Detective Luke Ceronio's alarm, titled GET UP FOR WORK!!!, went off at 05:30 this morning, which would grant him enough time to awaken peacefully, shower and have at least two cups of magical coffee before he'd have to make his way to work... Still tired, very much so in fact, he swipes the snooze button on his phone, rolls onto his stomach and closes his eyes for another five glorious minutes...
Or so he thought...
Luke was startled awake by the catchy chorus of Alice Cooper's song, Poison, blaring through his silent slumber. He picked up his phone, noted that the caller ID read 'CHIEF', and hastily swiped across the 'ACCEPT CALL' button while putting the phone to his ear.
He answered with the words "Morning Chief" to which the Chief replied "Ceronio, sorry to bother you this early. We need you at the Precinct in 30. There has been a development on the Jordan Bailey case."
Luke sat very still for a moment, barely breathing - hopefully now they would have some leads to start working with... After a moment he heard the Chief speaking: "... Reynolds has been notified as well, he should be here soon. See you in 30." To which Luke answered "Yes, Ch-" but the call had been dropped already.
Luke got up, took a quick glance at the time - only six am now - and headed for the shower. For a moment, under the scalding stream of hot water, his mind drifted towards the thought of a wonderful, glorious cup of coffee, to start his day off well - he has not had any of that yet this morning, and if he planned on being the least bit productive today, he would certainly need to get himself some.
He rinsed off the musk-and-mountain-dew scented body wash quickly, and then rushed into the kitchen to brew his favourite blend (Columbian, since it's waaay to early for a cup of Death Wish) - most cops seem to be coffee enthusiasts, doughnuts seemed to be much enthused, too, but he himself prefers croissants. The chocolate kind... Yum! His stomach growled in response - he would get cranky soon. He was the 'hangry' type: when angry, insert food!!!
He headed off towards the closet to find a clean change of clothes, and settles for a pair of tightfitting black jeans and a sky blue, short-sleeved button-up shirt which lit up his eyes; in exactly the same shade - one of the pro's to being a plain clothes officer now.
He checks his pitch black curls - his blue eyes bright - before grabbing his leather jacket and heading for the door - makes a U-turn, into the kitchen, where he grabs his almost-forgotten coffee and heads out.
He catches up with his partner, Detective Sean Reynolds in the parking lot, waves at him, and they head toward the Chief's office together.
"What up, bro" Sean asks in a way of greeting. Luke replies with "Same old, same old. How's Vanessa?". To which Sean says "Nah. Still sick, man. She's heading to the doctor's this morning. Let's hope it ain't serious..." Luke sympathetically patted him on the back just before knocking on the Chief's door.
"Detective Reynolds, Ceronio. Sorry again. Please be seated." The older man motioned. "We had a distressing 911 call in the wee hours of this morning." He explained...
"Distressing... how exactly?" Luke asked as he looked towards Sean and back at the Chief. Most 911 calls were made in distress - the fact that this specific one was 'distressing' to their Chief meant it was truly horrific.
"Well, we seem to have a teen poacher on our hands... The 911 call was made at 02:39 this morning by an individual claiming to be Cassidy Morgan."
"She was audibly in much distress and explained the reason to be a socially awkward male threatening to 'Show her what he is capable of, punishing her'. He had followed her from one bar to the next... We had a squad car on patrol; ready to check things out, but Miss Morgan hung up before disclosing her location to us..."
"Is it possible that this could've been a prank call?" Luke asked the Chief.
"No... Her parents called it in after she didn't arrive home. Her mother, Lucille Morgan went to Cassidy's room at 05:00 because she usually heads off to the gym at 05:15. Mrs Morgan found things just as Cassidy had left them the night before..." the Chief answered.
"The kids are busy with finals, and Cassidy has an eight-hour practical Art exam today - she wasn't one to skip school so she definitely wouldn't skip the exam... Gavin was the one on dispatch when Mrs Morgan phoned it in - he recognised the name from the 911 call Cassidy placed herself and notified me immediately."
"But how do we know this is our guy - how do we know this is connected to Bailey?" Sean asked.
"We don't... Not yet, anyways." said the Chief. "But this can't JUST be coincidence. Not when the last kidnapping happened less than 72 hours before this one. We have to consider the possibility, and keep it under wraps for now."
"We haven't found a body yet, which means this is still JUST a missing persons case. If it DOES escalate to murder, we have to catch this guy before it blows up into a serial killer case. The Good Lord himself knows we can't handle another tragedy like that." The Chief explained.
"Sir? A serial killer?!? We don't even have one body yet..." Sean said, sounding sceptical. "No, I agree," Luke answered, "even though we haven't found her yet... If there's another victim, we might be running out of time, if it's not too late for Bailey already!"
"Exactly" the Chief answered. "I trust you will make this case your first priority, and follow up on all leads ASAP. We have the parents of Cassidy Morgan in Interrogation Room B... Remember your empathy cards..."
Isn't it a bit early to start with interrogations??? Luke wondered crankily as he drained his cold coffee down the sink. Sean seemed his chirpy self... Full of annoying small talk and jokes - he's definitely a morning person... Luke? He preferred sleeping 'till noon, because he's a problem solver (and yes, mornings are definitely a problem!)
Luke entered IR B first, and introduced himself as Sean closed the door. "Mr & Mrs Morgan. Hi, I am Detective Luke Ceronio and this is my partner, Detective Sean Reynolds. We would like to have a few words with you on what happened, if you don't mi-"
Luke was interrupted by Mr Morgan: "You should be out there! Looking for Cassy! Not sitting here, wasting precious time talking!!!"
"Sir, with all due respect, we need to know where to start looking. We don't even know the location of the bar from where Cassidy was kidnapped, and with a little co-operation from yourself and Mrs Morgan - we might be able to establish that a whole lot quicker than the amount of time questioning the whole town will take." Luke explained calmly.
"Sorry, son. This has just been a very emotional morning so far." Mr Morgan apologised. "You have our full co-operation."
"Thank you," Luke replied. "did Cassidy mention any location she may have gone to after having dinner with you last night?"
Mrs Morgan, after clearing her throat, spoke for the first time in a voice close to tears: "No, she was supposed to be home. But we had an argument - same as always - and then she took her keys, and left..." Tears streamed over her cheeks when she spoke again "If I had known this was ever a possibility, I would never have let her walk out the door!!!" She was sobbing now, and Mr Morgan, close to tears himself asked if there was any other information we required.
"Yes, Sir. I have two more questions. Would you be able to provide us with the names and numbers of all the close friends Cassidy may have had contact with in the past 72 hours?" to which Mr Morgan nodded, wrote down, and then gave a list to Sean who sat beside him, retrieving also the most recent, and hopefully not the last picture of their beloved Cassy from his wallet... This, too, Mr Morgan handed to Sean.
"Also, does the name Jordan Bailey have any meaning to you?" Mrs Morgan look alarmed when she replied "Yes, she is one of Cassy's close friends. Why? What happened to her? Is she missing too?!?"
"Ma'am, we are not at liberty to disclose any information regarding Jordan Bailey." Sean answered with a look of deep sympathy on his face."
"She's gone too! Isn't she?!?" Mrs Morgan desperately enquired. The horror of it all seemed to have sunk in as another wave of fresh tears streamed down her face... "Eric, our Cassy!" Mrs Morgan muttered through her sobs, and Mr Morgan started weeping silently as his grief-stricken wife uttered the heart-breaking truth aloud for the first time...
"Our Cassy is gone!!!"
And gone she was indeed...