Mannequin Bride

I sat up after waking from the same terrible dream again. The dream involves many flashbacks of happy times with my family, and then goes to the day my wife died. Worse still, it shows the day my daughter was taken, I had not witnessed this event, but the dream shows it as if I were there, looking through the eyes of the bastard that had done it.

The first thing I see once the lights hit my eyes is the bulletin board I had set up with the pictures of all of the missing girls. The one picture I do not have is the first potential victim. A boy, Riley was his name, went missing about 150 days ago. He was last seen arguing with his girlfriend. Then, three days later, his body, diced into 18 pieces, was discovered in a trash can in a back alley. After him, 19 girls were kidnapped, the first being my daughter, my precious Siobahn. The most recent kidnapping happened only a couple days ago. As of now, no bodies have turned up.

I stood, staring at the board for countless minutes. This long stretch of time, and they know nothing about the kidnapper, or even why he takes the girls he takes. The girls had nothing in common, all are different nationalities, and this latest one was the princess, and one was homeless, so he isn’t holding them for ransom. What could this guy want?

After a few more minutes of pondering the case, I decided it would be best to go to work, so I head for the door. As I step out from the door, my next door neighbor, Amelia Clarke walks over to me.

“Any luck finding your daughter?” she asked me.

“Nothing yet, Amelia.” I replied somberly. We haven’t had any luck on the case at all, the only thing we discovered is girls are going missing. “I am deeply sorry, but I am running late for work, so I have to leave now.”

“Oh yes, I’m sorry, Al.” She said with a smile. She is the only person to not call me by my first name, most people I would yell at for calling me that, but with her, I will let it slide. I head away from where we were standing and get in my car. I start heading to work. Not a very eventful drive, as it is only 2 kilometers down the road.

When I get to the department, Police Chief James Bentley confronts me. “Mr. Quinn, can I speak with you in my office.” This is never a good sign. This usually means that someone is going to get fired.

“What is it, Chief?” I inquired, trying not to sound nervous.

“I am going to get straight to the point; I want you off the kidnapping case. You are becoming too obsessed with the case, it seems finding your daughter is the only goal you have in mind.” I had nothing to say, he was right, finding her, and killing the man who took her, was all I cared about.

“But, Chief…I need to stay on this case, if I don’t…” I sounded really desperate at this point, “If I don’t, I could lose her,” I started getting increasingly angry now. “If she turns up dead, you are the first to go.”

“Is that a threat?” He asked with a smug look on his face.

“No, it’s a promise,” at this, I turned and left, slamming his door behind me. As I headed out, everyone in the building was watching me, not knowing what to think. I stomped my way to the door, not bothering to look at any of the others, none of them mattered. If they won’t help, I will do this on my own.

I get back to my car and leave the parking lot, but not in the direction of my house. I head to the cemetery where Katelyn is buried. It has been some time since I have been here last, about two months I think. I walk over to her grave and kneel down. “Sorry it’s been so long since I last came to see you, my love. I wanted to come, but I have been trying to find our daughter. She still has not turned up.” Some people would call talking to dead relatives crazy, but to me, it is a way to cope with all that has happened. “What should I do, they removed me from the case…But I will not give up until Siobahn is back, you have my word.” I headed back to my car in a slightly brighter mood.

I decided that there was only one thing left to do, continue my investigation without the police, since I don’t think they are even trying. My first step is to talk to the families of the victims. I should start from the beginning, since the cops have already talked to those families. First person to contact would be the dead boy’s girlfriend, Brandi, since he was last seen fighting with her.

I start my car up, and then exit the cemetery. She lives about 2 kilometers outside the city, right off the main road. I always enjoyed my trips out of the city. This time was different though, as I had to ask a girl about her dead boyfriend, a topic nobody likes to talk about.

Another uneventful ride, nothing ever happens in this section of the city, guess I shouldn’t complain, too much to do means more paperwork.

As I pulled into her driveway, I notice the door closing; it seems she just got home. I go up to knock on her door. After knocking a few times, she finally opens it. “Hello,” she says sounding rather confused as to why someone was knocking on her door.

“Hello, I am Alastair Quinn, I am here to ask you about the death of you boyfriend Riley.” Maybe it was a bit blunt, but I was not here for small talk. “I was only wondering if you could tell me about the last time you saw him, and if he said anything to you before he left.”

“As I told the cops who were here before, I was a little late for a date we were going on, and so he yelled at me. I started to explain myself, but he wouldn’t let me, he kept on yelling. It seemed like we were always fighting. He left before I could ever say a word to him…It was the first time I had seen him so angry.” Her eyes began to water the longer she spoke. “He never told me where he was going, nor did he say anything aside from the yelling.”

“Did you see the direction he went that night?” I have never been a very sympathetic person; I tend to ignore tears, a lot. “Anything that would help me find the one who did this?”

“He went off into the alley next to the police station, other than that, I am sorry, I know nothing.”

“It’s okay, you have been a big help, I am sorry for asking you all these questions.” I took my leave of her, and headed back to the car. So my first lead is to investigate that alley, I never heard this mentioned by the police, so maybe this area was not known by them. The first step to finding this bastard is to search for anything I can find in that alley, I don’t care if I find a dead cat, anything is better than nothing.