Phoenix

Chapter 20: The Missing Piece

Captain Weaver glanced curiously at Kida as she approached him with a look of confusion, coiled muscles, and anger beaming in her eyes.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, standing in front of her porch blocking his path.

"I could ask the same question," he commented, keeping his distance.

"I live here," she growled, partially offended by the question.

"I thought you'd be out looking for her," he gazed down at Em's ruffed up helmet clenched in her fingers while Kida's insides twisted into a knot.

"What do you mean by that?" Kida asked, caught off guard by his question.

"I mean you're going around looking for Em, behind investigators backs," he explained calmly, taking a step closer.

Max's barks boomed from behind the front door as Lena opened it and peered out.

"Captain Weaver, is everything alright?" she asked while Max forced his way out the door. "Hey. Kida, control that dog."

Max stood on the edge of the porch, close to Kida, baring his teeth while a low growl echoed in his throat. Turning away from Captain Weaver, she knelt down beside Max and pet him softly down his back.

"Sorry about that," Lena apologized.

"Nothing to apologize for. I just came by to ask a few more questions. We got some new evidence, and I was hoping you two can fill in some gaps," he explained, glancing down at his case file and thin iPad.

"Of course, please come in. We'll try and help you in anywhere we can," Lena offered, opening the door for him. Max's growl grew as he passed, but he didn't lunge forward.

"Shh," Kida whispered in Max's pointy ears, calming him slightly down as she stood. "Come."

Max hobbled obediently after her into the warm and refreshing heat. Kida narrowed her gaze as Captain Weaver followed her mother into the small closed-off kitchen while her brothers stared wide-eyed from the couch.

"Boys, can you go upstairs for a moment?" Lena asked from the kitchen.

"Do we have to?" Jacob whined.

"We'll promise to be quiet," Tyler argued.

"Upstairs now," Lena finalized.

"Ugh," Tyler groaned stubbornly, walking up the stairs.

"But Kida gets to stay," Jacob debated while reluctantly following Tyler.

"That's because she's older," Lena reasoned.

Tyler and Jacob groaned while sticking their tongues out at Kida as they passed, hoping that would satisfy their anger. Kida stuck her tongue out as well, internally laughing at their childish response.

'I kinda wish I was in their shoes right now,' she thought before she and Max joined Captain Weaver and Lena.

"So may I ask why you didn't interview Kida while she was down at the station? That way, you didn't have to drive all the way down here," Lena asked, caughting Kida's breath in one fallow swoop.

'And now I'm dead.'

"She's a minor. I would've needed a parent or lawyer present to question her," Captain Weaver reasoned as though the overpowering question seemed to dodge his common sense by a millimeter.

'Holy shit, how am I still breathing?' she wondered, setting Em's helmet down on the small island as Captain Weaver presented them with pictures.