A/N:
This is all my own story, my own ideas, and my first piece of non-faniction work. It’s just a one-shot, but tell me what you think anyway.

I was leaving Eilish all alone. There was nothing that I could do; I was trapped, locked away, and the claustrophobic feeling tingling down my spine and around my chest just wouldn’t leave. I physically couldn’t pull myself away.

Okay, so technically Eilish wasn’t alone, but she might as well be, for all the good it was going to do her.

Aiden … hunched over the computer desk with a knife puncturing his chest, couldn’t help Eilish, not that she would even want his help. The computer screen, black as the starless sky I was walking in, the words game over flashing precariously at him. They couldn’t be truer, as the blood from his merciless heart drained his life away, like the water down a plughole, only the red fluid smelt like rust and salt, as opposed to soapy sweetness.

Eilish thought Nay-Nay was there. Sometimes it’s better to let her believe that. That’s where Aiden went wrong. Never mess with a six year old – they’re strong willed and a lot more powerful than people think.

***

‘What have we got Amelia?’ Erin asked. She had just arrived, cutting her holiday short in the middle of the night. This was an important case, and we needed all hands on deck.

‘A dead thirteen year old boy,’ I started, walking toward the computer desk, past all the other police investigators. ‘A missing fifteen year old girl and another girl who doesn’t speak … however she’s only six. She doesn’t seem too emotionally traumatised, but she does have, what appears to be a cut, or more like a dint on the right side of her forehead. She’ll be taken to the hospital soon.
‘I suspect,’ I said, turning to follow the boy in the blue body bag, positioned, almost peacefully on a stretcher. It made me sad, but I must not let the emotions overwhelm me. This is part of the job description, and I cannot let myself feel for the family. ‘That whoever killed the boy … kidnapped the girl.’

‘Definitely kidnap?’ Erin asked, sounding grave.

‘It sure looks that way. However, there is no sign of a struggle.
‘The parents have no idea who could do such a thing. They say the kids were rather popular among classmates and were friends with everyone. The parents were out for dinner and Emmaline, the fifteen year old, was left to care for her two younger siblings. That’s all we got out of the dad … the mum, on the other hand, was in hysterics, I tried to speak to her on numerous occasions, all I got was wailing.

‘Evidence wise, we know that Aiden, the deceased, was stabbed five times in the chest with a knife that is apart of the set on the bench in the kitchen. The only prints found were that of the families … every single member touched that knife at one stage of another.

‘The only witnesses we have so far are Eilish, the unspeaking six year old, and the family dog. And to be honest the dog is more helpful than the kid is.

‘Miss Amelia,’ Toby called out. ‘We have some blood over here.’

Toby’s voice had come from the lounge room so I followed it, and Erin tagged along.

‘Good job Toby,’ I praised. ‘Get a swab for the lab.’

I stood looking at the blood patch that marked the corner of the arm of the couch, for a moment …

This could be where Eilish hit her head. There wasn’t a vast amount of blood, and the couch was easy to collide with, if tripped.

Toby could still take a sample just to make sure.

***

I sat at my desk pondering the case at hand. I shook my head, in half-frustration, because I knew something wasn’t right. I felt like I was missing something.

Why would the killer, stab one kid, abduct another, and leave the other. Surely, he knows the six year old can see … but then he might have known she didn’t talk to anyone other than Emmaline. That was another piece of information I’d gained from the father.

The poor Rydderch family had been torn apart. I couldn’t understand how they could cope with such stresses. Nevertheless, I must not let myself feel.

I heard the lift doors open around the corner.

‘Miss Amelia?’

‘Yes, I'm at my desk Toby,’ I said as he stepped out from around the bend. I was sitting where I always sat whenever he came from the elevator calling my name.

‘I have some information for you,’ He smiled brightly. I sat up straight behind my desk, pushed my red glasses up my nose, and gestured for him to take a seat.

He jammed himself into the chair before continuing, ‘You were right,’

Naturally, I thought.

‘The blood markings on the sofa were Eilish’s.’ He paused, looking at me as though I was going to say something.

‘Is that all?’

He shook his head. ‘No, it gets better … the stab wounds in Aiden’s chest suggest that he was attacked by a taller individual.’

‘Yes, well, he died in a chair, Toby, not exactly unachievable.’ I retorted.

‘But there is more …’

Of course there was.

‘Little Eilish was not strong enough to stab her older brother, as the wounds indicate a lot more force was used. Depending, of course, on height, weight, gender, and over all strength, the attacker was between the age of say fourteen and twenty.’

‘A young person?’ I asked, my eyebrows rising gradually up my forehead.

‘It seems it. There is a possibility that it could have been someone, in the region of fifty, fifty-five. Again, depending on weight, height, gender and strength. However, it seems less likely, as the victims were kids.

‘If I were to condense the age bracket even more, I would take it down to between fifteen and eighteen. Then again, I would have to ask the question, would they of had the strength to pull Emmaline away?

‘Maybe,’ I thought, accidently speaking aloud. ‘She didn’t need to be forced …’

‘What do you mean?’ Toby asked.

‘She could have gone willingly …’ I trailed off again. I looked at Toby and noticed his confused expression.

‘Why on Earth would she go willingly?’ he said, voicing his thoughts.

I thought about this, but I needn’t have bothered. It was a thought that had crossed my mind on more than one occasion since discovering that the girl was missing.

‘I sacrifice …’ I whispered.

‘As in, scary voodoo?’ Toby asked almost childishly, waving his arms around, widening his eyes and sticking out his tongue.

‘No, no, no!’ I scolded. ‘As in, protective older sister. She probably gave herself to protect her little sister. My guess would be that they had already witness the murder of their younger brother, and Emmaline would not want her sister to suffer the same fate. Therefore, she willingly left with the eradicator.

‘We must now fathom the age group. This boy could be a friend of the older girl … or foe.’ I started to think aloud again.

‘Sorry, Miss Amelia,’ Toby interrupted, although he didn’t really look like he was game to. ‘But, there is actually no evidence to prove the attacker was a boy … or man.’

I leant forward on my desk, fitting my fingertips together, waiting for more information.

‘Although, I am leaning … slightly –’

‘– Could be an ex-boyfriend then. But the boy was killed, and this would be a dreadfully severe way of getting back at her.’

‘Yes, yes, I quiet agree.’ Toby put in his two cents.

I sighed, before asking, ‘Is there anything else?’

‘Uhm, only that the stab wounds were from right-handed person – both Eilish and Aiden were, and are, left-handed.
‘That’s the extent of the evidence, I'm afraid’

‘Thank you very much, Toby,’ I said nodding my head, pulling my glasses of my face and cleaning them with my shirt. ‘Please, try and find me as much as you can from Kyle.’

Kyle was the man in the morgue, a surly person, with two chins and large freckles. He was very talented at his job.

‘Yes of course Miss Amelia,’

‘Toby,’ I called out, just before he disappeared up the stairs. ‘Just a quick thing before you leave. Firstly, Eilish was never a suspect. Secondly, it’s best you don’t refer the victims by their actual names, you’ll find that you feel a connection with them and always harder when the ending leaves much to be desired. Thirdly, it’s Amelia. Just Amelia. Not Miss Amelia, okay? Fourthly, this is a special case. I know in the previous three weeks that you have worked here, we haven’t come across any cases involving kids. Today we have … and trust me … it’s ten times worse. So you go find me some information from the remains of the body, and the evidence collected from the crime scene, and we’ll make the blow less severe when we find Emmaline.’ I concluded, giving him a small, cool smile. I returned my glasses to my nose and resumed staring at the computer screen uncomprehendingly, catching a glimpse of Toby tittering up the stairs, via my peripheral vision.

***

I cast my eyes to the ceiling, closed them, and then sighed deeply. I had no more facts, data or information then I’d had this morning. Admittedly, we were only one day in, but the case need to be solved as soon as possible, as we need to find the girl … or worse case scenario, given what the abductor is capable of, the girls’ body.

I was just about to get up and go home when I heard the news theme and a whiney, monotone voice.

‘Hello and welcome to Seven’s six o’clock news, I'm Mellissa Yates. In news today, a twelve-year-old boy has been murdered. He was found at about eight pm last night, after his parents, who were out for tea at the time of the murder, arrived home.’

My eyes pricked like a dogs, and I pushed myself out of my work desk on my rolling, swivel, desk chair. I was interested to see how the news had made the case more “interesting”.
‘For more on this we cross to Gwenneth Jones, who is at the crime scene.

‘Gwenneth, what can you tell us about the murder, and I understand a kidnapping.’

The setting on the projector screen, usually used for displaying evidence, changed, and the focus was on a dark woman with black frizzy hair. She was situated outside a strip of yellow tape, that enclosed a car and two-story house, which was quite obviously off limits to the public.

‘Yes, hello Mel … the past ten hours has been horrible for the Rydderch family. Their only son and middle child, Aiden, was found stabbed five times in the chest, while their eldest daughter Emmaline, is currently missing, presumably kidnapped by the man or men that killed her younger brother.

‘Now the police say they have no leads, so we don’t know what to be looking out for. The only person, who comes close to being a suspect, is their youngest daughter Eilish, but that’s beyond what the parents think she is capable of …’

I tuned out. Eilish was never a suspect. Never!

The news report told me no more than I already knew. The press was only good for one thing: Twisting the truth into lies.

With the news flash still in my mind, I decided I should turn-in for the night. I would wake up fresh, well rested and clear-minded in the morning. Right now, I needed sleep.

***

Bring, bring; bring, bring.

The loud obnoxious sound came into my dream, and it took a few minutes to register what was going on. My eyes fluttered before opening. Red letters on my alarm clock screamed 4:07 at me. I groaned and sat up, slightly disoriented, my dream gone in a puff of smoke.

I pressed redial on my phone and rang Erin back.

‘Hey Amelia,’ She said before I could ask why she had called me in the first place. ‘You better get in here … Emmaline’s back.’

***

‘She looks well kempt. The odd scratch and bruise, but other than that, it’s as if she wasn’t even kidnapped.’ Erin informed me in her cool and serene voice, as soon as I had stepped out of the lift. ‘She wasn’t too keen on coming here.’
I started to walk again.
‘I warn you now … she’s not herself.’ Erin added.

Well the poor girl had just been taken from her family after watching her little brother die. I wouldn’t be myself either.

I eyed Erin for a moment. ‘Meaning?’

‘Everything she touches needs to be clean.’

I clicked my tongue in thought.

‘That could mean a small number of things. She could have been kept in a dirty place … the fact that she witnessed the murder could make her feel dirty … her kidnapper could have been unclean, or …’ I trailed off, unable to say my next suggestion. I could tell Erin knew where my thoughts had drifted. ‘I best speak to her,’ I said, changing subject and heading off along the corridor and into interrogation room one, smallest and least intimidating room. Someone knows how I think.

‘Hello Emmaline,’ I said, extending my hand in greeting. ‘My name is Amelia Bowen.’

She didn’t accept my hand, so I added, ‘It’s clean.’

She hesitated before taking it.

‘Don’t worry I'm not here to interrogate you. We just want to figure out what happened the other night.’

I waited for some sort of acknowledgement, but got none.

‘You you look really healthy, were you kept in a clean place?’ I was trying my hardest to sound casual, and I believe I succeeded, because Emmaline nodded.

‘Everyone thinks he was cruel to me …’

‘He wasn’t cruel?’ I asked, still trying to sound laid-back, but I was a little stunned by her words.

She shook her head in an almost non-movement, like she regretted her utterings.

‘Well he couldn’t have been the nicest man, could he?’ I paused. ‘Do you remember him, Emmaline?’

She continued to stare, almost expressionlessly, at the steel interrogation table.

‘Anything, about where you were, to what thins man looked like.’ I used my softest tone of voice. ‘His name?’ I added hopefully as an after-thought.

She shook her head again, in the same virtually motionless way. This could take a while.

***

‘Mrs. Henderson, what can you tell me about what you saw last night?’ I asked of the old woman who had phoned me earlier in the day, claiming to have seen a person who resembled the previously missing Emmaline Rydderch. I took a sip of coffee, white with two, which she had kindly made for my team and me.

‘I was sitting in my lounge room at about one in the morning, I have trouble sleeping you see, I was knitting a pair of pink booties for my new granddaughter, when, by chance I looked up to see a young girl, no older than sixteen. She was just standing like a statue, outside number 21. She must have remained there for a good fifteen minutes, unmoving and visibly upset. In the beginning, I thought she looked a tad familiar, but after about five minutes, my brain clicked,’ Mrs. Henderson snapped her fingers, making me jump. ‘She was the missing girl from the news, and she was standing outside of my neighbours’ house, the beam of my porch light illuminating her face! If a car were to drive past, they would be able to see her as clearly as I could.’ Mrs. Henderson shook her head her silver permed, flyaway hair, virtually unmoving due the mass amount of hairspray.

This struck me as atypical. Why a missing girl would be standing outside a house, visible to the public – though it was the middle of the night – when she could have been running for her life, was above me. Nevertheless, I was going to make sure I found out, because I would not rest until I knew. Emmaline was a mystery that I was going to solve. Her strange way’s intriguing.

After another short chat with Mrs. Henderson, I had all the information that I needed.

The team and I decided to head next door and chat with this Blaine Preston.

I knocked lightly on the glass pane of the wooden door.

A tall boy no older than eighteen opened up, looking tired, as though I had just woken him from a comfortable sleep.

‘Blaine Preston?’ I asked of him.

As he nodded, his brunette curls bobbed.

‘I would like to talk to you in relation to the disappearance of Emmaline Rydderch.’

His eyes widened as his hand passed though his tangled locks. I tried speaking, but his deep and gravel-like voice, drowned me out.

‘Em’s missing?’ He appeared stressed, not caring what I had to say. ‘That’s imposable there is absolutely no way. She was here last night, I saw her with my own eyes –’

‘Blaine,’ I tried and succeeded. He had given me the information that I needed. ‘She isn’t missing any more. They found her this morning.’

He gave me a peculiar facial expression, narrowing his eyes as if he had missed something. He looked like he had been punched in the face, and I had a feeling he wasn’t far away from throwing one.

‘Go away,’ He whispered, his voice strained. ‘I don’t know who you think you are, or what you want from me. So just … leave.’

Toby and Erin produced their badges wordlessly on either side of me.

I analysed Blaine’s reaction. He swallowed with great difficulty, his Adam’s Apple rising and falling slowly.

‘Shall I extract my own,’ I asked kindly. ‘Or shall we talk down at the station?’

Blaine took a step back, and I thought he was going to slam the heavy door my face – which would have been unwise in his situation – but he did the opposite, pulling a black leather coat from a place my eyes couldn’t see, wrestling into it.

‘Let’s go …’ He said unenthusiastically.

***

‘I want you to go back and check out his house. We have a search warrant, so we might as well use it.’ I said to Toby as Erin escorted Blaine to interrogation room two. Currently, Blaine was a bit of a mystery to me. He seemed to have a lot of anger inside of him, yet he was keeping it inside. Watching him now, it was obvious he knew it would be unwise to verbally attack Erin.

I walked down the passage to the room, partially exited about what he had to say. I need answers and I hoped he had some.

‘Hit Blain,’ I sat down on the opposite side of the table to him. I held out my hand, eager for a different outcome than what I had received from Emmaline. I got what I wanted, he grabbed with a firm grip straight away. ‘I'm not sure whether I introduced myself at the house. My name is Amelia Bowen.’

He nodded, as though he didn’t really care.

‘How do you know Emmaline?’ I asked, there was no time for chitchat.

Blaine rubbed his nose instantaneously, a natural reflex. ‘My best friends’ cousin,’ He mumbled.

I smiled triumphantly. This was exactly what I needed. ‘See … the Rydderch family don’t have any relatives in Victoria … Australia even. Yet, I know for a fact that you have never lived outside of Ballarat.’

His jaw muscles jumped as he considered my words, his face dropping. I gave him a tolerant grimace, as my looked cooled ten degrees.

‘How do you really know Emmaline Rydderch?’ I question, my voice more authoritive and severe.

He rubbed his nose again, shaking his head. ‘You haven’t told me any more about Em’s so-called disappearance. I’m not saying a single word until you explain.’

I sighed. This wasn’t not going the way I wanted. ‘Well, Blaine,’ I replied. He wasn’t going to give me anything, so I wasn’t going to give anything back. ‘I thought you were going to give me some answers to my questions. I needed you to help me solve this. But if you don’t speak now … we’ll be sitting in silence until you do.’

Half an hour went by, and neither party spoke one word. Blaine refused to make eye contact with me, although I tried. He stayed in the same position – his arms crossed, his expression pained and intense.

There was a knock at the door. I answered only because I thought it could be Toby with something that I could us against Blaine.

Toby held a digital camera. ‘I think you need to see something,’

He proceeded to flick through the many different pictures. Inside each frame were two people. The same two people repeatedly. I frowned this couldn’t be right. Then again, nothing was impossible.
Blaine, Emmaline … Blaine, Emmaline. Hugging, kissing, holding hands, kissing …

The date the same on each frame – the 4th of October 2009.

‘They were together,’ Toby announced, proud of his accomplishment.

‘I think they are together,’ I corrected.

I made my way back into the questioning room.

‘If you know what's good for you,’ I said. ‘You should talk now. Because I just found out something that I can use against you in a court of law if I needed to.’

Blaine frowned. I had lost him, and made him panic at the same time.

‘You withheld information in a criminal investigation,’ I said.

‘I don’t know what you want from me!’ He yelled suddenly. ‘I don’t know why I’m here. Can you just explain this to me?’ He was incredibly frustrated.

‘Why didn’t you tell me about your relationship with Emmaline?’ I asked leaning on the table to look more menacing.

‘Let’s see detective …’ Blaine said, mimicking me. He was in no position to become a smart-ass at this very moment. ‘I’m eighteen and she’s fifteen. I can figure out the complications, and you’re the one with the legal training?’

I stood up straight, looked the kid up and down and pushed my red glasses up my nose.

‘Great, now that we have that sorted, can you please tell me about the disappearance?’

I decided that Blaine was genuinely confused, so I filled him in. His brows furrowing lower and deeper with every word I spoke. When I had finished explaining, giving him the general idea, and leaving out the odd detail, he shook his head in disbelief.

‘Can you tell me, now, what happened that night?’ I asked him.

‘Uhm …’ He seemed a bit thrown off track and stricken as to where to start. ‘Well, on Thursday night, Emmaline came to my house. She had been crying, I could tell by the tear tracks on her cheeks. She had a bruise on the right side of her face and it was becoming purpler by the second. She told me that things were a bit tough at home and she needed to chill out for a few days. She was free to stay, come and go, for as long as she wanted. I had a feeling that her parents didn’t know she was staying at my house, but I let it slide. I didn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable.’ Blaine looked down at his own lap. I could tell he was trying to play the tough guy who showed no emotion. He hesitated before moving on. ‘I noticed something … curious, about her. She was disconnected, she hardly spoke, and then she started to … clean things,’ Blaine was expressing his confusion. ‘She wasn’t my Em. I tried to talk to her, but she didn’t want to … so I just let her tidy up the place.
‘That’s all I can give you.’

‘That was more than enough, thank you.’ I said softly.

I left the room noiselessly. I had just found motivation for Aiden’s killing. There was no kidnapper; there was no man … only Emmaline, a knife and an annoying brother. I was infuriated at myself for not noticing this before. All of this time I was looking right at it, right at her.

***

‘May I talk to Emmaline, Amelia?’ Toby asked me cautiously.

I thought about this carefully for a moment. I knew how important family was to him. He would give his life for any one of his five siblings. I also knew he could let his anger overpower him sometimes, and this was no exception, his temper was sure to flare.

‘I’m going to give you a chance, but only because I like you and the way you do your job.
‘Remember, she’s just a kid and you don’t want to intimidate her. We need her to speak. Be careful.’ I warned.

I walked into the watching room as Toby went into the interrogation room.

‘Does the address 21 Cherry Flat Road mean anything to you?’ He asked promptly.

Emmaline brought her hand to chin and answered with a quiet, ‘No,’

‘Don’t lie!’ Toby retorted. ‘I know you staged your disappearance.’

‘I did disappear, but on my own grounds. You idiots assumed I was taken. There’s my alibi. Made for me’

‘Tel you what Emmaline, I know, and you know, that you murdered your little brother, so why don’t we make this simple? You confess now, and I’ll lower you jail sentence. Don’t confess … and you can look forward to iron bars for the rest of your life. I don’t care either way. You killed your little brother and I’m happy to see pay back.’

The room abruptly turned quiet. I decided that it was best for me to move into the room with Toby. His temper was starting to rise.

I entered, but neither person who already resided in the room moved. I could see Emmaline’s facial expression more clearly and there was an obvious difference. She was no longer the intimidated girl who was scared and browbeaten. She looked like pure evil; she looked capable of killing her brother for the first time since I had met her.

‘You have no idea what Aiden’s like. I told him … I warned him … I promised him, that if he ever laid a hand on Eilish again, he would regret it. He’d be sorry forever hitting us and calling us names. He’s stronger than he knows. He was more than just the sporty, popular, nice guy that everyone assumed he was. He made our lives a living hell. His cruel, demeaning ways made Eilish and I scared of him. He didn’t do a thing for us ever! I told him he would pay. He just got what was coming for him.

‘I saved Eilish on Thursday night. He pushed her after telling her to grow up and realise that Nay-Nay was a fake, a piece of her imagination. He was right, I’ll give him that, but she’s just a kid, and kids are allowed to have imaginary friends. She initiated the fight, shoving him while he was sitting at the computer playing his stupid game, but there was no need to get up and push her over. I grabbed her before she hit her head too hard on the arm of the couch.’ Emmaline got up, tears filling to the brim of her blue orbs. She was reliving the night – I could tell by the ghost-like distance in her gaze. This would be the night that would be clear in her mind for the rest of her life. ‘He hit me then,’ her voice dropped dramatically, bringing her hand to her right cheek.

My motivation assumption was right.

‘I was no match for him, so I grabbed Eilish’s hand and ran, ending up in the kitchen. The first thing I saw was mum’s new knife set, sharp and tough … two things Aiden wasn’t. He was angry and on a mission. He was out to get me, and there was only one way that I could stop his large figure.’ Emmaline started hyperventilating. ‘For the tinniest fraction of a second, I faltered, thinking that I might regret what I was to do next,’ Emmaline smiled as if she had gone crazy. ‘But it passed like a shower of rain. I let go of Eilish's hand grabbing the third knife from the left, passing toward Aiden. He throw his hands into the air in surrender, but he was smiling – he thought I wouldn’t’ do it. I wouldn’t have the guts. It just gave me more incentive. He had nowhere to go once we had staggered into the study – he was forced into his stupid computer desk chair. He spent most of his time in that ridiculous chair, playing that absurd game – it was only fitting that he died there.’ Emmaline moved to the table. ‘I stabbed him them,’ her words were venom. ‘This. Is. For. Hurting. Us.’ She screamed, hitting the table with each piercing word. ‘Five times … and each time he died some more on the inside.’ She now had full on tear tacks down her pallid cheeks. ‘Eilish said she was glaring at her with a weird smile, so I turned him around and rested his head on the desk, pulling Eilish away. I left his green eyes open so that he could see me walk away. He would never hurt me or Eilish again.’ Emmaline’s teeth bared and tears fell from her ocean blue eyes.

They weren’t tears of lost or remorse, but of bitterness and hatred. They way she had spat the words at the table, showed me she had no regret whatsoever! What she did … was meant.

Review Please!!
Did I capture the mystery? Are the paragraphs to hard to read? Are there any mistakes? Let me know.
CGIL xx