Heartdriven: Too Driven To Drive

2. Dust In The Wind

'Dear Sebastian'. That was it. That letter. That was all that Alice had left behind, placed on the kitchen counter for him to find when he walked through the door.
Sebastian had read the letter over and over, trying to make some sense of it. But it didn't. She was gone.

Sebastian was supposed to pick up Alice at the airport, but she didn't show up. Her plane had arrived, but she wasn't on it. She hadn't replied to his messages and phone calls, and growing sick with concern, he dropped everything to fly back home to check on her, but all he found was the letter.
He went to his office and found the bag that she had mentioned in her letter. Upon opening it, he found it hard to go through her personal belongings. It wasn't for him to see, it was for him to keep safe. But at the top of the items, was a curled up card and he could just see one letter written on it. "W."
His suspicions went through the roof with worry. He knew William was a police officer and Alice had said he was now working at the police station in town. But if he had something to do with her disappearance, what else was he supposed to do other than go to the police?

He didn't give any details in his initial report of inquiry, only that it was involving the reporting of a missing person. He spoke with a female officer who was understanding of his concerns, but said it was too early to report a person missing, when there was no suspicion of foul play—only backed up by the letter she had left behind. Sebastian could think of no more, and mentioned Alice knowing of a police officer working in the station called William, if it would possible to talk to him. The officer, Officer Anderson's demeanour changed at the mention of his name, and quite lowly told Sebastian to not dig deeper on this, but not to worry about it, Alice is safe.
Her having knowledge about this and potentially William's involvement only rattled Sebastian further, he was lucky he hadn't been there or Sebastian might have attacked him on sight. But the words he clung onto were 'Alice is safe'.

He tried calling her. Several times every day. But her phone number was blocked. The police were of no help. He had no means to get in contact with her or to find her.

Arriving back home to their street, he drove past the house with the Opel Astra parked outside. That was where Betty and Jakob lived... Alice had mentioned growing fond of them after spending a day and dinner with them. Maybe... just maybe...
He pulled up their driveway, knocking on the door. They seemed happy to see him, even if this was their first official meeting, they were open towards him. Perhaps Alice had told them all about him, because it felt like they already knew him, even if he didn't know them. But they were the first to ask if he had seen Alice recently. That did not help his investigation, as he had hoped they could give him some details about her whereabouts, rather than the other way around. At first they felt a bit hesitant about sharing what they did know. After all they didn't knew him like they had come to know Alice. But they did indulge his inquiries, recognising his concern for her had no involvement in what was going on.
They mentioned she had not looked well the last time they saw her... in fact, she was injured. Sebastian's concern grew even bigger for her wellbeing. And then Betty said there had been a man with her. Oh no. William. Shivers went down Sebastian's spine. He asked if the man was around Sebastian's age or in his 30s? Most likely in his 30s. Oh no. The thought of Alice being alone again with that beast, if he had taken her somewhere against her will... Had he dark hair? Yes. He asked if he was tall. But to that, Betty said no. She said he was rather short. Oh. Wait what? No... Could it be... And that new suspicion was only confirmed when Jakob added the detail that the man had a Spanish accent.
A dark, shorthaired man in his 30s with a Spanish accent.
Alice was with Alonso.

Impatiently waiting for the plane to land in Spain, Sebastian was going through everything in his mind, trying to connect the dots and see if there was anything he had missed.
The most curious part, was the police officer telling him that Alice was safe. How would she know that, if Alice was with Alonso and not William? And that was when it hit him, that her name, Officer Anderson had rung familiar: It was the same police officer that had talked Alice out of reporting William in the first place. So how did she factor into this now?
Sebastian had questions he needed answered, and unlike last time, Alonso was going to answer him. Too many horrible open ended thoughts were going through his brain, but the thought of Alice being injured hurt the most.