The Missing Mystery of Anna

"Your sister's gone missing."
"You don't need to say gone and missing, Ma. They mean the same thing."
"Oh that's what you're worried about, not that your poor little sister has disappeared?"
"She's disappeared before. We'll find her, don't worry about it." I hung up the phone, unwilling to listen to any more of Ma's angry crying. This was the third time this year that Anna had left without telling our Ma. She called me every time, saying Anna must have been kidnapped or that the gangs recruited her or someone wants to harvest her organs. I didn't dare tell Ma that, more than any of those things, she would probably be abducted and forced into sex-trafficking first. That's what happened to all the girls who's missing persons reports ended up on my desk. But there was no point telling Ma because every time, Anna came back home. She never told us where she went, but she came back. Ma said "like a boomerang", I said "like chlamydia". A 14 year old girl should be able to go where she pleases anyways. I would have been fine to do that when I was her age, nearly a decade ago. But Ma kept a close eye on us both; I could understand Anna's need to get away for a while. A week later when Ma phoned again, Anna still hadn't come home. I was a little more worried this time. I told Ma to phone the police.
"But you are the police." she said.
"I'm related to her. I shouldn't be on the case."
"They came and looked around but couldn't find anything suspicious. They said she 'had a history' and that we should just keep waiting." (Damn. That's exactly what they would say. Doesn't give my Ma any piece of mind though.)
"Alright, I'll come down there, but I don't know what I can do that they haven't already."
"Don't be silly, she's your sister. You can find her." This time Ma hung up the phone. I suppose she didn't want to hear any more of my excuses. I packed up my things and Drove to Salsdale, where we moved when I was little, and where Ma stayed to this day. It was a condensed version of the city I lived in now: just one main street, two grocery stores, and one bus running once an hour. It was quaint: not the kind of place I could make a career as a police officer. The force here was small, and nepotistic. And apparently they were also at Ma's front door.
"Well look at this, Ms. Big-time city-cop is here to save the day. Didn't think us village folk could handle it?"
"Obviously not, or you would've handled it by now Barry. You've had a week. Or were you busy dealing with the oh-so-many crimes here in the gang-ridden town of Salsdale?" Barry stood on the front porch, his hand in the air like he was grabbing at an invisible post. I didn't wait for the cogs to turn in his head as he formed a response, and walked inside.
"Thank goodness you're here!" Ma. She held a damp handkerchief and she dragged it across my cheek as she hugged me. Carey, the younger brother of the police force, sat on a stool at the kitchen table. A flip book notepad was on the center in front of him. When mom finished with me, he came up and showed me his notes.
"Ma! You don't need to tell them Anna's life story. Just the last few weeks, maybe a month at most!" Carey laughed, then covered his mouth as soon as Ma stared him down. Then she turned her gaze on me.
"Your sister is missing, probably abducted, and you're making fun of me for doing the best I can to find her? I wish she were here instead of you..." Her eyes went wide as soon as she said it but there was no taking it back. I was out of sight and up the stairs before she could start her stumbling apology. I was glad not to have to endure it, for her sake and mine. Anna's room was upstairs. Her door still had the crayon pictures we drew together when she was younger. What I found in her room wasn't as innocent. It was no surprise, every young girl's room we investigated was the same; though they hid their things as if they were the only ones. Lingerie stuffed into socks, a vibrator hidden under the bed. It was amateur, but I was glad my little sister wasn't a pro at hiding her things; it made my job easier and my heart lighter. However, none of it gave me any clue where she had gone. I went back downstairs and took Carey aside.
"So, what do you think happened to her?"
"I think her youngest daughter is missing and it makes her sad." said Carey. The right side of his lips curled up into a smirk. I punched him in the arm, the same as when we were children, growing up together. We were supposed to be partners... But his dad pulled strings to get him stationed here and sealed his fate, never to escape Salsdale.
"I meant what happened to Anna?" He reached his arm around my shoulders and pulled me in close.
"There's rumors of a gang in town..." I smiled at Carey's joke but he didn't smile back.
"I'm serious. Its not a racial gang, obviously, or even a class gang. We can't figure out who they are or what they're after, but there have been some weird break-ins lately. The burglars took candles and matches, wooden furniture... But nothing of much value. Anna is the first disappearance, but I can't help feeling that there is a connection." I looked at him, waiting for the smile to crack, but he was serious. A gang in Salsdale. I never though I would hear those words. There was only a few hundred people here. Who would be in a gang and, more importantly, how could it go unnoticed? That was the worst part of being an officer: every answer led to two more questions.
"Do you have any more information on the gang?" I asked him. His eyes darted left and right, and I could've sworn he broke out in a sweat instantaneously.
"I do, but, I can't tell you here." I looked sideways at him. He grabbed my arm and walked me out of the house.
"We're gonna go get a coffee Barry." He tossed to his brother.
"Good, leave me alone to get some real police work done." he said. Carey took me into the car and drove back to the station, then we sat in the soundproof room where they watched during investigations, before he talked to me again.
"I have... Suspicions." he said. Great help, Carey. I asked him my two new questions from earlier, to get the conversation going.
"My problem exactly. I know I'm not as good at this job as you, or my dad..." I reached out my hand and put it over top of his. It felt good, but Carey just lowered his head.
"I know it's true. But I'm not so bad that I don't notice things. There's been paperwork lacking on some incidents, especially these weird gang-related ones. And like you said, how could a gang operate without the force knowing about it? Well, I think they do. At least Barry and Dad. But I don't know why they won't tell me." I know why: because they're involved. I can't tell Carey, it would break his heart. His dad and brother are his role models, he'd be broken if they weren't the shining lights he imagined them to be. Of course they weren't, but I wasn't going to be the one to shatter that bubble.
"I'm sure we'll figure it out soon." It was all I could say without giving my thoughts away. Finished, I got up from my chair then heard him squeak behind me.
"Wait. There's one more thing. All the incidents seem to happen on Saturday night." We stared at each other. Tonight was Saturday night. If something was going to happen, this was going to be our best chance. But we had to move fast.
"Do you have a plan? To catch them?" I asked. This was his jurisdiction, and the whole situation was moving almost too fast for me to keep up.
"If Barry and Dad are complying with the gang, I just know that they'll be supervising any 'robbery' to make sure no one gets injured. If we follow them tonight, they should lead us to the gang, and we can help Barry and Dad." Poor misguided Carey. Why do you have to be so cute, and so naïve? It was a good plan though, and I told him so. I hadn't seen him beam so brightly since passing his officer's test. He must not be getting any praise here; Which isn't surprising, if his family is running a gang. We waited in my car for the aforementioned family to make their move. The cop cars were outfitted with GPS, so Carey tracked the car while I drove. We followed them around town to the only bar in town, a run-down shack called O'Dooley's. While we waited Carey and I talked, catching up on each others lives, and comparing them. We lived similar lives, with similar fairly situations, and we easily could've ended up as partners, or lovers. I was just about to give up on the stake-out and invite Carey to my hotel room when they came out of the bar. Tough luck, Carey. They drove a few routes around town; We held back to make sure they wouldn't notice they were being followed.
"That's weird." said Carey. I asked him 'what' with my eyes.
"They're parked outside your mother's house." I drove over as fast as I could. Carey might have still believed his family was innocent in all this, but my gut told me better. When we got there, the front door was broken down. Inside was a scene straight out of an occult magazine. Candles lined Ma's living room. A weird sort of throne had been cobbled together out of the stolen wood furniture.
"Excellent timing." Barry's thin, irritating voice. He appeared from the hallway, a black scarf tied around his head. From the decor I guessed it was supposed to be a ritual cloak or something. He held Anna by the shoulders and led her into the room. From the kitchen, Barry's father led Ma in the same way. I rushed to Anna but felt the barrel of a gun in the small of my back.
"Not so fast." Carey. I should've seen this coming.
"Not quite the way I imagined tonight going, Carey." I said. He looked confused, as usual.
"Don't listen to her idiot, she's just trying to confuse you." Barry said. We were trapped. Three officers with guns versus three un-armed women. But why us? This was the same thought Ma was having, and she shouted it at them.
"To send a message. Salsdale is for Salsdalians, not for out-of-towners. We like our small town customs, we're all close. And I'll be damned if new-comers like you just waltz in and start changing things. After tonight, people will know to stay away from Salsdale." Finally, the father spoke. So Anna's kidnapping was a ruse to get me back in town and get rid of all of us at once. Now that we were all collected, they were going to, what, burn us alive? So were sacrificial lambs to keep away the foreigners? I wasn't about to go down for something as stupid as that. Carey tried to lead me forward. I swung my leg backwards and he dropped to the ground. Barry was caught up in his stupid scarf, and their father was on the far side of the wooden structure; Carey was all mine. I pounced on him and ripped the gun away. Easy police work here in Salsdale made him weak. I pistol-whipped him and he went unconscious immediately. Barry charged at me and I knocked him down too. Pathetic. In a weird moment of brotherly love, he fell right on top of Carey. Only the dad was left, and he had Ma in a choke-hold. He alternated pointing his gun at me and at Ma, unsure of which decision gave him more leverage. It didn't matter to me either way. Ma screamed as I pulled the trigger. He slammed back against the wall then slid down as the life left him. Ma ran at me, hit me first, then pulled me in for the tightest hug in years. Anna ran up and we shared a hug like a real family should.
"Those xenophobic bastards." Ma said and spit on the ground. Anna and I both looked at her in shock.
"Anna can hear words like that, she's a big girl. Come on, she has a vibrator in her room for pete's sake." Anna's face went whiter than when she had first been dragged into the room, at gunpoint. Ma and I laughed at her, eager to enjoy the moment and not dwell on the fact that we could have all just been killed because some inbred family didn't like new development in their town.