Welcome to the Games

Revelations

Back in Los Angeles, the press was worse than ever. Fuller had doubled security and given me and Sully body guards. At first we thought this was preposterous, but after parking my car in the lot it became apparent that Fuller knew what he was doing.

The paparazzi swarmed my car so much that I had to use half of my strength to get the car door open. That wasn’t even the hard part. Microphones pressed to my face, pens clicking and scrawling useless nothings on notebooks and the occasional flash of a camera was surrounding me. Thankfully security was able to get through the crowd and get me back through the doors of my work place; FBI Los Angeles.

I had just gotten back from investigating the orphanage in New York that the missing author, Zoe Smith, went to. Sully had covered the case for me over here.

Abigail Dupree-Linley was head of the New York Orphanage where Zoe had partially grown up in. Unlike her sister, she was perfectly pleasant and seemed totally innocent. This had made me suspicious- but the lady was genuine; answering my questions to the full of her ability, providing me with accurate documents and giving the occasional opinion.

“Zoe had always been a quiet child,” she’d said, “of course. Her parents had died while she was at school! It was no wonder. She had a thick imagination too, but she didn’t display it. She was really… different.”

Different, I’d asked. How so?

“Let’s just say that when she was 13, she acted 17. Very mature.”

Somewhat like your sister?

“Yes, Florence was always mature,” she’d said cautiously. “Never much of a people person which was why her job selection was a shock. But she had an eye for talent, and knew exactly how to get what she wanted. Oh yes, when we were kids, she was always the manipulative one.”

Thinking back to that conversation in the comfort of my own office made me remember something; ‘she knew exactly how to get what she wanted.’

Ms. Dupree’s stony expression, her brisk answers and haughty composure. Her reluctant-ness to give me and Sully any information at all was suspicious indeed.

I kept replaying my visit to the orphanage in my head. The conversation with Abigail.

“It was a wonder my sister never adopted that girl. She put her out there though, and gave her everything Zoe could have wanted.”

Except a family.

“Exactly. Except a family, Agent. I’m sure that’s what all these children here want, and so few get adopted.”

If you wouldn’t mind, I’d like a list of all the people adopted from your orphanage since 2001.

“That can be arranged.”

Zapping back to the present and realizing I wasn’t doing anything, I got out the files that Abigail had given me- all the while thinking about Ms. Dupree. Then I found my mind drifting towards the rest of the kidnapped. Back to what Fuller had said about the Kennedy case. To the current file I was reading which said a girl by the name of Nikki Rain Howard had run away. To Zoe. To Nikki. To the orphanage and Ms. Dupree and back again.

In that moment, I had four revelations.

Revelation 1: Ms. Florence Dupree, Zoe Smith’s agent, was the kidnapper.

It was obvious she had to have had accomplices, but I’d figure that out later. Everything she did practically screamed guilty. All I need is some evidence. Some proof. Some help…

Revelation 2: Where ever all of the kidnapped celebrities were, they were alive.

They had to be, if there was a ransom. And Ms. Dupree didn’t seem like the type to go off her word; merely to play a game. I realized this when she gave me the information about her sister- predominately pointless as I’d have to come back and question her again.

Revelation 3: Nikki Rain Howard, the girl who ran away, is suspicious.

No one knows where she is. She’s literally been wiped off the face of the planet. How? She and Zoe must’ve known each other- their parents worked together and they were around the same age. Plus, she was the only one who ever ran away from the orphanage. That, or was taken.

And finally the last revelation, and probably the hardest to accept.

Revelation 4: No matter how qualified I am, this criminal is a tough criminal- and I’m going to need more help.

I’m going to need help from probably the most notorious, manipulative, selfish criminal there is. She’s going to want a deal. I don’t know what I’m prepared to give. But to catch a criminal, you’ve got to think like a criminal.

I quickly wrote down my four revelations. I managed to stuff them into one of my desk’s drawers before there was a knock on the door and Sully face popped in, asking me if he should send away the five news crews, eight magazines, six news papers and two blogs that were at the door.

I hate the damn media.

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Okay, sorry for the shortness of it but... another chapter is up! Remember, comments are love! : )

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A word I know, six letters it contains, subtract one, and twelve remains. What word am I?

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