Chapter 13
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The young detective did not give any attention about her words, but approached the car to assess and find any clues about his location. She called for Rafael for several times and roamed around the hills, the trees and the forest, but found nothing about him.
"He is nowhere to find.." commented Samuel "Don't you have any clue, detective??"
"I… I do not really know..." replied Julia "There is nothing like footsteps around, I can not find any of his ownings around and he is not in the area."
"Humph… His car might have stopped suddenly," joined Alena, trying to steal lights from Julia "and he walked for a near place to find some help. Idiot!"
"The car is working, fuel is full, and I mentioned before that there are no footsteps around!"
"Alena," called Samuel "try not to bug in with your clumsy suggestions!"
"Eh!" eeked Alena
Julia caught the glimpse of two traces of wheels, they were not the wheels of Rafael's car. As if they were the clues that someone was following him till the forest and then disappeared with him. So she decided to follow the lines, maybe they might lead her to his location.
"Do not stomp over these." Ordered Julia "They might be our clue."
Deep inside her, she was sure that something had already happened to Rafael, however she insisted to find out whether he was alive or not. Rafael had never ever kept his car opened at night, since it had some weapons and confidential papers in it, so it would be a dilemma if someone would have stolen them. In addition to the existence of odd wheels that lead to the darker area of the forest.
"What do you mean by clue?" asked Samuel "Did something happen to my brother?"
"…." Julia did no reply, she did not want to believe that something might have happened to her boss and friend.
"Just answer me, Julia!! Did something bad happen to my brother??"
"Probably.."
"Why would you assume so? Answer!"
"He left his car unlocked..."
"What does this mean?" questioned Alena
"What does this mean?" wondered Samuel "Oh... A deputy chief.."
"A deputy chief.." continued Julia "..would never leave his car unlocked.."
"Did someone force him out of it?"
"Possibly..."
The wheel traces ceased at the entrance of the dark area of the forest, Julia suggested that he might be inside, however without any traces, they must search randomly for him.
The forest was dim and coaly dark as the high trees covered the moonlight, and the existence of two pregnant women made it harder for Samuel to search. On the other side, Julia's power started to fade away after the long work, lack of food and crying for so long. Her eyes became blurry and she could barely see anything in that darkness, her head started aching and threatening to explode, her legs felt so light and could not hold her heavy body for so long, and her thoughts were confused.
"Rafael!!" she screamed "Just show up if you are here!! Rafael!! It is Julia!! Listen, I am sorry! Just show up right away! I will kill you, bastard!!! Rafael! Rafael!! Rafael!!!"
"It seems that he is not here.." commented Samuel "We shall not lose any more time.."
"You can leave if you want, I am sure that he is here.. I can not leave him..."
"How can you be so sure, cheap girl?" mocked Alena "We have already searched the forest upside down, where will you find him? Under the ground? Hiding in a cave? Or on a tree? Humph, we are searching for an adult man not a panda!"
"I have already told you to leave if you want so." She replied "I will search more for him by myself, and I am in no need for your opinion... You can go away!"
"Listen, I know you are worried," started Samuel "but he might be in another place now, facing a grief situation and he might need someone to save him I mean maybe he is kidnapped, maybe he fell into a cliff or maybe he faced a bad bandit. Maybe they kidnapped him and left his car here! What if he is in danger? Shall we lose more time here?"
"…."
"Do you have any reason for insisting on staying here? Did you find any clues and did not inform us about?"
"No.. Not really..."
"Then, why would you keep searching, even though we did not find him?"
"I just feel so..."
"Your feelings will never matter, idiot." Laughed Alena "They will not help if there are no logical reasons."
"We will search more..." informed Samuel "I will assist you!"
"Thank you!!" cried Julia
An orange ball started to emerge into the sky. Pinpricks of light were the first signs that dawn was near and the sky glazed with hues of a dark red scarlet and a bloody orange. The sun itself was peeking out of the horizon, and its dread rays began to emerge the air. Sun was casting sunbeams in every direction, spilling dim crimson light upon the plains, across the hills, penetrating the deepest of forests, and scaling the tallest of peaks. The grey sky, full of winter clouds, started to unveil.
Trees appeared as dark silhouettes against the slowly brightening sky. All things then were clearly seen. Then, Alena noticed the spread of someone's legs between the branches, they seemed not to notice them before as they suspected they were only branches.
Alena approached the person, whose legs were spread, and she noticed that he was wearing Rafael's suit. So she chuckled and yelled loudly: "I found him! Rafael!! It is him! It is Rafael! Samuel, I found him! Yay! I am the one who found him!"
"Rafael..." murmured Julia "He was here all the time… He did not respond when we shouted out for him… This must mean only one thing… I can not believe it..."
"Hey, woman!!" shouted Yu-Jun, calling Alena "Do not approach him!!"
"Kyaaaaaaaaaaa!!!" screamed Alena loudly and frightenedly