"You know I can actually take the rest of the shift?" Officer Hamilton suddenly asked when he saw Elizabeth spacing out.
"You can?" She turned to him.
"Well, yes…"
"Thank you." Elizabeth beamed.
"Huh, you accepted that?" Officer Hamilton blinked in confusion.
"Shouldn't I?"
"No, it's just that I thought you would reject it, you know?" Officer Hamilton let out an awkward laugh.
"You asked because you thought I'd reject?" Elizabeth pried.
"No, that's not what I mean…"
"I understand, Officer Hamilton. I was just pulling your leg." Elizabeth chuckled.
"But does the offer still stand?" She asked and Officer Hamilton nodded in reply.
"Thank you."
"I should drop you off." Officer Hamilton suggested.
"No it's fine, my apartment is not far from here." Elizabeth said and immediately got out of the car and quickly went in the direction of her apartment.
She wouldn't have accepted his offer on a normal day but she was curious about the missing people case.
Elizabeth got to her apartment in no time and after settling down, she took out the file.
-MISSING PEOPLE-
Elizabeth stared at the title for a while before reading through it, the first report was sixteen years ago.
It stated that there were suspicions a few years before an official report was made exactly fifteen years ago.
Going by the disappearance of a group of sight-seers between the age of twenty and twenty-eight.
No bodies or lead was found after six months, no evidence or proof of sight from the inhabitants of Vandhill.
The case was dropped after a few pushes exactly on the seventh month.
And at the bottom of the report a name was written.
Reported by - Detective Gary Dennis
"Recorded the disappearance of five tourists." Elizabeth murmured and turned to the next page.
The second one was recorded twelve years ago, going with the disappearance of a kid. A male child, sixteen years of age. Bennie Dante. An inhabitant of Vandhill.
Reports by the inhabitants of Vandhill said that the lost victim was a viscous and daring child. Stubborn and frivolous, nothing else.
But right under the report, it was written that he disappeared with a girl of seven years. Her name, height or weight wasn't written. Her age was the only information about her.
Reported by - Detective Gary Dennis
"The same detective." Elizabeth muttered."
The third page was reported ten years ago, following the disappearance of three teenage girls, one adult man by the name, Detective Gary Dennis.
Elizabeth's breath hitched, the detective incharge of the first two case went missing before the third case was filed.
Reported by - Detective Vincent Nicole
Elizabeth read through all the reports until the last one with happened two years ago and this one was reported by - Chief Kenneth Louis.
Elizabeth threw the book on the table and plopped on her bed. If so many people had disappeared in the span of sixteen years, why are the people so oblivious about it? And why has no lead been found?
'No bodies…as if they just seized to exist or disappeared from the face of the earth.' Elizabeth thought to herself, it was weird that the cases were always filed two years after the last one.
If her hypothesis is true, then the next disappearance would happen this year.
Elizabeth grabbed the file again and turned to the last page.
Reported by - Chief Kenneth Louis
It was the closest report to the present date, so if Elizabeth finds that man then finding a lead would be easier.
"Crime-free town, Huh." Elizabeth scoffed and ran her fingers through her black hair.
The places of disappearance were never written and strangely the people related to the disappeared people were never really bothered. And the victims were mostly from outside Vandhill, except Bennie Dante, who had lived in Vandhill with his uncle since he was eleven.
Whatever it was that took them was nothing short of dangerous and creepy.
Elizabeth looked through the window of her apartment. Behind Vandhill laid a dense forest. If any search was to be conducted, it can only start from that creepy forest.
It couldn't be that they were taken away by wild beasts because if it was that, bodies or missing items would have been found.
The last case were of the disappearance of an old man who lived on the street, a female dancer who came to perform on a festival.
At this thought, Elizabeth realised that the disappearance usually happened around the time of a festival. A festival held to celebrate the never-ending joy and peacefulness in the town.
'This place is creepy.' Elizabeth said internally.
The time of disappearance, year gap and period were too matching to be a mere coincidence.
"Argh." Elizabeth pulled her hair in frustration. She couldn't think of anything that could be the reason of those disappearances, like her head was being blocked. She walked to the window and peered down at the group of musicians playing music. Elizabeth suddenly found the once soothing music annoying, she closed the windows tightly to block off the sound that was messing with her brain.
She sat on her bed and plugged in her earphone, she laid properly on the bed and sighed. The music from outside was now successfully blocked and a calming tone played from the earphones.
She closed her eyes and calmly sorted through the files in her mind.
She could tell the Chief and the detectives about her findings but Elizabeth was compelled not to do so.
The detectives seem like people who wouldn't care about such things. They also seemed to unserious sometimes.
But…the Chief, his smile and his words seemed trust worthy enough but Elizabeth still decided not to say a word to him.
The reporter of the last case was the previous chief, which meant that the new chief would know something about the case. But for him to discard it as 'useless papers'. It just sounded too untrustworthy.
The only person she could think of was Officer Louise.