“Hello, are you Avie Conrad?”
A knock at her apartment door interrupted her dinner late into the evening, opening the wood to two constables standing with pen and paper in hand, badges outstretched.
“Yes, that’s me. How can I help you?”
They flipped closed the leather containing the metallic ID, the one to her left clicking his pen, ready to take notes, “Just had some questions regarding the body of Garret Kipper being found early this morning. We’re going around and seeing if anyone had any information that would help the case.”
Heaving a sigh of relief at hearing nothing was brought up about her jacket, she described going to Owen’s late that night, unable to sleep. Even walking down the streets in the late hour, but unfortunately not seeing a struggle or anything suspicious.
“Thank you for your time, Miss. Conrad, if you remember anything else, give us a call,” with their words, they handed over a business card, and promptly left.
They really didn’t find her coat in the woods. Avie wondered if someone found it and decided to use it as their own, seriously starting to question if bird-man moved it when he used it to find her that night. Yet another question she could ask, if she was going to receive an answer was up for debate.
In the next few days, dozens of missing person’s cases were indeed escalated and reopened. Police were forced to go over old evidence, eyewitness reports, out of city departments and follow-ups, including dredging the lake and combing the woods. People were now aware that individuals who had gone missing in the past simply didn’t go back to an old life; they disappeared, not heard from whatsoever. It caused a few residents to move, despite their knowledge of the call inevitably returning once they traversed away from the town, a few speculating they would be back in no time.
However, despite the police department’s best efforts over the course of weeks, anyone else that disappeared were not found. It was still early, but if there were so many cases of missing people over the decades, something would have been discovered by now. They ended up pulling back from the extensive search within their borders.
Owen and Avie tried everything in their power to get insider information, hoping anything the detectives could give them would help their own case about what was really going on behind the scenes.
The blond was like a kid on Christmas with the new revelations, getting slivers of information only added to his passion for the project they started. The woman believed their first flaw as a team was too many jumping off parts, but he disregarded that, stating they needed as much information as possible to be accurate.
Avie finished stacking the case files collected in her bedroom away, assembling the laundry she gathered from the community dryer and got to work on folding as she sat comfortably on the bed, a program idly chatting on in the background. She huffed, unimpressed at the pile done, still needing to fold another basket, and possibly start on a new load, her procrastination getting the better of her and leaving her more work to do all at once.
In the middle of moving a pile of shirts from her couch to the bedroom, the cryptid’s voice startled her with his unexpected intrusion, “There were people poking around my home. I cannot imagine what they wanted to find there.”
Hands dropped the clothes she carried, “I’m so sorry, I didn’t send them to find you, I haven’t told anyone! They’ve been looking over the whole town for missing people.”
His laid-back attitude put her on edge, not exactly sure what he was expecting from her. He sat down in her armchair, picking up a t-shirt from a folded pile, examining the garment. Avie gathered up the scattered mess on the floor, she thought about turning off the television, it was her only source of light in the space. She really did not want him to smash it as he did to her light bulb.
“I figured as much, that is why I am not here to interrogate on the matter. Have they found any?”
She simply shook her head once his eyes were taken off the cloth and met hers, putting the pile she held back down into the basket. He unceremoniously dropped the shirt back on top of the neat stack beside him, tsking.
“Such a shame, they drove me out of my home all for nothing. You could have told them there was no use, after all.”
“I said I wouldn’t tell anyone.” Sitting down on the bed, she faced him, “They did find a body, but I don’t know if it was your handiwork.”
His eyebrows lifted expressing his intrigue, “Do tell.”
“That man that was at your home the same time I was, he was found. But you wouldn’t want to leave evidence behind that could lead anyone to you, right?”
“I remember him. Yes, he ran as soon as you did, I found him later, already dead.”
She wasn’t expecting an answer, to have been given one was a shock, Avie pleasantly surprised by it. It however raised the question on what happened to Garret that night.
Still, a smile peeked through, “I knew it. I knew you wouldn’t make a mistake.”
He gripped the sides of the chair, talons slightly ripping the material, “So casual once again, do you honestly believe a friendship will blossom if you are just nice?”
She swung her legs to sit cross style to face him better, breaking eye contact to nervously tuck a lock of hair behind her ear. Damn it. That was kind of the plan here…
“What really brought you here? It wasn’t just to give me a hard time was it?”
He chuckled darkly, “You say as if you were expecting my praise instead?”
“Don’t get me wrong, I am happy
