Deadly Silence (complete) Chapter 96

Laurent heard them out from start to finish, not allowing himself to interrupt even once. From what he was told, things changed Saturday afternoon when Vivian went to the bathroom at the amusement park. It was after she’d lost a bet with Theo and rode The Drop, but something told Laurent the bet had nothing to do with whatever happened. It was then she stopped responding to messages from both of Theo and Miriam.

Laurent could understand why his sister would have stopped messaging Theo, but not Miriam. If the ride had anything to do with it there was no reason to ghost the girl, too.

“You said Tyrell noticed it, too?” Laurent asked.

“Yeah, pretty sure,” Theo confirmed with a nod.

Pulling out his phone, Laurent called the man in question. It rang three times before he picked up. “Yes?”

“What did you notice on Saturday after Vivian got out of the washrooms.” It wasn’t a question, more like an order. Laurent didn’t feel like playing nice.

There was a brief pause. “Something was bothering her a great deal,” he finally said. “With the washroom context, I figured womanly issues came up and she didn’t want to discuss it with two guys. There were no suspicious individuals who’d entered or exited the ladies’ room during that time, nor were there any visible marks on her body to indicate she’d been harmed in any way.”

“Did you ask her about it?”

Another pause. “…I was told to refrain from making personal inquiries with the Miss unless absolutely necessary, as she was apt to shut down if pushed.”

Laurent let out a frustrated noise. He couldn’t argue about any of that. Tyrell had done his job as asked.

“Has something happened to the Miss, sir?”

“Not sure,” Laurent replied. “I’ll keep you informed. Can you track Vivian’s phone to more than a general area?”

“Not without permission from Mr Devreaux.”

Laurent swore under his breath as he ended the call without warning. Tyrell hadn’t told him anything new. “Alright. Let’s go over this again,” he began, crossing his arms as he looked from Theo to Miriam and back again. “I drove her to practice this morning, and she was there the entire time. Something happened between end of practice and first period.”

“Yes, that’s what we think, too,” Miriam nodded. “But we spoke with the girls from the team and they all say she was in the locker room with them but they left before she did.”

“They did seem uncomfortable about it,” Theo added. “But I figured that had to do with the shower incident last week.”

“Yeah…” Laurent trailed off, thinking back. From what he’d heard through the gossip grapevine, most of the girls had nothing to do with that incident. Adriana had done it all, though a few had witnessed it and done nothing.

On Friday there had been chatter about Vivian calling everyone out on this. Adriana had been *pissed*. Laurent hadn’t seen it himself but supposedly his sister had somehow stained the other girl’s hands blue. It had been amusing, listening to them bitch about it; but now that he thought about it a bit more there was a chance the slight wouldn’t be taken lying down.

Abby was fueling the fire, too. Something about Vivian not knowing her place? Laurent hadn’t paid much attention to the details because he just hadn’t cared; his sister had told him to stay out of it and, though it’d irritated him to be turned down like that, he’d obliged. Washing his hands of the entire thing had been easy, too. If she didn’t care then neither would he.

His father was going to kill him.

“Stay here. I’ll be right back,” he told them before turning and walking back into the cafeteria. There were less students milling about now that lunch was almost over. Adriana and Abby were still seated at the usual table, but most of the others had cleared out. Reagan had hung back, which wasn’t a surprise, and gave Laurent a warm smile upon his return.

Laurent nodded to his friend as he walked up to the two girls and looked down at them in silence for a few seconds as they finished whatever they were discussing before looking his way. They exchanged questioning glances before Abby spoke. “Hey, Laurent. What’s up?”

Looking from one girl to the other, he debated how to tackle the situation. Should he be direct or try a more subtle approach?

What was he even thinking; Laurent didn’t know how to be subtle. He fixed his eyes on Adriana, staring at her for a few seconds before speaking. “Where’s Vivian.”

He saw both girls stiffen at his demand, but a warm smile quickly spread over Abby’s face as she leaned forward, arms crossed on the table as she met his gaze. “What are you even talking about? Why would she know where Vivian is?”

Laurent didn’t pay any attention to the blond, his eyes fixed on the girl who was on the track team. She was the most likely culprit if anything had happened, and the other girls were apt to follow her lead and stay quiet after the fact.

The thought of the entire team keeping their mouths shut about whatever she might have done to his sister ignited Laurent’s anger. Jaw muscles clenching, he watched Adriana nervously tug on a strand of her brown hair.

“I didn’t do anything to her,” she finally told him with a huff. “Did she run to you complaining about something?”

Laurent carefully placed his hands on the table, leaning closer to the girls as a grim smile pulled on his lips. “If I find out you had anything to do with this,” he began, eyes never leaving Adriana’s, “I will personally make your life a living hell.”

“Calm down, Laurent,” Abby laughed, flicking her hair over a shoulder. “I’m sure Vivian is just making drama.”

Giving both girls one last look, Laurent turned to Reagan, who’d been watching the entire scene unfold, and jerked his head towards the door.

The redhead grabbed his things and followed Laurent out of the cafeteria where they met up with Miriam and Theo again.

The girls hadn’t been helpful but Laurent was more certain than before they had something to do with it. “Let’s retrace her steps,” he told the group. “Last place I saw her was as practice finished. Did you see her actually enter the girls’ locker room?”

“I did, yeah,” Theo assured her brother.

“Let’s check out the locker room again, then. Maybe there’s some kind of clue lying around.”

“What’s going on?” Reagan asked once they were on their way to the locker room in question.

“Vivian seems to be missing,” Laurent explained with a shrug.

The three boys were forced to wait outside the locker room while Miriam did a quick recon. She poked her head out after a few seconds and said, “It’s empty, you can come in.”

Unlike the boys’ version, the colour scheme for the girls was maroon; everything else was nearly identical. A quick glance around showed the room was, indeed, empty. “Let’s spread out and look for clues. Maybe she left something behind,” Laurent offered with another shrug, eyes continuously roaming around as he tried to wrap his head around what was happening.

Vivian wasn’t the type to just run off. Even when she’d been placed with families that weren’t a good fit she always returned home before anyone started worrying too much.

Standing with his hands in his pockets, Laurent couldn’t decide what to do. If she was missing their father was going to lose his mind. If she was purposefully hiding or skipping school? He wasn’t sure how they’d deal with that. She just hadn’t seemed the type to do that sort of thing. All the reports from her foster homes described someone who was intent on getting decent grades in school. She’d never skipped a class before — except last week, but that was due to extenuating circumstances.

Reagan had been looking through the lockers one by one, slowly making his way around the room. Laurent scanned the lockers he’d yet to check and caught sight of something that made him frown. “Is that a lock?” He asked after taking a couple seconds for his brain to register what he was seeing.

Closing the distance, Laurent picked up the lock and gave it a quick tug. It was locked. Why was there a lock here? Yes, they could bring their own lock but you weren’t allowed to leave it behind. They were only to be used when a student was participating in gym or an extra curricular.

All of a sudden his ears picked up on a faint noise. Turning his head left then right, Laurent couldn’t figure out where it was coming from, or even what was making it in the first place. “Do you guys hear that?” He asked.

“Hear what?” Reagan inquired as he paused in his search to listen for a few seconds. “I don’t hear anything odd.”

Laurent’s frown deepened as his eyes moved back to the locker, a sudden, horrible thought coming to mind. Hesitantly, he pressed his ear against the locker and listened. Someone was muttering on the other side. He couldn’t make out any specific words, but it was definitely a person.

The horrible thought that’d come to mind was now a reality as he took a step back and grabbed the lock again. He gave it a forceful tug but it proved pointless.

“What’s up?” Reagan gently prodded as he abandoned his search to stand next to Laurent.

“I think someone’s inside.”