Dark Days & Darker Hearts (Mod/Fant/Rom/Supernatural/1x1)

[fuzzehpolarbear]

Another day, another dead body. Ian Cooke stood over a corpse on a metal table, a young enthusiastic coroner standing behind him. The deceased was female, late teens to early twenties by the look, long black hair. "She's beautiful," Ian said.


"Was beautiful," the coroner, also a young woman, attempted to correct.


"She's still beautiful," Ian clarified, "It just doesn't matter anymore... Or maybe it does. You never know what's going to end up being important. You say she was exsanguinated? Before or after death?"


"After, from what I can tell."


"Which would seem to indicate that the exsanguination wasn't the cause of death. So what did kill her? Other than the wound on her throat, she looks immaculate."


"My autopsy suggests respiratory failure."


"Caused by...?"


"I'm not sure. I thought that whatever had killed her was probably related to whoever exsanguinated her, so after I made sure she wasn't simply strangled, I checked as much blood as I could, what little was left, for a few common poisons that could cause respiratory failure, but I didn't find anything."


"Did you check for any uncommon poisons?"


"I didn't have much blood to work with, and I didn't know what to look for. That's why you're here, or so I'm told."


Ian intensely studied the dead woman's face. He leaned in to check something, but stopped a few inches away, sniffing the air and screwing up his face. Diverting his course, he gingerly pulled the woman's mouth open. Covering his mouth and nose and moving away, he turned toward the coroner. "Was she found anywhere near the water?"


"No, some hikers found the body in some bushes near a hiking trail... Why?"


"Her breath, take a sniff."


The coroner gave Ian an odd look, but did as he asked, and then screwed up her face as well. "Oh... God. It smells like low tide."


"She died of respiratory failure, so you checked her lungs. Was there any water in them?"


"I didn't find any."


"Stomach contents, shellfish?"


"Not that I found. Looked like her last meal had been some kind of red meat."


"Red meat. How red?"


"I don't... Very?"


"Do you remember if it smelled like her breath smells now?"


"I try my best not to smell the stomach contents."


"You should really start. If you had, you might have noticed the smell of low tide, then you might have checked the contents of her stomach more closely and found out that they contain a dinoflagellate by the name of Alexandrium fundyense which causes two things. One of these things is what people like to call a red tide, and the other is PSP or paralytic shellfish poisoning. If there's any urine left in her bladder, test it for saxitoxin. The saxitoxin causes paralysis of the lungs among other things, which causes respiratory failure leading to death. When she was first found, was there still blood around the wound on her neck?"


"A little bit, yes."


"Did it look as though it had dripped upward toward her chin and head, rather than downward toward her chest? Blood in her hair, probably?"


"That's how she was found, yes. How'd you know?"


"Her ankles. There are marks indicating that she'd been bound at the ankles with a heavy metallic chain, upside down I'm guessing which the flow of blood from neck wound would seem to support. It was a ritual killing, as I feared, the draining of blood as if from a pig in a slaughterhouse."


"Whose ritual? Do we have some kind of wannabe vampire on our hands?"


"Doubtful. People who think they're vampires tend to bite, or leave circular incisions that looks like fang marks. Still possible, but my money's on some kind of cult activity."


"You said like a pig in a slaughterhouse, do you think it could be animal rights activists?"


"Also doubtful. Your average animal rights activist is just about equipped to throw fake blood on somebody's equally fake fur, but they don't tend to murder people, not like this anyway. Don't think you need to start interviewing PETA members. Has anyone else shown any interest in this case, or are there any other persons of interest I might talk to about... What was her name?"


"Anna, Anna Sutton. Um, yes, there was somebody asking around earlier."


"Tall, questionable, hooded figure, possibly chanting?"


"Uh... No?"


"Damn, well, I guess this won't be that easy then. Could I get the address of this interested party? Need to talk to them, make sure I've got all the facts."


"Uh, yeah, I'll write it down for you."


"Thanks. And tell the police to be on the lookout. Chances are, this'll happen again. Ritual sacrifices and murderers tend to be like potato chips and pringles. You can't have just one, and once you pop you can't stop."

 

[ChibiMonkey]

Notes scattered about the desk she sat at, Eliana Richards sighed at the predicament before her. Usually she wouldn't take up cases without monetary gain. Being a private investigator after all, she typically did her job for the fact that it was a job, and to get paid. And being an investigator often took up time, and in this world time was money. So yes, as typically, she wouldn't take up a job without monetary gain, or a job without a client, specifically.


However now she was curious. A bad habit of hers that she was told countless times to throw out the window. But she supposed it was another one of her bad traits that was actually pretty useful in her field of work, being an investigator and all. And while it's not as though she was some rich, popular investigator or anything, she was good at her job, even with her small amount of business that she got. So it was even more considerably rare for her to take a job with no paying client. After all, this time the client was herself.


But she told herself it was in interests of her last client - now deceased. The young woman had come to her in search of help, saying something about her friend having gone missing, but because nothing was really suspicious about it, the police wouldn't do much for the missing persons case, saying something about the girl probably having gone out to a party and her phone having lost service or battery. Honestly Eliana had been in the same mindset, thinking that her client had been exaggerating and over worrying about her friend. But again, having a small clientele and business, she really couldn't afford to be picky about her clients, so she had accepted the job without much interest.


But now she was interested. While she hadn't gotten much out about the missing friend her client was looking for, something else happened that caused Eliana to grow an interest in the case. Her client, Anna Sutton, had now been found dead. Not to be cynical or selfish, but at least Eliana had gotten half of her pay upfront , before the tragic death of her client - the other half was to be given after she completed the job and got information for her client about her missing friend, such as where she was, if she was okay, etc etc.


However now that her client has turned up dead when the woman last told her she was going in search of her missing friend herself, because police wouldn't help, and Eliana, according to her, was taking too long in her investigation to find her friend, it changed circumstances. With this kind of situation, Eliana couldn't help but have her curiosity piqued, and with Ms. Sutton turning up dead after proclaiming she was going to go look for her friend, and the said missing friend still, as guessed, missing, Eliana got the feeling that there was more to this case than a simple missing persons. Which is why she tasked herself and became her own client, taking up the case and continuing it out of further interest in getting to the bottom of this, having the inkling that there was a lot more than a simple missing persons and dead client.

 

[fuzzehpolarbear]

Another day, another dead body. How many had he seen, now? He'd seen more corpses than he had fingers. Toes. Fingers and toes. Family, both close and extended (though he didn't have a large family, close or extended). That coroner thought I was an asshole. You could see it in her face. Might have also thought I was a necropheliac from the grimace when I mentioned that the dead girl was beautiful. Probably didn't think I could see the disgusted look on her face in the reflection on the metal table.


Ian got into his car and started it up, reading the address on the piece of paper the coroner had given him, then slipping it into the glove compartment and began driving toward the address. Cult murder, certainly, but why this girl in particular? If they needed blood, they could have used anyone. Pretty, young, dark hair... Virgin? No. The only group operating in this area that does the whole cliche virgin sacrifice thing are satanists, and if it'd been satanists she'd have suffered first, and likely they'd have marked her body with some runes or other. They paralyzed her before they drained her blood, no suffering, no runes, no satanists. Might be a new group, yes, almost certainly, I feel like if it wasn't I'd have seen something like this before.


So, new group then. Saxitoxin is a favorite among eastern criminal cartels... Gang activity, sending a message? No. Our friends from the east are subtle, but they aren't that subtle. There'd have been something else to go on, some kind of calling card, always is with message hits. If nobody knows who pulled the trigger, then there's no message. Back to the question, why this girl in particular? Owed someone money? Knew something she wasn't supposed to know? Need to stop thinking gang and start thinking cult.


But maybe knew something she wasn't supposed to know isn't far off. Member she was involved with this cult, got cold feet, threatened to tell someone what they were up to, so they killed two birds with one stone. They got their sacrifice, and they shut down the potential witness. This is why you don't tell people you're going to rat them out before you rat them out. Or maybe it's the oldest reason in the book, no reason whatsoever. Maybe she was just a convenient bag of blood.


Ian came to parallel park outside the building to which the address he'd been given belonged, got out and went up to knock on the door, giving it three good hard raps before standing to wait for the occupant.

 

[ChibiMonkey]

Stared back to the notes scattered about her desk, Eliana furrowed her brows. While she didn't typically deal with such serious cases involving deal, it certainly didn't scare her off. And even with her unfamiliarity, she was smart enough to know that Anna death and the missing of her friend were somehow certainly connected - and more than just the fact that Eliana had been looking for her. There had to be something else. And Eliana was sure it was something bigger, possibly darker than a simple mishap.


Standing up from her desk in a need to stretch out her muscles, she ran a hand through her hair as she sighed. Now, this was the fun part. Figuring out that connection. Even though it involved death, Eliana was hardly phased by the whole situation. If anything it only made her all the more curious and interested. Some may see that as cynical, or something surely being mentally wrong with her, but it was just the fact that Eliana had tough skin - and a tough mind. Not much really effected her, and she usually did well to keep a composed face. And her clients and cases...the reason she took up her own business of private investigating was because of her strong interest in solving puzzles. She enjoyed the thrill of figuring something out that someone else couldn't, finding connecting puzzle pieces. And she was willing to take the on the danger that could often sometimes come with her job, where not everyone else was as willing to put themselves in harms way.


Now, about that connecting piece...It would be helpful and Eliana knew where Anna Sutton had been going when she'd gone off her own in search of her friend. But alas, the one person who knew was dead, that being Anna herself. Perhaps she could go check out her home, see if she could find clues as to where Ms. Sutton had been planning on going just before her untimely death.


Just as she grabbed her coat and keys, she heard a knock at the door. Momentarily confused as to who it was, she guessed it was probably a new client seeking her business or something. Sighing, she headed to the door. She really didn't have the time for this. Granted, it did say her business on her front door, but she had no interest in new clients at the moment, even if it did mean money. She was far more interested in this case she already tasked herself to, and had a feeling she'd need to focus most if not all of her attention on it to figure it out.


Opening the door, she saw a lone brunette man standing there. Offering a smile, she tried to get him to go away, not knowing he was here for another reason. "I'm sorry, I'm quite busy at the moment and don't have time to take up any more jobs."

 

[fuzzehpolarbear]

"Similar line to the one I use, though it's not always true. Some awful woman comes in wanting to find out where her husband ran off to and he's happily in Barbados with his much more pleasant mistress, it's not my business to reunite people who have absolutely no good reason to be together. I'd do the same thing if an awful man showed up looking for his happily vanished wife as well, mind you, I don't discriminate."


He held a gloved hand out. "Ian Cooke, private detective... And you're Eliana Richards. Haven't actually seen you in the flesh before today, but we're in the same business and I like to keep tabs on the competition from time to time. Not that you're the competition. It might be important to note that I don't intend that as a stab at your abilities, but you must admit that we don't tend to take on the same sort of cases... Which is why it's strange that we've both decided to take on this particular case. That's why I'm here, isn't it? I was looking into the murder of Anna Sutton, the coroner told me there was another person of interest and gave me your address. Unless that was a mistake, and it definitely wasn't, that means you're the person of interest. You're not family, or a friend of the family, or a friend or lover of the victim. Any of those would make you visibly distraught. Your emotional distance and apparent status as a person of interest leads me to believe that you're on the case."


"Ohh, ohh, this is the part where I'm supposed to do the Batman thing, and tell you I work alone, and that you'd better not get in my way, and then I broodingly and mysteriously walk off in a huff. I hate cliches though, so instead, maybe we can work together. I do normally work alone, mind you, but if you're on the case and I'm on the case then there's no good reason we shouldn't be collaborating. I trust since you're a private detective and not a police detective you won't slow me down with too much red tape... Or yellow tape, as the case may be. So why are you on this case, if you don't mind my asking? Cult murder's not usually the kind of thing you'd go after. Oh, it's a cult murder. Had you figured that out already, or did I give it away?"

 

[ChibiMonkey]

At her attempt to try and quickly shoo the man away, instead, he started babbling on, about what, she had no heavens clue. She just blinked a few times, stunned in confused as she just stared at him talking about some unhappy affair with a partner running off...what in the world was he talking about? Just staring at him in absolute dull confusion, her face expressionless before she slowly began to raise an eyebrow, she just stared at him. "...I'm sorry?" she inquired, still at a loss for what he was even doing here, let alone who. Was he saying he wanted help in finding his lost wife who likely ran off to another man? Did he want her to find that man? Lord, was she confused beyond comprehension.


And the man talked so damn fast she could barely get over one confusion before he added another. Thankfully though, he finally introduced himself, albeit, still babbling on rather quickly with his words. Not even able to introduce, she reached a hand out, silently shaking his outstretched gloved hand, him already announcing who she was before she even could try to introduce herself back to the man. She just stared on at him in mass confusion, simply trying to follow all the countless words he was babbling on a bit. She did manage to catch an insult in there, and she started to narrow her eyes, before he assured her it wasn't anything of the sort, and went on off about something else or other.


At this point, Eliana didn't even try to say anything. She just blankly stared at the man, waiting for him to finish going on in his likely high driven excitement spewl of words. When his babbling finally did cease, all the information she just received slowly registered in her mind, as though she just watched some YouTube video that was terribly lagging, and the peoples mouths were moving before the words came through the speakers. Just as so, the man finished babbling, and the words processed through her head. Investigator. Working together. Cult.


Cult? Furrowing her brows, she just stared at him, vision refocusing on the man standing there after processing the information. "Has anyone ever told you you talk too much?" she stated bluntly before moving away from her door and opening it more to allow him inside, before shutting the door after him. "How do you know it's a cult for a fact? Do you have proof supporting such a claim? Not that it isn't believable....but it could surely be a number of other things. Though it certain was done by human hands, and not animal" she commented, curious as to how he came up to the conclusion it was done by a cult, and her still yet not giving up her own information she had regarding the case, holding it back for the moment being until she understood more about this man.

 

[fuzzehpolarbear]

"People tell me I talk too much all the time," he replied, "If you ever miss anything, I'll be happy to repeat. To answer your other question, I just came from examining the cadaver. The shape and depth of the bruising around the ankles tells me that the victim had large metal chains wrapped around that part of her body, probably one to each ankle since the bruises wound all the way around both legs. The extent of the bruising tells me that the chains were wound very tightly, tightly enough to stop all the blood from flowing out of the feet during the exsanguination process. No blood no bruises, after all. The part of the ankle that the bruises are most prominent on and the direction that the dried blood had been found going in when the body was found, along with the presence of dried blood in the victim's hair, lead me to believe that she was hung upside down from her ankles before her neck was cut open to allow her blood to drain out."


"The exsanguination occurred postmortem, meaning that there was no intention that the victim suffer. That, the otherwise pristine state of the body, and the lack of a clear calling card, all but eliminate possibilities like gang activity. No, this was about the blood, and only about the blood. Most likely the fact that Anna Sutton was the victim was, tragically, down to her being in the wrong place at the wrong time. You can forget about the murder being tied up in some sort of bizarre black market blood trade as well. The victim would certainly have been a good candidate, but a black marketeer, aside from probably knowing how to dispose of the body so it never would have been found, wouldn't have bothered to hang her upside down and cut her throat, not when they've got all kinds of stolen and second hand medical equipment to make use of. That, by the way, is what makes me think ritualistic. The victim was dead before the exsanguination, so if you've got all the time in the world, why not just use a little medical equipment to extract the blood? That stuff's really not hard to get a hold of, either over or under the table. No, for some reason, it was important that she be hung upside down, important that she had her throat cut. That points to ritual, and ritual points to cult."


"And you're right, the wound wasn't made by any kind of animal. It was hardly an expert surgical cut, but it was definitely made with a knife, big and bulky from the looks of the wound, probably a kitchen knife. And most animals don't know how to use tools... Unless it's a knife wielding chimpanzee. If it turns out to be a knife wielding chimpanzee, I'll owe you a drink. And also, that would be amazing, wouldn't it?"

 

[ChibiMonkey]

Even with asking a single question, the man seemed to go on again with a bunch of words. She had to wonder, was he enthusiastic? Or did he just like to hear himself talk? Either way, it's not that she particularly minded or anything...but it certainly was something to have to get used to. Honestly, she wasn't surprised when he answered that he did indeed get told that a lot. And she had to guess that it probably didn't make him a lot of friends either. She could easily see how he could be the type of overwhelming person that not many could handle.


She listened to him as he explained, pretty much, what she already knew from her own examination at the coroners earlier that day. Of course, with a few other details, as to why he was lead to thinking of a cult. However when he suddenly made the comment about a knife-wielding chimpanzee. She blinked a moment, wondering if he was being serious or joking, and just burst out laughing at the outrageous thought "Yes, that indeed would be spectacular now" she agreed in amusement. He certainly was an interesting character.


"It certainly does sound sacrificial. However, while it does seem very plausible that it could be a cult, we shouldn't close the possibility of it being something else, either. Perhaps a psychopath that want's to give a sign. Of course, since this was the first victim, we don't know what that sign may be, if that even is the case" she said as she had shut the front door once he came in, motioning for him to follow her as she spoke, heading to her office, where, while there were a lot of papers and maps and such about, it was very well organized.


Picking up a picture on the table, he handed it to Ian "This is Ashley Flores. Late Anna Sutton's friend. Missing." she explained as she leaned back to sit on the edge of her desk while looking to Ian as he looked at the photo "Ms. Sutton came to me a few days prior, asking me help to aid in finding her missing friend after the police wouldn't do anything for her, brushing it off as the girl likely out with a dead phone or something of the sorts" she said with a shrug of her shoulders before continuing "Just the other day, Ms. Sutton proclaimed to me that she was going to go in search of her friend, despite my better judgement against it. Then, we both know what happened to Ms. Sutton now. It's nearly certain that Ashley Flores is somehow connected to all of this. However, visiting her apartment the few days ago when Ms. Sutton hired my help, there was not a thing to trace where Ms. Flores has gone. I was just on my way to Ms. Sutton's home to see if she might have left anything back home indicating where she might have gone looking for her friend. But as we know, that's when you appeared. And here we are now."

 

[fuzzehpolarbear]

"I'm not saying our killer's not a psychopath," he responded, "Most cultists are unstable or mentally vulnerable in some way. But I'm going to be very surprised if we don't discover some sort of cult affiliation during the course of our investigation. Mind, that's the sort of thing I deal with, so it's possible my experiential lens is biasing my viewpoint in much the same way that an oncologist might see cancer everywhere they look."


Ian took the photo. "So Ms. Sutton was a client of yours, thaaat's why you're interested in this case. And the police thought that Ms. Flores' disappearance was just a young girl with a dead cell phone. That's a reasonable assumption providing she'd only been missing for a little while, but by now Ms. Flores has likely been missing for quite some time, so the police should have started up some kind of investigation. Even if Sutton wasn't bothering them about it, I'm sure Ms. Flores had family, other friends, someone that would want to know where she went. Hm... Maybe Anna Sutton wasn't just in the wrong place at the wrong time after all. We should contact the police, see if they know anything about Ashley Flores' disappearance. If so, we might be able to use that information as a springboard in figuring out exactly what happened to Ms. Sutton. Might be a coincidence that one disappeared while looking for the other that had previously disappeared, but I doubt it."


"Hm, Flores disappeared first, but Sutton was the one who was killed. Meaning either Flores was kidnapped and is being held somewhere, she's somehow a part of this, or no one's found the body yet. It's probably not the latter, since you'd figure a killer would get better at hiding bodies rather than worse, and Sutton's wasn't terribly well hidden from what I understand. Yes, I'm almost certain that if we can track down Ashley Flores, we'll find the person or people who murdered Anna Sutton for her blood. Your call then, should we check with the police about the investigation into Flores' disappearance, or should we go root around in Sutton's belongings trying to find a lead there?"

 

[ChibiMonkey]

"You may very well be right about it being some sort of cult activity, or at least some involvement of it. I simply think it's important to keep the possibilities open so that way if we do encounter something contrary to your theory, we will be able to see it" she explained before continuing on his notion of him possibly being biased because that's simply what he specializes in "As you mentioned, you may possibly be more inclined to believe its cultists. But because of that viewpoint if it turns out to be something else you may not be able to see it since you're focused on it being cultists" she said before adding "I'm not meaning that as insult. I'm aware you're a skilled at what you do, I simply think it's important to not make definite conclusions before we actually have them."


As she listened to his response on what she information she had given him regarding Anna and Ashley, she nodded a bit to his comment regarding checking with the police, who by now a missing persons report was viable considering it had been a few days now. "I've already checked with them. While they were uninterested at first, I did tell them to let me know if they ended up coming across anything related to Ms. Flores' disappearance. I'm sure they are likely looking into it now, however, in a small town like ours, I'm pretty sure they've got their hands full with the murder. However, because of Ms. Sutton's untimely death, especially in this small town, I'm sure they're more interested in Ms. Flores' disappearance now. While I don't particularly think the police are all that helpful all the time, they do still have good resources, and I'm sure they're smart enough to put together her disappearance is now significant" she explained.


"On that note, the police have yet to find anything more out. As I mentioned, just before you arrived, I was on my way somewhere. I was planning to head to Ms. Flores' residence, where she lives - or lived - with her parents. I'm hoping we could get some better information there. Either from Ms. Flores' personal belongings, or her parents" she explained as she got up from her relaxed sitting position on the edge of her desk "Would you care to join me? I've already informed the parents I would be on my way."

 

[fuzzehpolarbear]

Police looking into the Flores disappearance... No body found... Doesn't necessarily mean there's no body to find... But I have a sneaking suspicion that we're going to find Ashley Flores alive and well. Or alive, at least. Ashley lived with her family? Oh god. Grieving parents. Definitely not my scene. I'll throw Eliana in front of them.


"I'd love to go for a drive with you. I should warn you though, if any of my friends see me riding in a car with a beautiful young lady, they'll start to talk. I'm just kidding! I uh, don't actually have any friends, so you know, no worries there. I will come along though. You seem to know more about the periphery of this case than I do at the moment, so I'll follow your lead to... Hang on just a moment. You said earlier you were going to examine Anna Sutton's home, but just now you said that you were going to examine Ashley's Flores' home. Where are we going, again?"


That's certainly a strange mistake for a detective to make, private or otherwise. Is it possible that Eliana's got something to do with this? Trying to throw me off the scent? Maybe she knows something about one of the girls' residences that I don't... Or maybe she isn't planning on leading me to either of them, rather to an empty field somewhere so that she can put a bullet in the back of my head? She can't honestly expect that to work, can she? If I had a nickle for every time someone tried to lead me off to a secluded place to kill me... Well I still wouldn't have that much money. With the economy the way it is you can't really get much with a handful of nickles, can you? And something else is off, too. Richards, Welsh, Cornish, Celtic, root word means "bravery", Germanic. Eliana, eastern, Hebrew, Akkad or Assyria, religious connotation, literally "God has answered me". Points to a proud religious family from somewhere in the United Kingdom, but she sounds as though she's from... New York? Russia? Hard to tell the difference sometimes. That cadence, where have I heard it before? Lawyers... Law school? No. No one drops out of law school to become a private detective. Awkward... Nervous? Lying...? Why?


"Say, this doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the case, but out of curiosity, where are you from? Just... Making small talk."

 

[ChibiMonkey]

Hearing the others remark regarding going along the drive with her, she couldn't help but smile a bit in amusement. This guy certainly wasn't familiar with ladies was he? Or at least, he came off as the awkward type, trying to make cute jokes that in the end were awkward and resulted in making him look not all to familiar with interacting with girls - or perhaps maybe it was people in general. She didn't have a problem with it, she just found it rather amusing. "Flattery will get you nowhere, Mr. Cooke" she teased the male lightly in a joking manner to see if he would lighten up a bit and maybe not be so serious. Granted, they may be dealing with a case that was more serious than the ordinary. But that hardly phased Eliana, and honestly just made her all the more interested and excited to look into it.


Hearing him second guess where they were going after she mentioned two different places she was going, she paused a bit in confusion, honestly not having noticed. "Oh, did I?" she hummed in thought before smiling "Well, I intend to go to both. I guess I'm just a bit too excited about this case that I can't keep track of my own thoughts. Mind you, while, I certainly do enjoy my job, often of the time I'm just dealing with bored housewives looking for dirt on their husbands or friends, or couples seeing if their partner is cheating on them or such sorts of mundane things. So, to be on a case like this is, as you might have known, a bit new for me. I'm just all too eager to find out more information" she said with a smile, entirely casual and not even thinking the other thought her suspicious."Why don't we start with Ms. Sutton's place. I'd rather prolong dealing with Ms. Flores' parents for as long as possible."


Heading to the door, already having her keys in hand, since she had previously grabbed them when on her way out earlier just before Ian showed up, and she never ended up putting them down while they talked. "I'll drive~" she grinned before waiting for the man to leave her apartment, where she then proceeded to lock the door up and head to her old Toyota Solara, white in color, which made the bit of rust on the bottom of the car stand out more than it would have on a darker colored car. While it was a bit old, it clearly was a nice car in its time. As she unlocked her car and opened the drivers door, she heard his comment asking where she was from.


Glancing over to him with a raised eyebrow at the way he asked, it didn't seem like he wanted to know simply for conversation sake. Almost as though he was figuring something out. But then again perhaps it was just that awkward atmosphere he seemed to hold around him. "I consider myself from Maine. But I suppose if you want to get technical I was born in England. My parents divorced when I was still young though, and I then lived in Maine with my father for most of my childhood, so I consider myself from Maine. How about yourself?"

 

[fuzzehpolarbear]

"Can't blame you for wanting a break from that really," he'd said, when she was referencing cases that sounded like episodes of Real Housewives, "Just listening to you describe your average case is making me feel as though I need to stick myself with something sharp so I don't fall asleep. Occult murder, more tragic certainly, but so much more interesting."


And then, downstairs, "Born in England, moved to Maine... Got it." That seems to check out. Maybe she just got a little overexcited after all. Ian pushed the passenger seat as far back as it would go before hopping into it. "I'm from around here, actually, born and raised. Father was a policeman, mother was a dispatcher, you can guess how they met and how the result of that meeting was eventually me." He decided to leave the part about his sister out. He usually did. It was an awkward, uncomfortable subject, and he was awkward and uncomfortable enough without throwing more fuel on that particular fire. He glanced around the vehicle. No one in the back seat... Always best to check. No visible weaponry, but that doesn't mean there aren't any weapons, just that I can't see them. No obvious blood stains. Exterior is rusty but the interior is clean, speedometer has quite a few miles on it. More likely a sentimental vehicle than a cheap clunker she picked up because she couldn't afford better. First car possibly, kept running something like 14 years... She can't be any older than 30 and she seems like the sort of person who'd have started driving as soon as possible, around 16. I wonder if she does her own maintenance. Either way, seems safe enough. Hm. Parents divorced, but custody ended up going to the father? How unusual.


Ian buckled his seat belt. "When we do get around to making their acquaintance, I'm going to go ahead and let you deal with Ms. Flores' parents. Grieving people and I aren't really a good combination. I don't get them, they don't get me, I usually end up getting punched in the face after I say something they don't want to hear, dental care is really expensive and since I'm self employed I don't have much of a dental plan... You know how it is. Sorry, one of us has to do it, and I feel like they'll be less likely to strike a woman, or indeed anyone who isn't me. While you're distracting them, I'll ransack Ashley's room. Trust me, it's best they aren't there looking over our shoulder for that. Nothing complicates a bedroom investigation more than bereaved family members who feel the need to burst loudly into tears every time you pick up one of their dead loved one's things to examine it. Besides, if you're keeping them busy, they can't go anywhere, which means if I discover something that leads me to have to ask them questions I can, or if I discover something that obviously points to one of them having murdered their daughter and fed her into a wood chipper they won't be able to sneak out the back before one of us can apprehend them... And also, I wasn't flattering you. Flattery implies insincerity. You're clearly young, no more than 30 at the oldest. You're also clearly a lady, or at least if you aren't you do a very convincing impression and you'll forgive my being fooled. As far as beautiful, I suppose that's subjective, but your characteristics certainly appeal to me. Nice build, pleasant facial structure, light dappling of freckles, lovely red hair, pretty green eyes. Your last name, Richards, the root is Germanic but it's common among modern Celtic peoples. I imagine at least one of your ancestors is from that area, perhaps not an immediate ancestor but somewhere down the line certainly."

 

[ChibiMonkey]

Nodding her head in response to his agreement to her typical cases she got, she sighed "You see what I mean" she said "While I don't mean to sound arrogant or anything, I'd like to think I'm pretty good at my job. But I'm still really small and not many people but the kind I just listed come to me for anything. Though I have helped on other missing persons cases, so those can be interesting sometimes. One of those times particularly being this one, of course. It really is quite interesting, even if tragic." she said, not appearing all that phased by the idea and notion of death.


As he answered in turn about where he was from, she nodded her head a bit in understanding. Made logical enough sense, his parents met in the workplace, and then there he came. Pulling her car in drive, she glanced at the address she had put in her phone of Anna Sutton's place, before heading off there. She'd been there once before, but that was a few days ago, when Anna was alive, and before she'd gotten ideas of going off on her own.


It didn't take more than ten minutes to get there, while the two of the talked, upholding....well, some form of conversation. It was a little weird and awkward at times, but that actually made Eliana more interested talking to Ian, finding him an interesting person to talk to, not only because he was awkward, but he seemed very intelligent - rightfully so, as he should be with his kind of job - and also different than most others. Glancing to him as he was looking all about her car, she laughed lightly "What, Don't you trust me?" she said with an amused smile, finding it funny how suspicious he was acting around her. It didn't bother her, but she just let it be, figuring it was a habit or something of sorts of his.


When he brought up how he would leave he talking to the parents, she frowned a bit, glancing over at him "Hey I was the one that offered for you to come along. No offense, but I don't need you to go 'ransacking' through Ashley Flores' room before I even get a look at it. Plus, as much as I hate gendered double standards, I'm pretty sure the parents would be more comfortable allowing me in their daughters room than another man" she pointed out as she pulled the car up into par before Anna Sutton's apartment.


Parking the car and getting out, she walked up to the front door. Figuring the door would be locked, she checked regardless. It was good to see the police seemed to be done with checking out her home, probably now left it to whatever relatives to come by to pick up belongings or whatever. "Most people living on their own leave a spare somewhere..." she mumbled out loud to herself as she searched under the front mat and a few other places. Checking behind the light on the wall beside the door, she grinned as she found the key "Got it~" she grinned at Ian before opening the door to the vacant but still cluttered and personalized apartment living space.

 

[fuzzehpolarbear]

"Of course I don't trust you. Don't take it personally," he'd replied, "I default to mistrusting everyone. It saves me a lot of time in the long run, and has saved my life on more than one occasion. As a certain popular TV physician is very fond of saying, everybody lies. The extent of the lies vary from person to person, but we all fool people, including ourselves. If we didn't, I'd wager just about everyone would detest not only themselves, but one another as well, and society as we know it would be reduced to ashes in a matter of weeks."


"Was it you that offered to bring me along, or was it I who offered to come along? I believe I was the one who suggested we work together, though you went on to give me the lead about Ashley Flores and offer me a ride. So we're about even, then, yes? Trust me, you don't want me talking to the parents. I don't really do the good cop bad cop thing very well. I understand the psychology behind it, mind you, but I don't have a good cop anywhere in here." He motioned to his face. "Most people can't tell, I put on a convincing enough face, but grieving people tend to have a sixth sense about that sort of thing, and then... Punching. Just tell them you know me and that I'm trustworthy. Lie. Like I said, we all do it. Besides, I'm not going to be up there sniffing her underwear... Unless that pertains to the case somehow, which I can't promise it won't, but I rather doubt it. And even if I find something up there, you're my ride. What am I going to do, take the evidence and hop out a window, run however many miles to the crime scene and solve the case myself? You won't hear me say this often, but you're giving me too much credit; I'm not in that good of shape, not nearly."


"It's always somewhere," Ian said of the key, "At least hiding it behind a light is a bit original. My favorite is the fake rock. There are only maybe three models of that thing, and they all look exactly the same, terribly out of place. Why does no one ever think to just keep a second key on their person somewhere other than where they keep their first key? How often are these people stumbling home completely nude without literally any of their belongings?"


Ian followed Eliana inside, looking around. Tiny apartment, one bedroom one bath, living room, kitchen. Bedroom and bath down the hallway there no doubt. "Good call about the victim living on her own," he said, having glanced about. "No significant other, at least none that I can pick out from the living room here. No pictures of her with another individual more than once... Not a lot of pictures in general. Picture of her and what are near-definitely her parents - you can tell by the faces - on the coffee table there... A lot of clutter. Clothes on the floor, magazines strewn about, if there were two people living here you'd figure at least one of them would have done something about this. Very few trinkets or novelties meaning no one was particularly dedicated to giving her gifts, though that could just mean that both she and any significant other weren't making much money doing whatever it was they were doing... Or that she had a significant other and they weren't actually that interested in her. There are also no really "male" touches out here, it's a very feminine apartment at a glance. Magazines are all women's magazines, nothing to indicate that a man's so much as stepped foot in here." He wandered into the kitchen from the living room and began opening cupboards. "Pastel kitchen knives, pastel spatula set, couple of "cute" plates and bowls from... I'd guess Target, which means the occupant wasn't entirely broke. It's not exactly Skymall, but Target's not cheap either. Hm... Rust on some of the silverware, hard water stains. Dishwasher frequently used, no dish drain. This tells us two things. One, that the quality of the water around here is rubbish, and two, that the victim doesn't do dishes by hand. The first of those two things is completely irrelevant. The second one though, combined with the clutter in the living room, tells me that she was either depressed, lazy, overworked, or some combination of the three." He wandered back into the living room. "Should be able to narrow that down to at least two after I examine the bedroom and the bathroom... Unless it IS all three, of course. So far we know our victim was particularly feminine, romantically alone, and suffering from the effects of living in modern society. Not much to go on, I'll admit. Bet she has a journal hidden somewhere though, and I bet if we read it it'll get the ball rolling in whatever the right direction so happens to be. Now we just have to hope that the police either haven't been here yet to look for it, or have been here but haven't found it, because it's probably going to be our most valuable piece of evidence."

 

[ChibiMonkey]

Had she mentioned Ian was intelligent? Maybe a bit too much so. While she certainly did respect and admire that aspect of him, it was a little bit irritation in the way he seemed to flaunt it - even if it was unintentional. She wouldn't really complain though. That intelligence could certainly come in handy. She wasn't really experienced with cases like these - especially if it turned out to be some sort of cult involvement, whereas that seemed to more-so be Ian's specialty and focus, so he would be helpful indeed. She could see why he mentioned he didn't have many, if any friends, his personality was a hard one to put up with for most individuals, she could tell. Not that she included herself in that group. Hearing his reference to a tv show, her eyes lit up a bit in interest "Are you referring to House? I love that show" she said with a smile, unable but to comment on it since she really did regularly watch it. It was her favorite binge show to watch on Netflix.


"Fair enough" she simply concluded when he went on about how they must be about even now, with how he came to her, suggesting working together, and then she provided more information that she had about the case to him. As he continued about not being the one to talk to the parents though, she held back a roll of the eyes "You ever consider you deserved a few punches?" she said as they had pulled up to the apartment and made their way inside. She didn't necessarily mean it as insult, but it was kinda hard not to see how he seemed the type to easily even if unconsciously say something that would piss someone off. In fact, she wouldn't be surprised if he was even aware of the fact he likely deserved the punches.


Stepping into the living room with the door behind her, she heard him listing off things concluded from first sight information gathered. "I could have told you some of that. She may have just been a client, but I make it a point to at least know some basics of my clients so I know what I'm dealing with. Especially since half of the time my clients seem mentally unstable in their own minor ways."


"You're correct however. Single, never married. Quite the partying type, really" she said as she walked around the living room in a slow circle too look and see if anything stood out "Her relationships tended to be the noncommittal, short ones. No real emotional attachment, and resulting in quick break ups - if they even considered themselves 'together;. Wasn't overly close with her family, and she didn't seem interested in talking about them whenever I asked. I'd guess some kind of family drama going on there. Seems she hasn't had much if any contact with them over the past few years. Definitely the single, independent lifestyle she lead" she commented as she slipped on a pair of gloves, just in case the police came back to check anything.She didn't know where they were in the investigation process of her death, and if they'd finished with her home or not.


Not finding anything of interest in the living room, she headed for the bedroom, which is what she was most interested in. It would hold more personal belongings, and hopefully, the kind of information they were looking for. At his mention of a journal, she raised a brow as she looked over her shoulder at him "Really?" she muttered "Even for young girls, keeping a journal isn't really a thing anymore. It's quite outdated" she said as she looked around the bedroom. Finding a laptop, she picked it up, moving over to sit on the edge of the bed and setting the computer on her lap, opening it "I'd bet if she did have any personal writings, they'd be on the computer" she said as she opened the screen to find it locked. Not really at all phased by it, she tapped a few keys quickly on the keyboard, opening a backdoor entrance and pass through into her computer, unlocking it and letting her in. Well, hacking, in simpler terms, she supposed.

 

[fuzzehpolarbear]

"Of course," he replied to the query about House, "Who else? Did you know that Hugh Laurie is actually English? No kidding, he's got the accent and everything, makes him sound very sophisticated. You'd never be able to tell by watching the show, brilliant bit of vocal mimicry of an American accent. I understand he struggles with it a bit from time to time, but really if you see him in interviews it's like he's a completely different person."


And then, "I never said I didn't occasionally deserve a few punches, but it's a lot more difficult to think when my face is hemorrhaging blood because I've just had a couple of my teeth knocked out. And if I need to think, and I can't think, sometimes people die... Sounds like something else House might say, actually. Not that I'm comparing."


After having followed her into the bedroom and looking around, listening too her speak of journals and computers, he replied, "I hate to claim to know the female mind more thoroughly than someone who is actually in direct possession of a female mind, but I must beg to differ. Computers, laptops, smartphones, they're all very cold and impersonal, even as people grow more and more accustomed to having their faces in one of the three from the time they wake up until the time they go to sleep. The sort of thoughts one might put into a journal are private, personal, important, to be entered ritualistically onto an object of particular importance, thus the journal. One might go to Facebook to put up a picture of their lunch, or their cat, talk about their recent minor illnesses or post pictures of irritating cartoon characters with ludicrous captions, maybe even talk at length about their battle with a serious illness... But for the thoughts that really matter, the things that are buried deep, pen and paper is all that will do. This is, I find, especially true among the more feminine set, and on that note, just look at the pinks and the purples in this bedroom. If a man's bedroom was as masculine as this one is feminine, you'd assume he had a penis the size of a grape, or that he was secretly... Hang on just a moment then."


Anna Sutton, young, attractive, intensely feminine, or at least decorated her living space in a way that would seem to indicate intense femininity... Ian thought back to the picture that Eliana had shown him of the other missing girl. Ashley Flores, young also but a bit older than Anna, black clothing, dyed hair, gothy punky sort of aesthetic, also very attractive, and... He froze as he noticed a single, small, silver crucifix necklace hanging from a jewelry tree on a shelf.


"How tragic." Stopping for a moment in his search for the journal, Ian turned to face Eliana. "Anna Sutton was a young and very attractive woman, and so was Ashley Flores. Ah, just like I told the coroner, you never know what's going to turn out to be important... I think you'll find that conventionally attractive people tend to travel in packs, not all of them but most of them. One of these women presented as incredibly feminine, quite to the point of overcompensation, and the other as a gothy, hardcore punk rocker type. Rebellious, desperate to fit into one group by not fitting into most groups, sought out dangerous situations to set herself apart from normal people. Hmph, remind you of anyone? Anyway, Ashley was older than Anna but not by much, just old enough to seem mysterious, experienced, interesting, all traits that her punk rock personality would lend credence to in Anna's eyes. You said that Anna Sutton didn't like to talk about her family, accurately extrapolating that it was likely that this was due to some kind of family drama, but what could that be? The family picture on the table in the living room, the only one she displays but doubtful the only one that she owned, it's a very "wholesome" photo, looked like the standard issue nuclear family of the 70's to a T. There's a framed picture on the wall behind the family in the picture on the table, just the lower half, but if you've conducted enough investigations that have led you through enough churches you'll know it's the bottom half of a picture of none either than Jesus Christ. Well, artist's depiction honestly, but keep with me. Anna Sutton owned one and only one crucifix, no one ever has just one. We'd have seen at least one more framed up on a wall or sitting on a shelf by now for sure. Oh, and, there's a crucifix but no bible anywhere you'd expect to find a bible. Anna Sutton was sentimental but not religious, didn't agree with her religion because her religion didn't agree with her, the crucifix necklace was a gift from her family, and she didn't have the heart to get rid of it because she loved her family despite the schism between she and they. Her relationships didn't last long because she was trying to be in relationships with the wrong people to mollify her family, but at the end of the night she couldn't seal that lie which was why she didn't ever invite any of them to come into her apartment. Religious family, estranged daughter, two pretty young ladies, one of whom was very adamant that something was wrong the instant her friend went missing, even more intensely and quickly than the family of the girl who was missing, which I think you'll agree is unusual even for best friends. So either Ashley Flores has a remarkably apathetic family and everything else is a coincidence, or Anna Sutton and Ashley Flores weren't just friends, Anna Sutton was in love with her. It was likely this feeling at least in some small way that led to her death. Desperate to find the only person she's ever had romantic feelings for, Anna went off into the night to find Ashley and then showed up dead in some bushes a short while later. Keep looking for the journal on that hard drive, I'll keep looking for it in the room. Chances are unfortunately slim that we'll find out where exactly Anna went off to that night to die, but it might give us some insight into Ashley who I imagine will end up providing the final trail of breadcrumbs."

 

[ChibiMonkey]

Becoming excited at the topic of one of her favorite Netflix binging shows, she smiled enthusiastically "Yes! I did know that actually. I just only found that out about a month ago. I certainly was surprised!" she said smiled as she enjoyed sharing a mutual interest with the man beside her, aside from the case "Yeah, he really does do an amazing job at hiding it. I had absolutely no idea. I would never think he ever has a struggle with it. But I can only imagine that keeping up an accent for sentences at length and conversations, even for an actor, must certainly be difficult."


As they eventually left the topic of House and interest in it, they again became focused on the case they were in the middle of, quite literally, since they were currently searching through Anna Sutton's apartment home. As she sat on the edge of the bed and was going through her computer, she listened to him comment about Anna actually likely having a diary. As he went into further detail regarding the relationship between not only Anna and her family, but also Anna and Ashley, she became quite interested, watching him as he seemed to suddenly have light-bulb connection after light-bulb, and it was really fascinating to her to watch someone as intelligent and skilled in his job as he was coming to such a conclusion as he had, just like that. He almost made it seem incredibly obvious. Smiling a bit, she nodded her head in amazement and agreement "You really are something..." she mumbled before shaking her head "I mean that in the best way possible, honestly" she said as she turned her focus back onto the computer screen.


"The more I consider it, the more you very well may be correct about a diary. With how independent and individual of a person Ms. Sutton was, typically on her own, not constantly surrounded by people she trusts enough to confide it...it very well makes sense she'd need some source of outlet, that possibly being a diary - or a form of such, anyways" she said, before letting him continue searching the room, while she did the computer.


Minutes into their search, Eliana's phone started to ring, interrupting the silence of the room "Oh, sorry..." she said for the interruption as she shifted, reaching into her back pocket as she pulled out her phone "Oh, I wonder what they want..." she mumbled under her breath to herself as she answered her phone "Hello? Yes, this is she....I'm sorry, what now? Are you sure?" she asked as her brows furrowed in confused and a frown etched onto her pale pink lips "....yes....I understand but -..." she kept talking though it sounded like whoever was on the other end kept cutting her off. Sighing a bit heavily, she made sure not to do so directly into the phone "Well, I'd still like to come over" she spoke, before the conversation seemed to end rather quickly.


Sighing once more as she shut her phone, she glanced over to Ian "That was Mr and Mrs. Flores...Ashley's parents. They apparently just got a letter...from Ashley Flores."

 

[fuzzehpolarbear]

"Yes, I know," he'd replied to the compliment, adding, after a few moments, "I mean... Thank you? You... Aren't... So bad yourself? Sorry, I uh, I don't get many compliments. No friends, remember. Really though, you aren't so bad yourself. Uh... Right." As if to break away from the awkward nature of that last statement, Ian quickly began searching the room again. Reaching under the bed and feeling around the bottom, there was a look of "aha!" on his face as he pulled out a small leather bound book. The name "Anna Emilia Sutton" was stenciled onto the front. Before he could say "I told you so" (although since she'd all but conceded the point there wasn't much reason for him to), Eliana's phone rang. Ian listened with some interest to the one end of the conversation he could hear, frowning when he heard Eliana say "I'd still like to come over." and watched the conversation abruptly end.


Once the phone was hung up, and Eliana had explained the call and mentioned the letter, he said, "Well, the plot thickens. I'm going to take it that they don't believe they require our services anymore, which is going to make getting to Ashley's belongings rather difficult. We can fairly safely rule out chances of the letter being a forgery since I imagine a parent would be able to recognize their child's handwriting and literary cadence well enough to be able to tell if something was off. This indicates that Ashley Flores is still alive, or at least was still alive when that letter was sent, making it ever the more likely that she had some kind of active involvement in Anna Sutton's death. The parents aren't going to believe that, however. No parent wants to think that their child could be complicit in murder. No, we're going to have to spin it some other way. Tell them the letter was probably written under duress at the behest of someone who's holding her against her will, that she's still in danger, that there's no telling what they could be doing to her, that the letter was just meant to deter the police from investigating any further... Unless of course the letter was a confession, which I feel like you'd look a bit happier if it was. Presuming that's not the case - if it was, stop me any time - we still need to get into Ashley Flores' bedroom. If the parents are convinced she's alive and well, there's a good chance they're not going to want to answer any questions, and an even better chance they won't want us poking around their daughter's room. If they aren't susceptible to our story about Ashley being held against her will and forced to write the letter under duress to halt the police investigation, we may have to go about this a bit... Illegally. You distract them, I find a... Creative way to enter the home, get the evidence we need, and get out of there before they know anything's going on. Might take some creative explanation of how we came to be in possession of certain evidence later, but we can cross that bridge when we come to it. Right now we've got a killer to track down before they can create another dead body. Oh, speaking of which." He wiggled the hand holding the journal about slightly, then held it out to Eliana. "In a little nook hanging under her bed, rather well hidden, meaning that the details in there must be very juicy indeed, or Anna was very intensive about her privacy. Either way, care to do the honors?"

 

[ChibiMonkey]

Having just gotten off the phone with Ashley's parents, Eliana was a bit at a loss of how to go about this. Well, one thing was for sure, she was still going to visit the house, and get her look around Ashley's personal items, either by permission or not. And as she had explained the phone call to Ian, and he went on about stating something similar to what had been on her mind, regarding getting into that house one way or another to see if there was any useful information in Ashley's home - which surely there was, she smiled a bit. She was liking Ian more and more. When she first met him, that being, well, about an hour ago with him showing up on her doorstep, she considered him a man on a mission, with one hard stick up his ass. But she was seeing that wasn't entirely the case, and he was more flexible, and willing to break a few rules here and there to get a job done, just as she herself was. With or without the Flores' cooperation, she was determined to get a job done.


Nodding her head in agreement to his suggestions of how they went about dealing with Mr and Mrs. Flores, she was soon distracted as he brought up another topic. A journal he proudly wagged around in his hand. "Good job!" she said excitedly before rolling her eyes with a smile "Yeah yeah, you were right. Congrats" she said with teasing smile as she took the journal that he handed to her to see. Setting the computer off of her lap and to the side for now, she opened it up. There were quite a lot of entries in it. Some shorter, some longer, entries ranging from half a page to multiple pages back-sided. Those pages seemed good, they would be in more detail is what that meant. She ignored dates from several months ago - the more recent would be the better bet to start with. If they needed too, they'd go back further.


As she opened up the most recent entry, she quickly scanned over it with her eyes "Hey...this is something" she said as she stopped, rereading the line in full that caught her eye, pointing her finger to it as she read it out loud so he could look at it too, if interested "...'I'm getting really worried about Ash. She still hasn't gone back to her parents, or sent me a single text. I'd like to think it's just me being over-paranoid for her safety because I care so much...but I really think this is something bigger. Why would she just go off without a word to me? Though I guess she was acting weird the past few weeks...I just though she was having a bad time with her parents again or something. I keep checking the places we usually go to, but no sign. Tomorrow I'll head over to where I first met her'..."


"That could be promising...this was her last entry, and if she followed through with visiting wherever it was they first met the next day, it's likely either there, or somewhere along that route, is when Anna fell victim to whatever happened to her" she said as she glanced back to Ian "This is good. We don't know where it is they first met...but it's possible Anna wrote about their first meeting in here on whatever day it was they met..." she said before looking at the journal and sighing heavily "Only issue is there are a lot of entries in here" she muttered, not looking forward to going through it. And especially if they ended up coming empty handed and there wasn't any information regarding where they first met in this journal.

 

[fuzzehpolarbear]

"Having a bad time with her parents again," Ian repeated. "Interesting. I wonder what the point of contention could have been between Ashley and her parents? It's possible that they just didn't approve of the whole rocker girl thing, a lot of parents wouldn't. But it could be for the same reason that Anna was estranged from her parents. Either way, if she and her parents were on the outs, it might also mean that they might actually not recognize a difference in her writing style. Not going to put too much money on that theory, though. Most parents, even crappy ones, know their children well enough, especially if they're physically living with them. Hm... Ashley's parents hung up very quickly when you mentioned that you still wanted to come and speak with them. That's more than a little suspicious. You'd expect them at least to argue that since they received a letter from Ashley she's obviously fine so why do you still need to talk to them, or something along those lines. But they seemed adamant to get off the phone... With... Damn. Damn damn. They didn't say what the letter said, did they? Only that it was from Ashley, then when you mentioned coming over they practically seemed to hang up immediately. Why? Again, why wouldn't they put forward some kind of argument? What if it was a ransom letter? Come to such and such a place with a sack full of cash or we'll start sawing off parts of your daughter, if you call the police she's dead, you know, that kind of thing. They could also be setting up the Flores' family as the next set of victims. Damn! Alright, new plan, we need to get to the Flores house before they leave. Call them back, if by some miracle they pick up, tell them not to do anything hasty. And give me the journal, you're right, you must be, Anna had to have been grabbed either where she and Ashley first met, or somewhere along the way. I'll read it on the way over, try and determine where that first meeting took place. If we can't find that exact information we'll have to find wherever Ashley kept the record of her life history and compare accounts, see what places they visited in common, narrow it down from there... We should hurry. It's quite possible a timer's just started ticking, and there's no telling how many people could end up dead if we don't figure this out by the time it reaches zero."

 

[ChibiMonkey]

As she had scanned over the page and read that brief passage of the otherwise very long and detailed entry from that day she had written it, she looked over to Ian to see his take and opinion on it. Seeing him working things through in his head like a fast train of thought, she nodded a bit as she listened to what he said, and regarding the situation with the parents.


While she did make haste in handing him the book and heading back to her car with him, she thought about the possible situations he suggested could occur "It didn't sound as though a ransom or threat of sorts. While it certainly is true that they may still be targets by whoever is operating all this, when I spoke to them just now on the phone, albeit it was briefly, they didn't sound as though they were worried, per say. More like they just wanted to be done....but I don't know, it's all very suspicious indeed. Even if it's a genuine letter from Ashley, even if its one promising she was safe and fine - which I highly doubt is the case, she's certainly involved in this somehow, one hundred percent at this point. But even if all that, I don't understand or see any parent considering just a handwritten letter as acceptable after disappearing for several days, by now. Unless it's perhaps because of the possibility they aren't all that close. Or more-so...perhaps they're used to this. This is normal for them? After all, Ms. Sutton commented how even Ashley Flores' parents weren't as concerned as she was about their daughters sudden absence. So they weren't worried by their daughters disappearance. Meaning they might be used to it? And now more-so with the fact that the supposedly received a letter....perhaps this could all be normal for them. What if Ashley has disappeared like this more than once, and a letter is how she confirms to her parents she is fine - wherever she is. Her parent's weren't concerned sounding on the phone...and wanted to hang up and assure me I didn't need to visit, as though it was normal and they knew things were fine now..." she trailed off as she unlocked her car, getting inside with Ian and starting it up as they drove off to the Flores' house.

 

[fuzzehpolarbear]

"It's quite possible she just has horrid parents," Ian admitted, "It does happen... Quite frequently in fact. Have you ever noticed how you'll wander around from day to day wondering about some people how they even have the wherewithal to simply keep themselves alive? Maybe it's just me. Either way, you can blame sub-par parenting for most of that. Obviously there are other factors, but generally speaking an awful parent will produce awful children, who will go on to be awful parents themselves of course because they're driven by intense biological impulses to reproduce despite their glaring inadequacies. Just say "no", I say. I could go on for literal hours on that particular subject, but I don't imagine you're interested, and there are likely lives hanging in the balance, so I won't ramble on about it. My question is, I get the psychology of the journal, as I mentioned before... But who sends a letter? I mean really, why bother with a letter at this point when telecommunication reaches every corner of the planet? Besides, it's not as though their daughter is in Mozambique. I mean I suppose we don't know for certain she's not in Mozambique, but I wouldn't assign a high probability to that possibility. Why not just call or send a text message? You may well be right about their being used to their daughter disappearing for large stretches of time... Again, she gives off a very heavy rocker punk vibe, and those kinds of people aren't notorious for respecting curfew. It's also possible they aren't dashing off to go take a suitcase full of cash and jewelry to a group of cultists who've decided to ransom their daughter for entertainment. You talked to them on the phone, I imagine you'd know better than I would by their tone what they may or may not be doing. Even still, I believe we've learned all we're going to learn about the case for Anna's apartment, so it's time to examine Ashley's room. We're on our way anyway, if we happen to stop the parents from doing something very foolish, all the better."


As he spoke, Ian was flipping through Anna's journal with one hand while jotting things down in a notebook with a pen in the other.

 

[ChibiMonkey]

As they were already making their way out of Anna Sutton's apartment, she listened to Ian talking about the cause and effect of bad parenting, as well as how it was very well likely that her theory of Ashley going off and disappearing frequently was in fact correct. Making her way out the front door, she was sure to lock the apartment back up. Not that it would likely matter much, considering poor Anna was dead, so it's not as though she would miss anything should it go amiss or stolen....persay...a journal, perhaps. Even still, she locked it up, though kept the key in her pocket. While they seemed to have gotten everything they could from the apartment, in an ongoing case, you never know what scenes or information you may need to go back and look over several times again. Who knows, perhaps they'd find something out and need to find something else from late Anna's home. Unlikely....but still very well possible.


As she made her way to her car, unlocking it and getting in, she turned her car on "In regards to the letter....perhaps she's old fashioned" she said with a shrug of her shoulders "I know, unlikely still, for anyone to care to write a letter rather than a text or call that would be a lot faster. However, being the edgy punk she seems to be, she might be all into writing letters, being all hipster about the iea or something" she said as she pulled the car back out onto the road and headed towards the direction of Ashley's home she shared with her parents "But then again. A letter with no return address is a lot harder to trace than a phone call. Phones always leave their mark somewhere. It's very well possible she used a letter so, should anyone decide to go looking, perhaps, people like us, y'know, it's a lot harder to find where it came from and it's source" she explained, as within about ten or so minutes later, she pulled up into the drive to the Flores' residence, where lights could be seen lit through the windows "Seems someones still home" she said as she got out of her car after parking it and turning it off "Unless they just like to run their electricity bills high and contribute to global warming."

 

[fuzzehpolarbear]

"I've met people with stranger habits," he said, in regards to her comment about the electricity bill. "Or more likely they forgot to worry about their utility bill because they left their home in a hurried panic... Assuming they don't end up being home, that is." Ian got out of the car with her. "So presuming they are home - if they aren't this is going to be very easy - how do you want to handle this? If Ashley's parents think she's alright, it's going to be a lot more difficult to get to her belongings. If we tell them that their daughter may be somehow involved in a murder, they're going to clam up, lawyer up, and try and get us to come back with a warrant, which not being police we can't actually do. I can try and sell them on the imminent danger thing, but I don't think they'll buy that at this point. If they were willing to believe their daughter was still in danger, they'd probably not have hung up on you nearly so quickly. Seems like our best bet is for you to try and get them out of the house while I sneak in and rummage through Ashley's room. I should just need to find whatever she uses as a journal, cross-reference the places the two of them have both been, narrow down potential cult cloister locations, likely secluded, privately owned real estate that your average young woman would normally have no particular business visiting. I don't know how long it'll take. Let's assume it's going to be incredibly difficult to find Ashley's journal, that I'm going to need a while to search for other clues that might be relevant, plus at least 60 seconds to get inside and locate Ashley's room, and I might need about... Twelve minutes, at most. They'll never know I was there. One thing about being someone who examines a lot of crime scenes, it teaches you how not to create a crime scene."