Winchester's Secrets

Two☄️

I would need a list of suspects for this case to continue. Both the Mayor and his wife seemed to suspect the Vice Mayor, he had been trying to usurp the Mayor. Susan Hendricks had to be interrogated, I had a gut feeling she knew something vital.

The Hendricks were VIPs in Winchester town, as they were part of the original founders. The other part was the Brooks'.

From what I knew, the Hendricks were nice apart from the man. Bill Hendricks was someone you didn't want to go against. Susan Hendricks was his only child with his wife, Stacy Hendricks.

The road leading to the Hendricks was the only snow free road in Winchester, it was cleared daily and I was happy for that. My car had developed faults twice in one week.

It seemed like luck was on my side, Susan Hendricks opened the front door as soon as I stepped out of my car. It oddly seemed like she was expecting me.

"Miss Hendricks, just the person I wanted to see. May I come in?" I asked. I hoped this visit would lead somewhere.

"Yeah, sure. You want to ask about Em, right? It's all over the news and not even a day has passed." She said as she walked into the grand hallway, seeming unconcerned.

I was surprised, "You don't seem concerned that Emily has gone missing." I half expected her to be bawling her eyes out, but she was doing her nails in front of me.

"This isn't the first, second or third time this has happened." She pointed out.

"What do you mean, Susan?" I asked as she smiled at me. This was a different story from what the Mayor said.

"Oh, we're on first names now. Okay Bella, she hardly came here and spent the night. Whenever she told her parents she was coming to spend the night, she would sneak out of my room and go somewhere else." She explained. I was happy, this was going somewhere.

"Where did she go at those times?"

"I don't know, she never told me. All I know is, she would come back in the morning or early afternoon. This time, she probably decided not to hide it anymore." She said as a maid brought tea which I accepted.

She wasn't telling me something, I could feel it. Either she didn't want to, or I had not asked the right question. I had to try something else.

"Okay, what is Emily like? What does she do, what does she like?"

This seemed to excite Susan, as she dropped the nail file and started talking, "Emily is a fun girl, and she's ready to help me out. Always has my back, I couldn't wish for a better person. She loves drawing, singing and observing, also loves travelling." Her voice changed and she talked in a higher tone.

"When she found out the reason for her mom's nonchalance towards her, she became withdrawn and moody. She sneaked out more often. I think to meet friends, new friends. She rarely associated with even her sister. I think with every passing day, she became more angered." She explained quietly. Now Miss Hendricks looked lost, she was lost without her best friend.

But, I heard something. New friends, no one else seemed to know about this. This could be the next lead.

"Susan, you said new friends. Did you know them?" I asked hopefully.

"Umm, no I didn't. She never introduced them me, I suspected she felt I wouldn't like them."

My hopes were gone, how would I find the friends that Emily had?

"But, she did mention someone to me, a guy. His name was Chase Stanton, she always talked about him. I think they were dating, I asked her but she never admitted it. That's all I know, sorry." She said. She had begun to realize her friend had gone missing.

"That's enough information. Thanks, Miss Hendricks." I smiled and got up to leave.

"Bella, please find Emily. I can't lose her."

As the snow continued to fill up the road again, I recalled the pleas of three people telling me to find Emily Brooke.

*****

"Why do I get a speeding ticket? I was driving carefully." Mrs. Walters asked.

I sighed and remarked sarcastically, "Of course you were. That's why the speed meter of your car was 120km/hr."

"I won't collect that ticket. The snow is terrible, I can't have my car being spoilt again. It would be the third time in less than two weeks." She sighed and crossed her arms.

"I don't expect you to," I said, putting the ticket in between the windshield, "Drive carefully next time, Mrs. Walters and Merry Christmas."

I laughed as she stomped back into her car carrying the ticket. She would have to pay, she didn't have a choice.

I wondered how the people in charge of this did this everyday, without being frustrated. My line of job didn't include giving tickets, but I had to help since the police in charge of this were stuck at home till the snow cleared.

First thing I did on getting home was to search for the name, Chase Stanton. As I waited for it to load, I felt a breakthrough. I would have some more answers.

"What? No results found?" I exclaimed, making Jack who was cooking walk up to me.

"What's the matter, babe?" He asked, holding a soup spoon.

"No results came up for Chase Stanton." I said, searching again but seeing the same words on the laptop screen.

"Okay Bel, I don't understand."

I sighed, sat him down and explained everything. At the end, he seemed to be deep in thought.

"Babe, why do you think Susan wouldn't like Emily's new friends?"

He seemed to be coming up with something.

"It's because they were probably questionable people. Emily would want her best friend to meet her new friends, unless they were too opposite or they would create a scandal." Jack explained.

He continued, "What I'm saying is, there is a possibility that Chase Stanton is a fake name. Either Emily herself didn't know his name, highly improbable, or she wanted to hide his identity from Susan."

That made a lot of sense. This was one of the reasons I fell for Jack, he loved this nearly as much as I did.

I laughed and ruffled his brown hair, "That makes sense. That's my baby, always thinking ahead."

He smiled and kissed me, "Although, that takes us back. If it's a fake name, we have nothing."

"We do. Now we know she had other friends, she must have been seen in public with one or two of them. Just ask around."

"You'll find her, honey." He continued and kissed me as I melted into his arms.

*****

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