With Friends Like These. . .

Missing

Police tape. Trevor’s apartment was blocked off with police tape. A few officers still mulled around outside the property, looking around, bagging things. Evidence? What--This was a crime scene? A murder scene? She sat, pale and shaking. Trevor was dead? Did they think it, or did they have a body?

What if he was dead in there right now, and--

Knock knock.

Evie screamed softly, startling both her and the officer who knocked on her window. She rolled it down, and shakily greeted the officer.

“Ma’am are you alright?”

“Y-Yes officer! S-Sorry. . . I-Is there. . . A body?”

The officer’s eyes sharpened, and he pulled out a notepad. No! She didn’t want to make herself a suspect! “A body? Why would you ask something like that?”

“T-This is my boyfriend’s house, a-and he stopped texting me back sometime l-last night! I-I wanted to see if he was okay, and w-when I asked m-my friend, she s-said there were police a-at his house!” Her breathing was shaky, words coming out in hiccupy sobs.

“So you weren’t the one who filed the missing person’s report?”

“No, t-that was my f-friend Karli.”

The longer they spoke, the less on guard the officer was. His initial suspicion subsided, the more she cooperated with him. Evie had nothing to hide, and everything to gain from this encounter.

“I can’t disclose the details, but there’s no body. There wouldn’t be a body for a missing persons report, huh?” He asked softly.

“Y-Y-Yeah, you’re right.”

“Well, Maeve, how about I give you a ride home. You seem pretty shaken and I don’t think you should be driving right now. We’ll talk more about these text messages on the way. And you said your friend lives next door?”

Evie nodded wordlessly.

The officer grabbed his walkie and mumbled something she didn’t catch. Another officer broke away from the scene, and started walking back to one of the cruisers. “That’s good. We have some questions about your friend’s story, we’ll be able to clear those up--Hopefully with your help too.”

He was the good cop. But, Evie had nothing to hide. She had nothing to fear. So, she strode up to the cruiser door, waited for him to let her in, and climbed into the back seat. “Will my car be okay?”

“Yeah, it’s parked fine, and I’ll put word in with the boys about the situation.” Said a stern looking older woman in the driver’s seat. The younger officer sat shotgun, and did most of the talking.

They didn’t know it, but Evie was interviewing them just as hard. She was able to glean a lot from their talks, even if she was the one giving more pointless details away. They suspected he was still alive. Or taken alive, at least. They did find blood at the scene--And something that wasn’t blood. But it didn’t seem they could get DNA out of it. And they definitely didn’t suspect her.

But there was some suspicion around the woman who submitted the report--Karli. What was Karli still hiding? As they pulled up to her home, the two officers got out. She hesitated, watching the older one head directly towards Karli’s house. The younger officer opened her door and invited her out.

“C’mon sweetie, lets get you inside. And can we use this number to contact you if we have any more questions?”

“Yessir.” She mumbled softly, her ears perking to catch the muted conversation the other officer was having with Mr. Alinac.

“Where did she go?”

“S-She was taken to the medical center by one of her friends--A-Alex, I think his name was. Is she okay? Is she in trouble?”

“Not in trouble, sir, we just have some questions. She submitted a missing persons report last night, and we needed to clarify a few hazy details.”

“Christ--I didn’t know she was even. . . I hope she’s okay. I know they were close.”

“Do you know which medical center she was sent to?”

“I’ll get you the address.”

That was all she caught before she was ushered inside, and the door shut behind her. So now, Karli was missing too? Did she have something to do with his disappearance? Her mind raced, spinning with endless unanswered questions echoing themselves into the back of her subconsciousness.

And why was it all happening to Evie? Did she miss the memo where her life was turned into some weird murder mystery K-Drama? Could she just go back to wasting her twenties with her dumb friends, and low key fantasizing about the DILF next door?

Mr. Alinac spent a lot of time knocking at her door, and Evie spent even more time pretending she wasn’t home. He looked so angry. Did she rat on Karli? Was it some crazy murder family secret, or something? Whatever the case, she had to do some digging. She saved every message from Trevor, in case it might be important later. Tracing some of the activity from his alternate media accounts, she could tell the last time he was on his phone was when he liked a bikini pic from a nearly naked model.

“Classy, Trev. If I somehow find your ass, you’re going to pay me back so f*****g hard.” Again, she flinched away from the sound of Mr. Alinac’s knocking. This time, his voice floated up to her room.

“Evie, please? I’m not mad, I just want to talk. I’m worried. I don’t know where Karli is, and neither do the police.” But she didn’t respond. A heavy sigh hurled itself against the door, he raised his fist to knock one more time, before dejectedly walking back across the yard.

What really bothered Evie was the fact that somebody had been in her room. It had to be Karli. If Mr Alinac had a key to her house, he would have let himself in, instead of endlessly knocking. Karli knew she kept her window unlocked.

And the sweater stashed under her pillow, so neatly folded so only if you knew to look for it would you know it was there, now dragged out across her bed. Nothing was missing, as far as she could tell. It just looked like Karli had grabbed her sweater, started to steal it, and then gave up halfway.

[Karli, are you okay? Your dad is trying to bust down my door, figuring out where you are. if you could text him back, that would be great.]

She didn’t get a response, but she knew Karli saw the message. She even reacted to it.

[I’m starting to believe you now. Something is up. Weird s**t is happening. I think maybe possibly I know who has something to do with it. I can’t tell you though, not until I look into it more.]

Another non-response, reaction.

[Stay safe out there. Don’t get kidnapped. Help me find Trevor.]

Evie knew with a sinking feeling, she would have to return the sweater. Not for anything less than nefarious purposes however. The sweater was an excuse to get her over there. A get out of jail free card if she was caught snooping.

If she could just find whatever he was keeping in that bag she saw him dragging through the yard the other night, everything would be explained. She needed everything to be explained. Truth was a drug, and she was a junkie in desperate need of a fix.

Hell nor high fences would stand in her way.