Recommending, 17 Missing Girls.

Dead Girls Haunting our Phones?

During a murder investigation, the police would question family members, to rule them out as potential suspects first. Xero and his dad were in a different state, at the time of Ero's murder. Their mom was at work.

Clearing all of Ero's family members from being suspects, including Xero.

"8 years ago, the police concluded that Ero was in the wrong place, at the wrong time, of a robbery gone wrong." Xero said. "Then the case went cold. His killer in the wind."

"But this changes things." Xero pointed to the news coverage of the Mickey Mouse girl's body being found together.

Xero muttered to himself,

"The Xero AI app has recommended 16 profiles of currently missing girls, all sharing a common thread of posting a photo of a pastry before going missing.

The police had found the body of one of those 16 missing girls. We call her Mickey because of her hair."

"She went missing around the time frame that Ero was killed. Ero's body was tossed behind the dumpster of the bakery where Mickey's corpse was discovered. Ero saw something that got him killed.

Could she have been what Ero stumbled upon...that got him killed?"

"If these 16 girls were taken by the same person...and Ero was killed, after witnessing one of the missing girls being taken or killed..."

"Then the same bastard who is abducting these girls, had beaten and discarded my brother to bleed out alone, behind some dumpster, like he was trash...

If I can find out who abducted them...I can also find out who killed Ero!" Xero titled his face down, glaring upward. His voice deepened to a low growl.

"I'll make sure that bastard dies behind bars." Xero declared, burning with anger and determination.

Xero finished thinking out loud. As though exhausted from the racing thoughts and emotional roller coaster, he flopped over. Smashing his face into a pillow, on his couch.

If whoever killed Mickey Mouse girl also killed Ero...and Xero had been cleared as a suspect from Ero's murder, with a solid alibi of being in a different state, at the time of the murder...that indirectly cleared Xero from killing Mickey and abducting other 15 girls, in my head. I thought to myself.

I think Xero is innocent but if my intuition had malfunctioned, I'd die in this grave.

"There won't be enough therapy to erase last night from my head." He squeezed the pillow.

We're at Xero's place. He refused to set foot near my living room. His living room was the size of my entire apartment. It looked like a spread in home magazines.

Everything matched by the hands of a talented interior designer. Every pillow belonged there. The place was a perfect marriage of welcoming brown, gray, white and greens. There's plants hanging from the windows and growing in manicured square gardens, lining the open air hallways.

Fresh, airy high ceilings, lined by big windows. The curtains were automatic. The lights were voice controlled. Hell, the house greeted him when we walked in. Tell me you're rich without telling me you're rich.

I felt like a splinter, standing in this dustless living room.

"Xero," I said, "Your Xero app recommended 16 girls for me to be friends with, up to this point. The police just found the body of one of the 16 profiles...Do you think the rest are also...dead?"

Xero stayed sideways, on his pillows.

"I hope not..." He muttered, palming his face.

"Have you received any new restaurant recommendations that you didn't ask for?" Xero turned to me.