A Sad Murder

Clueless

Alice and her squad were still at the crime scene investigating the homicide that had taken place. They were looking for any possible clues to find the murderer. Right about now she was interrogating the two neighbors if they noticed any unfamiliar occurrences last night. Mr Oscar said he was sleeping soundly last night and didn't hear anything odd in the neighborhood.

"Or honey did you hear anything?" Mr Oscar asks his wife and she nods.

"I heard screams" Mrs Oscar and Mrs George the second neighbor answered in unison.

"You heard screams?" Alice raised a brow at them and they nodded. "Then why didn't you come out and find out what was going on?" she frowns at them.

"Because I taught that crazy girl is at it again" Mrs Oscar replies non-chalantly.

"What do you mean?" Alice questions looking confused.

"There's this night she screamed like that outside her house when she was coming back from work, and when we came rushing out to find out what's wrong she said it was just a rat that startled her" Mrs Oscar narrated.

"Are you sure that's what she said?" Alice asks not satisfied with the response she just got.

"Yes cop. But I had a feeling something was up that night before she got so scared that way" Mrs George answered.

"Did she tell you anything like someone was chasing after her or something similar to that?" Alice asks and Mrs George shook her head.

"She didn't tell me anything of such, it was only a suspicion I had" Mrs George replied.

"Actually yesterday was the third time I'm hearing screams come from her house" Mrs Oscar said and all gaze fell on her.

"Which other times have you heard screams?" Alice asks.

"Last two nights. That night her boyfriend was visiting her, so I thought is just them playing and all that. Then yesterday, the screams was different, it was like a painful cry but still i was confused because of other times. If only i had known someone was dying, I would have helped" she said and began sobbing.

"It's ok honey, it's not your fault that it happened" her husband replies and pulls her into an embrace.

"Anna has gone missing and we're doing all we can to trace her. There's a 90% chances she isn't the one behind the murder, it must have been her stalker" Alice said.

"Her stalker? Was someone stalking her?" Mrs George asks and Alice nodded.

"We spoke with her friends and they told us she noticed someone was following her a couple of times at different occasions but she never reported the incident to the police because she wasn't really certain if it was real or an hallucination" Alice explains.

"Why should someone even think of harming such a sweet innocent girl? She's new in the neighborhood and haven't even enjoyed her stay here yet" Mrs George sniffles and wiped her eyes.

"Have something like this ever happened here in this neighborhood before?" Alice asks the three adults.

"No. Since my wife and I moved in here 10years ago none of this has ever happened. We're still surprise how such a scary thing could happen around here. Now I don't think our safety is guaranteed here" Mr Oscar said in a worried tone of voice.

"Don't worry, nothing is going to happen to all of you. What you need to do is to be observant of your environment, if you notice any strange things do not hesitate to call the emergency number, okay?" Alice warns and they nodded. "Two of our men will be securing this place for the moment until we're able to come up with something better. Thank you for your time" she continues and gave a slight bow.

Alice left Anna's neighbors and walked back to Anna's house. She went to her room in search of anything that will serve as a guide in her investigation but found nothing not even a slightest clue. "Damnit!" she hisses and kicked the wall frustratingly.

****

Anna parents made it to Dublin at sundown, they went straight up to the police station when they arrived. They were both in panic and Anna's mom never stopped crying after she got the news that her daughter has gone missing.

Alice was already waiting for them before they arrived, when she caught sight of them she knew it was them by their worried expression. She walked up to them, "Hello, I guess you're Anna's parents?" she inquired.

"Yes we are, have you seen my child yet?" Anna's dad, Greg asked.

"No, we're still working on it" Alice answered and Anna's mom burst into tears.

"Oh my daughter, my baby" she cries and her husband wrapped his arms and envelopes her in an embrace.

"What happened? How did my daughter got lmissing?" Greg asks.

"Your daughter's boyfriend was murdered in your daughter's apartment last night and she went missing from that moment till now" Alice answered and Anna's mom gasps in shock and clasps her hand to her mouth.

It was shocking to find out her daughter's boyfriend whom Anna just told her about yesterday evening is now dead.

"My daughter's boyfriend? My daughter has no boyfriend" Greg argues.

"Honey, Anna did have a boyfriend" his wife said feeling a bit guilty for not telling her husband. Her husband stared down at her and releases her from his arms.

"You knew about it and didn't bother telling me?!" he yells.

"I'm sorry, it was just yesterday she told me about and...."

"You should have still told me! Yesterday till now is enough time to tell me all about it!" he cuts in.

"Seriously Greg? Is that what you're more interested in right now? Didn't you even hear what the cop lady just said about the young guy? He's dead, Greg! The young guy is dead!" she yells to his face.

"Maybe he was there to kill my daughter and it turn the other way round for him" he blurted and his wife gasps and stared at him in disbelief.

"How could you even think that, Greg?! Anna told me a lot of amazing things the young guy has done for her before he died. So how dare you think he was there to murder our daughter?!" she wails and her husband went dumbfounded. "You're way too judgemental! You should be concern of finding our missing daughter not judging her for having a boyfriend" she hisses and stepped away from him and went to Alice.

"Please find my daughter and save her. I'm sure it must have been that ruthless bastard that must have taken my daughter" she grunted angrily.

"Ruthless bastard? Did Anna tell you anything about who it might have been?" Alice asks.

"Yes, yes. Yesterday during our conversation, she mentioned all the scary stuffs she's been going through. She told me someone has been stalking her and whenever she tries to get a hold of the person, he/she always disappears and it made her feel like it wasn't real. But look at, it's all real, that monster killed my daughter's boyfriend and took my daughter away to God knows where. Please find him before he kills my daughter too" she begs holding Alice's hand.

"How can all this be happening? Why didn't you tell me last night so I'll make her come back home even if it's in a forceful way?" Greg questions and his wife shook her head disappointingly.

"What magic would you have done for her to come back yesterday? Can't you see everything happened so fast? There's no one to blame here, so just stop" she sobs and her husband sweeps his hair and paces around confusedly.

"What do we do now cop? How do we find that son of a b***h so I can slit his throat for tempering with my only beloved daughter?" Greg asks.

"We're still trying our best to find whoever that person is and where he's hiding. It's going to be a little difficult because he left us with no clues to find him" Alice said and this sent Anna's mom into more sobs.

"Are you trying to say there's no possibilities of finding her?" Greg asks with eyes blazing red.

"For now the chances of finding her is very slim" Alice answered and sighs heavily.

"f**k!" he growls angrily. He was angry and sad at the same time. He clams his fist and he took his anger on the wall and punched it twice sending surprise glances his way.