For the interview, Mayor Reyes chooses the tea room. It's familiar and comfortable, the plant pots placed by the window brings a sense of calmness.

Vera and I settle on the chairs opposite Marcel, the man we're interviewing first. Maggie's father. Getting my notebook and pen from my pocket, while Vera places the mug of hot coffee on the table in front of us.

"I hope you found something useful in her room," he begins. "I knew she was going to do something like this." The level of certainty in his tone is unmissable.

"Let's talk about that. What makes you certain she did this?" I lead with that, he seems convinced she ran away.

"You said it yourself, the CCTV showed her leaving, and she does this a lot, to prove a point, to rebel against me," he says, his voice tremulous and angry.

"What point has she tried to prove in the past?"

He throws his hands up in an 'I give up' gesture. "Fuck if I know, she's a teenager and teenagers whine. She leaves home for days almost every month and stay away for a while but she's never used up to a week."

That's not an answer but it's a start. I note down his answer in dots and dashes.

"What point do you think she's trying to prove now?"

"The girl is the best student in Montgomery High, she is set to be valedictorian, and can get into any school she wants to go on a full ride, but what did my darling daughter say? She's not going to college," he speaks with a broken laughter. "Can you imagine? She's the daughter of the Mayor of Blackstone City and she doesn't want to go to College."

That does sounds like an excuse to run away.

"When did you have this conversation?"

He scratches his chin as he thinks back. "Two weeks ago."

She could have spent a week planning before leaving. According to Marcel, she runs away when she's mad. Since he didn't see her on the day she went missing, I'm not sure what else to ask him.

"Who found out she was missing?"

"The housekeeper, Olga. She went to clean her room noticed the tray of rotten food, it was how we knew she was gone."

"Thank you, Mayor Reyes." This concludes his interview for now. "We'll be in touch if we have more questions."

He releases a breath and stands up. "Any time." He leaves.

"He might have been to busy to notice the disappearance of his daughter but who leaves their daughter alone on Christmas, I get he's the Mayor and he belongs to the city but it doesn't excuse not noticing she's been gone for a week," Vera notes.

I leave speculation to when I'm done with the interview and alone. There are so many holes in Marcel story, it might not have to do with Maggie but something is definitely not right in this house.

"When we get to the safe house, comb through the footage and confirm what he said about Olga, and see if anyone went into her room during the time she's been away."

Vera nods. "Sure thing."

A knock sounds on the door before the handle turns and the door opens. My breath catches in my throat as if all the air in the room has been sucked out as she walks in, Inez Campbell-Reyes, Maggie's mother, and a blast from my past. She hardly looks different from the way she looked when she was younger. The gray in her short blonde hair is obvious, her skin still shines even with the wrinkle forming. In a blue pant suit, as she moves the sound of her heel clicks on the ground.

As soon as her blue eyes meet mine, she stops walking and just looks at me while I do the same. The rest of the room fades, leaving just us two with her citrus scent as an anchor keeping us in reality.

Vera must have sensed something as she gets up and takes over. "Mrs. Campbell-Reyes, you have a lovely home," she says, attempting to break the tension.

Inez sizes Vera up with her eyes, remembering herself, she resumes walking and takes the seat her husband just vacated, crossing her legs and arms. "I know," she replies to Vera, her tone a hint of annoyance.

I try not to chuckle. I should have warned Vera what kind of person she is, flattery doesn't work on her, it annoys her.

"So... you are the ones Wilcox assigned to my daughter's case," she begins, her gaze still avoiding mine.

"You asked-" I cut Vera off before she finishes.

"Yes we are," slipping on the professional coat since Inez didn't want it to seem like she specifically asked for me.

Inez's eyes moves around the room, looking everywhere but mine. My gaze settles on her hands, her fingers rubbing each other a little too hard. A nervous tell, but we know she isn't nervous about the interview, judging from the way her upper body is straight, her shoulder square, and her chin up in confident.

Vera clears her throat, breaking the awkward silence. "Mrs. Campbell-Reyes, can you remind us what happened on December twenty forth?"

Inez pauses, her eyes darting to mine for a split second before looking away. "I didn't see Maggie before I went to work, but we met outside the gate, when she told she was going to see her best friends, Anna Friis and Kimberly Sun."

I note that down, my eyes meeting Inez's briefly again before she looks away.

I ask "How close is Maggie to Anna and Kimberly?"

Inez bites her lips, I lower my gaze to her fingers tapping her lap. "They've been best friends since middle school. Kim and Maggie are on the same cheerleading squad, and Anna was captain of the robotic team. They are pretty close."

"How often does she meets them?"

She hums as she thinks, her eyes drifting to mine again, but she quickly looks away. "She hardly meets them anymore, I thought she was going missed them during the holiday."

"Do they come over? Anna and Kimberly, I mean."

She shakes her head. "Never." She continues. "Maggie doesn't like people in her space."

Interesting.

"Did you speak to them after you notice Maggie is missing?" I ask, since it's the right thing to do. According to Nicholas, nobody saw her leave but the story is different with Inez, they met at the gate, and Maggie told her where she was going.

Who's to say Maggie isn't with her best friends?

"No, I didn't speak to them. I didn't think it was necessary." Her response is curt.

I lean back in my chair, trying to appear nonchalant, but my eyes never leaves Inez's face.

The room falls to silence again, the tension between us palpable.

I glance at Vera, hoping she'll take over, but she's watching Inez, her expression neutral.

Looking back at Inez to find her eyes already on me but this time she doesn't look away, and for a moment, we just stare at each other, the past hanging between us like a challenge.

Vera clears her throat again, breaking the spell. "We'll look into Anna and Kimberly's alibis, Mrs. Campbell-Reyes."

"You do that."

"Apart from Anna and Kimberly. Is there anyone else Maggie is close with?" I ask. "In the house or at school?"

Inez cups the back of her neck and shakes her head. "No, not that I know of." Her hand falls on her lap. "Maggie never plays with the help. Anna and Kim are the only people she relates with."

"During your last interaction with her, did she seem upset or stressed in anyway?" Vera asks.

"No. She looked happy, and later that night she looked disoriented," she says.

Vera and I share a look. But I voice it out. "That night?"

Inez tucks her lips inward, her eyes widen as she shakes her head. "What?" she lets out a nervous chuckle. "Did I say that night? I meant, that afternoon."

"That afternoon?" I press.

Her cheek is high in a frozen fake smile. "That afternoon when she was leaving." She nods. "Yes."

"We noticed there isn't a single photo of Maggie anywhere in the house, not even in her room," I mention.

"That is all her," she explains, the fake smile vanishes from her face. "she suddenly stopped taking photos when she was fourteen. Didn't give us a reason, and she would get mad whenever people took her picture without permission."

I note that down with Inez earlier slip up and circle it. Either Inez is lying or something else is going on here.

"We learned that Maggie tends to leave home for some days." I watch Inez shudders at that, catching the brief facial expression of fear. "Why does she do that?"

She swallows and crosses her arms. "Every once in a while Maggie leaves to catch her breath, you know, teenagers and their tantrums. Sometimes it's not going to college, another it's going into her room without permission." She lets out a broke laugh. "She hates it when people touch her things or enter her space without asking her."

"Do you think she ran away?" I ask out of curiosity. The Mayor thinks she ran away, I want to know the Mother's opinion.

"If I think she did, I wouldn't have bothered with you," she replies, her eyes staying on mine.

I see.

"How often does Maggie go to the backyard?"

"Never," she answers in a serious tone. "she's the reason the place is abandoned."

"Can you elaborate?" Vera presses.

Inez turns her body in Vera direction, the annoyance is written on her face. "I didn't realize the abandoned place is connected to my daughter's disappearance." Vera straightens her back at the unexpected harshness in Inez tone. "How about you put this fierceness into finding my daughter instead of asking unrelated, wrong questions." Her eyes pining Vera on the sit. "This interview is over, get in touch if you have something real to ask." She gets up and walks away, slamming the door behind her.

"That was..." whipping my head in Vera's direction. "Don't let it get to you, she's in pain, her daughter's missing." Trying to calm her because Vera isn't as calm and gentle as people imagine.

"What was that?" she asks, her head snapping my way. The look I find in her eyes isn't anger, just curiosity.

"If this is about her-" she cut me off with the last thing I expect to hear from her.

"She was nervous and on edge."

Sometimes Vera acts as if this is her first time in the field with me. Giving the circumstance, isn't it normal for the woman to be on edge and nervous?

"Her daughter is missing." Not sure why I need to remind her.

Vera presses her hands together and shakes her head, a distance look in eyes. "It wasn't about Maggie." She lifts her gaze to mine. "It was you," her tone is accusatory.

Raising my eyebrow in question.

She asks. "Did you two know each other when you lived here?"|

Did we know each other?

"Yeah, she frequented the orphanage I grew up in." I scratch my jaw, "and she was the only one that believed I didn't kill..."

Vera's face lights as realization hit her. "Oh..." she purses her lips as other thoughts begins to surface. "It doesn't explain why she was nervous."

"Drop it, Vera," I tell her, trying my best not to sound hard.

"I don't want to, there's obviously-"

"Vera," I call her name in a warning.

She rolls her eyes. "Okay, fine, dropped." Raises her hands in surrender. "Gee, what crawled in your ass and died."

Ignoring Vera, I begin to arrange my note while waiting for the next person to enter. I'm trying to make account of Maggie on the day she went missing and I have nothing much so far. Hopefully I get something more from the people coming.

The door opens without a knock as the familiar black guy from the garden strolls in, still in his earlier outfit: a black vest beneath a checked shirt and faded blue ripped jeans, his baseball hat worn backward.

"Sup." He greets as he takes a sit on the chair the previous people have been using.

"Hi," Vera replies in a cheery tone.

Dipping my head down in acknowledgement.

"Mr. Manson. How long have you worked as the gardener here?" I start with that.

He adjusts, turning slightly to the side and throwing his arm behind his chair. He looks too comfortable on that chair. "Don't know." He shrugs. "Two, maybe three years," he answers. I detect Bronx accent in his tone. It's as clear as the day.

I could get personal and ask about his past but that won't tell me anything about Maggie.

Lowering my gaze to his feet to see All star converse. I can't tell if it's Size ten but the brand is obvious. I continue with my question. "How would you describe your relationship with Maggie?"

He clears his throat. "Umm... Mag-- Miss Reyes?" He shifts, his legs facing forward. His hand picking his nails. "We don't... I don't..." he shakes his head, stuttering. "I see her around but we don't talk."

The distance between us is at least twenty feet but I can still smell the cigarette in his breath.

"Did you interact with her frequently?" I ask.

"No!" He takes a deep breath and adds. "We've never spoken. Miss Reyes don't speak or relate to the help."

Right.

"Were you ever alone with Maggie?"

He shakes his head, his eyes looking conflicted. Gone was the comfortable and confident look.

"How well do you get along with other household members?"

He interlocks his fingers. "Hmm... I... I don't really relate with them much but I'm close with Irina, she's my girlfriend and her Mom makes the best Egusi soup."

I note that down in dots and dashes.

"Okay. Can you walk me through your typical day?"

"My day in life or day in this estate?"

"Day in this estate," I add.

"My working hours are flexible. Mrs. Campbell-Reyes let me work in my own time, so normally I get here early in the morning and work till noon. I take a shower, eat lunch and hang out with Irina."

"Only Irina?"

He clears his throat and nods.

"Where do you normally hangout?"

He lifts his gaze to meet mine. "What are you asking, man?"

"Just trying to cover all bases." There's nothing more I like than a defensive suspect. "Next question. You mentioned you saw Maggie around, and you resume work early morning. Did you notice her on the twenty forth of December last year?"

Chad stiffens. "Hmm... I did not," he hesitates,

"What about the day before?"

He turns his cap forward and then back again before moving his hand to the back of his neck. "Listen man, don't mean to be rude but December twenty four is long past, I can't remember."

"Not that long, it's just last week," Vera chirps in, which makes even more tense.

"I swear I don't know anything," he says, his pitch between low and loud.

"I'm not accusing you of anything Chad, I just want to know what happened," I assure him. Judging from his tone, he's either guilty of something or is just scare. But he didn't strike me as someone who get intimidated easily. I continue. "The last time you remember seeing her, did you notice anything unusual about her?"

"Unusual?" he repeats, his eyes distance as he thinks or that's what he wants us to think as my eyes lowers to his legs, where they're tapping the floor impatiently. "No. She was her normal self."

"What is her normal self?"

He swallows and rubs his arms with his palm, lifting and lowering his shoulder. "Stoic, cold, and focused."

"Is there anything you think might be relevant to the investigation?" I ask.

He shakes his head and flies up. "Am I done? Can I leave?"

"Yes--" he rushes out of the door before I can finish.

"Definitely guilty," Vera speaks once he's gone. "It's so obvious he knows something."

As I pen down my observation in my note, Vera asks. "Why didn't you ask him about his shoes and the cigarettes?"

"Can you handle the security guys while I interview Olga and Irina?" I ask her.

"No way, I want to sit through their interview."

"Fine. But you are interviewing them after."

She gives me a two finger salute. "Aye, aye Captain."