“Perfect. I will call you back sometime in the next two business days.”
“Thank you.” Naya wiped the moisture from her cheek.
“No problem, have a good evening.” The woman replied, then the call was disconnected.
Naya jolted awake in the middle of the night to the sound of her phone ringing. She leaned over and squinted at the screen, recognizing the number she rushed to answer before it could ring a third time “Hello?”
“I know you just went home a couple hours ago, but it looks like we already have our first case.” Atlas’ voice came over the line.
Naya glanced at her clock and noticed it was almost one in the morning.
“What’s going on?” She asked as she began slipping out of her sleep shorts and into her slacks. She went to the closet and pulled a button up blouse out to put on.
“Maybe something, maybe nothing. A girl from the local high school went out running around eight this evening and never came home. He parents started to get worried and called in at around midnight.”
Naya balanced her phone between her ear and shoulder as she leaned to slide into her shoes. “Midnight? Seems a bit long for a run. How old is the girl?”
“That’s the thing, she’s eighteen, a high school senior on the cross country team, and supposed to graduate this year. She runs two or so hours a day for practice, so when she wasn’t home by ten, her parents just figured she ran a little farther than normal, but then by midnight they knew something was wrong.”
“Did she have a cell phone with her?” She slid her weapon into her holster and headed downstairs to the bathroom to run her brush through her hair.
“Yes. But it was off when they tried to call.”
“Ok.” Cell phones in the recent years had made their jobs easier, but the criminals were learning to be smarter about them. “I’ll be out the door in five. We meeting at the girl’s house?”
“Yes, I’ll text over the address. I’m going to have the tech check for any cell pings on my way.”
Atlas was clearly going to be a great partner.
“Alright. See you in a few.” Naya ended the call and grabbed her jacket, slowly walking down the stairs on the side she had discovered the previous morning creaked less.
Vance’s bedroom door at the bottom of the stairs was open a crack and Naya peeked in. He was asleep in the middle of his bed which seemed to grow bigger around him each day. He didn’t stir as Naya inched the door closed. In the kitchen she opened the fridge, she grabbed a ziplock bag of the leftover pizza she had separated after everyone had left earlier, making sure the one for Vance’s lunch was easy for him to find. Not that she expected he would eat it, but she left it for him anyway.
Naya hoped the Home Health Care company would get back to her quickly, if all it meant was that Vance would be forced to eat more often, it would be enough to make her feel better.
Naya pulled up in front of a large red brick house in the Cherry Creek neighborhood, noticing immediately that whoever these people were, they had money. As she cut the ignition her vision zeroed in on Atlas who was halfway up the walk, he heard her footsteps as she stepped out and turned around, waiting for her.
“Any developments in the past half hour?”
He shook his head. “The techs are still trying to get a final ping for her phone. The patrol officers have been sitting with the parents while they wait for us.”
Naya stifled a yawn as they stood in front of the door and Atlas made a quick call to the officers inside to come to the door.
The entry opened into the foyer which was dominated by a grand staircase in the center and a mirrored chandelier which reflected the light from the other room the family was gathered in. The officer lead them to the kitchen, there was a tired looking man with short greyed hair leaning against the counter, he was looking at his wife, a clearly frazzled and distraught blonde woman who was sitting at the table with an untouched cup of coffee in front of her, she was tapping on the table anxiously. A few seats down a preteen boy was also at the table, he was staring blankly ahead while an officer, presumably the partner of the patrol officer who had answered the door for them, was asking him routine questions.
“These are Julia’s parents. Roger and Lynn Charles, and her brother, Sean.” Naya bowed her head in greeting as she made their acquaintance. She opened her mouth to introduce herself, but Atlas spoke first.
“I’m detective Atlas, and this is Detective Largusa, we will be the lead detectives in charge of finding your daughter.” Roger ventured forward and shook both of their hands. The officer who had answered the door filled two cups with coffee from a pot on the counter and handed them each one.
“We were just discussing if their daughter has any reason she would leave home without calling, to say, go to a friend’s house,.” The officer at the table shared.
“And like I told them, that Julia isn’t like that. She’s a good kid, committed to her grades and cross country, so much so she doesn’t even have a boyfriend. She would have no reason not to tell us where she was going!” Lynn sobbed.
Naya glanced at Atlas. They hadn’t known each other more than a day, but she could tell he was having the same thought as her. Just because a teenager said she didn’t have a boyfriend, didn’t necessarily mean it was true.
“What about friends, does she have any she
