Chapter 3

'October 20, 2015. Much, to many people's dismay, Joe Lucas from JONAS has been reported missing. It has been notified that he has been most likely kidnapped as evident that his house has been ambushed. The culprits are still unknown and so are his where ab—'

"You don't need to watch the TV Stella." Nick says turning the TV off.

Stella sits there fiddling around with her engagement ring looking for any sign of hope even the slightest bit. Her eyes were red from the endless crying for the past few hours, she felt lost and she needed him next to her. Kevin sits next to her and rubs her back for comfort but she stays passive and doesn't react one bit.

Nick looks around his missing brother's apartment. Everything was wrecked. Broken glasses on the floor, blood splats on the wall and broken doors, everything was chaotic. It didn't help that policemen were walking around like it is a murder scene, which scares all of them the most.

"Good evening, I'm special agent Lawrence and this is special agent Mendez. We're from the FBI."

Standing in front of Stella, Kevin and Nick are two tall men dressed down in a suit. They were wearing trench coats and fedora hats. It is the classic detective look from those 1980 crime dramas. They take off their hats and give them their condolences.

"I'm sorry, but why is the FBI involved?" Stella asked.

"Ma'am we believe that Mr. Lucas has been kidnapped by an organization led by one of the State's most wanted yet unattainable crime lord. His name is Gary O'Reily." Lawrence explains.

"Wait, why was Joe kidnapped by some gang?" Kevin asked.

"Several of reasons and one of them can most likely to be money considering our case right now." Mendez says.

"But they haven't asked for a ransom." Nick states.

"Well if they do then we will know their motives." Lawrence replies.

"And if they don't?" Stella asks.

"Then they have different motives."

"Miss, you cannot enter this room! It is a restricted area and a crime scene so please just back off." A police man shouts.

"Excuse us for a moment." Mendez says.

"Is there a problem?" Lawrence asks.

"Yes, this little girl is trying to get in when I have specifically asked her to back off!" The police man says.

"Seriously? You have such bad timing kid. Let her in. She's an intern in the bureau." Mendez explains

"I told you so! Idiot." The girl says.

"Sorry sir, she just kind of looks—"

"Young? Yeah we thought the same thing. Come on kid." Lawrence says.

"Guys, I'd like you to meet our intern who has helped us on many cases before. This is—"

"Macy?" Stella says in disbelief.

"Shit." Macy swears to herself.

"Oh good you guys know each oth—"

Slap. The sheer sound of Stella's hand coming into contact with Macy's face echoed through the room, silencing everyone. The agents interrupt the silence and order everyone to keep on working. However, unexpectedly, Macy just stands there unmoved by what just happened. She has a straight face and just stares at Stella, no apology, no words…nothing.

"The nerve you have to enter this house! You little bitch! You don't deserve to be here! Get out! Get out!" Stella shouted

Nick and Kevin hold her back before she could have attacked Macy but once again she stands there. Stella breaks down in tears losing her voice and energy to shout anymore. The agents whisper to Macy's ear and she walks off looking around the apartment. Stella looks in disbelief and before she could retort, the agents explains to us that Macy could be a good asset for the case. Stella didn't want to accept it so she storms off the apartment.

"Damn it Misa, you really know how to make enemies don't you?" Lawrence says rubbing the back of his neck.

"Don't really care." Macy says nonchalantly before entering Joe's room.

Macy walked around to look for any clues. She can hear the distant chatter of Lawrence and Mendez questioning Kevin. She goes through the typical process of investigating the room; placing gloves on her hands then running her hands on everything and projecting images of the most likely scenario. It's like she could see Joe running to his room, locking the door, frantically searching for something…a weapon perhaps? A phone? The door must've been kicked opened evident from the door hinges being broken in an inward angle. Joe probably scattered around throwing objects at the culprits, but they had guns. He was shot right here, next to the bed, you can tell from the blood splatter on the wall. He didn't fall though, he took the lamp and ran over the bed knocking out one of the culprits most likely. There was probably only one as you can tell from the foot prints also it seems like Joe had enough time to run to the closet without getting hurt but is stopped later on then dragged out. No evidence of him fights so he must've been unconscious. Macy makes her way to the closet and sees blood stained hand prints on them. She opens it and it is completely empty.

"What are you looking for Joe?" She whispers to herself.

When she stands up she heard a crack. She looks under her foot and sees a picture of Horace's graduation night. It was Stella, Kevin, Nick and Joe smiling with their arms linked. Macy picks up the picture and looks at it.

"Walking down memory lane their Mace?" Nick asks surprising her.

"It's Macy and no." She says placing it back on the floor.

"What are you doing here Macy?" Nick asks.

"My job."

"But of all cases you took this one?"

"It's not a matter of choosing your case Nick, you're given it. I'm just as thrilled as you are."

"No, you don't get to make cynical comments like that. You are the one that left! Do you have any idea how devastated Stella was? You missed her birthdays, her achievements and you missed her engagement party! She even went through the trouble of finding you and even inviting you." Nick yells.

"Look Nick, do you honestly think I care? I didn't come here so I could be lectured by any of you! And you don't get started because you are being hypocritical, extracting myself from your lives had no major impact because to be completely honest Stella and you guys had no impact on my life what so ever and vice versa." Macy retorts.

"What are you on about Macy?"

"Fine. When's my birthday? How many medals have I won in freshman year? What AP class was I in? What academic award did I always get?" Macy asks but Nick stays silent because in all honesty he didn't know.

"I thought so. 3 out of 4 of those questions even Stella couldn't answer, so if you don't freaking mind let me work."

Macy goes back to the closet and starts knocking on the inside. Nick looks at her confusingly like as if she has lost it. She continues on with her knocking and before Nick could ask she shushes him. Her last knock sounded different, like as if it was hollow in the other side. She removes one of the shelves and picks up a lamp on the desk before smashing it down to the bottom of the closet.

"What the hell Macy?" Nick shouts.

"There's a small compartment."

"And you couldn't just simply open it?"

"It was locked."

"What the hell was that noise?" Lawrence asks storming in.

"There's a compartment on the bottom of the closet." Macy explains.

"Well what's in it?" Lawrence asks.

"Paper work and contracts. It looks like Joe was under the debt of the Leprechauns." Macy says.

"Well all know how people under debt end up when it comes to O'Reily." Mendez says.

"How do they end up?" Kevin asks.

"Dead." Lawrence says

AN: Well, third chapter of this mystery story I have been working on. Hope you guys enjoyed it. So take care and please do review if you feel like it would just make things a whole lot better :P lol. Ciao x