Chapter 3

Two days passed before she could go for questioning or as the police called it, "Ilem's statements regarding Grace's disappearance."

With all the emotional stress that the situation brought with it, Ilem hadn't been able to sleep or eat, in those two fatal days, she hadn't even wanted to talk to Gabe about the fight the other night and well Ian, he still hadn't stopped by her house since the Monday.

Ilem was confined to the loneliness of not being able to remember a glimpse of what had happened on Friday, she had never felt as lonely and desperate as she does now. Sitting on the bench in front of the institute, she did nothing but look in the direction of the library and re-catalog everything she remembered from Friday, these days she had only wanted to burst into tears, but she had to be strong for herself, if she began to think that she was guilty, everything would turn into a spiral and not even she herself could defend herself, but well, maybe she was guilty, she thought...

"Ilem, I am calling you"

Gabe called from behind her, Ilem didn't look at him; She didn't say anything about herself, she just kept looking at the library in front of her, the futuristic building full of windows, swallowing the suffocating lump in her throat.

Gabe walked around the bench and sat down next to her, she seemed catatonic, she took his hand and squeezed it, he had avoided talking to her these last two days; not only because of the fight on Monday but because she was right, he was the first one who should know of Grace's whereabouts, but he didn't even know where she hung out with her friends.

Gabe had gone to Hannah's house that morning but she refused to talk to him and yelled at him that he was a stupid jerk.

"I'm so sorry Gabe, I'm really sorry but I can't blame myself for something I didn't do"

Those words coming out of her sister's mouth made him feel like a jerk for pushing her so hard.

"Even if I do, I don't know where she is or her body..."

"For"

"She's not dead Ilem, she's just hiding or something, she can't be dead, do you understand?"

His brother said with his jaw set and clenched, full of anger, but still he did not let go of his hand, Gabe exhaled and looked at his sister, with sad and hateful eyes, for the whole situation, maybe even for Grace too.

»I understand you, I am not blaming you; it's just… I want to know where she is, I need her Ilem; I love her so much that right now I just want to break the world to find her. I looked everywhere for her, these two days I've barely slept looking everywhere I thought she might have gone, Ian and I have barely stopped looking for her, I went to every person's house I've ever seen her talk to, I went to Hannah and she didn't want to talk to me.

Ilem saw the tears shine in Gabe's eyes and hugged him as tight as her arms would allow her, he sobbed in her arms, she didn't know what to say to him, she didn't have anything good to say about Grace, now she just wanted Grace to never come. to their lives.

"Gabe, why are you here?"

Ilem asked after holding her brother for a while.

«I just came to take you to give your statements at the police station, dad had to do something in the office and he couldn't come to accompany you little sister"

Ilem stood up still holding her brother's hand, she didn't understand why she was holding him so tight but she somehow knew it was because she was terrified. She had never been involved in anything, not even backroom shenanigans like Ellen, or crazy nights like Gabe. Ilem was the sensible one, besides her mother, but now she was the only one who had ever been summoned to a police station.

“Ilem are just silly statements, you're not going to jail"

"I know but it is… Gabe I remembered something very strange or at least I think so, everything is blurry now, but with the fact that I did not remember Friday I completely forgot it"

Gabe frowned and his blue eyes filled with expectation, yet he waited for his sister to continue.

“Monday the week before Grace was packing and her bedroom door was open, I saw her so I asked, and she told me she was going camping in a few weeks"

All of Gabe's senses were paralyzed maybe she had just gone camping and nothing more, she would be back, maybe everyone was alarmed for no reason and Grace was just doing her usual thing, getting everyone's attention.

“But… today I saw the suitcase under the stairs before I came to school, but that wasn't the strange thing"

She hesitates a moment before continuing.

“I couldn't leave it like this I needed to see if that was part of all this; if she had really gone camping and nothing happened…"

“Ilem, what was inside that suitcase?"

She pronounced her sister's name and that question like a plea, tears filled Ilem's eyes, she didn't know how her brother would react to what she was about to say, she herself didn't know what to think she just wanted run out.

"There was a gun in the papers and everything was there, the gun seems to be in the name of a certain Raulí Márquez, and there were some sleeping pills and pills to treat mental problems. Very strong stuff Gabe.

Gabe felt his whole world falling apart, he knew that Grace was no role model, he knew that the girl had problems with an alcoholic mother and a father who abandoned her, he knew that she is broken in so many different ways. In fact Hannah was quite a fan of prescription drugs, but from there to a weapon was much worse than he imagined"

" You can't tell them that Ilem"

Was all he said, this time his gaze was fierce.

“They won't look for her in the same way if you do, they'll suspect a lot of things that might not be important right now, just let me figure it out for myself. I'm going to get to the bottom of all this and nothing is going to happen to you"

"Gabe for God's sake! Are you listening? There is nothing in her to see as good to acceptable, she is a problem girl, we can not do this, it is dangerous. She could be into something really bad"

"I know, but please Ilem I need my sister now, don't do it for her but for me"

Gabe's voice broke into so many parts in that sentence that Ilem's heart broke for her brother madly in love with someone, mean and full of rot like Grace, but she nodded, lifting Gabe's face to look at her.

“I don't care about her Gabe, but if at any time, you get involved, I'm going to take her to the bottom, and I'm not going to let her take you with her"

Gabe looked at his little sister with eyes full of sadness and pride at the same time, the little chestnut that cried with thunder and went into her room to not be alone was no longer the same, his sister's blue eyes looked at him seriously and waiting for an answer.

"It's alright Ilem"

“Siblings don't abandon each other"

The police station was empty, Gabe saw Ilem leave with the policeman who was handling the case, he while he waited on the benches in the corridor, when he looked up he could glimpse his friend walking from him in the direction of the. Ian looked particularly angry, his blond hair messy and his jaw clenched.

"You're an asshole Gabe"

“What the hell were you thinking when you dropped my car off at Jefferson School? It's been there since Friday and they fined me a hundred pounds for being a high school and I didn't go to it"

Ian lectured him still angry.

“Ian I never took your car"

"Anderson picked me up at the house because you never let me have the car"

Ian's face filled with panic, he'd gotten a text from Gabe to lend him the car, when he drove it to the Fullers' on Thursday night. He knows that he had to leave the car, but since his mother couldn't look for him, Ian decided to take his car home. And wear it the Friday before Gabe left for the party; since the party was at around ten he didn't worry, he took the car and left it at the Fuller's garage at 9:00 pm and his mother went to look for him because Gabe hadn't arrived yet.

"Gabe I left my car at your house you can ask Allin, she opened the garage for me."

"Ian I never took the car, I got home and Allin was making dinner, I called Anderson because your car was not where it always was with the old people in front"

Gabe reproached now angry too

"Your dad wasn't home when I arrived so I put my car in his parking space and made room for your mom's.

Gabe thought, but he clearly remembered that neither his father's nor Ian's car was there when he arrived, his mother was, but as far as he knew, something happened in his father's office that day with some files and he he arrived after midnight his mother had made a big deal out of it"

“Ian either you went crazy or someone else took the car"

Gabe was trying to be very discreet so no one from the station would hear him.

"It could be, the keys were in the glove compartment and the windows were open, but I never thought that someone could do that in your Gabe neighborhood, there everyone sleeps with the keys under the mats and the cars without locks in the doors"

“Whatever it is, we'll figure it out later, now we need to not complicate anything with Grace's case"

Ian's green eyes sparkled with an idea.

“She could have taken it to go to the library"

"Maybe, but for now let's see where the police are and if something will announce that there was a car involved according to the recordings they have, we will say that she may have taken your car, until then, that this remains between us. Have you already gone to look for the car where they took it?"

I ask Ian to change the subject.

"No, I don't have the money now, I'll see if my mother wants to pay it tomorrow if not I have to wait a month until I get paid at work."

Well thought Gabe, that way they would have enough time to find Grace and then focus all attention on Ian's car and whoever took it.

•••

Ilem, sitting in the interrogation room, felt very anxious, she wanted to cry and at the same time run away. When the officer entered the room, it was a pretty redhead who didn't seem much older than Ilem, the girl's perfect smile reassured her a little.

Hi Miss Fuller, I'm Amanda Cramer; I've been in charge of the Grace Miller disappearance case since Friday of last week.

She crossed her arms over her chest.

“According to library recordings taken from Jefferson High School, you were the last to see her"

The officer ended the entire monologue looking straight into Ilem's eyes, she felt that now the brown eyes that she had been so jovial upon entering were cold and full of suspicion.

"Well, I saw her there because I was going to get a book for my homework, earlier I had felt bad and had not been able to go to the library, I don't know what she was doing there, I didn't talk much with her, I just said hello and asked if she would come back home with me

Amanda's face twitched, and her brow furrowed just enough to make her look intimidating"

"You will see Ilem I know that you are scared and you want to get out of guilt regarding this girl, but you should not lie in your statements, that does not speak well of you"

Her colors left Ilem's face, her stomach churned and she wanted to cry and scream at the same time, her hands began to tremble, the lump in her throat barely let in air.

“We will remind you of the facts"

Said a dark and stocky officer, he didn't bother to introduce himself instead he put a laptop in front of Ilem and the recording started to play, she could see herself

reaching the library doors and then Grace entering the shot; The video had no sound but everything was clear Ilem said something to her and Grace seemed to be angry, then Grace walked out of camera range Ilem waited a moment and then went after her.

"Miss Fuller, you never went into the library, if you were really going to look for a book and not find Miss Miller, why didn't you go into the library?"

"She…"

"She was telling me that my brother was cheating on her and that she was going to break up with him, I know that my brother loves her, he would never have eyes for anyone else and since she was angry I tried to calm her down, I told her to come home with me but she he denied and left."

The policemen seemed to believe the story, they looked at each other and Amanda let out a heavy breath, she seemed to want to speak but the man interrupted her.

“Thank you for cooperating Ms. Fuller, we will call you if anything changes in the case so that she can restate her statement. Please let her brother know that we'll be taking her statement at this time tomorrow"

The man picked up the laptop again and left the room. Ilem looked desperately at Amanda, she wanted her to tell her because suddenly her brother also had to testify, she seemed to understand without ilem having to say words and began to speak.

"Look Ilem studied with your brother in one of my classes last year, just before I graduated we shared a debate class and I know he is a good boy, he would never hurt that girl; he adores her too much for her own misfortune"