I returned home with all the hints that my friend and I found. Once I stepped inside the house, I noticed Mike didn't return from hanging out with his pals. Well, I guessed that he'll come home late. I went into my room and closed the door. I gathered all the things on the floor and I sat down on the floor, thinking about the hints.

"What could all of this mean? And most importantly, what is V?" I thought.

I grabbed the diary and took a look at it, again. We didn't read the whole book back at Phil's house, but now, I'm trying to finish the whole book. While looking through the pages, I found out that Vincent's full name was Vincent Matteo. I looked at the computer next to me and decided to use it to find any information about this guy, even though I was aware that it wouldn't really give me what I wanted since he's not a celebrity and there are many people with the same name and maybe same last name. As expected, I didn't find any information about that person on the internet.

I was thinking all day to find any ideas about it, but I couldn't think of anything. Soon enough, I got tired. So I ended up putting all of the stuff away, hiding them.

24th April, Saturday, 10 PM

While I was sitting at my desk, doing my homework, I heard the door opening. I knew it was Dad who finally came back home from work. Oh right, I forgot to tell you, Mike has already came back 3 hours ago, which was right after I gave up thinking about the hints that Sabrina and I found. My older brother seemed to have had fun with his buddies.

"Hey, Dad" Mike and I said to our father.

"Hey guys, how are you two doing?"

"We're alright, how about you?" Mike answered.

"Oh, I'm ok. I'm just tired..."

"You can go rest now, Dad," I said.

"Yeah," the man who gave birth to me said "And you certainly must have been lonely all day"

"No, not really," I responded "I talked to my friend on the phone the whole day"

"Well, that's good. At least you weren't bored"

"By the way Dad, how was the case? Did you find out what Emma meant by the drawing she made?" I asked.

Mike also knows about the case. You see, I'm not the only one in the family who's interested in my father's cases, my older brother as well. Mike looked at Dad, curious for an answer about how the case went.

"Well, as expected, she didn't answer us when we asked her. But then, we guessed that the drawing she made, the one being choked, might be her. And the person choking her is the kidnapper"

"Is that so?" my sibling asked.

"Yeah. That's what we thought. Then, when we asked her if the person choking her was the kidnapper and the victim was her, she nodded. We eventually understood that she was basically trying to explain how the criminal abused her by the drawing"

"That's good. But why did she draw when she could simply tell you this?" I asked.

"We don't know yet, and we're still trying to find out."

The man who gave birth to me then changed the subject by saying

"Anyways, I'm tired. So, I'll get myself ready for bed"

"Same," I responded.

"Yeah, me too"

And we all went to sleep.

25th April, 8 AM, Sunday

I woke up early. Today was my father's day off from work and also Mike's. While leaving my room, I saw my Dad in his room, sitting at his desk, doing something.

"Hey Dad," I started.

He looked around and saw me. He looked like he didn't sleep all night.

"Good morning darling, how are you?"

"I'm alright. You?"

"Oh you know, tired" he responded.

"I see..." I said, "I thought you were going back to sleep, why were you awake?"

"I couldn't stop thinking about the kidnapping case. So, I was thinking all night"

"Dad, you need to sleep. You seem very tired. Plus, today is your day off," I sighed.

"No, I can't stop. I need to solve this case as soon as possible"

The man who gave birth to me is pretty much an impatient person. He always wants to do things quickly. I responded

"I know Dad, but don't ruin your sleep schedule for a case. It's really unhealthy"

My father didn't say anything for a moment, then he sighed and said

"Alright..."

I smiled.

"Thank you, Dad"

"Mmh"

I eventually looked around the room and found our family photo on the wall. While looking at it, I noticed Chris in it. I really missed him. My father noticed my silence and asked

"Are you ok?"

I looked back at my Dad and asked him

"Do you know by any chance when Chris will wake up?"

He stood quiet for a moment. Then he responded

"No, but I hope that he'll wake up early"

"Same..." I said.

I felt a tear coming out of my eye. I just wished that he'd wake up. Dad noticed that I wanted to cry, so he gave me his hand and said

"Come here"

I obeyed and when I came to him, holding his hand, he immediately pulled me into a hug.

"It's ok..." Dad said, in a reassuring voice "Chris will be ok, he'll wake up soon..."

While I was in his grasp, I noticed that he also wanted to cry. Then slowly, more tears came out of my eyes.

"Shh...it's alright...you're not alone, I also miss Chris...but he'll wake up, he surely will, we just don't know when..." Dad said.

We stayed like this for a few minutes, then we let go of each other.

25th April, 3 PM, Sunday

I decided to go out to Phil's house and check for more hints. My father was out, he said that he was hanging out with Henry. And Mike was in his room, studying. Yep, Mike has A LOT of exams. I eventually called my friend and we both agreed to meet each other at Phil's house now, as it's our last chance. Before I left my house, I grabbed all of the clues that my friend and I found, told Mike that I was going out with my friend, and texted my Dad to tell him where I was going, which he gave me consent. When I arrived at the muscular man's house, I found Sabrina.

"Hey Sabrina"

"Hey, Vicky. How are you?"

"Good, and you?"

"Yeah I'm alright," she responded "You got the hints with you?"

"Yep, all of them are with me" I answered.

"Ok good. Now let's get inside"

"Yeah"

We both entered inside and searched for more hints. Unfortunately, we didn't find anything more.

"We looked everywhere, yet there are still no more clues. I think we already found all the hints in this house and that we don't have to come here again," my best friend said.

"Yeah. Well, I guess we could still think about those hints," I said.

Suddenly, we heard a noise.

"Huh? What was that?" the beautiful girl asked.

"I don't know," I responded.

Sabrina went out to look from the window. Suddenly, her face looked like she was shocked.

"What? What happened?" I asked.

"He's...HE'S HERE!" She yelled, looking stressed. "PHIL IS HERE, I SAW A RANDOM CAR PULL OVER AND PHIL GOT OUT!!!"

"WHAT? Oh no..." I said, remembering something.

"We have to hide or get out of here!" my best friend continued.

"Sabrina...."

"What!?" she exclaimed, still stressed.

"What time is it?" I asked.

"It's...7:47. Why?"

"Oh boy..." I murmured.

"What now!?" she exclaimed, in the same tone.

"I just remembered that my dad said that he'll come back home at 8 PM..." I said.

"Wha-ARE YOU SERIOUS!?" My friend yelled.

We then heard a door opening.

"Hide, hide, hide!" Sabrina whispered.

We immediately hid under a nearby couch. Sabrina whispered to me, saying

"We need to put back all of the hints in all the places where we found them, so he won't suspect that someone came into his house while he was away. If he doesn't see the hints we found in their original places, he'll know that someone came into his house and took some stuff that belonged to him. Then, we leave by the back door of the house"

"It won't work," I told her "Remember the glass I broke? At first, it was clean, but now it's broken. So even if we put the clues back to where they used to be, he'll still know that someone went into his house once he sees the broken glass. So, it won't make any difference"

"Well, what do we do know?" she asked.

To be continued.