Investigation

I looked at the cooling coffee on the table. The surface of it looked so calm amidst all the ruckus accompanying the usual day at the studio.

"WE AIR IN FIVE! WHERE IS Al??" I looked around. Indeed, my intern was late... as always. I turned my face to the clock. The hour was 7:56 PM. I stood up and fixed my tie. I slowly made my way to the spotlight. I don't even remember when the last time was that I felt excited just by standing here...

As I prepared my loved-by-all smile, a young man in his twenties rushed through the studio door. His ginger hair was messy, and his brown eyes were open wide, scanning the room. Then he changed the direction of his sprint to the teleprompter console and started typing frantically.

The clock showed 7:59 PM. The young man dashed away from the console, clapping his hands over his head triumphantly. "I made it in time!"

The studio director just shook his head. "Just sit quietly in the corner! Action in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1... NOW!"

8 PM. My time to shine. Or to just turn on the fake light I have been using for so long... I read automatically what was shown on the prompter.

"Welcome everyone to the 'NewsExpressChannel'! My name is Stefan Japark and today as always we deliver the newest news!"

I then rambled as usual about some new data...

"The crime rate in the capital city decreased by 34% since last year! All of the officers there agree that it couldn't be possible without the new talented Deputy Chief Alexander Equil! Congratulations, and thanks for making the world a safer place!"

Sports... what's the point of talking about it in my segment? We have sports news for that...

"Our team won again in the championship...!"

If they lost, we wouldn't even mention it... I then, bored but still focused on keeping my facade, kept reading all of the news. Then I noticed something that made me truly smile: the text on the prompter had silly mistakes!

And with that we sadely ccontujikke to the nesst disappppearacnes in or cantry

I hid the smile and read it perfectly as the anchor should:

"And with that, we sadly continue to the newest disappearances in our country. We will now show the last photos, day, time, and place of the people missing: Jason Grey: 23 years old, last seen in the shop on the outskirts of a small town, TimberTown, running into the forest at 12 AM on the 21st of October. If you have any information about his whereabouts, please contact the police department. Next:..."

Wow, a lot of people missing recently... Good thing Alojzy collected all of the info in time...

"That's sadly the end of today's news. But we will air tomorrow at 8 PM as usual! So stay tuned and safe! Goodnight!"

"CUUUUUT! Good job Stefan as usual! And YOU!" The director turned angrily to Alojzy. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't fire you on the spot!"

"But I made it in time!" retorted Alojzy.

Before he could dig himself into a deeper hole, I stepped in between them. "Cut him some slack, Hal! He made it in time and got a very important news segment for us! Alojzy got the job done and that's what matters, right?"

Hal scoffed. "It was the last time, you understand, Al? One more stunt like that and the complaint goes to the higher-ups! They won't care about your little nepotism arrangement you have here..!"

I cut Hal off. "You know I would never favor anyone just for being my family! He does an important job, and he just needs to get his time management right!"

Hal just turned away and left the studio with his assistant.

"Gosh, isn't he furious today?" Alojzy spoke up.

"You know you are playing with fire, right? Please try being more punctual from now on. There are limits to my influence."

"I know, I know! But hey, I got you something special today! A correlation with the missing people!"

"I'm all ears! But first, let's ride to my place." Then I heard Al's stomach churn. "Haha, or maybe a nice restaurant..."

"I wouldn't complain..." He muttered.

As we made our way down in an elevator, I looked at the city through the clean glass. Maybe I didn't enjoy my job as I used to. But this view! This view was what always gave me goosebumps. The city at night looked mesmerizing.

The skyscrapers shone through the night with all the symmetrical architecture around, which built an illusion of unity. As if all that concrete was joined together in one colossal megastructure. Cars were driving nonstop, looking like electrical charge in the cables. The combination of all those things... they made my stomach flutter and pupils dilate every single time.

We finally arrived at the underground parking lot. We approached my car. A retro muscle car, a red Chevrolet Corvette C3 from 1976. It wasn't the priciest car I could afford. But I liked it. After buckling our belts, we drove to the restaurant.

---

"... I will have just water to drink."

"Gin! The whole bottle."

"Alojzy, you have work tomorrow."

"And I am a responsible adult, unc~"

"Ehh... Whatever. Anyway, so what did you find?"

Alojzy smiled from ear to ear. "A correlation."

I made a mock gasp. "Oh! Ominous. Please, do elaborate."

"So I found out three people that have been missing just before the current cases of missing people started piling up."

I raised an eyebrow. "That's a bold claim. People are going missing all the time. What makes you say you found anything worth checking?"

Alojzy sat back in his chair with a triumphant smile. "You see... It's not that those people went missing in any particular time period. It's the matter of WHO went missing."

"And who might that be? A serial killer went loose? That's the main theory regarding all this. Dylan Thoer? If I remember correctly."

"He is on the list, but of course..." Alojzy reached for his suitcase, placed it on the table, and dramatically opened the case in front of me.

There were three files. On each one, names were written in capital letters.

"Dylan Thoer... Sandra Bucking and..." I was speechless. My breath quickened. My brow furrowed. He? How was he involved in all this?

"Are you sure you got the right files?"

Alojzy looked at me with all seriousness. "Yes, I know who he was. And I found his connection to you. I'm sorry..."

"And here I was thinking he just retired like he should've a long time ago..."

I picked up the file named: LUCIAN SPARKS. With shaky hands, I opened it to find only one clean document and a bunch of crumpled pages joined with a clip.

The clean one was a report on the missing circumstances.

"Nothing out of the ordinary found in the house...", "No electronic devices found? The guy who wanted to be a mech in high school missing with no electronics at his place? What the hell?"

"That's why it seemed even weirder to me," admitted Alojzy. "I mean, not this mech stuff. I just know he was a tech guy.."

"Yhm. And what are those?" I inspected the crumpled pages. It was a compilation of various paper news on Lucian. "Where did you even find those?" I picked the oldest one. It was my first newspaper... And I got to write about my friend winning a grant... "You know it was actually the first front page of my life?"

"Yeah, I figured. You both graduated that year. Different faculties, though. So... what do you think? Did I crack the case?"

"It is to be seen yet..." I replied safely, but deep down I knew... If Lucian was really involved in all of this... it meant only one thing... It will get complicated very soon.

"So about the others..." started Alojzy.

"Keep it. I will handle Lucian's lead, and you choose whichever or both."

"But we are investigating together..."

"I... It's complicated. I don't want you to be in this mess with me. You will not manage to keep up."

"Huh?! What do you mean? I am an adult! And a witty one at that! You can't just cut me loose because..."

"I can," I replied sternly. "I investigate Lucian, and you keep up your good work."

Alojzy huffed, fidgeting in his chair. "Fine... Who even is this guy?"

"Someone out of this world."

"YOU MEAN AN ALIEN?"

"No, silly... just a very unique guy."

Then, in silence, we ate.