He steps into the medium sized room, flipping the lightswitch on the wall beside him. Now with the light on, he can see all that the room has to offer: stacks of boxes, filled with newspapers and letters. One box is only filled with yearbooks, and as he looks inside one of the yearbooks, which dates back to 1990, he finds specific pictures of some of the female classmates circled in  red marker. One of the circled girls specifically alarms Branden, though. Annie Mullins. He’s seen that name somewhere, but can’t place where. 

He places the yearbook back in the box and looks around a bit more, eventually coming across a newspaper article, seemingly cut out from the rest of the pages that are nowhere to be found, that tells of a 17 year old girl named Jane Brown who went missing in 1994. She was last seen spending time with a boy named Brian Spane. He was a year older than her, and they had apparently been spending lots of time together months before her abduction. This must be the Brian those letters were addressed to.

Branden was speechless. He couldn’t believe what he was reading. He couldn’t believe any of it. He wondered how he could have been so clueless in the very beginning of their meeting. How the screams barely alarmed him. How could Jonathan’s ridiculous lie of those damn foxes convince him everything was okay? He felt stupid. He considered leaving. Packing his bags and driving off before Jonathan figured out what he knew. But he couldn’t.

What would he tell Maria? 

He looks around the room once more. Behind a stack of boxes, a section of a door sticks out. He realizes why the stairs were built where they were. Jonathan would surely kill him if he found out about this. He had to leave now. He put the wooden board up as best he could and moved the dressers back together, praying that Jonathan never noticed the lack of wallpaper in the closet. He probably barely went back there, anyway. 

 *******

The party was much more awkward than Branden intended. He was struggling to keep to himself about the information he had and knew he should tell the police, but he would need to get picture evidence to show first and wouldn't know when he could get the opportunity to go back inside the room.

He was having a conversation with Jonathan and one of his friends from church, but was barely contributing. Jonathan taps his shoulder, bringing him out of his thoughts. 

"You alright, Branden? Seemed pretty deep in thought there," Jonathan says, half joking. 

"Oh, yea. I'm good. What are you talking about again?" 

"Well, we were just messing around with you about how I'm roughing you up with this work, getting you away from the city, ya know."

 "Yea, you sure are. I'll be sore by the time I get home," he replies, laughing. 

"So, how's the countryside been treating you, Branden?" Charlie, Jonathan’s friend, asks.

"Oh, it's been nice! The air is definitely fresher." He chuckles. "It's nice to get away, though. It's very peaceful out here." 

"It sure is. That's one of the reasons I left the city. I've been way happier out here, too. You should consider finding yourself a place in the area once Maria and you get married, I'm sure she'd love being closer to Jonathan as well. Just a thought, y'know."

"Yea, we'll definitely think about that! But we're probably gonna be in our apartment for a decent while after that anyway. Even with both of us working, it's tough to move in this economy."

"Oh, I totally understand. I should be glad my wife and I bought a house when we did. We'd probably be stuck in a pig sty if we did now."

Jonathan interjects, saying, "Why don't we cut that cake now? I'm just dying to try it."

"Sure!" The two agree, and after gathering the other three guests, Jonathan cuts pieces for everyone and himself. They all gather in the living room to eat the cake and continue to converse while music plays in the background. 

Julia comes over to Branden, and they begin to talk about his time spent with Jonathan so far. The conversation lasts a while, and soon Jonathan walks over to them.

"Hey! Was wondering if I could steal Julia from ya for a bit," he says, smiling. 

"Sure! It was nice talking with you," Branden says. 

"Alright! You too, Branden." She stands up waving to Branden and walking over to the kitchen with Jonathan. He wonders what they're talking about. 

Branden attempts to entertain himself with the other guests until the end of the party. As the people slowly begin to filter out of the house, Branden and Jonathan are eventually left alone with a small mess to clean up. 

They clear the mess out in no time and are left with another half of the day to fill. Jonathan had given himself the day off except for the main necessities of feeding the animals, and with all his other chores done, had nothing to do. They threw around ideas for a little while and Branden, wanting to get time alone to search the secret room once again, convinced Jonathan to go out and drive around town. Jonathan invited him along, but Branden declined, saying he wanted to have some time to himself.

As Jonathan drove away, Branden prepared to go into the closet once again. He grabbed his phone and as he made his way inside the room, began taking pictures of the things he’d found before: the yearbooks, newspaper articles and anything else that could incriminate Jonathan. He found even more letters in a large box in the room as well, all of which were from Brian and addressed to Jonathan. He wondered why Jonathan hadn’t sent the ones he found in the other locked box. Fear, perhaps.

After he had taken all of the pictures, he secured the wooden board back in place and moved the dressers back together. He still feared that Jonathan would somehow figure out that he found this room, but put it in the back of his mind for the moment and called the police officers once again. He made plans to meet with them that same day, considering the urgency of the situation. 

After putting on his jacket, Branden went outside to his car and drove to the cafe where they met last time. He got there as soon as possible and sat outside in the same spot as before, looking around at all the cars driving down the road and the people commuting down the sidewalks. A waitress comes up to take his order, and fearing he might not be allowed to sit if he didn’t purchase something, ordered some coffee. He was feeling a bit tired anyways.

Soon enough, the police officers arrive, and Branden begins to show them the pictures he took. He took many and it took a little while to get through all of them, but he felt that the amount was warranted, considering the amount of evidence in the room. The officers became more and more shocked as each picture went past them, and as Branden finished showing them all the pictures, he saw something in his peripheral vision that made his anxiety peak. 

On the road, a truck slowly drove past the three people, and while Branden never turned to face it, he just knew it had to be Jonathan. He’d found out. His eyes widened and the officers looked at him, concerned. 

“Is everything okay?” The female officer asked. 

“No,” Branden replied. “I think Jonathan just drove past us. He knows I’m meeting with you, he’ll probably try and run away. You need to go after him," he adds, urgently. He stands up, pointing to Jonathan’s truck, which is still in view. As soon as he points to it, Jonathan’s truck speeds up, rushing down the road and into an empty section of the road, where nothing but grass and trees cover the surroundings. 

“Okay. Listen, you stay here. We’ll get him, don’t worry,” The male officer says, and the two get up, running over to their car and starting the engine as soon as they both enter. 

Branden watches as they drive off just as quick as Jonathan, the female officer saying something inaudible into her radio. 

They were gone just as quickly as they came, and Branden could only sit still in his seat, watching as the cars disappear into the distance. He sits there for a long while before getting up and into his own vehicle, and just as he is about to turn into the road, another police car rushes past him. He wonders if they caught him yet. He knew he should just stay at the cafe and let the police do their job, but curiosity grew stronger inside him and he needed to see what had happened.

He drives down the road, the sirens from their vehicles sounding in the distance. As he gets further down the road, he notices that the two police cars are situated on the right side of the road, where Jonathan’s truck sticks out from the forest. Two of the officers have already gone into the forest to search for Jonathan, and he assumes more are soon to come. He goes further down the road back to Jonathan’s house, where a single police car sits. He goes down the driveway and two officers step out of their car to speak with Branden.

“Is this Jonathan West’s home?” One of them asks.

“Yes,” Branden answers. 

“We’re going to need to get inside. Do you have a key?”

“Yes, here you go, officer. There’s something inside that you need to see, though. You won’t find much else around the house if you just search there.”

“And what is it that we need to see?”

“A room. It’s hidden very well, sir. I can lead you to it.”

“Okay. Let’s go, then.”

Branden leads them to the secret room and also shows them to the box under the floor and the room under the barn. He felt like he was missing something, but couldn’t place what. He ignored it, assuming it was just anxiety. He stands outside and watches as other law enforcement personnel step into the home and barn, some with cameras and other equipment. 

Two more police cars pull into the driveway about a half hour later, and the two officers that Branden has familiarized himself with step outside to see him. 

“We lost him, can’t find him anywhere. Sorry, Branden, but he’s definitely good at hiding from the law. We’ll let you know if anything comes up, but by now he’s long gone,” The male officer says, frowning. “We’re going to need to keep you for a little to ask you some questions. Then you can head home.”

Branden is questioned for a half hour and after giving his statement, he gets their permission to return to his own home.

He gets back into his car and drives down the road back to his home, despairing as to how in the world he’ll be able to explain this to Maria.

________

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