"No, no that can't be her." Denial is always first from just about everyone. This one though, watching from an outside perceptive hurt a lot. Sitting in a dim lit room in the back of the police station I watched Christian cry for the second time. The first being the day his grandfather passed away.

This led to accusing the tests of being wrong, a sick joke, and finally the moment it really set in. He placed his head into his palms and began to cry softly with loud gasps for breath in between. They promised to find the person who did it and put them away for a long, long time. But if it was that easy more murders would be solved in no time. It's not like those shows on TV where they find the murderer in a couple of days. It would be almost two years before the person who killed me was put behind bars.

Next was breaking the news to Julia, my sister, who was not even eight yet. She'd been asking questions since the day I was announced missing. And wondering why suddenly so many people were worried about me. She didn't get it immediately, not even a year or two later, and of course it changed a lot in her life too. She became that girl whose sister had disappeared, the girl that was found dead in the bush, and the one that's killer still hadn't been found. I don't blame her for those feelings she use to feel. Not really hate but still anger. She'd come home from school in tears because another kid asked about me and despite moms attempts to make her feel better nothing worked. She'd go up into her room and cry and scream into a pillow about me. Why couldn't I have been smarter, ran, called for help, fought back. It hurt but I knew she didn't mean it because afterward a flood of regret and sadness would wash over her and she'd cry some more. This time sad because all those big sister things I should have been there for I wasn't. Taking her shopping, doing her hair for school, teaching her how to braid and put on makeup, her eighth grade dance, her first day of high school, or her wedding. Things I should have been there for, really been there for, and things that were ripped away from me without a chance.

Kate was next to tell, unable to get in touch with them Ethan was left to wait until they came home. The morning they arrived back Ethan couldn't find a thing to say the car ride home but when Kate got home and said she couldn't wait to see me he had nothing left he could do. You need to sit down Kate he'd said before taking a deep breath in part to prepare for what was coming out and the vomit that he was fighting down. You can't see Ana, Katie. When a confused look came across her face he knew he needed to get it out but he had to sit down himself. In one rushed sentence he blurted out Ana's gone, she's gone Kate, and she's not coming back. He closed his eyes a trail of tears ran down his cheeks, at that point Kate and her parents were staring weighting for answers. He shook his head as if in disbelief, someone took her Katie and they killed her. That day I saw a look I'd never seen before on her face, not when she'd twisted her ankle, or the day the boy she lost her virginity to changed his mind. A look that you just can't forget.

The day of my funeral the entire town came to put me six feet in the ground under a pretty, full bloom tree, with "Daughter, sister, friend, and a life taken too soon" written on the stone. My mom, Jeff, Julia, my dad, Kate, and Christian stood hand in hand while a man I'd never met before read bible verses and talked about how heaven gained a new angel. My mom cried the whole time, Jeff and my dad both with locked jaws and clinched fists, and Kate sobbing into Christian. A few people spoke and many left flowers and cards. They put a cross where my body was found too with "In memory of Ana Steele" carved into the smooth stone. Someone else was there too, standing in the far back of the crowd of black clothing, a bouquet of white roses, and a stone cold look unnoticed.

The detectives were there too but this time they had two men from the FBI who had been assigned to look into my case as well as Krista's. I was becoming a pretty big deal. I was on the news almost every night and day reminding people that an eighteen year old girl, who could be your daughter, was taken and brutally murdered. The FBI came to help the local police to try to catch who did this. At this point they weren't completely sure that Krista and I were connected in anyway. They had no signs of us knowing each other in real life, because we didn't, but we had a connection in death. Some of the same things that had been done to Krista had been done to me. They just had to prove that it wasn't a copycat someone taking advantage of the previous crime.

Interviews

With two new men on the case they had to go through all the notes and papers done by local police as well as make their own. Anyone that had previously been questioned would be re-questioned and people that the police originally hadn't would be. This began with those closest to me.

Carla Steele interview one

"Mrs. Steele I know that you've been questioned before, numerous times, but with us just coming on board we have to re-question everyone. It's not easy, I know, but it is important. First I want to introduce myself, I'm detective Boman and this is detective Ashly." They were trying their hardest to make it as easy as possible on my mom really. She nodded and shook their hands politely.

"Now it's been a month and two days since you last saw your daughter. I need you to think back to July seventeenth. Just close your eyes and try to picture that day. Don't think too hard or force it just let it happen naturally. You'd be surprised how much your mind puts away and in the moment of being so worried you pushed aside. I need you to think if she said anything odd that day."

My mom sat with her eyes closed for a little while, "We were talking about her ex-boyfriend and she got very upset when I pushed it."

"Was it like Ana to do that?"

"No, not normally."

"What is this boy's name?"

"Ethan Kavanaugh."

"What do you know about their break-up? Was it a bad break-up specifically?"

"No not really. Ana said they'd decided to take a break when we went to start college so that he could really experience college and she could see what it was like alone."

"Was Ethan ever violent with Ana?"

My mom let out a sign and said something I had no idea she even knew about, "Not that I knew of. I mean she never had bruises and always seemed very happy with him. But one day while they were on the phone I picked it up and happen to hear a bit of what he was saying and it just didn't sound like Ethan."

"What was he saying?"

"He was saying does he know did you tell him because I swear if you did I will be up there tomorrow and it will be ugly."

"What was he talking about?"

"I have no idea. I hung up and later asked if she was okay and she said she was fine."

"When exactly did this happen?"

"I can't remember exactly but I know it was sometime after springbreak of this year."

"So around April?"

"Yes."

"Is there anything else about that day that seemed off?"

"No, to be honest detective, we hardly spoke that day."

Jeff Steele investigation 1

"Had your step-daughter told you about anyone threating her?"

"No she didn't every say anything about that."

"Did anyone call the house often asking for Ana? Particularly any males."

"There were a few boys who would call every now and then but nothing I thought I should be concerned about."

"Any boys at school maybe made her feel uncomfortable. "

"Not that me or her mother were ever made aware of."

"Did she talk to you a lot?"

"Not as much as I would have liked."

"When did you first meet Ana? How old was she?"

"I met her when she was five."

"And how old was she when you married her mother and then adopted her?"

"She was seven for both."

"Why did you decide to adopt her?"

"I loved her like a daughter detective. And I wanted her to have a father but at that time Ray was not being a father."

"When you say Ray you mean Ray Wilks correct?"

"Yes Ray Wilks."

"Where was he at this time in her life?"

"He was off riding around America doing God knows what. Would call every now and then say he'd come around but he didn't."

"When did he really start to come around then?"

"I think when she was around twelve he and Carla worked out some visitation agreements during the summers."

"Did Ana ever say anything about him? Or did he ever make her uncomfortable?"

"Do you mean like touch her or anything like that? Because Ray may not be the best father but he's not that kind of man. He just doesn't have that fatherly instinct."

Ray Wilks interview 1

"When was the last time you saw your daughter Mr. Wilks."

"I saw her Christmas briefly."

"Did you talk to her often?"

"Not really. We weren't as close as I would have liked."

"When was the last time she came to visit you?"

"When she was fourteen. At that point she said that she didn't want to come stay anymore."

"When did you see her after that?"

"Normally once for Christmas, her birthday, and before school started to go back to school shopping."

"Sweet heart watching em' will only make it worse for you." A girl with long curly blond hair comes beside me and rests a hand on my shoulder.

"What am I supposed to do? They aren't getting any closer this way. Their just wasting time."

She shakes her head, "I know how you feel girl. I really do. But watching em' run around, chasing their tails, isn't gonna help."

"There isn't anything I can do?"

"Nope. That's the way it works. We have the answers but we have to sit back and wait till they find them. My name is Casey. What's yours?"

"Ana."

"What happen to you?"

"Well…"