Ch. 32: Scully And Mulder

After returning from a holiday weekend getaway disaster strikes in the worst possible way imaginable.

I set my phone down and saw that I had no messages waiting to be read.

 

Something stirred in the living room and then I heard footsteps coming toward the kitchen. When I looked up two girls who were only wearing jeans and nothing to cover up their breasts passed through like ghosts in the night. They were followed by Sonny who paid me no mind as they all went into the garage.

 

That was a sight for sore eyes.

 

I went to the kitchen cabinet and pulled out a bag of chips, some unopened dip, and then I grabbed two water bottles out of the case that was sitting beside the refrigerator. I also grabbed an apple, a kiwi, and a basket of strawberries out of the fridge. Before I could stop myself I was warming up some left over fried chicken that I'd found. It took everything out of me to not eat it cold.

 

Not eating for almost fifteen hours really took it's toll on the human body. I put everything is a big mixing bowl and carried it up to my room. No one met me in the living room, on the stairs, or in the hallway leading to my bedroom. The house was eerily quiet. Once I closed my door I flipped the television on and watched a rerun of classic TV shows from the seventies.

 

I ate everything I'd brought up and I even drank both bottles of water. I felt rejuvenated, but then the thoughts of Eliza being somewhere that no one knew kept my mood at an all time low. I picked my cell phone up and dialed her number. It rang this time and my heart skipped several beats, but then someone picked it up and then hit the end button.

 

Immediately I pressed redial, but it went straight to voice mail. This calmed my mind down a little bit since only Eliza would have a reason to hang up like that. She likely wanted to be alone with that guy and that's what this was all about. My eyes grew heavy and before I had time to reflect more on Eliza's bizarre behavior I was asleep.

 

I stayed sleeping until nearly two in the afternoon. When I woke up I heard knocking on my bedroom door.

 

"Yea?" I called out not knowing who it could be.

 

"Myra, it's mom. You need to get downstairs right away," Mom said through the door and I went to my door and opened it.

 

"What is it?" I asked as I ground the sleep out of my eyes.

 

"There's a couple of detectives here to speak to you about the disappearance of some girl. Myra, what's going on?" Mom asked and I didn't even know where to begin.

 

"I'll be right down, I just need to brush my teeth," I told mom as I pushed passed her.

 

She looked inside my bedroom and shrieked.

 

"There's food everywhere! Why are you eating like that? Especially in the middle of the night?" Mom asked and I ignored her as I made my way to the bathroom.

 

I could feel her footsteps behind me and I knew there'd be no time to go over what Jimmy had told me to say in my head.

 

"I didn't eat anything when I got home in the day time so when I woke up this morning I ate. Sorry about the mess I'll clean it up after I talk with the police," I said as I got my spare toothbrush out after remembering my main one was still inside my overnight bag.

 

"Who are these people you went with, Myra? Where's this girl they're looking for? How did she get separated from you?" Mom asked me even though my mouth was full of toothpaste and water.

 

I couldn't respond so I looked at my reflection in the mirror. My skin was the same bronze color as usual. My hair was pulled back in a ponytail and there was no way I was going down there looking like this. To my dismay I also remembered that my flat iron was still in my bag. When I was done brushing my teeth I took my hair out so I could comb and brush it down.

 

"I met some kids at the park one night and we've been hanging out for about two weeks now. They're all so cool and they invited me to Gilroy for a concert. My friend Eliza was with us and she ended up leaving to a hotel with a guy she met at the concert. We all saw her leave with him, but she promised to be back by check out time and she never showed," I explained to mom who's eyes grew bigger by every word I said.

 

"You meet some kids and run off with them without telling anyone and now one of them is missing!" Mom asked me and I was very shocked by her anger.

 

"In a nut shell, yes," I told her as I exited the bathroom and went back to my room.

 

"This is preposterous! You were not to leave the city or leave my care! Do you know how much trouble we could all be in now? What do you know about that girl, huh? What if the person who took her is a lowlife skeeze ball who's doing nasty things to her against her will? Only a moron would run off with a man she barely knows. Were you drinking, huh? Who were these other people? Were there boys?" Mom asked me as I took out some jeans and a pair of pants from my drawer.

 

"There were two other girls besides Eliza, the girl who's missing, and I and there were four boys total, but they're all good friends," I explained further and I could tell that the boy part of the story was making mom even more angry.

 

"So what was this some orgy party? Were you all sharing a motel room, huh?" Mom asked me and the word orgy mad me burst with laughter.

 

"No orgy, mom. There were two to every room. The boys bunked with each other and so did the girls," I explained and I could see mom wasn't convinced.

 

"Who did you share a room with when that girl left?" Mom asked and that ceased all the laughter coming out of me.

 

"With a friend," I said turning my back to her as I took my shirt off.

 

"What are those marks on your back?" Mom gasped and I whirled around to face mom's stare.

 

I hadn't noticed Jimmy's aggressive form of love making because of the alcohol. Since my skin was fair colored on my back any marks or bruises would show up easily. This could've been why I woke up laying on my stomach. Mom already knew the answer, but she was waiting for me to confess.

 

"We were in the pool," I began lying, "and we played battle and one of the girls scratched my back."

 

"That's not true and you know it," Mom said and now her blue eyes were full of hate and disgust.

 

"I'm telling you what happened. If you don't want to believe me then don't," I snapped and put my shirt and jeans on quickly and exited the room.

 

"You're not using protection!" Mom hissed in the hallway and at this point that was the least of my worries.

 

"Because I'm not having sex," I said even though it was a complete lie I had to follow through with it.

 

"He's just using you, whoever he is. He can't like you. He knows about all this and he's taking advantage," Mom as we went down the stairs.

 

"And you would know all about being used, wouldn't you?" I asked mom, but before she could answer the detectives stepped toward the staircase.

 

"Long time no see," the short one said.

 

"I don't believe this," I told him and the lean detective was sitting on the couch watching whatever was on the television.

 

"Hello, Myra. Told you we'd see you again," the lean detective said.

 

"You know them?" Mom, who was now standing on my right hand side, asked me.

 

"They interviewed me after the fight," I told her and the memories of that morning still haunted me.

 

"At least now you don't look so disheveled. How you been? Did we interrupt your beauty rest?" the short detective asked me.

 

"No, you didn't," I answered him, but for some reason I couldn't meet his gaze.

 

"Well now that we've got the introductions out of the way how about we go into this lovely kitchen and discuss what you know about a missing teenager named," the short one said as he looked at the clipboard in his hand, "a Miss Eliza Cloverson."

 

"Right this way, gentlemen," Mom said leading us all into the kitchen.

 

"Mighty fine house you have here, ma'am," the lean detective said.

 

"Thank you very much. I wish I could give you a tour, but these aren't the best circumstances for that," Mom replied to him as we all took out respected seats at the table.

 

I sat next to mom and both detectives sat across from us. I felt more confident with mom here.

 

"As you know, Myra, Eliza was last seen by her aunt on July third at around six thirty in the evening. She hasn't called home to check in and she also hasn't answered any calls to her phone since the early morning hours of July fourth," the short one began reading off his report.

 

"That's not true. I called her phone this morning and someone picked up, but then hung up at the same time," I told them and the short one looked up in surprise.

 

"What time was this?" he asked me and mom shook her head.

 

"At about five a.m." I told them and he began writing it down.

 

"Any time a cell phone is picked up it sends off coordinates. If someone called during the time frame that it was on and there was an answer that makes locating the GPS signal even easier," the lean detective explained to mom and I.

 

"While that's good information there's still been no contact between Eliza and her aunt and that's a cause for concern. We've already spoken to a Violetta Fabrizio, Amber Donovan, and James Johnson. They've given us their accounts of the events that led up to her disappearance and they all say you were the last one to speak with her before she got into the car with the unknown male," the short detective told me and suddenly my stomach began to churn.

 

"Well," I began, "I was. Eliza met the guy in the concert parking lot. He followed us to our motel and Eliza told me that he was taking her back to his and that she'd be back before check out time."

 

"Ok, but did you get a good look at the male?" the short detective asked me.

 

"He had a Mohawk, he was white, skinny, and he drove a dark red four door car," I said to them and the short detective took notes.

 

"He was alone in the vehicle?" he asked me and I tried to recall.

 

"From what I remember, yes," told him, but I couldn't be completely sure since I had liquor in me.

 

"Was there drinking going on during this trip or at the concert?" the lean detective asked me as he relaxed in his chair a bit as if knew exactly what I'd say.

 

"Yes," I admitted and again mom shook her head in disappointment.

 

"Was it heavy drinking or just one or two beers?" the short detective asked.

 

"Some of us had more to drink than others," I admitted knowing that lying at this point wouldn't help bring Eliza home.

 

"Was Eliza drinking?" the lean detective asked me.

 

"I didn't see her drink a thing. She was actually really happy to be leaving with the guy she met," I told them and the memory of Eliza's last words to me rang through my head.

 

"So, Eliza leaves and what do you do next?" the short detective asked me.

 

"Um...I go to my room," I answered and shifted in my chair at the same time.

 

"Alone or with someone?" he asked me and I take a deep breath.

 

"With someone," I said and immediately look down at my hands.

 

"With who?" he asks me and I know at this point there's no going back.

 

"With Jimmy," I say and mom let's out a sigh.

 

"Jimmy, Jimmy, you must mean James Johnson, I'll have to write down that he goes by Jimmy," the short detective tells me.

 

"So what do you and Jimmy do?" the lean detective asks me with a clear smirk on his face.

 

"Well Jimmy and I'd both been drinking at the concert so it's hard to remember," I say and I know this lie won't impact Eliza very much.

 

"You can't remember," the lean detective says, "well if you can't remember then who's to say Eliza didn't come back to the room while you and Jimmy were in there and something happened to her. I mean Jimmy was in there and he's a pretty big guy. Maybe she tried to start something with him and things went a little too far."
 

I knew where this was going and I felt completely backed up against a wall. If I told them what Jimmy and I had done I'd disappoint mom, but if I kept lying Jimmy would probably become a suspect in the murder.

 

"She never came back," I said quietly as I put my hand on my face.

 

"How can you know that for sure? You were drinking," the lean detective said.

 

"Yes I was drinking, but I wasn't drunk. I remember exactly what happened!" I blurted and immediately regretted that.

 

"Tell us, Myra. A girl's life is on the line. There's no use in lying now," the short detective said to me and I could see the pleading in his eyes.

 

I sucked in a lot of air before I spoke.

 

"Jimmy and I went into my motel room and we had sex and then fell asleep. Eliza never came back during that time, the only thing that woke us up was Cameron knocking on the door in the morning so we could leave," I say and mom looked at me with more rage than I'd ever seen her before in my life.

 

The short detective writes this down and the lean one is shaking his head the same way mom was earlier.

 

"Sounds like quite the alibi," the short one says, "James told us the same exact thing, but in a less cleaned up manner."

 

Suddenly my face is red hot. I didn't even want to know what Jimmy had to say about that night. I wanted to forget it sooner than anything.

 

The detectives exchanged looks and I knew this interview was near the end. They got what they wanted and now it was time to find Eliza.

 

"Thank you so much for letting us speak with your daughter," the lean detective said getting up and out of his chair, the short one followed.

 

"No, thank you and if there's any more information Myra has for you I'll be sure to contact your office. Is there a card I could have just in case?" Mom asked and the lean detective extracted one from his pocket.

 

Mom read the card and smiled. We all walked to the front door. The short detective opened it and to reveal the sun beaming down on us. It was very hot and I wanted so badly to be out and about at the mall with my old friends just enjoying life.

 

"If Eliza's is found will she be returned right away to her aunt and uncle?" I asked the short detective.

 

"It really just depends," he answered me.

 

"On what?" I asked him.

 

"On whether she's found alive or dead. At this point the chances of finding her alive are still good, but these are crazy times we live in. Please take care of yourself, Myra. Not everyone can be trusted," He said to me and I agreed with him.

 

As mom closed the door she was still smiling. I finally had to ask her why.

 

"Before I went up to get you the short detective gave me his card and I read it. Just now the more stockier detective gave me his card and you're never going to believe this," Mom said and now she was giggling.

 

"What?" I asked.

 

"Apparently the short ones last name is Scully and the stockier one's last name is Mulder," she said and now she was in a full blown laugh.

 

"Scully and Mulder," and I couldn't help, but laugh out loud myself.

 

If this had been any other time I'd be in hysterics, but suddenly Eliza's disappearance and my new mistrust for new people culminated over my psyche.

Reviews

[Tina Kline]

I liked the bit of humor you had in this chapter. Scully and Mulder.
But at least Myra has an alibi. I hope she makes it through all
this mess that she's gotten herself tangled in!