22:43, October 31st

Connors arrived at the scene of crime. Rick ran up and informed the situation they're having. Apparently, 16-years-olds Timothy Livermore has disappeared from his own house. The place had no signs of a break-in so the crew had to dug around for some evidences. Rick inspected the neighborhood and asked houses nearby. Most of them were either too busy to notice or were absent. Except Mr. Higgins, or Loony Higgins as the kid called. He was the one to call the police. Rick said he's delirious, but despite that, Connors came over and knocked at the white door.

At first, there wasn't any response so Connors expected the old man to be fast asleep. The second he turned away, the door creaked open and an old man peered out. He seemed cautious as he glared the inspector

"Who are you? I thought I've told everything to the cop."

"Evening Mr. Higgins. I'm Detective Hayes. I'm sorry to disturb you in such time but I was hopping you could tell me more about the missing case of Timothy Livermore. I was informed that you were the one to call the police."

The old man sighed and signaled Connors to follow him inside. Seated himself on the musty couch, Connors glanced at Mr. Higgins. The man was probably 85, wrinkles decorated his skin went well with a few strands of white hair left on his head. He sat down on the armchair and look at him.

"So Detective, what brings you here? I've tell you friends what I know, you could've just asked them for details"

"Well, it is better to hear the details from the one that told them, don't you agree Mister?"

"Alright. What do you want to know?"

"Well, can you tell me what happened around 8pm?"

"It was Halloween so obviously kids would be out trick-or-treat. Those little devils. But Tim did not go out with his friends. Heard the boy stayed shut inside the house. His parents were out so he's all alone. 8pm, you say? A bunch of knuckleheads went up his door and asked for candies. He couldn't found one so he called me for help."

"Are you and Timothy friends?"

"The little slick is different. He sometimes annoys me but he's a good one. Help me with chores and entertain me."

"Thank you,mister. Please continue."

"I gave him the sweet that I had and he returned back to his house. That's all."

"Well, what makes you call us?"

" Around 10 or something like that, I don't remember, I was out looking for my dog when I saw Tim near the window. I cannot see his face, only his back. Then I heard he scream "Stay away from me". I assumed someone got in so I called the police." He sighed "By the time you reached the place, he's gone. A bit earlier and maybe you could have caught the suspect."

Connors stayed silent before he began.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Higgins. We'll try our best to look for the boy. Nevertheless, I was wondering if you'd seen anyone near the house? Someone suspicious? Something odd?"

"The only I know is that it was peaceful today. That's all."

It was quiet between the two of them when the sound of the radio on his side interrupted.

"Hey, Connors? I might have something you want to check. Please return to the Livermore 's residence immediately Detective. Over."

Conners wanted to postpone his stay a bit more for some other evidences question but he had a case to investigate. He wished the old man a good night before he took his leave.

Back in Livermore's house, he encountered the parents of young Timothy. They weren't looking too well, knowing that their child is nowhere to be found. Connors give them his condolences before meeting up with Rick.

"So, what'd you got for me?"

"Well, we dug around in his room looking for clues and we got proofs that the boy was indeed being kidnapped rather than ran away."

"You sure Rick?"

"See it for yourself."

Rick and Connors opened the door and entered the room. It is quite messy, a shirt here, a sock there. Posters and comics scattered all over the room. A laptop was on and accessible. The closet on the side of the room was ajar and he noted the window that Mr. Higgins mentioned. Rick signaled Connors to follow him. He opened the closet and handed him a pair of gloves.

"See this? The clothes was pushed unnaturally to the side, creating a space enough to fit a kid. We concluded that the boy must have hide here to avoid the intruder but failed as they still found him and dragged him out." Rick chirped

Connors touched the side of the closet. He could feel the smooth texture until something rippled came across his fingers.

"Rick, give me some light in here." Rick complied.

Pushed the clothes away, he spot a pencil being broken into pieces and some scratches on the bottom. All of them are lines that went every direction, nonsense. Rick exhaled and pulled back.

"What did you see?"

"Sloppy lines engraved to the bottom. You're right. The kid was indeed here. The question is, if he was hiding, why making noise to attract attention?"

"Getting help?" Rick raised his eyebrows and smirked.

"Yeah right, in a closet of an empty house. How brilliant was that, Rick?" Connors shot back

"Well, how about moving to the next clue? Here's his laptop."

Rick dragged the mouse to the bar bellow to reveal an app was being used. It was the record application and it's been recording for over two hours till now. Rick stopped the record and turned on for both of them.

After listening to the tape, both of them had confusion written all over their face. It's true that it was taken by Tim himself as the first part was him talking about Halloween. Next there was a pause of trick-or-treat before he returned, saying something very intriguing.

"I'm quite scared. There was a kid trick-or-treating at my door. He said there was someone inside my house and he's very positive that he saw one before left with his friends. I looked inside but there wasn't anything but my own shadow. I'm quite terrified. I fear something is coming."

And that was the part that mattered. The rest of the record was completely muted, no sound whatsoever could be heard, until near the end when they can hear police sirens and their own voices.

"So the application wasn't rigged because we can still hear the sirens and our own voice. But the silence in the middle of the record was highly suspicious." Rick scratched his chin

"This brings out more unresolved problems. Supposedly that there was someone kidnapped him, would there be footsteps? Door creaked? And the sound of the boy being dragged out? The scratches in the closet? His scream?" Connors frown

"Wait, what did you say? Scream? He screamed? How did you know he screamed?" Rick turned to his partner

"The old man? Mr. Higgins? He told me he heard the boy scream at the culprit. That's how he called the police."

"Strange. Did he say anything else?"

"He only noticed that it's oddly peaceful today. Which was unusual since it's Halloween."

"Let's bring this back for a check. And asked the old man tomorrow to confirm what he told us." Rick copied the files and sent back to the office

Connors returned to his home with a copy of the record. He listened to it all night and still couldn't decipher any of it. He went to sleep with a heavy heart and pounding headache.

************************************

Connors woke up to the phone call. ID said was Rick. He picked up.

"Hayes listening. It's my day off. You could inspect Mr. Higgins on your own you know?" Connors sluggishly said

"The old man is dead, Connors." Replied the other line

"... How come?"

"Hung himself. No sign of struggle or set up. He did it to himself. But on the other hand, there was a note attached to his body."

"What's on it?" Connors nervously awaited the response

"Shhh..."