Disappearance

18

"Charlie Marsh. Twelve Years old. Hasn't been seen since school finished at 2:30 pm this afternoon, August 3rd. His mother called in and reported him missing immediately after she got home from work at 5:30 pm. He would usually answer the door and he didn't, she was immediately concerned. We have an officer talking to Charlie's mother now." SI Lark stated whilst marching toward the house whilst speaking to DCI Braylon Parlash. She could tell by his tone he was distraught and exhausted, this was the second child to go missing within a week and the third linking this case together. The town was petrified and everyone had seemingly gone into hiding. As soon as Charlie Marsh was confirmed missing, the school decided to close its doors and started conducting classes online instead of in person, the whole town was in lockdown and all eyes were on the police force to figure out what was going on. 

Since Super Intendant Lark visited Rodrick Jameson a few days ago, he hasn't told anyone. Lark was so confused and felt betrayed, one of his police force members could know the location of these children and had said nothing, or worse, someone he worked with could be the abductor.  He could feel the colour drain from his face as he thought about it, three children total were missing, two within a week. He noticed Detective Chief Inspector Braylon Parlash, his second in command, watching him with a worried expression on her face. He stopped gazing into the negative cloud he was in and started to focus on the case and find Charlie, feeling the colour return to his face as he became laser focused. He needed to find these children, and he needed to do it now.

As Parlash and Lark speed walked toward the house, they saw a woman crying in the front garden, with a blanket around her shoulders. She was being consoled by one officer as another was writing in a notepad, taking down notes as the lady spoke to the officers through tears and shaky breath. Lark quickly bowed his head toward the officer taking notes as he walked past them to investigate the house, and in turn, the officer gave Lark a soft smile and bowed his head in return as he went back to asking the broken woman questions about Charlie. 

"Parlash, you go inside and see how everything is going, get any updates you can. I am going to have a look around the outside of the house and see if I can find anything." Lark said walking away from Parlash to join the crew of five officers looking in the garden whilst replaying the footage of Francis being dragged into the bushes repeatedly. His intuition was telling him to look outside in the garden and bushes and see if anything could lead them to Charlie, constantly wondering who is the rat. Lark kept wondering who is the officer that abducted now three children and are they safe or in harm's way, he was riddled with guilt because he didn't know who it was. Guilt filled his heart as he started searching through the bushes in the garden for anything when something caught his eye. 

He looked at what looked to be a small piece of deep blue fabric in the shape of a rectangle, he put some plastic gloves on, picked it up and when he turned it over, his breath caught in his throat. POL was printed on this fabric. On the right arm on every police uniform has a piece of deeper blue fabric with POLICE on it in bold, white letters. This was a part of the police uniform, and it confirmed his deepest fears, and with this, he jogged over to the officers with Charlie's mother. "Officers, please take this woman to the police station and make sure she is taken care of. Get her a hotel for the night so she can rest. Mam, as soon as we find out anything we will come to you immediately however we need you to comply and go with these officers for both your and Charlie's safety." Lark said quickly but clearly to the three people, who understood immediately that he has found something. "Of course, but please take this photo of charlie, I have plenty more however this is my favourite." She said softly, passing Lark a picture of a young boy with a big grin, the front middle tooth missing from his top row of teeth. 

"Thank you mam, before I go officers, can I please see your right arms?" Lark spoke, although it clearly wasn't a question, immediately the officers turned and faced their right arm to Lark, who saw that the added fabric was intact and no added part was missing. "Thank you both, I will check in on you tomorrow." He said, not waiting for a reply as he turned away, hearing the soft shut of the door. Walking back he calculated his next step, clutching this fabric in his hands. 

He was so close, yet he felt so far away. He decided to start with the officers outside, investigating the garden and on the street being security, asking each individual to show him their right arm, which each officer did without hesitation. A few officers asked questions about what he was doing and why he wanted to see the uniform, but he brushed them aside proving to the surrounding officers he knew something and was on a mission to figure it out. Once Super Intendant Lark cleared the five in the garden and the four keeping the street closed, he then turned his focus to the officers inside. He walked in and saw an officer with gloves on looking through a police bag, noticing his last name printed on the left arm of his uniform FELIX. 

"Officer Felix, can you please inform me how many officers are working inside the house this afternoon? " Lark spoke as Felix stopped to think for a second. "Good Evening Super Intendant. There were Ten officers working inside the house, however, an officer left and said they had a family emergency."  Felix responded, finding the notepad he was looking for and zipped up his bag, putting it aside. "Thank you, officer Felix. A question, may I see your right  arm please." SI Lark continued, Felix, complying instantly and turning to show the uniform intact. "Have a good evening Officer Lark, if you need me I will be taking notes on the investigation," Felix responded, walking left as Lark turned right and into the hallway. He passed 4 more officers in the house, each having the uniform intact, which started to make him nervous, he then moved to the left side of the house where he saw the remaining 5, each patch of fabric sewn on perfectly. 

His head spun as he noticed everyone had their piece of fabric attached perfectly to their right arms. All officer's uniforms were clean and stitched perfectly when he remembered Felix saying someone has left due to family emergencies, it suddenly hit him.

Where the fuck is Detective Chief Inspector Braylon Parlash?!