Handle Yourself

I sat on the steps of the bandstand just trying to get the image of Derek laying there out of my mind, why would somebody do that to another person? My head was being cradled by my arms as the many thoughts swirl around my head, worried my own father may end up like that if we don't do exactly what Mario wants. Mario did tell me I would be seeing Derek soon as his usefulness has come to an end, I had no idea that would mean he would kill Derek and dump his body for me to find! What kind of present was that?! I know I kept repeating that whatever Mario was going to give me wouldn't be nice, but not a part of me thought I would walk into that! My mother's team had cornered off the entire park, most of them inspecting the scene with Derek, while others were searching around the park in hopes Mario had dropped something which will point them in the right direction. Someone taking a seat beside me causes me to look away, I was expecting Jackson or maybe even my mother to sit there, but to my surprise, Reece sat beside me looking ahead. 'How are you holding up?" He asks still looking ahead as he spoke, his face not showing that much emotion as like always. 'I'm okay, I know I'm probably being an idiot for reacting in this way. I never knew Derek personally, so it shouldn't affect me as much." I say lifting my head up to also look out at the officers searching the scene, while onlookers at the edge of the tape were watching over at what was happening muttering their theories. 'You do not need to apologise Ally, it's human nature for you to feel those types of feelings, I would be worried if you weren't feeling anything." Reece tells me which did cause me to look over at him surprised, never did I think he would say something like that. 'I know you and I didn't get off on the right foot, you have only witnessed me at your mother's side telling you and Jackson things you may have not wanted to hear. But I do worry about you as much as everyone else, I have worked with your mother for many years and within those years, I've heard so much about you and your father and seen many photos, it felt like I had already had a sort of friendship with you before I had even met you." Reece begins to explain which is exactly what Jackson had told me, but how did my mother get all of these photos anyway? 'Your mother may not tell you this enough, but she is so proud of you, when you and Jackson left to come here, she told me how you have kept your head held high and she just knows you'll ace this, and you did. I don't know your father personally, but I can see where you get your determination from." He smiles turning to look at me for the first time. 'Perhaps when all of this is over, you can join our team." He chuckles while I shake my head at him, I haven't felt this much stress in all my life. 'As much as getting to spend more time with Jackson and you lot sounds tempting, I don't think I would be able to deal with this amount of stress on a daily basis." I say with a little laugh myself; Reece looks over also laughing at me as he went. 'Never lose that Ally, your ability to laugh in the most difficult of moments, people like you are vital in the world we're living in now." He says which was one of the sweetest things anyone has said to me, I smile looking over at him while he stares down at me. 'Thank you, Reece, I really needed to hear that." I smile before we both turn to watch the scene unfold, unknowing of what may lay ahead of us all. Peter was sat in the waiting room of the police station; it had been a few weeks since anyone last saw Ally or her father. To Peter, everyone seemed to just be getting on with their lives and simply forgetting about the two, but he has made sure that he works every day to try and locate his friend. William, the lead investigator has also been working tirelessly on the case, he and Peter talking on the phone almost every day to try and work theories. Which is why Peter is waiting for him today, William told him he had just received something which takes this case to a totally different level. William entering the waiting room is what grabs Peters attention, he rises to his feet quickly and hurries over to hear what information William had. 'Thank you for coming, come through there is something you need to see." William says before he turns and walks through the police station, Peter didn't have the chance to utter a single word before he follows behind William who leads him into his office. Once Peter had closed the door behind him, the vibe from the office was different. William walks over to close the blinds from the two windows, this meant no one outside could see what the two were doing. 'What's happening?" Peter asks growing rather suspicious due to how William was acting, William doesn't speak at first and goes into his desk to pull a folder out. 'A few days ago, a letter came into the office addressed to me." He begins to explain pulling a piece of paper out of his folder and handing it over to Peter. 'Dear William, My name is Ally Carter, I have been informed that there is an investigation being conducted into my disappearance. But I must inform you, there is no need for concern. I was not taken against my will which I know some people are worried about, my father and I only wanted to have a little break and decided to have a few weeks away. We apologise for the worry this may have caused you and our friends but as soon as the time is right, we will reach out to them ourselves and offer some explanation. Thank you for your time. Kind Regards Ally Carter." Peter looks up from the letter and to William utterly confused, this letter and things which are said doesn't make any sort of sense. Peter knows deep down this isn't Ally writing this letter, but who could be? 'This isn't Ally, it doesn't even sound like Ally in the slightest but not even that, this isn't her handwriting either." Peter says handing the letter back to William who shook his head, he was also thinking the same thought as Peter. 'That was my initial thought when I received this letter, but when I brought up to my supervisor, he told me this has to be Ally and I need to close the case. I told him about my suspicions on why I think this is someone staging to be Ally for reasons we don't know yet, but he warned me that if I continue pursuing this, he will have no choice but to suspend me." William sighs placing the letter back in the folder, his comment causing anger to flow through Peter. 'So that's just it! Because you received some random letter from someone claiming to be Ally, the work to find her and her father just stops! I have known Ally much longer than anyone here has been looking into her case, I think I'm much more equipped to tell if someone is Ally or not!" He rants walking up and down the office as he spoke, why does it seem like he is the only person who really cares about Ally and what is happening with her?! 'Did I say I was closing the case? I have the same thoughts as you, which is why I'm still working the case, but we have to do it discreetly, so we don't get caught." William whispers walking around the desk to meet Peter in the middle. 'I've made a few connections while doing this job, I sent a favour into one of my friends who analyses handwriting and the same day he sent me his results. He told me there is little to no chance that it was Ally who wrote this, it was an individual who was attempting to make it look like Ally but missed out some key aspects of her handwriting." William explains which was exactly what Peter had been thinking, the way Ally crosses her T's is one of the things he loves about Ally, but the way this person wrote didn't have the same cute letters. 'While I did my initial search of the Carters residence, I picked up a notebook of Ally's in case it held some information on what may have happened to the two. I sent an image of that to my friend where he broke down the many details which told us it was not Ally. He pointed out the way in which Ally writes is very informal, even when writing an email or letter, but the way in which this person spoke was more formal. This only proving our theory, Ally did not write this letter." William says breaking it all down for Peter, whose hands were on his hips as he tried to make sense of it all. 'What could all of this mean, if Ally didn't write this letter who did and why did they?" Peter asks taking a seat on one of Williams chairs, while William remained standing. 'It shows how close we were getting; someone caught onto that fact and didn't like how fast we were progressing. They wanted to throw us off by sending us this letter, which we have to make it seem like it worked. We have to continue digging deeper into this and find more out, I'm not giving up on Ally or her father." William says which was all Peter needed to hear. These people aren't going to win.