Unraveled

Chapter Six: Anti-social.

" Violence against women isn't cultural, it's criminal. Equality cannot come eventually, it's something we must fight for now " -Samantha power

Sam stopped the car right at the front entrance to the Miller's house. An officer approached Diana and her.

" Officer Ryker here, Mr Miller said that Mrs Miller left the house at 8:15 a.m. on Wednesday and has not returned since. he's been a mess and hasn't stopped crying." he went straight to the point.

"Sam starling and this is my partner Diana Warren."

" You're really famous around here detective starling, detective Warren" he noded at them and they nodded back.

"Where is Mr Miller?" Asked Diana.

"In the living room, follow me"

Sam took a look at the house, from the outside it looked beautiful, yet simple. It wasn't a huge house just a gray two-story house with white details. The porch didn't have anything on it, not a swing nor a plant. The four steps to get to the white door we're squeaking under her feet.

The moment she entered the house a strong smell hit her nose, like scented candles or air refreshener, it was too strong. The walls were white with a lot of frames that held pictures of what looked like a happy couple. Everything looked clean, neat and just perfect! From the carpetless wooden floor, to the colorful corner pillows on the navy blue couches, where Mr Miller was sitting.

After introducing themselves, the two detectives started questioning the panicking husband.

" Where was Mrs Miller going"

"She was going to the supermarket to buy some groceries. She always went early ' less people… less time waiting ' she'd say"

"Do you have any children Mr Miller ?"

"No, We weren't blessed yet. We were so in love that we wanted to stay just the two of us as much as we can… oh my lovely butterfly. I miss her so much already"

" Mr Miller, be sure that we will do everything in our power to find her and find out what happened to her"

Sam couldn't help but observe Mr Miller. His hair was messy and his eyes red from crying. He was wearing a black dress shirt with dark jeans, he was well built and didn't look any older than 30. He kept looking around everywhere, he occasionally would bite his nails or chew on his lips, but other than that he was composed considering what he's been through.

" Mr Miller…"

" Zack, please call me Zack"

" Zack, is there anyone or any place Mrs Miller might have went to?"

" No, not really. Her parents passed away before we met and she didn't like to go out or talk to new people, so it was just me and her…"

After talking with Zack, the detectives moved on to talk to the neighbors. " The Millers are such a lovely couple I don't know why Mrs Miller would leave…"

" I've seen her around the house, she didn't really mingle with any of us. Even though we invited her a couple of times for a morning coffee and some gossip…"

" I'm sorry, I'm hardly ever home. I remember my wife told me she visited her once though… She's on her way home if you'd like to wait for her. she's a nurse and work at the hospital near by"

"That would be lovely thank you"

They waited outside, observing the neighborhood. It seemed quiet and peaceful, surely a lot of gossip goes around. They'll just have to wait for people to come forward with any information. That is what they encourage them to do.

" Honey, these detectives were here to ask about Mrs Miller. You went to her house once right?"

" Hello"

" My name is Diana, this is my partner Sam. We were hoping to ask you a few question about Mrs Miller…"

"Is she all right?!" she sounded concerned. "Mrs …" Diana started but she didn't know the nurse's name.

" My name is Danielle. You can call me just that." she answered with a smile. They could tell she was a friendly nurse that actually liked taking care of people with a smile always drawn on her face.

"Danielle, how did you know Mrs Miller?"

" I didn't really know her… she actually called me from her front porch. I was on the way to my shift and was running a little late, so I didn't hear her at first but then she shouted a little higher and caught my attention. She was holding her elbow and seeing her face, I knew she was in pain so I rushed to her"

"She was hurt?"

" It wasn't anything serious though, she told me she was installing a light bulb and fell off the chair. She thought her arm might be broken, but fortunately, it wasn't. It was just a strong hit, it hurt a lot and even bruised"

"So you took her to the hospital?"

" No, she didn't want to go. Even after I insisted, telling her it would be better if she had an X-ray done.

"Why wouldn't she want to go to the hospital" Sam whispered mostly to herself. She didn't notice she said it out loud interrupting what Danielle was saying.

"She told me she was going to go when she spotted me. But since I checked her arm and bandaged her up she didn't feel too much in pain, so there was no need. And since I was late for my shift I had to leave, but not before making her promise me to go to to get it checked if the pain resurfaced. I guess she didn't because I saw her a few days after, walking to the house and she seemed fine"

"Was her husband home?"

"No, I remember she told me he was at work"

"Thank you. One last question, when was that?"

" Oh, I can't really remember…" Danielle said while she put a finger to her lower lip and frowned her eyebrows thinking. " I was covering for a friend, she had some personal thing… that was in January I believe" she said squinting her eyes

"So 7 months ago?"

" I believe so… something like that. Yes" "Thank you Danielle"

They decided to ask Zack about the incident. And although he confirmed she fell, he looked rather surprised at the fact that she asked the neighbor for help.

"Ah yes, my poor Veda, she's always so clumsy. She was cleaning the windows, even though I asked her not to tire herself and she fell. Mrs White is an angel for treating my Veda. I believe I somehow forgot to thank her.

" So Veda fell off the ladder while cleaning the window and she told you that Mrs White helped her?" Questioned Diana.

"Oh yes, of course… I don't see how this is relevant…" Zack's expression turned dark and irritated.

"We just want to know more about Mrs Miller. Maybe she had a tendency to hurt herself?" Sam quickly replied. She did not want to alert him in case he really was abusing her.

" God no! She would never! I mean she was clumsy, now that I think about it, she was hurt more than once. But it must have been by accident, right?"

" I'm sure it was Mr Miller" said Sam.

"Thank you for your time, Zach " Diana gave him a smile that did not reach her eyes.

"Please find her. I cannot live without her!" They both nodded and headed out.

"Ah… Zach! Did Veda take her phone with her? " asked Sam while standing by the door.

"My Veda didn't like phones. Something about cancerous waves." he let out a nervous chuckle "She never let me get her one" he answered. Visibly clenching his fists trying to control himself and as soon as he noticed Sam was looking at his hands, he shoved them in his pockets and smiled." Anything else detectives ?"

"That would be it. We will keep in touch Mr Miller." was the last thing Sam said well I in the garden on her way to her car.

A few hours later and all Sam could gather, was that it seemed Zack and Veda had a good quiet life. They didn't have any friends, so no one really knew her. Somehow that didn't sit well with Sam, so she talked with her partner and Diana felt the same.

" I don't know why, but all I felt in The Miller's house was cold and loneliness."

"It's weird that they didn't have any pictures of either of their families." said Sam.

" I noticed everything was too tidy! Like Zack had an OCD, yet his hair was a mess. I did see him fixing it but then he kept messing it out."

" Yeah, it seemed out of character. Like he wanted to show us he was grieving!" Sam said. Both detectives felt something was wrong with Zack, but at the same time their job required professionalism, evidence and no speculations.

" There is nothing under the name of Veda Miller on our database. She didn't even have a driver's license!"

" Not even the DNA samples give us anything. It's like she didn't exist!"

"D! I'm telling you something is seriously messed up. I believe if Zack found her before we do, she will definitely not be safe!"

" We need to be careful. CSI collected a few things from the Miller's house, we need to wait and see what the results will tell us."

"Ugh! I hate waiting for evidence!" exclaimed Diana. Even though she always waited for concrete evidence, she would still complain about it.

The next day the results came back. The house was clean. No traces of blood, no signs of struggle or breaking. And all Veda's things were still in the house so she couldn't have just left.

A few of the neighbors were spreading the news of a missing Veda Miller. They we're trying to help as much as they could or their time allowed. When someone asked Zack for a picture of Veda he got angry and later on justified his anger on being sad and hurt. This made the police question Mr Miller's temper, going back to talk to the neighbors. But this time they were asking about Zack's personality. They even asked his co-workers. They said he kept to himself and never revealed anything too personal.

" Zack is a really nice guy… he is the cleanest employee I've ever hired! He keeps everything in its place! Not a single paper out of order." revealed his boss. " Is he in trouble?" he questioned.

"No, just doing our job investigating around about his wife's disappearance. Since you informed us you did not know Mrs Miller, we asked about Mr Miller. Just a routine sir!" Sam elaborated with a professional smile.

" I am sorry for what happened to her. Zack said she was kidn*pped, how come you're saying it's a missing person case?"

" It has not been confirmed yet. Nothing implies that she's been kidn*pped. Thank you for your time Mr Chandler" explained Diana.

Sam and Diana drove to the other side of the town where the Millers lived. One of the neighbors, a Ms Blake, had something to say " Poor Mr Miller. I know some people started talking about him when he lashed out at Matt. It's just that he was always very jealous and protective over his wife. When Matt asked for a picture of her, he got a little upset" the old lady defended.

" Ma'am, he broke Mr Davis' nose!" Diana interjected her.

" Because he is an honorable young man! Most of the young ones nowadays have no shame in showing off their women like they are some trophies!" Ms Blake spat in disgust.

Sam's eyes widened and she flared her nose. Being jealous and protective of one's loved ones is one thing, but being violent about it is another! Sam's mind played pictures and scenes of her uncle 'protecting' his wife and she shuddered.

" One time he beat up my son for looking at his wife. I tell you my boy is trouble and he might be a player like his father; my ex-husband. At first I did not appreciate what Mr Miller did but then later he talked to my boy and put some sense in him. I'm telling you that boy was respectful towards me after that! All thanks to Mr Miller. God bless his heart"

"This man screams 'abuser' to me!" Diana exclaimed. Sam just nodded her head.

"We've already searched all hospitals, clinics and even shelters within the area. Nothing! No one even saw her.

" Sam we cannot ignore the fact that when Zack explained Veda's routine to us she didn't have mush of a life… Even though he tried to normalize it!"

Sam couldn't deny it. In fact she was thinking the same thing! Zack had gone through her routine with them. She'd wake up early in the morning clean the house prepare breakfast and see her husband out. When Diana asked him what she did during the time he wasn't home, he joked about no one really knowing what women spend their time doing. But when he noticed both women stared at him blankly he cleared his throat and went on saying that he does most of his work from home, so he's only gone from the house for a couple of hours a day so his wife won't feel lonely. She didn't have any friends because she didn't like people and hated technology. Therefore never owned a phone. If Sam didn't notice Veda that day at the Center, she might have believed Zack's act. But she knew better.

"I believe it's time to go public with this. We need all the help we can get" Sam declared.

" I'll call Casey, she would want to cover this story" Announced Diana

"Great, give her Veda's photo. Anyone who has seen her must contact us"

" Do you want me to distribute her photo to other precincts?"

" You bet I do" Sam answered while grabbing her keys. They decided to head home and get some rest, they needed to clear their minds to find Veda.

      "Mommy" cried Laura as her back hit the side table. Jasmine's breath caught in her throat.

" You were planning on leaving me again…" her uncle's voice was full of anger and hatred. Even though Jasmine was apologizing to her husband, her eyes were focused on Laura. " Last time you did, I begged you… This time it won't go like that" he went to grab her hair again, but she screamed louder than ever seeing the blood coming out of Laura's nose. The girl was unconscious. Sam's uncle panicked, fear evident in his eyes. He looked back at his wife and that's when he noticed the open closet door behind her. Jasmine took advantage of his distraction, not really caring what was the reason and ran to her daughter, she pulled her to her lap and sobbed.

" WHAT THE f**k ARE YOU DOING HERE!?!"   the venom in his voice could make a grown man quiver, and Sam was only nine.