Missing
Chapter 2
On the way back to the lab Sara's cell phone rang.
"Sidle" she said.
"Sara, it's Catherine where are you guys?"
"We are just on our way back to the lab now." Sara answered.
"What did you find out at the Hamilton house?" She asked.
"Well we didn't find anything that would indicate where she is, but we got the names and numbers of her friends she was out with, as well as her comb for DNA comparative purposes. We are also bringing her laptop back to the lab with us, maybe that will tell us something. Oh and the poor girl's mother, Brenda, is devastated, and she was very cooperative." Sara said filling her in.
Then Sara asked "Did the restaurant have surveillance video?"
"Yeah both inside and outside of the restaurant, the only problem is that it is not very good quality, it's very grainy so we are going to see if Archie can enhance it for us." Catherine said.
"I'm glad they had cameras." Sara said.
"So am I. Ray and I just got back to the lab so we will see you guys when you get here." Catherine said.
"Ok, goodbye." Sara said hanging up the phone.
"Did they get any surveillance?" Nick asked as soon as Sara was off the phone.
"Yeah but the quality is bad, hopefully Archie can work his magic." She answered.
Nick nodded in agreement.
When they arrived back at the lab the entire team met in the conference room.
"You guys work on the surveillance, I am going to go look through her laptop, let me know how Archie does with the video." Nick said, getting up and walking out of the room.
He went into a quiet lab room and got to work. To his dismay he found nothing that could help locate her, but her social networking pages seemed to fully support what Brenda Hamilton had told them, Kyla seemed happy and very well liked by her friends and peers. After he was finished with the laptop he went to go find the others. He found them all huddled behind Archie.
"Hey Nicky, find anything on the laptop?" Catherine asked as he entered.
"No, I struck out, how's the video coming?" He asked.
"Arch is still trying to get it clearer for us." She said.
After about 5 more minutes Archie said "That's as good as I can get it."
Although not the clearest video, it was very much useable. It showed Kyla sitting at a table in the restaurant and she was alone. Then a boy came up to Kyla's table. He looked to be about Kyla's age. The two began talking, it appeared that Kyla knew the young man. Then they went outside and continued talking. Kyla seemed to go with him willingly, she didn't appear to be under any duress. Then the young man whispered something into Kyla's ear and her body language changed, she tensed immediately. Her face showed an expression of terror. She followed the boy to the parking lot. He got into the drivers side of a black car while she got into the passenger seat, the video caught the car leaving the parking lot before disappearing out of view.
"I think that bastard threatened her." Nick said.
"Yeah, I think you're right Nick." Sara said.
"Archie, play that again." Nick instructed.
Archie did and after they had watched the video Nick asked "It didn't look to me like he had a weapon, did any of you see one?" He asked.
His colleagues all shook their heads no. They watched the video one more time just to make sure but still nobody saw a weapon. Unfortunately, they were unable to get a view of the license plate because of the poor video quality.
"Great, now how the hell are we going to find this car?" Nick said growing frustrated, but before anyone could answer Greg's pager went off
"That's Brass, he says that the two friends Kyla was last seen with have arrived to talk to me. I contacted them and asked them if they would come in so they could give their accounts of what happened, they both readily agreed to help any way they could. When I am finished questioning the girls I will ask them to watch the video, maybe they can identify the boy in the video." He said before quickly leaving the room.
After Greg had left the room Catherine turned to Nick and said "call Mrs. Hamilton and have her come down to the lab, maybe she can help shed some light on who this boy is."
Nick nodded and called Brenda immediately. Brenda said she would be there as soon as she could.
When Greg got to the interrogation room the girls were already sitting down waiting for his arrival.
"Hi girls, my name is Greg Sanders, I am one of the investigators that are trying to find Kyla." He said.
The girls introduced themselves.
"Ok, tell me exactly what happened." Greg said.
"We had to go to the bathroom and Kyla didn't so I suggested she stay and watch our belongings at the table." Reese Adams said.
"Then what happened?" Greg asked.
"We went to the bathroom and when we got back Kyla was gone." Shelley said.
"Was Kyla's purse still there or was it gone as well?" Greg asked.
"Her purse was there with ours." Shelley said.
"Was her cell phone in her purse, or does she have that with her?" He asked.
"It's in her purse, and Kyla doesn't go anywhere without her phone." Shelley said.
"When you got back to the table and she wasn't there, what did you girls do?" He asked.
"We looked all over the restaurant as well as outside for her, then when we couldn't find her we immediately called her mom Brenda and told her she was missing."
"Was Kyla upset about anything, did she ever mention being afraid of anyone. Did she ever express concern for her safety, anything like that?" Greg asked.
"No, Kyla is always so happy and bubbly, and she never mentioned being afraid." Reese said.
"Can you think of anyone that would want to hurt her?" Greg asked.
"No, not at all, everyone loves Kyla." Reese said
"Can you girls think of anything else that might help us find her, even something that seems insignificant could potentially be a huge help in finding her." Greg said.
"I'm sorry Mr. Sanders but I don't think there is anything else." Reese said.
"I don't think so either." Shelley said. Then she added "Please find her, all three of us are best friends, we have known each other since grade school, the three of us are more like sisters than friends."
"Yes, please do whatever you can to help her." Reese said.
Greg noticed tears were in both of their eyes.
"My team and I will do our absolute best to bring your friend home." He promised then he added "if you girls think of anything else that might help would you please let me know?"
"Yes of course." Reese said and Shelley nodded.
"Girls there is one more thing that I need your help with." He said.
"Anything." Both girls said simultaneously.
"We have surveillance video from Burger 17, would be willing to take a look at it?"
"Yes" both girls said immediately.
Greg felt that the girl's concern for their friend was genuine; all they wanted was their friend back safe and sound. And as he got up to leave he made a mental note to himself that the girls had kept their stories straight about the events of that evening, they had told him the same thing that they had told Mrs. Hamilton. Greg knew what they had told Mrs. Hamilton because of what Catherine had relayed to him and the rest of the team when she first introduced them to this case, and from his experience Greg knew that when people kept their stories straight they were usually telling the truth. When Greg, Reese, and Shelley walked out into the hallway the girls immediately saw Brenda Hamilton walking with Nick towards the video viewing room and went running towards her.
"This is all my fault, if I hadn't suggested she stay and watch our stupid purses none of this would be happening." Reese said with tears rolling down her cheeks.
"Reese this is not your fault." Brenda said.
"Yes it is." She said adamantly.
Brenda wrapped her arms around her and looked her in the eye "Reese, blaming yourself is not going to help Kyla, you have to keep it together ok, for Kyla's sake."
"Ok" Reese said wiping her eyes.
Nick and Greg watched this heart-wrenching scene, they looked at one another and shook their heads sadly.
As much as Nick did not want Reese blaming herself for what happened he knew that time was of the essence and so in a calming voice he said "Why don't we all go take a look at that video?"
They nodded and followed the two CSI'S into the viewing room. Nick started the surveillance video.
"Do any of you recognize that guy with Kyla?" Nick asked.
"No." Brenda said quietly with tears streaming down her face.
"I do." Shelley said immediately.
"So do I." Reese said.
Brenda immediately turned to face her daughter's friends "Who is it girls?" She asked frantically.
"That's Tim Johnson, he goes to school with us." Shelley said.
To Be Continued.