Chapter 2
I hear the sound of urgent knocking at my door, waking me up. Maybe if I ignore it it'll go away. A beat passes by and I hear the frantic knocking again. I groan and slam my head into my pillow which was a bad idea because I have a really bad hangover. The knocking continues and I groan again.
"I'm coming god dammit!" I yell. I kick the sheets off me and pick up my jeans from the floor and put them on. I take one more deep breath before I make my way towards the door. Still the knocking continues and it's vibrating into my brain. If I had a gun right now, I'd probably shoot whoever is knocking at my door like this.
When I open the door a couple rushes inside, blabbering something but I can't understand when they're both talking at the same time.
"Just shut up!" I roar. They both stop talking immediately. I take this time to look over them. Husband and wife, both in their late forties, middle class due to them having regular clothes on but they both hold the new model of the IPhone in their hands. The wife has shoulder length red hair and the husband has jet black, short hair, both with brown eyes that show nothing but fear. "Now, what can I do for you?" I ask and they both open their mouths. I hold up my hand, silencing them. "Only one of you speak and speak quietly."
They both look at each other and the husband nods. The wife turns to me and releases a shaky breath. "We need your help. Our daughter is missing."
"Let me get you guys some seats."
The couple closes the door behind me and stands in front of my desk, taking in their surroundings. After pulling up two chairs for them I sit at my own behind my desk.
"Yeah I know, not the greatest workspace." I say calling them out of their rivet. "Now what exactly is the issue here?"
"Our daughter, Kathy, is missing." The wife answers.
"When was the last time you saw Kathy?"
"Three days ago." The husband answers.
"How old is she?"
"Sixteen." They say in unison.
"Have you tried going to the police?"
The wife gives me an incredulous look. "Are you being serious right now? She is our daughter! Of course we've tried going to the police!" The husband leans over and whispers something in her ear and it calms her down… to some extent.
"Yes I'm well aware she is your daughter but I have to look over every possible avenue." I speak calmly. "Now, does Kathy have a phone?"
"Y-yes." The wife stutters.
"Was it with her when she disappeared?"
"No. She went to school that day but left her phone at home by accident." She says.
"Good, I'm going to need to take a look at it." I respond and they nod. "So from my understanding, Kathy went to school three days ago and never came home. Could it be she's with a friend?"
"Kathy had a hard time making friends. She was on the swim team for her school but she didn't really hang out with the girls there. Only her best friend Emily. Kathy's is a straight A student, never really cared about partying or anything like that. She was either swimming, studying or hanging out with Emily." The husband answers.
"Okay, I'm going to need the name of the school, contact information for Emily, the places where her and Emily hung out, a picture of Kathy, and her phone." I say.
The wife nods again but this time slowly. Then she starts to cry. "I-I don't understand. W-why would my baby girl disappear like this?"
"That's what I'm going to find out."
"Thank you." She sniffs. "Oh, my name is Meghan and this is John." She points to her husband.
"It's nice to meet both of you. Now bring me back these things and I'll get to work."
I've been scrolling through Kathy's school's website for five minutes and researching her case for over six hours. Nothing is adding up. Meghan and John did drop off the things I asked for but it's still getting me nowhere. Kathy's phone has literally nothing except for her parents and Emily's number. She has pictures but it's either of her, her dog, her and Emily or her and her parents. She has no events scheduled in her phone either so that's another dead end. The next step on my list is to visit either Emily or the school.
I sigh and get up from my chair and put on my jacket when my door suddenly opens. Uriah stands there with a goofy grin on his face.
"Whatcha up to?"
"I have a very important client that I'm dealing with Uri. I don't have time for anything immature you may want to do."
"Woah. What happened to the Tris that doesn't give a hoot about anyone or anything?" He asks. "Wait, did you get laid last night?" He smiles and I glare at him.
"No Uriah. I did not get laid."
"Well you need it." He mumbles underneath his breath.
I roll my eyes and grab my flask from on top of the table.
"I'm actually here to give you this." He says and hands me a card.
I take it from his hand and read it.
Support Group - Lincoln Center
Tuesdays and Thursdays 7:00 pm
Join Us If You Can!
"What is this?" I groan though I already know the answer. I just want to know why he gave me this.
"It's a support group. You know you sit in a circle and go around and tell everybody why your there. I thought it might help with your problem."
"I don't have a problem." I state simply.
"Don't do this right now Tris. You know you're a drunk. It's not good for your health." He says and I sigh. "Please Tris… just go to one meeting and if you don't like it then I'm not going to force you. Just go to one meeting." I look into Uriah's eyes and see that they are desperate and pleading.
"Fine. I'll go."
A smile breaks out across his face. "Thank you. Pinky promise?" He asks and holds up his pinky.
I roll my eyes and look away but a small smile starts to form on my lips. "I can't believe we're still doing this." I laugh and we connect our pinkies together.
I hear the school bell ring indicating that school's out. A few moments later children file out of the doors carrying backpacks and books in their hands. Buses line up outside the fence and the kids get on while some walk and others wait for a car to pick them up.
Once the pathway is clear I make my way inside the school. It's just like any other high school I've seen – dull. I look around and spot the main office and walk inside. There's a line to the receptionist desk so I have no choice but to wait. Finally, when it's my turn I approach the desk.
"I need to see the principal or the swim coach." I say.
"Child's name?" The woman asks, still not looking up from typing on the computer.
"I don't have a child."
"Then why do you need to see the principal?" She responds and looks up from the screen.
I glare at her. "It's none of your business. Now is the principal or swim coach available or not?"
"I need a reason for you to see either one of them."
I am really not in the mood for this.
"I'm a private investigator and looking into the case of Kathy Smith. Now where is the freaking swim coach?" I ask and her eyes widen.
"O-of course. Just one moment." She says and walks off.
I breathe a sigh of frustration. Moments later she and who I assume is the principal walk back.
"Ah Ms. Prior," The principal smiles and reaches out her hand for me to shake but I don't accept it. Still dealing with a hangover. "Okay. Mr. and Mrs. Smith informed us that you would be stopping by. My name's Samantha Jones, principal of the school. What can I help you with today?"
"Do you know where I can find Kathy's teachers and swim coach?"
"Yes, right this way. I'll lead you to their classrooms." She says and allows me walk behind the front desk. "It's really a shame what happened to her. I can't even imagine what her parents are going through right now." She speaks while we walk.
"Was Kathy acting strange in any way over the past few days or weeks?"
She thinks about this for a moment before answering, "No, not that I've noticed."
By now we're wondering the halls of the school, only few kids walk the nearly empty halls. I hear snickering coming from one corner and I turn my head to see a group of three teenage girls smiling and laughing. One looks up from the group and her eyes meet mine. They look cold and their full of hatred, I would know. Quickly she averts my eyes and goes back to chatting with her friends.
"And here is one of Kathy's teachers." Samantha says breaking my stare at the girls.
We walk into one of the classrooms and a man sits at his desk going through what I assume is homework on his computer.
"Mr. Davidson," Samantha pronounces his name, breaking him out of his trance.
He clears his throat and makes some clicks on his computer screen, "Ah yes, Ms. Jones. How can I help you?" His Adam's Apple bobs up and down. He's nervous for some reason.
"Well I'm sure you know about what has happened to Kathy Smith. This is Tris and she's investigating the case."
"Yes, Ms. Smith it's a shame really – "
"Yeah let's get to the point," I cut him off. "When and where did you last see Kathy."
He thinks about this for a moment. "It was at lunch. She was sitting by herself for some unknown reason. She usually sits with Emily."
"And when was this?"
"Four days ago. Kathy has always been one of my favorite students." He smiles but it fades. "It's just so tragic for what has happened to her." He whispers the last part.
"Was Kathy acting strange or weird these past few days?"
"No. I would've noticed."
I eye him one more time before speaking, "Thanks for the help."
Samantha walks me to every one of Kathy's teacher's classrooms. I question them the same way I did with Mr. Davidson and they answer the questions all the same - they saw her four days ago and no peculiar behavior from Kathy.
Now Samantha shows me to where the pools are towards the back of the school.
"I trust that you can find your way out from here?" She asks and turns to me.
"Yeah." I nod.
"Good luck with finding Kathy." She says before walking off.
I think I'm going to need it.
I spot the swim coach by the bleachers talking to one of the students. The student nods a couple of times before walking away. The coach then makes his way towards me but doesn't notice I'm standing there.
"You're the swim coach I'm guessing?" I ask once he's in earshot.
He looks at me before nodding. "Richard. And you might be?"
"My name's Tris Prior and I'm investigating the disappearance of Kathy Smith."
Richard sighs and nods his head. "I'm guessing you want to ask me some questions." Now it's my turn to nod my head. "Fire away."
"When was the last time you saw Kathy?"
"Four days ago, after practice."
"Were her and Emily together at all."
He shakes his head. "No. Rumor has it they got into a big fight and refused to talk to each other."
"What was the fight about?"
He shrugs. "Have no clue."
"Was Kathy acting strange these past few days?"
"Yes." He answers without hesitation.
"Yes?" I echo with raised eyebrows.
"Yeah. Her head was not in the game for practice the past week. I just assumed something was happening at home."
"What do you mean her head wasn't in the game?"
"She would zone out of conversations, she wasn't meeting her mark for the team, and whenever people approached her she'd always seem anxious or nervous. I asked her one time what was going on and she quickly dismissed it, said she had somewhere to be after practice."
"Any idea where?"
"No." He sighs. "Some people just viewed Kathy as a girl to pick on, one of the nerds. But I don't think this was because of bullying. I've seen kids who get bullied and I know the side-affects and her actions didn't show any."
"Agreed."
"Kathy's a good student and an even better swimmer. She wouldn't abandon her priorities like this."
"Thank you for your cooperation." I say and walk away.
When I exit the school's gates I spot one of the girl's I saw in the group, the one who looked my way.
"Hey!" I shout and walk towards her.
She looks up from her phone and stares at me. Just as I'm getting closer she sprints away. Are you serious? I sigh before running after her. She runs down an alley way and knocks over some trashcans but I avoid them. She trips over her footing and crashes to the pebbles that lay on the ground. Quickly so as not to lose her, I grab ahold of her book bag and am able to pin her to the wall.
"Let go off me!" She hisses.
"Tell me what I want to know and I'll let you go." I breathe out, still trying to catch my breath from the run.
"And if I don't?"
I pull her off the wall and shove her harder into it. She groans and clenches her teeth. "You don't want to know."
She glares at me through her fake eyelashes.
"How do you know Kathy Smith?"
"I don't know her."
"Liar." I shove her against the wall again. "How do you know Kathy?" She gulps at the question. "You're her bully, aren't you?" She doesn't respond so that's a definite yes. "Why are you bullying Kathy?"
The girl let's out a dry laugh. "That slut thinks she has it all good, that she's perfect. Well she's not!"
"And why is that?"
"She stole my boyfriend! She has no idea how much that hurt."
I decide to let the girl go from the wall. She stumbles on her footing a bit, trying to regain her balance.
"Who was your boyfriend?"
"His name's Andrew. Andrew Jackson, captain of the football team. We were dating for two years and she took him from me!"
I roll my eyes. "Oh give it a break. High school flings never last."
"We were in love!" She yells.
"Well if he went for a different girl, obviously not." She glares at me. "Not that your much of a prize anyway." I mutter under my breath. "When was the last time you saw Kathy?"
"Four days ago. She was walking home from school but she wasn't going her usual route. She took some detour, down by the docks. I don't know where she was headed but she was alone."
"That your phone?" I ask and nod to it.
"Yeah it's a – " She starts. I grab the phone from her grasp and throw onto the brick wall across from us. I can hear it shatter and it falls to the floor.
"Don't pick any more kids." I say and walk towards the exit of the ally way. There's yelling behind me but I don't listen. I just keep walking.
I know I should keep digging into this Kathy thing but I need to start towards Lincoln Center. If it were up to me I wouldn't go, but I gave Uriah my promise by thy pinky. And I never break pinky promises.