The Forum by Marie Reyes (short books for teens .txt) 📕

could be the missing girl's body, and that maybe even the killer was still here, hence the noise, but what he was seeing, wasn't that.

"Hello," he said in his most nonthreatening voice, but there was no response. After what seemed like an eternity, the person moved with a groan. "Hello. I'm just here to ask something if that's okay? I have twenty bucks here if you need to get some food or anything." As the person shifted, Martin could see a man's face emerge from one end of the sleeping bag. "Are you alright? You look sick." The man coughed and flopped one arm out of his sleeping bag.

"What you want?" he slurred, barely understandable. His pale skin and red eyes made him look like he was on the verge of death.

"Do you spend a lot of time here? We are looking for a girl who was killed here. If you maybe saw her, or a man hanging around here."

The man coughed, groaned, and fell asleep. There was no way he was going to get anything coherent and had no idea what to do for the best. If he got any emergency services involved, they would probably turf him out and make him move somewhere else. Besides, would he even be able to get help? Maybe a free clinic. He wasn't entirely sure. He didn't know exactly how the health system worked in the US, but he knew it was less than ideal. He did all he could do, folded up all the money he had in his wallet and tucked it under the mattress. "I've left you some money okay."

Kristen was scouring the place, leaning over and inspecting any bit of debris she found, Martin joined the search, but ultimately, they came out empty-handed.

Chapter Twenty Seven

The crime scene had come up empty, just as they had suspected.

"I need cheering up. Anyone fancy some Ben and Jerry's? I have chunky monkey and cookie dough in the freezer."

"I could really go for some of that action," said Aadesh.

"Which one do you want, chunky monkey, or cookie dough?"

"Yes."

"Haha. Both it is then. I'll bring some bowls and spoons, oh, I have some mini peanut butter cups as well, for topping."

"Thank you. You are the best host ever."

"No worries. You are all keeping me sane right now."

Aadesh settled on the couch and checked again to see if any women had been reported missing in the area, and it didn't take long to find the face from the video looking back at him. "It's her. They women from the third video. She's been reported missing."

"Holy crap." Martin peered over his shoulder. "Isabella Torres. That's definitely her alright."

After reading the article, Aadesh looked up her social media profiles. Luckily, she was a prolific poster with no real privacy settings. There must be something in this wealth of information, something that would lead them to her. The most recent posts on her wall were messages from friends and family praying for her safe return.

"I'll phone the cops, let them know we know who was in the video." Piper got up from her seat and paced the room with her cell phone glued to her ear. Aadesh considered contacting Isabella's parents, but maybe it would be better for the police to do that. They tell people horrible things all the time; they were probably used to it.

He scrolled up to the older posts. If she met the killer, they could be on there somewhere. He looked at every person who posed with her in a photo with suspicion. There were many photos of food, and coffees, and nights out. He went back further to some vacation pictures of her on the beach and lounging by the pool in some resort.

He could hear Piper on the phone in the hallway, raising her voice as he scrolled back faster until something finally caught his eye. Isabella was stood at the side of the road. He read the caption.

Isabella Torres: Can't believe the way some people drive. Look what they did to my poor car.

The hood of her car was dented, but not drastically so. The other driver was leaning against their car on the phone to someone. They were fairly far away and from a side angle, it was hard to make out much of them. "Kristen." Aadesh got her attention.

"Yeah?"

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't your dad involved in a car accident not that long before the..."

"He was in a car accident. It was a few months before."

"Isabella Torres was in a car accident. I know collisions are fairly common, but do you think, maybe..."

"Maybe the person induced collisions to get his victim's details? It's worth looking into."

"I can just about make out the license plate of the other car. Aadesh zoomed in. I can't make out the last digit though. What do you think this looks like?" He passed his cell to Kristen.

"I don't know why it's just that digit that's so hard to see. Do you think there's mud on it or something?"

Martin looked excited all of a sudden. "I have an idea. Can I use your laptop?"

"Sure. Let me login for you." Kristen walked over to the desk and input her password while everyone gathered around. Martin found an online database and put in the part of the plate number that they could make out and typed the number one at the end. The vehicle details popped up on screen. Ford F-150. Color: red.

"Okay so this one is a different model and color. Next." He deleted the one and placed a two there instead. "Ford Focus. Blue. This could be the one. Do you have the photo there?" He looked back at Aadesh and he passed him his phone. "Oh yeah. This is the one alright." Martin took a photo