A Hope Waiting In The Dark

Twenty Four Hours

"Let's not freak out," Baez told Danny, after calling the rest of the family. "Let's go back to your house, we probably missed something."
"Yeah, probably." They drove in silence to the detective's house, tension and worry in the air. They walked into the house, almost as if it were haunted.
"I'll check down here, you upstairs." Baez pointed towards the stairs.
"Okay." Danny walked up the stairs slowly, as if he were numb. He actually felt numb; without his wife, life had no meaning. He looked around the bedroom, searching for clues. He found a wet towel by the dresser, some of her jewelry on the floor near the dresser, and the closet door opened. He looked inside the closet, and touched everyone of her clothing items that hung on hangers.
Baez walked up the stairs after finding very little evidence on the first floor. She had only found a Mac 'n' cheese box on the counter, along with milk and butter. She stopped in the bedroom doorway when she heard her partner yelling.
"Whaddaya mean I have to wait twenty four hours to report a missing person?!" Danny almost yelled into the phone, "no, you listen! This is the love of my life we're talking about!.... no, I didn't think of that." He answered sarcastically. "Of course I called her! I'm a detective, for Pete's sake!...." He hung up the phone, angry at the world. "Who the hell made up that stupid rule?"
"What rule?" Baez wondered, hesitantly walking into the bedroom.
"A person isn't missing until twenty four hours. By twenty four hours, we could be too late!"
Baez watched her partner's eyes go wide, as if he hadn't considered that possibility until now. "Danny, it's okay. Everything's gonna turn out fine."
"But what if they really do kill her this time? What if they were planning on doing it last time? What if they were going to kill her after they had their sick fun, but I got in the way? What if-"
"Danny! What-if's aren't going to help right now. Right now, all we can do is not touch a thing in here or anywhere, pray, and wait."
*********
"What did she look like?" The officer, Matthews, asked the detective twenty four hours later.
"She looks like Linda," Danny answered stupidly as the police did a sweep of his house. "And she's not dead. Just missing. Don't act like she's dead."
"Sorry. What does she look like?"
"I told you. Like Linda."
Baez wondered what made her partner so stupid all of a sudden. Maybe he really didn't have any reason to function unless Linda was by his side? "Would it help if we showed you a picture? It would be much more accurate, and then the sketch artist could tweak it to Danny's liking."
Danny nodded and got out his phone, scrolling through the pictures. "Here," he handed the officer the phone so he could email it to himself. "We were at some nurse's house for a dinner thing. In November," he smiled a little, "she didn't know I was taking the picture."
"How old is this picture?"
"That was taken in... 2017. That's the best most recent one I've got."
"What's the most recent one?"
Danny took the phone back and scrolled a bit again. He turned the screen around, "that was taken about two days ago. In the morning." The picture was of Linda sleeping, her arms above her head, hair messy, mouth opened, and drool trickling down her cheek. Danny had wanted to get a picture of his wife the morning after sex, just to show her she still looked amazing. He had forgotten about showing it to her.
"I think we'll use the other picture. It'll be easier to draw and such." He held up the phone and emailed the picture to his computer.
"Detective!" The other Officer, Crawford, called Danny. 
"What?"
"Was your wife into self-harm?"
"Into? Like she enjoyed it?"
"Did she cut herself?"
".... no." He saw the officer raise an eyebrow. "Sometimes. Why?"
He stood up, "we found a knife... from the looks of everything, she had taken a shower, cut herself, walked over here," he pointed to the dresser. "Then the perp grabbed her. She struggled, to no avail. They probably drugged her, so she'd go willingly."
Danny nodded, trying to formulate a plan to lock the perps in jail for life. "Well, they committed a felony once before. That's twenty years right there. If they take her across state lines again, 'nother twenty."
"They've probably broken all sorts of laws," Baez said, "probably got good lawyers to drop the charges. They probably stole a car. That's three felonies right there. We nab 'em on one, and they'd be in jail for life."
"Now all we gotta do is find them..."