It’s already two people gone missing?”
-He is such a diligent guy. Jude insincerely folded the third letter that comes regularly once a week in his pocket. Jude asked Tim who was driving next to him. Tim looked at Jude who put away the letter little uneasily and answered with a small trace of anxiousness.
“Yeah. It looks like a big family that's pretty rare to see these days. I heard parents and children, grandparents, uncle and nephews and nieces live all together. They reported because suddenly grandpa and one niece disappeared one after another.”
“What was their name? Ra..Ra….:
“Rice family. It’s the family that lives apart from the city. You know those places where there aren’t that many neighbors, but they all have good relationship.”
“Ahhh. The place where city people want to go after they retire.”
Jude rhythmically shook his head following the old pop song coming out from the radio and looked at the outside view. If they drive little bit outside of the city, the view changes to countryside very fast. After passing the banner of the town’s name with a simple font and plain ground with neat gardens, Tim slowly pressed on the brake and checked for the address.
“It’s this place.”
“Oh, the house is pretty big.”
“Think about the size of the family. If it’s not this big, won't it be really tight for them?”
In the house’s garden, compare to normal house it’s pretty big but looks older, an old lady was holding a pair of secateurs to cut off the branches. On her circular and chubby face, it was full of tiredness, so Tim and Jude carefully approached her after getting off from the car. Because there was a sudden sound of people, she got surprised, and on her face, it was full of fear. She stepped back and held her pair of secateurs at them. Tim quickly showed her his police badge.
“We are the police. You reported, right?”
“Ah…. Yes, ah, um, come in.”
The face that was probably happy and gentle before now had shadow of wariness and some dispirited. She put down her pair of secateurs and roughly wiped her hands with her apron. They followed her guide and went inside the old house. The interior looked like it won’t have any furniture that's less than 10 years old. The two detectives set in front of the old table, and the old lady put down two tea cups in front of them with long sigh of worry and sat across from them. Her voice was little lowly hoarse.
“I’m sorry. These days there are some horrible things happening…. My name is Marsha Rice. You can just call me Marsha. I’m the wife of Martin Rice. Since there is no one but me in the house, you guys have to hear the story from me.”
“I’m Tim and this friend is Jude. So, can you explain to us what happened?”
Once more there was a long sigh. The lady who had her eyes closed and pressed her forehead against her hand soon opened her eyes half-way and opened her mouth.
“Actually I hope someone comes and explains to me too…… The day my father-in-law and my niece disappeared are five and three days ago. When my father-in-law disappeared, I thought he went fishing with his friends without telling us, but when Jane also disappeared, something felt weird. It did not look like a coincidence. As you can see, this place is a small public place that if something happens, at least one person would know. But no one knew where they were. I feel like I got possessed by a ghost…. My children are nervous, and my mother-in-law, my husband, and Ret….. Ret is my younger brother and father of Jane. Those three are dejectedly waiting for my father-in-law and Jane’s return.”
“Was there a big fight with someone recently?”
“No, definitely not. There is no unfriendly neighbor, and we never argued. Just…. Because of money issue, we had an argument with our relative, but it, it wasn’t that big to do this to our family. It…. wasn’t that kind of a fight that would cause this.”
“Perhaps, do you know where they went before they disappeared?”
The lady shook her head right away. She had a painful expression that she couldn’t answer the question. Her pale lips opened precariously.
“I don’t know. Both of them went out in the morning, but Jane didn’t come back after her school. We asked her friends, but no one knew after they got separated. This neighborhood doesn’t have kids in her age. There is no one walking with her to the school, so we don’t know anything until she comes back.”
“How about your father-in-law?”
“My father-in-law went out early in the morning. He had a plan to meet with his friends for lunch in downtown, but he went out little earlier. He was actually that kind of a man. But when I asked his friend, they said he didn’t even come to the meeting place. Up to that point, I was little nervous, but I wasn’t sure. But two days later after Jane disappeared, I couldn’t think of anything…… There was no ransom call. They just disappeared……!”