The Bachelor

PROLOGUE

I woke up to a phone call. Half asleep, I grabbed my phone and answered.

"Hello?" I mumbled.

"We need you now. It happened again," they said.

It took a minute to realize that it was my colleague. I guess I'm being called in, I thought to myself. Before getting ready, I grabbed the TV remote and pressed the power button.

"- another man has disappeared today. 26 year old Miles Jensen never came home last night, with utterly no warning. Authorities are on the scene now, trying to piece together where the newlywed husband went. This is Chase Sanders, Channel 8 News," the reporter said.

I turned it off. I got dressed in my normal beige suit, grabbed all my things, and left the house. I drove to the location my colleague texted me. After about 15 minutes, I arrived. I turned my car off and got out.

"Thank you for coming so quick Detective," my colleague said. She was young, but not younger than me, with dark hair and dressed very professionally. "Hopefully you can put a finger on what is going on here. The wife is right over there."

She points to a woman talking with 2 police officers, looking like she has been crying. She is young, no more than thirty. I walked over to her and the officers.

"Oh, this is Detective Branson," the first officer said. "Branson, this is Mrs. Jensen."

He gestures toward the crying woman.

"I am here to help you, okay?" I say very calmly.

She sniffled. "Okay."

"Now I need you to listen to me very carefully, and the more you cooperate with me, the better I can help you. Alright?"

She wipes her eyes. "Alright."

"Can we go inside?"

"Yes, detective."

She escorts me into her house, which is littered with my workers searching for any kind of evidence.

"Alright, you all can leave. I'll take it from here," I said. They all scurried out. "Not you!"

I grabbed my apprentice's shoulder as he tried to leave with everyone else.

"Oh! Sorry, sir!" he said.

"How many times do I have to tell you? You can call me Branson,"

"Sorry, Branson."

"Not a big deal. Now, I need you to follow me as I do this, so you can learn for yourself. Got it?"

"Got it!" He follows us as we walk through the house.

"When was the last time you saw Miles?" I asked Mrs. Jensen.

"About 8am yesterday when he left for work." she said

"What time does he normally show up after work?"

"About 6pm but I work nights so I don't ever see him when he gets home. I didn't get home until after midnight, and when I got home, he was nowhere to be found."

"Has he ever left like this before?"

My apprentice interrupted us. "Sir, don't you think you're thinking too far into this? He's only been gone a few hours-"

"This is the fourth disappearance this week! The seventeenth this month! I know I'm younger than you, but I am definitely not thinking too far into this! Now, I am going to get to the bottom of this, if it's the last thing I do!" I snapped.