work on?"

"It can wait for another time besides, you'll need moral support if you hear something you don't like."

He really is the sweetest. Well only sometimes, I mean he always gave off as the "grunge/rude" type of vibe and everyone is afraid of him because of his strong demeanor which was why I hated him to begin with. Turns out, he's a pretty awesome guy once you get to know him (really cocky though), but no one wants to because they're too afraid and when people do try, he usually seems uninterested. I find that ridiculous since we see actual scary things and yet, he's the scariest of all.

"Okay well, what about Chief Hanks?" I ask.

"He loves me because my work is always perfect and therefore, he loves you too because we are best friends which means I'm sure he'll let me go with you," He says brightly as if he already thought about everything.

"Hmm, fine I guess you can help me," I say with fake annoyance even though I was thankful since I have no idea what to expect.

"Wasn't really asking but whatever you say" He says playfully.

He really was something. Anyways back to the case.

I open up the newspaper from New York, May 15 1994 on my laptop. Yeah that's pretty much all I have since the case is so old and they only have the case in a paper file but the newspaper still gave me a lot of information.

"Okay, so it says here that the person in charge of her case was Officer Harold Bordon, a runner-up to become a criminal profiler for the FBI,"

"Hmm, in his profile, it looks like he ended up getting the job but lost it after he was caught using violence to get answers from a suspect in one of his previous cases," Felix reads from his computer.

"After he got fired, he moved away, and no one has seen him since," He states looking closer at the screen.

"Lix, lean away before you go blind" I say giggling when he pulls away and rolls his eyes.

"Yeah yeah whatever, anyways how are we going to figure this out if Bordon is gone?" Felix questions.

"Well, we don't necessarily need him just the case files unless he has it which I highly doubt since their supposed to be public records," I state smartly.

"Good point, looks like we are taking a trip up to New Jersey," He gets up and pulls out his phone to book a flight for us.

While Felix was on the phone, I thought about any possible suspects. To me, the first suspect would be Gladys's boyfriend, Rodrigo Santiago. He was a horrible according to my mother. He was so bad to the point where even Bordon said he was disgusting according to Santiago's files which I did take a look at. They definitely were not overreacting, and I wouldn't be surprised if he was the killer. Even with that background, Officer Bordon still didn't interview him or suspect him of anything. How stupid.

The second suspect would probably be my great grandfather Edgar, which is who everyone claims killed Gladys. A lot of people said that they saw him with Gladys last on the same day the neighbors heard screaming from her house. No one saw anyone come out of the house that night and when the police found the body 7 years later, no one was living there at the time. So, there was no proof that either of them did it.

The last suspects would have been the rest of my family, but they weren't in New York at the time and they had reported Gladys missing when she had disappeared without a word or trace. That would have just left Edgar and Rodrigo who went to New York where the cops claimed Gladys went. Someone else could have done it, anyone really, but I'm not so sure about that.

Edgar had committed suicide while he was being transferred to the prison in California for first degree assault class C, and Rodrigo was nowhere to be found after he got "interrogated" by Officer Bordon. I don't think Edgar killed Gladys, but I do think he had something to do with it. My mom thinks he hid Gladys's body since the wall that she was found entombed in, was rebuilt and painted over so no one could find it and Edgar was a constructor with a really high IQ so he definitely would have known where to put her. Now is the time to see if my mother was right.

"Alright I got us tickets to go to New Jersey, we leave in 5 hours should be enough time to go and pack right?" Asked Felix.

"Yeah, I'll meet you at the airport by then," I say getting up.

Once I got home, my mom was already up eating breakfast with both of my very annoying brothers. They don't live with her but they do visit every morning for breakfast to spend time with us. I on the other hand stay here so that I can take care of her and help her out if she needs it.

"Hey mom," I say

"Hey, I didn't see you this morning did you head to work?" My mom asks

"Yeah, it's supposed to be my break day but since I have nothing to do, I decided to investigate on Gladys's murder if that was okay with you," I say unsurely

"Of course it's okay with me, I mean I want to know what happened just as bad as the rest of the family," she says.

"And I know you will figure it out because you are the best officer out here," she stated while smiling.

"She's only saying that cause she's your mom," my brother Hector responded,

"She always says that you're the best firefighter out there so that applies to you too" I argue back

"And this is why I'm the favorite" my oldest brother Jay says

Before anyone could argue back, mom cut us off.

"Okay one I don't have favorites," she says pointing at Jay

"-and two, I'm assuming you have to go to New Jersey to investigate right?"

"Oh yeah, I need to go pack thanks mom!" I say while running to my room

She chuckled while muttering what I can assume was probably "children". You have to love moms am I right?

After I packed my bag and promised my mom I would call her every day to tell her how the case was going, I was on my way to the airport. While I was heading to my destination, I started getting the same weird and unsettling feeling I had earlier telling me something was going to go wrong. It's probably nervousness I tell myself, and with that in mind, I pushed the feeling aside again and focused on driving.

Once I got there, Felix was standing by the entrance waiting for me looking through his phone.

"Hey Lix" I say while heading his way

"Ah, Rivera there you are I thought you would never show up." He says while smirking

I roll my eyes while smiling

"Oh shut up you just got here early"

He laughs

"Okay now that you're here are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, I think so" I say a little unsure

"Okay then off we go!" He grabs my bags and sprints off

I swear he acts like a child sometimes.

Once we got on the plane Felix let me sit by the window since it helped calm me down especially when I get stressed or if I'm nervous. He must think I'm freaking out. I mean should I be? Its not everyday that you go investigate a relative's murder case right? Okay you know what, this should be easy, I do this everyday how could this possibly be different?

Sensing my uneasiness, Felix gave me a look of concern.

"Hey, it'll be fine alright? You will solve this case and then you and your family can finally grieve knowing the truth." He says with a soft voice.

"Yeah but what if I don't want the truth? It could be something horrible or unexpected." I say kind of scared.

He grabs my head and puts it on his shoulder for comfort.

"It's the same as a case you usually work on just involving your family."

I raise my head a little and look at him with an eyebrow raised.

"…That didn't help did it?"

"Not one bit."

"You know what? Just go to sleep."

I laugh while putting on my earbuds and laying back on Felix's shoulder with closed eyes dreaming of nothing at all.

After we landed, we settled at a hotel and got straight to work. We decided to go to the police station to get the files we needed first and then get a lead from there.

Once we got to the station, we successfully got a hold on the file of the case, but they didn't have the autopsy report so we ended up going to the morgue to get it ourselves.

[At the morgue]

"Here is your file" said the doctor

"Thank you" I say while opening the file

"Sir, may I ask if this file was ever published or used in any way?" Felix asked

"Well, now that you mention it, no. An officer about 30 years ago had asked to keep this file sealed and never show it to anyone, but I figured since you two work with the police department I'm obligated to give this to you." the doctor says while being lost in thought.

"Two days after I talked to the officer, a woman suddenly appeared and had asked for the same file with a look of fright, as if she was scared of what was in there." the doctor finished.

"What did this woman look like?"

"She must have been in about her late 30s to early-40s, short, and had dark hair."

"Did she give you a name?"

"Nope just that she really needed that file but of course I said no for legal reasons"

"Hmm what do you think Rivera? Know anybody who wanted to look into this case?"

"…Rivera?"

"This can't be right" I say quietly.

"What is it?" Felix asked frowning.

"It says here that the bones that were found," I start while showing Felix one of the pages.

"were from a young twenty-year-old." I finish.

"Okay, and what's the problem with that?" Felix asked confused

"The problem is that Gladys would be almost 40 years old at that time not in her 20s" I say

"Sir, are you sure that this is correct?" I ask a little frightened

"Yes officer, I even had two more doctors check it out as well"

"Did you ever figure out who this was?"

"No, the body was too decayed to classify who this was they were just clean bones" the doctor says

"So Officer Bordon lied and just said it was Gladys's?" Felix asked this time

"That's what I'm thinking" I say very upset

Once we got back to our hotel room, I sat down on the couch and put my head in my hands feeling very stressed. Why is this so hard? There are way too many plot holes in this case and even more dead ends.

"Hey, you okay?" Felix asked

"Yeah it's just stressful" I say with a heavy sigh

Felix sits right next to me and takes both of my hands in his while looking into my eyes.

"Everything's going to be okay, you just have to believe in yourself and trust the process in all of this and before you know it you'll close this case once and for all" He said with a huge smile on his face.

I smiled back. He really knows how to make me feel better. I am a little surprised he didn't ruin the moment.

"With my help of course" He finishes

I spoke too soon. Still like him though. I just laughed at him.

"You are too much" I say while still laughing

"Oh also before I forget,"

He pulls out a letter with a weird stamp sealing it.

"The maid had brought this letter that was meant for you" He hands me the letter.

Letter? What letter? And from who? I open it and out comes a small piece of paper that only has one sentence written on it.

𝒮𝓉𝑜𝓅 𝓈𝑒𝒶𝓇𝒸𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝑜𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝒷𝑒 𝒸𝑜𝓃𝓈𝑒𝓆𝓊𝑒𝓃𝒸𝑒𝓈.

I just sat there, a mixture of shock, confusion, and fear, running through my body. What am I supposed to do now? I have been waiting for years to finally work on this case, I can't just give up. No, not even this stupid letter will keep me from finding out what happened.

"What does it say?" Felix asks with a worried look on his face

"Nothing, just a note from the doctor" I lied, if I told him the truth, he would take me off this case.

"Right" He said unsure, of course he thinks I'm lying, I'm not that good at it.

"Anyways we should probably go to sleep before it gets late" He says not wanting to push the topic any further.

"Yeah, good night" I say and head to bed after he gives me a nod.

The next morning, I awoke to the bright light coming from outside the windows near my bed. I really hate the sun sometimes. Well might as well get an early start, hopefully, today goes better than it did yesterday. Thinking about that, I took the letter that I was given yesterday out from my pillowcase where I hid it and re-read it again. My gut was telling me to listen, but I couldn't bring myself to. I put the letter back in the pillowcase and got up to get ready.

Once I finished getting ready, I woke Felix up so we could finish this case and get home as soon as possible so that this weird feeling could go away once and for all.

After a few hours, we were able to get something that could help us. It was a phone call Gladys had made to someone. It was made two weeks before her disappearance to an unknown person and she sounded like she knew she was going to disappear soon and was saying her final goodbye.

"Who do you think the person on the phone with Gladys was?" asked Felix

"It could have been Edgar but that wouldn't make sense since he was last seen with her right?" I said.

"Well, there could be a possibility that your grandma is still alive I mean there's no way those bones were hers"

He's right but why would she still be in hiding I mean I'm pretty sure she should be fine it's been years. Was she the one who sent that letter? No way I mean she has to be dead or at least buried somewhere else.

Pulling me away from my thoughts a knock was heard coming from outside the door. I got up and opened and opened it only to find that no one was there. I looked down and saw another letter just like the one from yesterday.

I opened the letter immediately and this time the letter said;

𝐹𝒾𝓃𝑒 𝒾𝒻 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓌𝑜𝓃'𝓉 𝓈𝓉𝑜𝓅 𝓁𝑜𝑜𝓀𝒾𝓃𝑔, 𝐼 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝑔𝒾𝓋𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒶𝓃𝓈𝓌𝑒𝓇𝓈 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓉. 𝐵𝓊𝓉 𝓌𝑒 𝒹𝑜 𝒾𝓉 𝑜𝓃 𝓂𝓎 𝓉𝑒𝓇𝓂𝓈. 𝒴𝑜𝓊 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓃𝑒𝓍𝓉 𝑔𝑜 𝓉𝑜 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓅𝓁𝒶𝒸𝑒 𝓌𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝒾𝓉 𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝒷𝑒𝑔𝒶𝓃. 𝒯𝒽𝑒𝓃 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝒻𝒾𝓃𝒹 𝓂𝑒, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓌𝑒 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝒶 𝒸𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝓊𝓃𝓉𝒾𝓁 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓃 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝒹 𝓁𝓊𝒸𝓀.

𝐹𝓇𝑜𝓂: 𝒴𝑜𝓊'𝓁𝓁 𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓇𝓃 𝓈𝑜𝑜𝓃

"Woah"

I jumped at the voice.

"Dude you can't just do that" I hit him softly

"Yeah, well it looks like we have bigger problems I mean who is this person?"

"I have no idea, but I intend to find out" I say

"After this, we are going to have a chat on you keeping secrets from me because I know you got a letter from them last night too" he says giving me a stern look

"Ugh whatever the point is why would they want to help me now I mean they sent me a threat letter yesterday that if I didn't back off, I would face consequences" I think thoroughly on this

"What if these are the consequences?"

"There's one way to find out; where it all began." I say

"Well, we know that Gladys was with Edgar but where were they heading?" Felix asks

According to the location reports, she headed over to the supermarket to buy drinks and that's where she ran into Edgar. The drinks were probably for her boyfriend.

"That's it! She was going to her boyfriend's house where she was last seen."

"Looks like we have to go there then" He says

"Well then let's go" Before I could get my car keys, a hand grabbed my wrist stopping my actions abruptly.

"Are you sure we should do this?" Felix asks with a look of concern.

"There's no turning back now" I say confidently.

[At the house]

As soon as we got there, I was feeling nauseous to the point where I could throw up right here right now. I really need to leave before something bad happens but I'm already so close I can feel it. I can do this. I know I can.

Once we reached the steps towards the door, I gently knock on the door holding my breath unknowingly. After a few seconds, the door was opened by an old married couple who looked like the gentlest of people with the kindest of hearts.

"Oh, why hello there how may I help you two young fellas?" The old lady asked sweetly with a kind smile.

"Hello ma'am I'm Officer Rivera and this is my partner Officer Hunter we are here to see if there is something in this house that we could use to solve for this lead we are trying to follow up. Mind if we come in?" I say offering her a small smile while showing my badge.

"Why yes, of course dear, come right in" she said showing us in politely.

While I was walking around the house, I started thinking about all the things that might have happened in here good and bad things alike. It's just so weird being here in general.

"You know I was expecting you to come" The old lady said

I gave her a confused look.

"Pardon?" I say.

"A nice old lady told us you would eventually come here lookin for someone" This time, it was the old man that spoke.

"When and who?" asked Felix

"She came here last night and she didn't give a name just said this letter was for you." the lady hands me a letter, just like the one from yesterday.

I grabbed the letter and opened it and there it read,

𝒲𝑒𝓁𝓁 𝒹𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒻𝒾𝑔𝓊𝓇𝑒𝒹 𝒾𝓉 𝑜𝓊𝓉, 𝓃𝑜𝓌 𝒾𝓃𝓈𝓉𝑒𝒶𝒹 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒷𝑒𝑔𝒾𝓃𝓃𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓌𝑜𝓇𝓀 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓌𝒶𝓎 𝓉𝑜 𝓌𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓎𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓊𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝑒𝓃𝒹. 𝑀𝑒𝑒𝓉 𝓂𝑒 𝓈𝑜𝑜𝓃 𝑜𝓇 𝐼 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝒶 𝓉𝓇𝒶𝒸𝑒 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒸𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝒶𝓁𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝓈𝒾𝓃𝒸𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝒾𝓈 𝒷𝑒𝓉𝓌𝑒𝑒𝓃 𝒻𝒶𝓂𝒾𝓁𝓎 𝑜𝓃𝓁𝓎. 𝒜𝓃𝒹 𝒷𝑒𝓈𝒾𝒹𝑒𝓈, 𝓌𝑒 𝒹𝑜𝓃'𝓉 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓁𝒾𝓉𝓉𝓁𝑒 𝒸𝓇𝓊𝓈𝒽 𝓉𝑜 𝒷𝑒 𝒾𝓃𝓋𝑜𝓁𝓋𝑒𝒹 𝒾𝓃 𝓈𝓊𝒸𝒽 𝒹𝒶𝓃𝑔𝑒𝓇𝑜𝓊𝓈 𝒶𝒻𝒻𝒶𝒾𝓇𝓈.

𝒮𝒾𝓃𝒸𝑒𝓇𝑒𝓁𝓎: 𝒴𝑜𝓊'𝓁𝓁 𝐿𝑒𝒶𝓇𝓃 𝒮𝑜𝑜𝓃.

I can't let them get away, they may be my only chance at finishing this, I have to think fast.

"Where did it all end?" I ask myself.

On that night, after the screams stopped according to the neighbors no one had come out and later on Edgar had already gone back with my grandmother by the time Gladys was reported missing and Rodrigo had moved away claiming he left with Gladys and then they supposedly broke up so he lived alone.

No one knows where she went everyone just assumed that she was dead or just ran away and then ten years later, Officer Bordon claims that the bones he found were hers, but they weren't. They were someone else's Gladys must have witnessed something that night and because of it she must have taken her chance and left so that she didn't have any part of it.

Then it hit me, in the letter the person wrote "where everyone thought it ended" and since everyone thought Gladys was dead, the person must be at the place where everyone goes when they die.

"The cemetery!" I cried out

"They must be at the cemetery" I repeat while running out the door with Felix right behind me the old couple being forgotten.

"Haylee are you sure we should go?" Felix asks once more

"Yes." I gulp loudly

[At the cemetery]

I could already feel my stomach twisting with that eerie feeling making me want to vomit out of fear. I have to do this or it will haunt me forever knowing I was so close to figuring it out.

"Okay stay here I will be back soon" I tell Felix

'Wait I'm coming with you" He starts unbuckling his seatbelt

"What no, you can't go you saw the letter, you'll get hurt" I say seriously

"I'm not letting you go alone" He argues

"And I'm not letting you get hurt" I argue back

"Fine you have 15 minutes and if you don't come back by then I'm going to go look for you" He says

"Deal" I say as I exit the car

As I was heading over to the grassy area, I couldn't help but go to my great grandmother's grave of which I had yet to visit. But the more I think about it the more I wonder; If my great-grandmother isn't dead, then whose body is buried under there?

As I was thinking of all the possibilities that might just happen soon, a voice came from behind me leaving my thoughts to wander elsewhere. I turned around and saw a woman standing about 7 feet away from me with a big black hat covering her face.

"Hello Haylee," The woman said

"I'm sorry, do I know you?" I ask nervously

"I think you just might" The woman said while pulling off her hat

There I was, frozen in shock not knowing what to do since the lady who was once entombed, was now just a few feet away from me looking as good as new.

To be continued...