Chapter 2
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the MISSING characters. NONE of them are of my belonging
"Umm … a crown, being dropped, it turns into blood. Oh and three women who look scared to death, two of them, happen to be in front of us", Jess announces to the rest of them as she points to the pictures of the two women.
"Sandra and Emily?" Nicole confirms.
Jess nods her head affirmative. "Then Emily fades away and Sandra runs." Jess finishes still quite puzzled.
"Cortez, I want further background info on Sandra and Emily, and you", he points to Nicole and Jess, "go with him and see if anything connects to your vision." They left Pollock and started to get to work. Antonio sat in front of his computer and started typing faster than the speed of light. Nicole and Jess just sat there watching and thinking. After a few short minutes, Antonio, being as clever as he is, was able to find all the basic information about the two missing women.
"Okay, we have something. Emily Diller 21, from Virginia," Antonio started
"Antonio, we don't have time to waste, is there any relevant information?" asked Nicole quite aggressively.
Antonio stares at Nicole for a second and keeps going. "She had just been crowned Miss Virginia and is a contestant the Miss America pageant next week."
"But what does this have to do with Sandra?" asked Jess being a little more sincere than Nicole had been.
"Well Sandra Manice is the reason Emily won the title of Miss Virginia. She was the judge that made the final decision. The other two were debating between Emily and the first runner up Maggie Glorio.", Antonio concluded.
"That must be their connection. Where was she reported missing from?" asked Jess.
"The La Chance Hotel. The forensics team is on its way over there. The girl's friend Beth should be there since she was the one to report Emily missing" said Antonio.
"Let's head over there, see what this Beth has to say", Nicole suggested to Jess. And with that they were on their way.
Soon Nicole and Jess were walking towards room 258 of The La Chance Hotel. Outside the hotel room, to which the door was wide open, young woman was pacing and looking very worried. Nicole approached her with Jess not too far behind. Jess peaked into the room; the forensics team had already arrived and they were inspecting every inch of the room.
"Agents Scott and Mastriani, FBI", Nicole announced to the young woman who seemed to be in her early twenties. "You must be Beth; you're Emily's friend, correct." Jess observed Beth. She was a young skinny woman, with long brown hair in a braid. Her appearance seemed much neglected. Beth looked tired, very pale with bags under her eyes, and worried very worried.
"Follow us, let's talk", Nicole said as she led Beth into the hotel room. In the hotel room, which didn't happen to be very large, there sat two twin beds on opposite sides of the room, a large dresser with a mirror, a small desk, two night stands and a door leading to the bathroom. Nicole motioned Beth to sit on one of the beds.
"Beth, when did you get to the hotel room?" Jess asked her trying to still be somewhat comforting.
"Yesterday evening at around seven or eight. Emily wanted me to stay with her in the hotel for a night because she isn't allowed leave the hotel for the next two days, in order to stay in the pageant."
"And when did you last see her?" wondered Nicole.
"Well yesterday when I got here. I met her in the main entrance, she showed me the room, she said she had to rehearse with some of the other girls in the main hall and would be back later but to make myself comfortable."
"And…" Jess added.
"Well, I got kind of tired so I thought I'd lie down for a while in bed and wait. I found myself asleep after awhile. And when I woke up she wasn't there either. I figured that she had probably had to prepare for the pageant. I found her schedule on the desk next to the fruit basket and it said that she should be in the main hall practicing the group dance. I went downstairs hoping I could watch from the corner or something but she wasn't there." Beth paused for a couple of seconds. "I asked around no one had seen here, everyone said she didn't come in. I searched the hotel from top to bottom. Once I noticed all her stuff was here, her bag with money and cell phone, her shoes, her jacket and all her clothes, I knew that, I felt that, she was gone." Beth started shedding tears.
"Thank you for your help, we'll try our best to find her." Jess comforted Beth. They stepped away from the young woman as she walked out.
"I don't know, this seems whack", Nicole started, "I mean how do we know she didn't walk out of the hotel on her own and just never came back, you know how these pageants are, one big stressful beauty contest."
"It doesn't really feel like it Nicole, this seems way too, fishy, weird, I don't know. It just doesn't feel right." answered Jess.
One of the men on the forensics team signaled Nicole to come over. "Agent Scott, I believe we found something that may be of some help." he said. He passed Nicole a little note. Nicole put on a pair of gloves before touching the note. "We found this in the drawer of the nightstand" he finished. The note read:
Hey Hunny,
Meet me late tonight at "the big house" down the street from Spade Park. I have something for you. Trust me it would be better if you meet there rather than I find you and pick you up. I'll be waiting.
"See, she probably just left, told ya", Nicole responded suggestively. Nicole was going to put her hand on Jess's shoulder for reassurance. But as Nicole's hand touched Jess's shoulder she was hurled into a vision…
It was dark. Emily appeared. She walked toward Jess. She starts speaking to Jess. "I don't want to see him. Don't let him take me. I don't deserve this. Please! I don't even know WHERE the house is. WHERE is the house? I don't know WHERE it is. WHERE is the house?" Blood spilled all over the black surroundings. The words echoed all around Jess WHERE, WHERE, WHERE?
"Jess?" Nicole tried to bring Jess back to reality.
"It's not her fault", was the only thing Jess could manage to say.