*********Cornwall, Duke's Lake*********

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Under the sweltering heat of the summer, Arthur stood in front of the Hartrands' front door. Wiping sweat from his forehead, he knocked three times but was met with silence.

"What's taking them so long?" he thought to himself. Surely, the family would be more alert after their daughter went missing.

He was about to knock once more when the door suddenly creaked open. A woman's head peeked out from behind the door. Her eyes darted around cautiously, as if she expected an intruder to barge in.

Arthur coughed to get her attention. "Good morning. Mrs. Hartrand, I presume?"

The woman looked at him and breathed a sigh of relief. "That's me, Evelyn Hartrand. And you're...?"

"Arthur Callum, ma'am. Theodore Stonehill sent me to investigate your case."

The door finally opened fully and Arthur got a full view of Evelyn. She was fairly tall and slender, and she was wearing a casual blouse and jeans. He could see that she would've been beautiful, if not for the dishevelled state she was currently in. Her long brown hair was messy and unkempt, and there were bags under her bloodshot green eyes.

"Please come inside, Mr. Callum," she said, motioning for him to enter the house.

"Thank you, Mrs. Hartrand. And please, just call me Arthur," he smiled. Evelyn nodded and tried to smile back, but her current situation rendered her unable to.

"Is the detective here, darling?" a male voice boomed from upstairs. Arthur looked up to see a man rush down the steps and approach him.

"Good morning. I'm Adam Hartrand, Evelyn's husband," the man said, shaking his hand.

Arthur noted the stark differences in the couple's appearances. Unlike Evelyn, Adam was rugged and muscular. He was wearing a tank top and jeans, with a cap atop his head. He also looked to be in a better state than his wife, but his eyes were still red-rimmed.

"It's a pleasure to meet you both. Should we talk somewhere more comfortable?" Arthur asked.

"We can sit on the couch over there," Evelyn suggested, pointing to some couches near the fireplace. "I'll make us a drink. Coffee, Arthur?"

"No need. I already had a cup on the way," Arthur replied.

Evelyn nodded and disappeared into the kitchen. Arthur sat on a chair nearest to the fire, while Adam collapsed onto the couch.

"I have to ask, sir, why didn't you report it to the police?"

Adam sighed. "Evelyn doesn't trust the local police, even if the new chief seems very promising. When our son, Seth, returned to the house with three large cuts on his back, the police just called it a bear attack and haven't investigated further."

"And was it just a bear attack?"

"No, obviously! There aren't any bears within 10 miles. And the marks on his back were definitely from a blade."

Arthur thought for a moment, tapping a pen on his notepad. "Do you think that, perhaps, the culprits for both cases are the same?"

Adam shook his head. "We thought that at first. But we didn't want to imagine what Abigail would be going through if that was the case."

Adam buried his face in his hands and sobbed. "I just want my daughter back."

"I'll do as best as I can, sir," Arthur reassured him. Adam wiped tears from his face and leaned back on the couch, gazing longingly into the distance.

Arthur thought of the mysterious attacker. If it was really the same person that took Abigail, then he feared that the case would become a homicide investigation.

Evelyn came back with two cups of coffee, waking her husband out of his trance. She rubbed her hand along Adam's bicep, and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"Excuse me," Arthur interrupted after a few moments. "Mind if I check her room for any clues?"

"Of course," Evelyn said. "We haven't touched her room since she went missing. Her room is the one at the end of the hall."

Arthur tread slowly up the stairs, with each step creaking as he put his weight on it. When he reached the top, he immediately spotted a slightly open door at the end of a long hall.

Entering the room, the first thing that caught his eye was the absolute mess that the room was in. The bed was undone, and both pillows were on the floor by his feet. The girl's desk was on its side, and everything on her shelf was dropped to the floor.

"It's like a fight broke out in here," he mumbled to himself.

Arthur made his way across the room, stepping over the girl's stuff to avoid damaging them. He started to search all over the room for anything that could be useful.

He found nothing after 20 minutes of searching every corner of Abigail's room. He was about to leave and apologise to the couple, when he had a gut feeling to check the bedroom window.

It was locked.

Now, it wouldn't normally be strange, if it weren't for the fact that the room's occupant had been presumably taken. If Abigail's parents hadn't tampered with the crime scene like they said they didn't, then there were only two possibilities.

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"Either Abigail was taken out the front door, or the captor re-entered the home, locked the window, and escaped using the front door," Arthur figured.

But neither made sense. He noted how the stairs going downstairs made a creaking sound when a weight was put on it. It would be impossible to escape without waking up the sleeping family members.

With these two scenarios ruled out, Arthur considered another two.

"If the captor couldn't escape using the front door, then only two things would make sense. Either the captor is still in this house, hiding in some closet, or—"

Arthur stopped himself from thinking about the second one. He didn't want to believe that this could be the case.

The only other explanation would be that Abigail's captor was one of her own family. He ran around the second floor of the house, opening closets and peeking behind every possible hiding spot he could think of. He hoped that there was some stranger, no matter how dangerous, that was the real culprit.

But there was no one there.

He returned to Abigail's room breathing heavily, exhausted from the search, and slumped against the wall. His mind flashed to his father, who was revealed to have murdered his mother and staged it to become a suicide. The thought of the same thing happening to someone else was unforgivable.

"Arthur, are you alright?" he heard Evelyn say. He turned his head to find her coming inside the room with a glass of water.

"You look exhausted. What happened?" she said, handing him the glass.

Arthur immediately maintained his composure, as if nothing had happened. If this family was hiding something, he couldn't let them know about his suspicions.

"I was looking for more clues in the other rooms. I apologise for the intrusion."

Evelyn smiled. "Don't worry. Anything that could help find my sweet Abigail."

His suspicion was replaced by guilt as he gazed into her red and hopeful eyes. He almost felt sorry for considering them a suspect, but he remembered the Woodskiff murders and how a 9-year-old girl and her parents were killed by her elder brother.

"I couldn't find anything useful right now, I'm sorry," he said, averting his gaze from her. "I'll come back tomorrow once I'm more prepared."

Abigail sighed but said nothing. She and Arthur came back down the stairs, where Adam was waiting patiently on the couch.

"Apologies, Mr. Hartrand. I'll have to come back with better gear."

"Understood," Adam said. "Please, take your time. We're not going anywhere."

Arthur nodded and waved the couple goodbye. While he drove down the street, he tried to think of any other alternative options to what could've happened. He didn't want to pin the blame on the grieving family without evidence, but he couldn't cross them out either.

<<10:56 A.M.>>

Arthur arrived at his new residence. It was a fairly large bungalow, with white walls and a black roof. He stared in awe, in disbelief that this is where he'd be living for the time being.

When he entered the house, his amazement grew even more. The whole house was cleaned beforehand, and the smell of flowers hung in the air. But what caught his eye the most was the grand piano in the centre of the room.

"Akio would faint if he saw this...," Arthur chuckled to himself. He sat down and gazed upon the ivory keys. He remembered the time when Arthur lived with Akio in his uncle's house, and he'd hear faint music often. He envied his friend's ability to memorise an entire piece with just one glance.

The silence of the house made him realise how much he enjoyed Akio's company. Even after a distressing investigation, the sight of his roommate when he came home always lifted his spirits.

Arthur brought the luggage to one of the rooms and laid on the bed, gathering his thoughts. He was sure of two things.

1) The rooms of the house were completely soundproof. He figured this out during his search for a possible culprit, after he heard loud music from one of the sons' rooms only after he opened the door.

2) The captor must've known about the soundproofing, otherwise they wouldn't have attempted to use the creaky stairs.

He narrowed down all possible suspects. Her family, close friends, and the house's builders. He crossed out the builders and close friends as they wouldn't have had a key to the house. And he knew for a fact that the window was locked, as there'd been a rainstorm on the evening she disappeared.

No matter how much he tried to think, all evidence points to the Hartrands being the suspect. But what was their motive?

Arthur figured that he should try to collect information on the Abigail's brothers. If he'd interrogated them at their house, they would know who he was and could possibly withhold information. He had to somehow go undercover in a place where he could keep an eye on them.

<<11:41 A.M.>>

"You're very lucky, young man. If you'd come to us a week later, it would've been too late to accept you," an old woman said.

"Thank you, ma'am. Just to be clear, I'm the history teacher for all levels?" Arthur asked.

"Yes, dear. We're a bit short on teachers. Most of them resigned after Penelope, the previous history teacher, was murdered by her son."

Arthur's eyes widened. "Wait, Mrs...?"

"Clark, dear."

"Mrs. Clark, you mean that the teacher I'm replacing is Penelope Woodskiff?" Arthur asked, recalling the name from one of the files Theodore had on his desk.

"Yes, that poor soul. She was a wonderful woman, and so was her husband. And the little girl was such an angel."

"I'm sorry for your losses, Mrs. Clark."

"Oh, no worries, the city has moved on. Well, it seems that the police moved on two weeks earlier than we did."

Arthur slightly raised an eyebrow at her comment but said nothing.

"Alright, Mr. Callum, your teaching starts tomorrow. Come a little early, and I'll ask one of my students to take you on a tour around the school."

"Got it. Thank you, Mrs. Clark."

<<12:23 P.M.>>

~You finally called!

Akio's face lit up Arthur's phone screen. He was sitting on the couch as always, in a loose-fitting grey shirt.

"Is Caleb there already?" Arthur asked.

Akio nodded enthusiastically and flipped the phone's camera. Arthur saw a hooded figure laid down on the other side of the couch. Although his face was obscured, Caleb's red hair could be seen poking through the jacket's hood.

~Hey, come on, it's Arthur.

Akio jabbed Caleb's side and pulled his hood down. Caleb feigned sleeping, but both Arthur and Akio saw through his trick.

"Hey, wake up!" Arthur shouted while laughing.

Caleb started laughing and faced the camera.

~Hi, Arthur! Haha, did I get you?

Arthur shook his head, still smiling. Caleb pretended to sulk.

~I knew you'd catch on immediately. Anyway, how's it going there? Akio told me about your holiday in Duke's Lake.

Arthur sighed, relieved that his roommate hadn't spilled his secret yet. Most of his friends are oblivious of his double-life as a detective, and Akio always covered for him. But he was worried that Akio's obvious crush on Caleb would make him end up saying everything.

"Yeah, it's pretty nice. Guess what—there's a grand piano here."

~Really?!

Akio exclaimed loudly as Arthur expected.

"Yeah, wish you two were here to see it."

~No, no, it's fine. We wouldn't want to intrude on your vacation.

"You don't know how much I want you to intrude, Akio," Arthur thought to himself.

~Well, uh, we better go now. We're heading off to the mall in half an hour, and we're going to get ready. See you later!

"Alright, I'll call you back. I'll take a nap for a bit."

Akio and Caleb bid farewell before hanging up the phone. Even when short, the conversation helped Arthur clear his mind after everything that happened.

He turned around to walk back to his room, when he noticed something odd.

"My notebook wasn't placed like this earlier. There's no open windows or anything, so there isn't any wi—"

He suddenly felt the wind get knocked out of him by a sudden blow to the back. He fell forwards, hitting his head on the side of the wooden table, and blacked out.