Ten years later

“Hey? Are you listening to me?”

Detective Alice Hayes turned to look at her partner, Detective Gary Frasier, who sat at the desk next to her while other police officers filled out paperwork around them. Phones periodically went off around the office, and at least one juvenile delinquent had to be led past them in handcuffs to the holding area. Aside from that, today had been slow for the most part. The pair of them wore suits that fit the department’s dress code for a detective. If one looked closely at the suits, you could see just a hint of the wear and tear that came with this job.

Gary, it seemed, was trying to have a conversation as they worked at their computers. He was a tall, broad-shouldered man who shaved what little hair had survived his balding. He had a round face and a large nose, so he wasn't exactly a looker, but Gary gave off an air of friendliness that was contagious to most people. Alice wasn’t one of them.

“Sorry,” said Alice. “I just...had something on my mind.”

Alice wore her black hair short and had no makeup on her face, giving no quarter to making herself appealing. One could clearly see every imperfection on her fair, almost pale skin. She had a job to do, and she took that seriously, though she’d been momentarily distracted this time. She quickly cleared the cobwebs from her mind and gave her partner her full attention.

“So, what were you saying?”

“I was saying,” said Gary. “That we’re planning a movie night over at Officer Larsen’s place this Friday. We’re thinking of watching The Beast of Boulder Street.”

Alice winced.

 “Gary, you know how I feel about horror movies.”

“Oh, come on,” said Gary. “The Beast of Boulder Street is a classic. I’d figured even you could appreciate that.”

“I can appreciate its impact on our culture without seeing it,” she replied, turning her attention back to her work. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, this missing person case isn’t going to solve itself.”

“Look,” said Gary. “I’m as committed to finding this kid as you are, but you need to learn to relax. Exhaustion isn’t going to help you find anyone. Besides, it’s good for partners to be friendly with each other. Honestly, we’ve been partners for years and I barely know you.”

“Maybe if it wasn’t a horror movie,” said Alice.

“Don’t give me that,” said Gary. “You turn me down no matter what the invitation is.”

“What can I say? I’m an introvert.”

“More like a recluse,” Gary muttered under his breath as he looked away.

“Excuse me?” asked Alice irritably.

“Look,” said Gary, going over his own paperwork.  “I’m just saying, this job takes its toll, and it would help if you got out more. Socialized. Lived a little.”

Something about that sounded eerily familiar, and Alice slowly put down her paperwork and swiveled her chair to look straight at him. Seeing her from the corner of his eye, Gary paused his own work but refrained from making eye contact.

“You’ve been talking with my mother, haven’t you?” Alice accused.

Gary, hesitantly, said, “She…got in touch. And she’s not wrong, you know?”

Alice took a deep breath, turning back to her computer.

“Gary, it’s sweet that you’re worried about me,” she said. “It really is, but I’m fine. If you want proof, I’ve passed all my psych evaluations, so if you really want to worry about someone, worry about Kenny Halsen. Somewhere out there, this little kid has been abducted, and we’re the ones charged with finding him.”

“We don’t know that for certain,” said Gary. “We don’t have any leads yet. For all we know, he was just a runaway. Sad, but preferable to…other scenarios.”

“Well, I have a hunch,” said Alice. “He had good grades, friends, no problems at school or at home…I just don’t see any red flags that would make him run away. So, like I said, if you want to worry about someone, worry about him. We’ve got a job to do, so let’s do it.”

“Alright,” said Gary, restarting his work. “Alright. Message received. I’m just saying that wearing yourself out will only make it harder to do your job. You do need to relax sometimes, even with this job.”

She paused.

“Thanks,” she said. “But I’m fine.”

Gary shrugged and said, “If you say so.”

She didn’t respond to that. Anything she thought to say sounded petty in her mind, so she kept it to herself. It was nice that he worried about her, but she really was fine. She just needed to stop thinking about Arthur. Alice Hayes had work to do, so she did it.

###

They didn’t get any leads on their case that day, so Alice went home discouraged. She knew she couldn’t let herself get too attached and had to remain objective, but it was easy to get discouraged by this sort of thing. Exhausted, she entered her apartment, locked the door, and looked around. She had a modestly furnished apartment with little to no decoration and furniture that was functional with little regard to looks. To most, including Alice, it was a dull look for a home. The most ascetically pleasing thing in the room was the movie collection to the left of her TV. It was mostly romance movies and romantic comedies, all with, as others had put it, optimistically sappy endings. She didn’t care. They were a nice break from…well, everything.

Actually, Alice thought, a movie before bed sounds nice right about now. She would quickly make her dinner, get a tray, and watch something while she ate. She went over to her shelf and scanned for something. It took a few moments for her to decide, but finally, she settled on a movie, almost without thinking about it. She decided to watch a letter from Missouri.

###

Alice finished her dinner and the movie with a tear in her eye, in a good way. Seeing the couple get together at the end was always a cathartic thing to see. Of course, It wasn’t as if that was going to happen for Alice in real life. That would require dating, for starters. Even so, she still liked to see it happen for other people, even if they were fictional.

After the movie, Alice took a shower and went to bed. Laying there in her pajamas, she found she had trouble getting to sleep. Even on nights when she distracted herself with a movie’s happy ending, this wasn’t uncommon. When she was working on a murder case, she sometimes had the victim’s face on her mind, at least until she solved the case and got justice for them. Tonight was different. Tonight, a face she hadn’t thought about in a while filled her mind’s eye, and it was the face of her little brother, Arthur.

Even now, years later, it was so frustrating to think about, with so many questions left unanswered. Why had someone killed the Baxters and abducted Arthur? The Baxters had been drained of their blood through two pricks in their skin, as if by a vampire. Vampires weren’t real, but someone had gone to great lengths to make it look like they were. It all left Alice wondering, Why? Why would someone turn the deaths of the Baxters and her brother’s abduction into one of those tabloid stories next to bigfoot and space aliens? Why? Why kill them in the first place?

Why did it have to happen on the night Arthur was there?

And what had happened to Arthur? She still wondered if he was out there, somewhere. It seemed unlikely, and every day the odds of him turning up again seemed fainter and fainter. The person who killed the Baxters probably killed Arthur eventually. Sometimes Alice could hear herself screaming his name in her head.

Alice shook that head, clearing her mind. She’d put this behind her a long time ago. It wouldn’t help to start digging up those memories now. Alice took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She and Arthur fought and argued all the time growing up, and yet, despite all the bickering, she missed her little brother. Even so, she wouldn’t let this destroy her. Right now, she needed to get some sleep and then do her job. She could put Arthur out of her mind long enough to get a good night’s sleep.  For once, she craved some silence in her mind.