"Officer, have you found anything yet?" Mae asks, her voice tight with anxiety as she searches the young officer's face for any trace of reassurance.
But the officer, clad in a navy-blue uniform, remains impassive. Niall lets out a sigh beside her, placing a hand over hers, which isn't exactly comforting, for a turmoil churns within her, and nothing can calm it until she learns her dear niece is safe and sound.
They had arrived in Erriador on the evening of New Year's Eve to surprise their niece, imagining her staring at them wide-eyed with joy and disbelief.
Mae had even chuckled to herself, picturing those sparkling eyes... Eyes that had always worn her heart so openly.
It had been three months since they had last seen her.
Surely, she missed her aunt and uncle, too, even if not as agonizing as her abscence had affected Mae.
What awaited them at Neva's apartment shattered their joy.
Neva's apartment door was locked.
As they lingered outside in confusion, they noticed a middle-aged woman nearby and approached her.
She turned out to be the landlord, but their unease only depeened when she told them that she hadn't been seen for nearly six days, and that the apartment has been locked for roughly the same length of time.
A missing report was filed shortly afterwards.
The officer questioned them about Neva's age, when they had last spoken to her, whether she had a history of leaving without telling anyone, and whether anyone had checked with her friends.
Mae's answers were enough for the officer to file a missing person report. A pair of officers were dispatched to the Rose Byrne apartment, where
they spoke with the landlord and the neighbours before entering it with the proper legal authority.
Mae didn't know what to make of what they found inside.
Proposal roses filled nearly the entire living room, leaving only a few narrow pathways to walk through.
Some important documents were missing. There was no obvious signs of violence, but most of Neva's clothes, and a man's belongings were still there.
The landlord had explained that Neva had been romantically involved with her neighbor, Rhett Lei.
The two had even been living together for some time.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that Mae had felt the ground collapse beneath her feet at this new, almost nonsensical revelations.
Emma Leroy was summoned by the officers, as she was the only close friend of Neva's whom Mae Knew.
From her statement, they confirmed that Neva had been engaged to a man she has never thought to tell her aunt about. Initially, Mae feared that her niece had fallen into an unhealthy relationship,
one that had somehow led to her dissapearance.
Emma Leroy's statement somehow soothed this anxiety, as her words painted the young man in a different light. But then Mae considered that Vernellia's worldly air had somehow negatively affected her good Christian niece, leading her to hide something so important about her life from her aunt and uncle, and to live with a man before marriage.
The officers ultimately concluded that Neva had left voluntarily with her fiancé and had likely planned to travel with him. It wouldn't be long before she returned. A holiday couldn't last forever, and she still had university to attend. Mae refused to believe it.
In her heart, Mae knew her niece would never cast her aside like that. Though she wasn't Neva's biological mother, she was the closest thing to one her niece had ever known.
Mae loved her as if she were her own daughter. Something was terribly wrong.
Her maternal instincts had rarely ever failed her.
She knew her niece like the back of her hand, and Neva would never have kept something as significant as her engagement from her aunt and uncle.
Even if she had, what could have made her so distrustful of the only family she had
ever known that she never once brought it up in all the conversations they had over the phone?
Had they failed her somehow?
No. Something was wrong... terribly wrong.
And Mae refused to let the case be closed.
Nor would she allow the officers to dismiss Neva as an ungrateful young woman who had cut ties with her family for a man she had barely known herself.
Mae refused to leave Erriador until her niece was found.
So here they are again, at the police station, on the fifth of January. It had been eleven days.
Eleven days since she had last heard from Neva.
More than a week since her niece had vanished.
"Officer, have you found anything about my niece yet?" Mae asks again, her fists clenching against her lap at the officer's dismissive demeanor.
He never once looks up from the computer screen before him.
"We'll let you know as soon as we find anything."
The quiet clicking of keys resumes, blending with the bustling hum of activity throughout the station.
"And when will that be?" Mae presses, her voice growing firmer, irate.
Before he can respond, the shrill ring of a telephone interrupts them. The officer picks up the receiver.
"Excuse me," he says before slipping into a formal conversation with the caller.
"We should go, honey," Niall says gently. "Let's leave them to do their job."
"No," Mae whispers. "Not until they find her."
The officer ends the call, sets the receiver back in its cradle, and looks at them once more. "We'll find Miss Noé. Rest assured."
As though they no longer exist, he turns back to his computer and resumes his work.
Mae's frustration finally boils over. Her chair screeches against the floor as she rises to her feet, slamming both her hands onto the desk.
"Rest assured, my foot!" Mae cries.
"My niece has been missing for over a week! How hard is it to actually look for her?"
Niall wraps an arm around her shoulders. "Mae, please, calm down."
"Ma'am, if you continue to disrupt the station, I'll have to place you under arrest," the officer warns.
Mae's breathing grows ragged as she presses a hand to her forehead.
"We're sorry, Officer," Niall says. "It won't happen again. Please, find our niece as soon as you can."
"We're doing everything we can. But for now, you'll need to leave the station," the officer says firmly.
Niall nods. "We understand. Please let us know if there are any updates."
He turns to Mae. "Let's go, love." She lifts her gaze to meet his softened but tired eyes. Somehow, he looks as though the past few days have aged him by years, and she pities her poor, neglected husband. Drawing in a deep breath, she nods, considering hiring a capable private investigator after they return to France rather than make matters worse by giving in to her anger over the irrational handling of the case.