It had been so long; much too long since she'd seen him. She knew that he wasn't dead, though. William could never die. He wouldn't be so cruel as to leave her all alone.

At first, she had suspected that he had run off without her; leaving her in Hurricane without another soul she could consider a friend.

After a few days went by and Vanny hadn't heard anything from Will, she came to assume the worst. What if Clay finally caught up with them and managed to catch William? The thought alone was enough to send her into a panicked state she had never known. Her head was light and her feet felt heavy for what seemed like hours as she sobbed and vomited on the cold bathroom floor. When she had managed to pull herself together enough to put on her brave face and shove her nose into things, nothing about William came up. There were no arrest records and no signs that the cops even suspected that he was still crawling around this little town he called home. Only Dave lived here.

Vanny's mind returned to the possibility of him running off on the fourth morning after he'd vanished but the more she thought about it the less it made sense. William's wallet was still in the house along with all of his belongings. Not a thing had been taken or touched. He had left in the silence of the night just like he had so many times before, only this time he didn't seem to be crawling back. Vanny stood in the kitchen, silent as a corpse as she clutched a lukewarm coffee mug in her hands. She had no real interest in drinking the liquid; it was just routine. William was the one who made the coffee in the mornings and she was more than happy to grab a mug and share the dawn's relative peace next to Will. A knock at the door made the woman jolt and lose her grip on the mug. The white porcelain shattered all over the floor and the coffee splattered over the cabinets and her legs.

"Will?" Came her hopeful, croaky voice as she turned and rushed towards the door, leaving the mess behind without a care. Vanny ran to the front door and hurriedly unlocked it, then yanked it open. The face that greeted her wasn't the one she wanted to see in the slightest.

It was a cop. Vanny nearly had a heart attack right then and there. The man in front of her wasn't the chief, though. Vanny cringed and swallowed down her urge to vomit as the smell of cigarette smoke and strong cologne hit her nose. The blonde man gave her a suspicious look over, examining the coffee that was splattered across her feet and lower legs.

"You drop your coffee, Miss?" was the first question of many to come.

Vanny stared in bewilderment at the man for a long moment; it was apparently long enough to cause the man to become uncomfortable judging by the look on his face. Seeing anyone other than William at the door wasn't what she had expected. She should be nuzzled against William's chest right now in a tight hug, not answering to this lowlife sleaze bag.

"Yes…" Was all that Vanny managed to spit out. Her voice was nearly emotionless and flat.

Seeing this cop at her door instead of Will was bizarre and still had her a little shaken and bewildered. The man gave her the best smile that he muster up, hiding his discomfort as best he could. The afternoon air was chilly and made Vanny shiver as the breeze swept across her wet feet. She gave a curious glance over to the cop car sitting in the driveway, then back to the man.

"What do you want?" She asked before the officer could get another question out.

"Do you know Dave Miller?" came the cop's next question.

Vanny lingered in her doorway, clutching onto the frame nervously.

"...Yes." She said simply. So they were here nosing around for William, huh?

"Could I come in and ask a few questions?"

"No." Vanny denied the man boldly. She didn't hesitate to step out onto the porch.

"The house is a mess." She explained with a somewhat smug look about her. It was only a half-lie. William had cluttered the living room with blueprints and fabrics along with small robotic parts. She wasn't letting anybody in her home without a warrant, either. No way in hell.

The man in front of her clearly wasn't pleased with this response but didn't fight it. Vanny knew her rights. She hadn't committed any crimes that they knew of. They were suspicious of her, though, and that was enough to get her anxious. They were looking for William- or… Dave, rather. She was, too. There was no reason for them to arrest her. There was no reason for them to come into her home yet. Vanny looked up at the man, waiting for him to speak.

"Alright. I'd just like to ask you some questions, then." he finally said.

Vanny gave the man a nod and took a seat on the old wicker furniture that William had insisted on keeping around. She wasn't fond of the white, peeling monstrosities.

The woman watched quietly as the cop made himself comfortable in an old rocking chair directly in front of her. The officer questioned her about William's last known location. Then he asked if they had gotten into a fight recently and so on. Vanny didn't have a clue where William was and there was no fight that had occurred. There was only one heated argument that she and Will had ever had and that was almost a year ago. He had no reason to run off on her out of the blue. The cop explained to her that William hadn't shown up to work for the past several days.

What he didn't explain was that 'Dave's' co-workers, despite pegging him for a weird, quiet man, became concerned and started talking. Clay had caught wind of 'Dave Miller's' sudden absence rather quickly. Gossip traveled fast in such a small town, after all. One of 'Dave's' co-workers had spoken to the chief when he'd come into the convenience store one day, voicing his concerns. Clay assured the teen that he'd have someone go check on Dave and he was a man of his word.

"And you have no idea where he is?" The blonde man asked one last time, eyeing the woman with suspicion. Vanny realized at that moment how the situation appeared to outside parties. William had vanished into thin air, leaving everything he had ever owned to her.

His money, car, credit cards… Vanny trembled in her seat, then. She clutched onto her pants as her body trembled and she found herself unable to keep constant eye contact with the police officer. With William gone, the woman couldn't control herself. She was typically a decent liar and kept herself in check. Even though she was answering every question somewhat truthfully, she couldn't fight her body as it gave her nervousness away. Maybe she could pass it off as being cold? Her legs were freezing by now. "No…" Vanny muttered truthfully.

"And you didn't file a missing person's report… why?"

Vanny looked up at the man then, shooting him a nasty look.

"Sometimes he takes trips out of town." She lied. The cop narrowed his eyes at her and cocked his head sideways. He had a stupid look on his face as if he had just cracked some amazing case. "Without notifying his employer?" He asked in a disgustingly cocky tone.

Vanny dug her nails into her palms then; almost hard enough to draw blood. She was pissed. How dare this pig come to her home and accuse her of having something to do with William's disappearance? The smug look on his face said it all. He was beyond certain that she was guilty and that she'd given away the big secret to him. She wanted to bash his motherfucking face in with an aluminum bat. Thankfully for both parties involved, the cop seemed to be satisfied with the answers that she had given. He thanked her for her time, stood and walked off the porch. Vanny watched as the car pulled out of the driveway and headed back into town. She knew that he was coming back. He was going to blow the whistle and gather up the other pigs. He was going to get a warrant, come back and search the place for proof of foul play. As soon as that car was out of sight, Vanny stood and rushed back into the house. She had to hide… too much.

First, William's blueprints were neatly rolled up and tucked away in a box. She carefully put all of the robotic parts into a separate box and hurriedly made her way into their bedroom.

They had gotten comfortable here; too comfortable. There was no time to waste.

Vanny hurriedly gathered up everything that she didn't want to be seen into a neat pile in their bedroom. There were illegal knives, mementos from Fredbear's diner, a pretty axe she called her own and two human-sized rabbit suits. Vanny hadn't been around to see Fredbear's, but any link back to the place where several children were murdered wasn't what she had needed right then. Vanny opened up an empty closet and hurriedly shoved everything inside. She shoved the suits in with care; she would kill herself if she damaged William's suit in any way. He was going to need it when he came back.

This closet was empty for a good reason; William was a smart man that knew how to hide when things got too heated. Not only did he know how to hide, but he knew how to hide his crumbs as well. He had taught Vanny exactly how to do this in case there was an emergency.

Maybe he was testing her to see how she'd do in this situation? Surely if that were the case he wouldn't have let the cops get involved, though…

Vanny shook the thought away and pulled the closet door shut. She would have enough time if she hurried. William had shown her how to make it appear as if there was never a room where there most certainly had been one before. He had even gone out and gotten the correct wallpaper so that they could do this if need be. Vanny hurriedly did just as he showed her, essentially walling off the closet in such a way that it looked like it had always been a flat, smooth wall. It didn't take her too terribly long but it was certainly longer than she would have liked. Vanny hurriedly pushed a wardrobe in front of the newly applied wallpaper just to be safe, then hurriedly scrambled to put her tools away.

A few hours passed and Vanny found herself alone in the living room. The stress and anxiety from the entire situation had driven her to eat an entire tub of chocolate icecream and the leftover garlic bread in the fridge. Now an entire container of sugar and half of a loaf of bread in, Vanny felt worse than before she'd begun eating. A knock came to the door eventually and Vanny knew exactly what to expect. The woman abandoned her food on the coffee table and made her way to the front door. She unlocked it without hesitation and came face to face with Clay Burke himself. She gave him a questioning glance, then eyed the three other cops behind him. The lights on their cars were going but their sirens were off. Vanny gave Clay a tired look as the obnoxious cop from earlier gave her a shit-eating grin from over the chief's shoulder.

Of course, he had been able to get the chief to come down and search the house personally.

Vanny was the sole suspect. Nobody else really knew 'Dave Miller'.

Clay gave Vanny a respectful nod and asked simply, "Can we come in?"

Nothing was found. William remained missing. Vanny was still alone.

At first, people muttered about how the woman was no longer seen anywhere with her boyfriend. The assumption of a breakup was widely spread and generally accepted. It was a logical conclusion to the situation. Unfortunately, the blonde cop was part of the community gossip, too. He made sure to tell everyone about the suspicions that Vanny had somehow done away with poor Dave Miller. Vanny went from the odd breakup story to a suspected criminal by the community. Truths were bent and lies were born. It didn't take long before Vanny was the black sheep of the town. Even the kids rattled on about her.

"Have you heard what that creepy woman outside of town did?" They'd ask, then proceed to tell the lies their parents fed to them. If only they knew that she wasn't a lover killer… William had made her prefer victims their age.