If Only She Knew

1. Missing

Two years earlier...

{ note I: when this stamp comes up, the action descibed underneath has taken place in the past, two or so years ago}

{ note II: the action in this time perspective is widely a part of reminiscing, or brainstorming, of Ariana Johnson or a different narrator ( when the narrator changes, there will be a notice above)}

...

"Here's your coffee, darling." Lily, one of Ariana's coworkers and above all pals stretched a puffy arm, holding out a smoldering, welcoming cup of coffee. Lily was a light brunette covered with freckles, a bit wrinkled for her age, one year older than Ariana, but a very friendly, almost too amiable person.

"Hmm, smells good. Thanks." Ariana smiled at her friend emanating a warm aura which pleased Lily. It wasn't certain whether Lily was an almost too amiable person or Ariana was, as usual, very easy to love.

Ariana was, in terms of beauty standards, almost overlapping the status of a model. She had fair skin that shone brightly, light blue eyes and long-until-the-booty golden hair

Although she was a short woman, she always wore ten-centimeter high heels that made up for it.

Ariana always had a smile to give, even to those she disliked. She was never sad. Or that was what everyone thought of her, at the very least.

"Soo, what are you up to tonight?" Lily asked her as she was leaning against the printer with an arm propped on it.

"Oh, just nothing as usual. You?" Ariana said as she was sipping her coffee, her eyes closed.

"Oh, just nothing as usual," her friend mocked, laughing. "You're dating that guy, aren't you?" Lily smirked, moving her eyebrows up and down continuously.

"What guy?" Ariana asked as she scratched her hand, feigning an 'I don't know anything'

Lily cleared her throat.

"Then should I refresh your memories darling? Two weeks ago, 12th of May, evening, you were eating a popcorn bag by the corner of the street, I was there, car passes, it had rained and since it had rained the filthy bog splashed all over you... Baggy eyed mister but cute and handsome as a devil comes out and all in a rush touches you all over, asks if you're alright..." Lily rapped this to her friend as she flourished air circles with her fingers.

Just then the mighty Michael St. Clair, their team leader, entered the room.

"Ohh, you meant Joseph Baggy eyes? I'm not dating him," she reasoned with her friend and as she turned her head, she met the team leader's eyes.

"Girls will be girls," Michael St. Clair, called Mike by his friends or, rarely though, The Creep by his subordinates, or that bold, domineering detective by female detectives from other teams, said.

"But work's just barely started. Let's throw dating talk in the trash," Michael mocked with a dimpled smile as he kicked his way through the room. He was a fit guy who went to the gym regularly, but he was a bit dense for a detective.

Him and Ariana had dated a couple months ago, right around the time she started working here.

"Are you dating some Joseph?" Thus Michael mused.

"Are you coming in with some actually entertaining cases, not just Cat Disappearances and Trash Bin kidnappings?" Ariana laughed mockingly.

Some of the other teammates were slowly dragging themselves in after the break.

"We've never had a trash bin kidnapping, Ariana," the leader reminded her, his face looking all but reprimanding, and she rolled her eyes.

She didn't have experience as a detective yet since she had been only recently given this job after graduation, and she hadn't yet been taken on field investigation, so she still found it easy to crack jokes.

Mike turned serious and started that day's speech:

"Okay. Now that everyone's gathering. Today we'll form teams of three. I'll first ask who wants to sit here and check the cases, the mails from the forensics and all, and who wants to work on field. There's a new case which smells bad and this time, it's not a cat disappearance." Mike gave Ariana a look.

Ariana became curious. "Wait... You mean a real case?"

She was so excited to get to work.

All the studying in school couldn't even compete with the experience that she was to gain.

Maybe one of those days she could face her mother's killer...

"What does this new smelly case involve, pray tell?" Adrian, a guy who makes it a habit out of smoking inside the section too much, inquired.

Mike sat his incredibly toned butt on the desk, one leg hanging in the air. He said, "You guys heard that people keep going MIA recently, right?"

Mike surveyed everyone. Silence. He waved his hand, jumping from the desk:

"In any case, there's a reported disappearance case that has been passed onto our team."

"Ohh, things are spicing up." Ariana mused.

Nobody in the room seemed to take things seriously.

"Victim's name is Brandon Miles, an American immigrant living in town. He was reported missing last night. Last sighting was about a week ago. His wife waited a week to report it, and she claims he hadn't told her he was going somewhere and he was supposed to be home or to have contacted her at least."

Mike spoke, watching his disinterested team endearingly. He knew they had a long way to go as a team...

Mike grabbed a whiteboard marker almost randomly and went on ahead towards the front.

"So, within the last few months, we've noticed a strange phenomenon." He went and started scribbling in an unintelligible writing that only Lily could understand.

"Still... dozens of people disappear every day. You've only given us five random names... How could you prove that they're all linked?" An Asian guy, just as rookie as Ariana, whose name nobody knew, commented.

Mike didn't even pay him a glance, though.

"The investigation's still young, but here's what we know..." Michael was pacing around the room, hands clasped behind his back.

"The things all these disappearances have in common: Firstly, all of these victims are aged either 18-26, either 45-60 years old."

Ariana drummed her fingers on her fishnets as Michael pursued on...

"Secondly, almost all of these victims have apparently immigrated Big Bucharest in the last ten years. We can't be sure it has any relevance but it can't just be ruled a coincidence."

Ariana could remember even now that day and the way she had underestimated those cases...

She wouldn't have thought that what would come to be known as The Big B. Murders would change her life permanently and irreversibly... Like an epidemic.

This, too, shall pass.