Monday, August 21, 2023.

2:32 PM

Logan and Lila walk into what looks like an abandoned house. They’re there to save a little girl named Emily from her father.

Emily’s mother contacted them and told them that Emily’s father, Jonah, had kidnapped her and ran away with her. They don’t know the intentions the father has with his daughter, but they snuck into the house where they’re supposed to be.

There’s a living room and there’s a hallway. Lila and Logan decide to split up. Lila chooses to search the living room because her super strength can allow her to access things Logan can’t and Logan chooses to go down the hallway because if Jonah’s down there and he kills Logan, Logan just comes back.

Logan starts to slowly and quietly walk down the hallway. The floorboards are loose but they thankfully don’t make noise.

He reaches the end of the hallway and he finds two doors. He tries to listen to see if they’re in one of the two doors.

Eventually, after a while, he hears small but quick breaths in the left room. Logan pulls his gun out of his holster and holds it in his left hand while he places his right hand on the left door handle.

He quickly opens the door and he sees Jonah holding a knife at Emily’s throat. Apparently he heard Logan. Logan quickly points his gun at Jonah’s head.

“Put the knife down, sir. We already found you.” “No… If you shoot me, I kill her. I can’t go to prison.” Jonah whispers. Logan doesn’t know what to do. If he calls Lila in, he’ll kill Emily and if Logan shoots him, he still kills her.

Logan nods to what Jonah says and slowly puts his gun back into his holster. “Okay, Jonah. Let's talk then. Why did you take Emily from her mother?” Logan asks Jonah. “They won’t let me see her anymore… I can’t live without my daughter. Do you know how that feels? Getting torn away from your little girl?”

Logan knows he doesn’t love Emily considering he has a knife at her throat, but to keep him calm, he acts like he does.

“I do, actually. I have a son. Leonidas. He was born when I was sixteen. I didn’t even know she was pregnant until I got called to the hospital, but she has full custody of him. I get to call him and sometimes I even get to see him, but it’s not enough. You know?” Logan explains to Jonah, hoping it loosens him up a bit.

“Yeah… Yeah, I do know. How did you lose custody?” Jonah asks, trusting Logan a bit more now knowing he’s a father. Logan obviously doesn’t want to tell Jonah, but he also doesn’t want Jonah to kill Emily.

“I, um… I was proved mentally unstable and I had an alcohol addiction because of how much I was dealing with at that time. That’s how I lost him. I’ve been working on those things though, and even though I’m doing better, I don’t have him back yet. Trying is better than nothing though, right?” Logan asks Jonah. Jonah nods.

“Yeah? So, why don’t we remove the knife from Emily’s neck?” Logan asks Jonah gently. Jonah thinks about it, but then hears police sirens outside. Lila must’ve called them.

Jonah gets angry. “You called the fucking police on me?!” Before Logan can even touch the gun he has in his holster, Jonah pulls a gun from behind his back and shoots Logan in the chest three times.

Logan’s body drops as Jonah leaves Emily behind and exits the room. He attempts to run away, but he didn’t know Lila was there. As soon as he enters the living room, Lila surprises him with a punch to the face.

One punch sends Jonah halfway down the hall and knocks him out cold. Before Lila lets the police in, she runs over to Emily.

Lila hugs Emily as she cries into her arms.

“Are you okay? Did he hurt you?” Lila asks, worried about the little girl. Emily shrugs. “Not really…”

Lila picks up Emily and starts to carry her out to the police. As she exits the home, the police rush over to Emily. Officer Wilson takes Emily from Lila and holds her.

“What about Jonah? Did you get him?” Officer Wilson asks, sounding impatient. “Yes, I’ll bring him out. Give me a damn second. Wait here and make sure Emily’s okay.” Lila tells them as she heads back into the house.

She takes handcuffs out of her back pocket and binds Jonah’s wrists together while he’s still out cold. She then heads over to her brother.

Lila flips Logan’s body over and unbuttons his gray plaid shirt. He’s already healing, which is good.

A few seconds pass, and Logan regains consciousness. Lila smiles.

“You were out for a bit there.” “Is Emily okay?” Logan asks as the bullets from Jonah’s gun push themselves out of Logan’s chest. Lila nods.

“Yeah, we got her. She’s okay. Officer Wilson has her outside.” “Good…” Logan says, getting up to his feet. His skin begins to scar and heal, but the blood stays. Logan and Lila start to walk down the hallway.

“Why’d you tell Jonah about Leon?” Lila asks, not understanding. “I had to get him to trust me so he didn’t hurt Emily. It worked, didn’t it?” “Yeah, but now he knows your son’s name.” Lila tells Logan, picking up Jonah’s unconscious body.

“You know I won’t let anything happen to Leon.” “I know. You’re a good dad, Logan.” Lila tells her brother. He smiles at her and nods. “Thanks.”

Lila and Logan both go out to the police. Lila drops Jonah’s body down in front of the police.

“You handle him. We have more shit to do. See you guys later.” Lila says while she and Logan walk back to Adler Investigations.

–

They enter Adler Investigations and they get met with a letter on the table. It’s sent by Connor Ledger. Lila picks up the letter and looks at Logan.

“Just more work. I’ll open it while you clean the blood off your chest.” “Okay. Thanks.” Logan goes to the bathroom to clean himself up.

He enters the bathroom and he takes his gray plaid button up off. He looks in the mirror and is always slightly horrified.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Logan’s wounds might always heal, but his scars stay. He’s gotten shot, stabbed, scratched, chopped up. Most of the scars are on his chest and his back, but there are still scars everywhere.

Logan ignores the scars and picks up a rag. He drenches the rag with water and wipes his chest off with it. The dried blood takes a bit to wipe off completely, but it does come off. He then throws both the rag and his plaid shirt in the laundry basket.

He exits the bathroom and sees Lila looking closely at a letter. “What’s going on?” Logan asks.

While Lila’s still looking at the letter, she hands Logan a missing poster. He starts to look at it.

The poster shows a blonde man smiling. He has his arm wrapped around someone in the photo but Logan can’t see it because they’re cropped out.

“Full name: Thomas Andrew Ledger

Date of Birth: July 3rd, 2002

Age: 21

Sex or gender: Male

Race: Caucasian

Eyes: Blue

Hair: Blonde

Height: 6’1”

Weight: 174 lbs

Wearing: Blue long sleeve, black jeans, red and black sneakers

Identifying characteristics: Angel tattoo on shoulder, necklace that has the number seven

Last seen: July 3rd, 2023”

“Fuck… He was seen almost two months ago?” Logan asks his sister. Lila nods and hands him the letter.

“Dear Logan and Lila,

I’m so sorry we reached out to you so late. I know it would’ve been best if we contacted you the day we figured out our Thomas was missing, but my wife had hoped he’d come back. However, he never did.

I can’t wait for our little boy any longer. We need to know what happened. If he just ran away from everyone or worse. I just need to know. Please help me and my wife find our son.

Sincerely, Connor Ledger”

Logan shakes his head. “How’re we gonna find him? Where do we even start?” He asks, rubbing his forehead.

Before Lila can answer, someone knocks on the building door. Lila smiles. “That might be the answer.”

Logan and Lila both answer the door. It’s Officer Wilson.

“Hey, guys. I expect you got a letter for Thomas Ledger too, right?” He asks. They both nod. “Yeah, what’s going on?” Lila asks. “Shortly after we got that letter at the station, someone came in, covered in dried blood, water, and mud. They claim they were with Thomas. I thought this would help you guys.”

Lila and Logan look at each other. “That helps tons. Thank you, Wilson.” Logan thanks the officer. Wilson smiles and nods. “No problem. We can go as soon as Logan puts a shirt on.” Wilson states.

–

Logan, Lila, and Officer Wilson arrive at the station. Wilson leads them down a few halls.

“The victim’s name is Xena Moon. She barely spoke to us, so let’s hope she’ll speak for you two.” Wilson informs them as they reach a room with a teenage girl in it. Lila and Logan look through the glass into the room.

Xena’s sitting at a table. One other chair is available in the room and Xena looks heavily traumatized. Logan looks over at his sister.

“Maybe it should only be me right now.” “What?” Lila asks, slightly offended. “I just think I’d get through better. You can go in, but you know we play good cop, bad cop and you’re the bad cop.”

Lila rolls her eyes and nods. “Yeah, go ahead. If it gets too intense in there, I’ll switch out with you.” “Okay. I love you.” Logan tells his sister as he hugs her. She hugs him back and he leaves to enter the room.

Xena turns to Logan with shocked eyes as he enters the room. “It’s okay. I’m not gonna hurt you. I’m just here to talk to you. Is that okay?” Logan asks before sitting down. Xena hesitates but eventually nods.

Logan makes his way to the chair sitting opposite of Xena. Xena’s extremely pale and skinny with blood covering her face.

“So, Officer Wilson said you were with Thomas Ledger. Is that true?” Logan asks the girl. She slowly nods. “Okay… When’s the last time you saw him?”

Xena starts toying with her fingers. However, Logan stays patient and waits it out until she says something.

“M-Maybe a week ago…” Logan hears Xena whisper. Logan nods. “Good. Thank you. Do you happen to know where you both were? Did he escape with you?” Logan pushes further. Tears well up in Xena’s eyes as she shakes her head.

“He didn’t escape with you?” “No…” She whispers. Logan nods and bites his lip, wondering what the fuck the story is here.

“Can you try and tell me how you guys met?” Xena nods as she prepares herself to speak.

“I was-... I was thrown in a shack and handcuffed three months ago.” “Do you know who did it?” Logan buds in and asks Xena. She shakes her head again. “No… He had a- a purge mask on. One of the weird light ones.” Xena explains. Logan nods and lets her continue.

“When he threw me in the shack, he- he…” Xena breaks down in tears. Logan stays patient with her and gives her a minute.

“He… he cut me up, and he t-touched me, and…” Logan gets the feeling that Xena can’t finish her sentence, so he tries to help her. “Did he ra-” “Yes. A lot.” Xena manages to tell Logan. Logan nods and rubs his forehead. He can tell by just this alone that this investigation is gonna be huge.

“Okay. Where does Thomas come in?” “He got thrown in a while after I was there. Maybe about a month ago... He was really skinny and his eyes were red.”

“Did you say he was skinny?” Logan asks. Xena nods. “Yeah. Skinny and tall.”

Logan remembered that his missing person poster said that he weighed 174 lbs. Not really skinny for his height. Something must’ve happened before he got thrown in.

“Okay. What else?” “After he got thrown in, there was less attention on me and it was more on Thomas… I think Thomas was his favorite. He made Thomas do a lot of things for him. He called them ‘favors.’”

“Were those favors sexual?” Logan questions. Xena nods. “As the attention went more on Thomas, he wanted more with him. One day, he dragged Thomas out of the shack and locked the door behind him. That gave me enough time to kick a piece of one of the shack walls down to crawl out and escape.”

“So, what’s with the blood on your face then?” Logan asks her. “It’s Thomas’s. When the man asked for something Thomas didn’t want to give him, he beat him until he passed out and they did it anyway.”

“Okay. Thank you, Xena. Do you have anywhere to go after all of this is over?” Logan asks her, getting up out of his chair. Xena shakes her head.

“Everyone in my family is dead.” She tells Logan. Logan nods. “I’ll find you somewhere to go, okay? Thank you for being so cooperative.” Logan says as he leaves the room.

Lila and Officer Wilson look at him. “How’d it go?” Wilson asks. “Good. I got a lot from that, but Lila and I are gonna keep that info until we have enough of a story for you guys. Anyway, I have a question.” Logan asks. Wilson nods.

“Ask anything.” “When you guys are done checking Xena out and everything, give her my address. She needs a place to stay and I live alone.” Lila and Wilson look at each other.

“You sure? She went through a great deal of trauma. You don’t have to be responsible.” Lila tells her brother. Logan nods. “I know, but I want to be. Plus, she can help us more if she’s willing. Wilson, will you give her my address?” Logan asks. Officer Wilson hesitates but nods.

“Yes, sir.” “Thank you. Lila, you coming back with me?” Logan asks. Lila shakes her head. “No, I’m gonna stay with Wilson and try and see if we can get more info here, if that’s okay.” “Yeah, it’s good. I’ll be at the office.” “Okay.”

Logan starts to walk out of the police station as he hears a familiar voice behind him.

“Hey! Adler!”