Something Missing - ONC 2024

Chapter 1 - This is Weird

This scene starts on 14th February, 9.30pm (just after Erica finished her talk, so roughly the same time as the previous chapter)

'Well, what did you think?' Alfonso asked his 18 year old nephew Matteo as they sat in the bar of the hotel with Rita. Matteo lived in London with his dad. He had plans to become a lawyer, and Alfonso's brother had got him tickets to the convention as a birthday present to learn more about crime and the legal profession. He was certainly a clever kid, Rita thought, although speaking in a mixture of Spanish and English for his benefit was getting tiring.

'I think the talks are really interesting,' Matteo said, enjoying his first official drink as an adult, although he had enjoyed plenty of unofficial ones. 'I'm even more determined to go into law now.'

'I'm sure you'll make a great lawyer,' Rita said.

'This Castella guy,' Matteo said. 'He was your brother in law. You knew him, right? What was he like?'

'He was a drug dealer and a murderer who killed people I cared about. He was a total bastard and I'm glad he's dead,' Rita said tersely, but without hesitation. Rather than listen to Donna and Erica's talk about her infamous drug-dealer brother in law, Javier Castella, and his gruesome death, she and Alfonso had gone to a talk about crime and punishment in the 16th century, while Matteo went to the more popular talk. The thought of Castella's smirking grin still enraged her.

Matteo laughed, taken aback. 'Oh. OK. So, you think Eloise should have gotten away with it, then?'

'Definitely not,' Rita said. 'She's dangerous and unbalanced and she's rightly in jail.'

'OK,' Matteo said. 'I was only asking.' Rita and Alfonso exchanged a glance.
Alfonso felt very uncomfortable at the whole scene, and Rita couldn't blame him. Earlier, there had been someone just outside the hotel bar selling t-shirts with quotes by Jeffrey Dahmer and Ted Bundy, despite the claims of the convention to centre victims and put them first. When the two left tomorrow, Matteo was going to be at this convention for three more days, and she couldn't pretend the thought of being there on her own didn't unnerve her - especially after her own experience.

Sometimes she still had nightmares about Henry Dixon, the wealthy, bullfighting-obsessed serial killer who had kidnapped her with the intention of killing her in front of an audience who'd bought tickets on the dark web, an audience as sick as he was. Once or twice, she'd woken up screaming.

Rita's phone vibrated, and as she unlocked the screen, she felt tense. It would just be her luck that she'd have to go back home for some urgent police work. She only relaxed when she saw who it was.

'Aw,' she said, holding Alfonso's hand and gazing at the message. An adorable little calf lay on a bed of straw. She looked at the camera with big eyes. She had brown and black splodges and a white splash on her face. 'Listen to this. Hey, it's Emelina from the sanctuary. Hope you're having a nice time in the UK. I thought I'd let you know. Tulipan and Pepelito's calf has just been born. It's a girl. Can you suggest a name?'

'How about Canela,' Alfonso said. Rita grinned and texted Emelina back.

'Canela it is,' was the reply. 'Sweet name.'

'Pepelito's that bull, right? The one that escaped from Castella and killed Henry Dixon?' Matteo seemed more interested in this topic than he had the entire time. He wanted to go off on his own but his dad had insisted that his uncle and his girlfriend accompany for the first two days of the convention. If the convention had been about any other topic than true crime, Rita would have agreed his dad's reaction was over protective. The kid already had a job and had just finished his first term at university.