The Disappearance Of Jill Trevor

If walls could talk… they could tell us things that can make you mad. People have done horrific things that only the walls have witnessed.

I’m Detective Davis Woods, and this is a story about a cold case, an abandoned house, and a girl. It started at the police station. I was at my desk ,which reminded me of a school desk, looking over the daily documents that get dumped there.

My most recent case ended badly in my favor. My coffee steamed by my side while I looked for a second chance. Nothing. All of it was trash. In a quiet anger I shoved the cases into the trash can beside me. My head banged on the table. I lay there in my thoughts until I hear footsteps. Paper started rustling and a file was dropped on my desk. “Davis? You look like shit.” I lift my head to stare at Baker. He supplies me with my cases.” Yeah? We’ll I’m not the only one.” I mumbled. He chuckled and said ”listen Dave, I have a feeling this is the case you need.” I sit up and pinch the bridge of my nose. ”Alright I’ll look at it.” I didn’t need to look at him to know he was departing. I opened my eyes to find a huge file in front of me.

I sigh and open to the first page. I squint. “The Trevor case?” I mumbled talking more to myself. Stamped in red was the word “COLD”. A cold case?!? He gave me a cold case?!? This was not ok. I grabbed up the file in a fury and was about to go throw it at Baker when a picture of a girl around my daughters age slipped out. I sat back down and grabbed the picture. A girl around ten was smiling up at me. She had a birth mark in the shape of a rose on her neck about the size of a pea. Her hair was like melted chocolate and her eyes were like a stormy sky. Her skin was a golden tan. She was dressed in a white blouse and faded shorts. This suggested it was summer when the picture was taken.

I open the file again and turn to the case. Her name was Jill Trevor. She went missing from her backyard about a year ago. She was eleven -I was close- and lived not too far away. The only leading suspect was Alan Towers, an isolated neighbor in the same neighborhood. He had dirty blonde hair and deep brown eyes. Also he had one too many piercings on his ear. His hoodie was black and his boots went up to his knees. He had a bad history with the police. As I flipped through the file, things made less sense. Police officials had gone missing while working this case, just to be found by a dumpster in a weird state of shock. Some were sent to insane asylums. Alan Towers was never caught or brought in for questioning. The man moved around too much. The file claimed that after almost a year of searching, Jill must be dead. They never found her body though.

The last location she was seen was an abandoned house, at the edge of the river, a few miles out of town. I stared at her picture. She reminded me of Scout. I knew then I would have to take the case. I took the file to Mike, the chief of police, and he just looked at me. “Davis, we closed this case months ago, I’m afraid I can’t help you.” I showed him the picture of Jill.” She is a terrified eleven year old who needs our help. You sir may have given up on this case but I won’t let her die.” He was quiet. He stood up and stared me in the eye.” You can try to solve the case, but you will be doing it alone. Detective, you are dismissed.” He nodded slightly to the door. I grabbed the file and left.

As I pasted the break room, the officers were laughing. I heard one of them say “How stupid is Davis! I mean that case is a suicide mission!” They erupted in laughter over the fact that I was guaranteed to fail. I couldn’t just ignore Jill, who was most likely still waiting for someone to help her.

As I drove up the driveway to my house, Scout ran out to greet me. She was ten years old and taller than most girls. Her hair was red and matched her mother, but her eyes were a bright shade of pine, they mimicked mine. As soon as I shut the car door she jumped into my arms. I half carried her, half dragged her to the front door. She let go when we were inside. The smell from the kitchen was mouthwatering. Lisa was standing over a pot on the burner. I kissed her and asked.” What’s for dinner?” She smiled and said “Homemade chicken noodle soup.”.

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It was rainy the next morning. I got on the computer to see if I could find anything else before I went to the abandoned house. I searched up Jill Trevor but nothing, I didn’t already know, came up. Then I searched Alan Towers. All I found was that he liked to people watch. Lastly I searched Bloodwood Hill. The address of the abandoned house. There was a ghost story about that place so no one went near it. A perfect hideout. I drove to the station and grabbed my gear. All it was, was my hat, my thick coat, and my small bag with a flashlight and latex gloves. I started towards the house on bloodwood hill. As I drove there I noticed there were less buildings and more trees until it was solid woods.

I parked down the road a little ways until my truck was hidden in the trees. I slid out of my seat and started the trek up to the house. The door was shut and locked. I decided to go through the window. The sound of glass cracking echoed as I stepped on the floor. The carpet was filthy and an inch of dust had settled on every surface except at the door which had a big shiny lock on it. I shined my flashlight around the room. I was in a living room. The curtains were thick and shut. No natural light flowed in. I took on step at a time. The roof had water damage and more water leaked somewhere. The mustiness of the house was tear-jerking. There were weird markings on the floor. Footprints! Big boots by the look of them. They lead straight to the door. Whoever was here had left.

Under the prints were long lines marked into the floorboards. Fingernails. Someone was dragged in here. How come this is where the case ran cold? I followed the nail marks. They ended at a wall. Had she gone through the wall? I knocked on it and it didn’t sound hollow. I felt around the wall for a seam. When I got to the floor my fingers slid into something wet. I jerked my fingers back and examined them. Blood. Not fresh but not stale. I looked back down and saw a trail which lead to a door. I tested the handle and the door clicked open.

Stairs. They lead down the a basement. I was so far in this case, I couldn’t go back yet. I stepped onto the stairs which groaned in protest. Considering how old the house was, it surprisingly held my weight. Everything was eerily quiet. The wallpaper had been ripped from the concrete walls. This room… had witnessed some questionable things. I was fully down the stairs when I saw the whole expanse. Computers and trash. An entire computer setup covered the whole left wall. Old bags of chips and soda cans littered the floor. On the back wall was a… bulletin board. There were people of all kinds, their pictures pinned to the board. All of them were all “X” out in red marker. There were notes by each one which listed all of their faults. All of them were unfit for manual labor.

Then I saw a picture of Jill. She was circled in the red marker. Around her were pictures of her house and street. I took a look at the monitors. They had security footage, black market websites, and contacts from all over the world. I was shocked at my discovery. How did all this connect? I was gonna continue my search upstairs when I heard light sobbing. I knew it wasn’t coming from upstairs. I rushed over to the right wall and knocked. It was hollow. I got down on the floor and felt around. With just a slight push, a brick fell out. It happened to be hollow as well.

It had a rusty key as old as the house. I felt the wall for a seam and sure enough I found one. In the middle,between the floor and the ceiling, was a small hole. I stuck the key in and turned. It clicked and a huge chunk of cement slid out of the wall reviling a closet sized room. Inside was an empty dog food bowl and a girl. The entire back wall was full of tallies. The girls hair was matted and sticky. Her skin had dirt caked into every pore. Her rose birthmark looked like a freckle. Chipped bits of nail littered the floor. The girls fingertips were bloody. She had a stale nosebleed and had blood dripping from the corner of her mouth.

She lifted her head to stare at me. She was pressed against the corner as far away from the door as she could get. Tears made her cheeks look shiny. Her clothes had been reduced to rags. She had cuts underneath some of the holes. Her big stormy eyes were full of horror and grief. “Jill? Jill Trevor?” My voice was rough and scratchy from how dry my mouth had been. She stretched her legs out and stared. “My name is Detective Davis Woods. I’m here to rescue you.”

She let out a choking sound. She tried to stand but she suffered from muscle loss. Then she threw herself towards me and held onto me. She started sobbing. “I’ve waited 243 days…for someone to rescue me.” She shuddered and choked.” Thank you!” I held her in my arms but frowned. I could have sworn I heard a car. Jill straightened. She looked up at me in horror.” He’s back.” She whispered. She half stumbled half ran towards the back of the stairs. I shut the door , locked it, and put the key back into the brick. I heard the front door open. I lunged for the computer desk.

I covered my mouth and laid against the wall. The floorboards above creaked as he walked across them. I heard the basement door open and his hurried footsteps on the stairs. He went straight to the computers. He typed something and the computers started deleting everything. I unplugged them before the tapeworm could destroy all of the backup servers. Then he walked to the brick wall. “Trevor get up, Mr. Logan is waiting for you.” He opened the door and stared at the empty room. He dropped the key. “Shit.” He swore under his breath.

He ran upstairs muttering a string of curses. Then he stopped dead at the top. He turned.” Jill I know your down here.” His voice was blood chilling.” There are no footprints leading out of here other than mine.” He was at the foot of the stairs now. He walked over to the closet door -which he left open- and looked in the boxes beside it. I slipped out from under the table and crept up behind him.”What the fuck!?!” He swore as I shoved him into the closet room. I slammed the door and pressed against it with my back. If I let go to grab the key he would bust out. So I sat there struggling. I saw movement out the corner of my eye. Jill ran up, grabbed the key, and locked the door. Alan screamed from inside. I grabbed Jill’s hand and lead her up the stairs.

By the time we were in the hall, Jill passed out. By using so much strength, she overwhelmed her body. I grabbed her up and slipped through the window. I ran past a black van and down the road. I buckled Jill in the passenger seat and started the truck. While I rushed towards the hospital I called Mike on my phone.

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I watched as the truck hauled Alan to whatever hellhole they were gonna lock him up in.“Congratulations, Woods.” Mike walked over the gravel towards me. We were at Bloodwood Hill. ”You solved the Trevor case.” He was taller then me so I had to tilt my head slightly to make eye contact.”Jill?” I said. “She is fine. It will take three weeks or longer for her to fully recover. Her parents were notified. It must be a such a happy reunion.” I gave him a look. He smiled.” Please walk me through what you discovered.” I walked over to the window.

”He had taken Jill to a different location. When they came back there was a struggle, hence the shattered glass.” We walked through the front door and halfway down the hall I stopped.” She was forcefully dragged inside to here where Alan got tired of her residence. He knocked her unconscious, triggering a nosebleed which also dripped out of her mouth.” I pointed to the trail of blood. I walked down into the basement and showed Mike the hollow brick and opened the secret room.” This is where Jill was held during her time as a captive. As you can see there are marks on the wall were she kept track of the days that passed.”

Mike felt the wall as he took it all in. I lead him over to the bulletin board.” Sir what is wrong with all of these people?” Mike stared.”Hmm, manual labor.” He looked at me.” Exactly, except Jill.” I walked over to the computers and started typing.” You see, I hid underneath here when Alan came. He tried to wipe everything off the computers but I managed to unplugged it before the backup servers were erased.” I brought up his contacts on the screen.” I think Alan watches people until he finds one who fits the descriptions of his buyers. He then kidnaps the person, and takes them to the buyer. If they struggle or scream, I think he would punish them. It explains the marks on Jill’s back and sides. If the buyer excepts, preparations must be made to smuggle the person into their country. This process can take a few weeks. Alan sells people as slaves to buyers across the world.

Mike nodded in my direction” like I said, Congratulations. However…” I walked over to the secret room and slid my hand across the inside wall.” Who is Logan? How many people have been taken by Alan? How long has he been hiding here? What about the officers that went missing, only to turn up broken beyond repair? Who many people were kept in that room before Jill? What has happed in this house that we still don’t know about? Davis this case isn’t finished.” I chuckled under my breath. I had just finished counting each tally. 243. I looked over at Mike and muttered,

”If only walls could talk.”