Chapter 1:

A 16 year old teenager, light brown hair, brown eyes and of normal height and weight – nothing extraordinary about her after all. Not even a single thing – a kid like million of other's in the State of Rhode Island and in the City of New York. The only difference about her, was the fact, that her picture was pinned to a bulletin wall in a federal building. The FBI's missing person's unit – New York City, Rhode Island. This was an extraordinary thing, but not a good one, not after all.

"Miranda Thomas, 16 years of age – her parents reported her missing about two hours ago. She didn't come home from school tonight, that's what made her mother call the class-teacher. It appeared she never actually arrived at school. She left for school at about 7.30 this morning – which gives us a timeframe of already 10 and a half hours since she was last seen."

The picture of her was not like a normal portray, it didn't show the normal expression a person being photographed was supposed – and frequently asked by the photographer – to have on such a picture. She wasn't smiling – that fake "happily ever after" smile, that was an axiomatic part of such pictures – was missing. There was not even the slightest glimpse of it to be seen on that photo. The girl hadn't been willing to smile, she hadn't wanted to – she didn't want to act like she was happy.

"What about the family's social state – any chance that she was kidnapped?"

"Her mother works for an insurance company, her father is a pilot at American Airlines – both of them have are well paid and have a good outcome. The family has it's own house and all of the family members – father, mother and daughter – since she received her driver's license three weeks ago – have their own car. The daughter normally takes this car to get to school, as she did this morning – there are no search results about it by now. But I don't think she got kidnapped – her parents are well-to-do, but they aren't the Rockefeller's."

She was pale, a skin color of porcelain – one could clearly see that in the picture. It made her look vulnerable, like that Chinese kind of porcelain one almost didn't dare to touch, afraid it would break. The girl probably never left the house, locking herself in her room and from the outside world – nobody who ever spent his free time outside had a skin-color that light. It was simply unnatural.

"Any troubles at home?"

"I haven't been talking to the parents yet, but police record said, that the mother couldn't think of any reason for her daughter to run from home. She stated that there hadn't been any problems between them – they were getting along well."

"As well as you can get along with a 16 year old teenage girl!"

"I don't believe that either, but we'll have to wait and see what the mother tells us when we go, talk to her. I still have no idea, why the school didn't call in earlier. It's normal policy to talk to the parents and ask for the child's residence, if they don't get to school. But neither the class-teacher nor the principal's office called the Thomas. The mother had to do that herself. I'm really interested in the class- teacher's and principal's explanation for this."

Her eyes were fascinating and scaring at the same time. Although it was just a picture, it drew the viewer's attention to an extend, that he could lose himself in that picture. And although it was just a simple photography, it had caught the emotion lying in those eyes – how strong must that emotions be in real life, when they were still detectable through the picture? Her eyes' expression was pure sadness, like she had seen the greatest horrors and tragedies of the world. She looked,..., traumatized,..., no – haunted. That was the right word to fit the emotion of that look in her eyes.

A moment of thoughtful silence fell on the conference table they were all sitting around while Jack had resumed the known results about the disappearance of Miranda Thomas.

"We won't get a hold on anyone at school today – it's already to late. We gonna take care of that tomorrow morning. Right now I want you all to join me to the Thomas' house. I need to talk to the parents – at best in separation and I need Miranda's private room to be checked. Maybe it gives us a hint, why she disappeared, maybe she was hiding something from her parents, something they shouldn't know about."