The Missing Piece

By Jordan Ramirez

The Missing Piece is a murder mystery book from first time author Jordan Ramirez. When Lily Garcia wakes up one morning to find her best friend missing, she goes to find him along with his little sister. Little does Lily know that choosing this path will put more than one person’s life in danger. This plot includes a mysterious game, danger, and murders. The outcome of the story will leave the reader thinking about how one choice could change everything.

About the Author
Jordan Ramirez was born in Lubbock, Texas. He currently resides in Hobbs, New Mexico. He enjoys helping at local churches in his free time. He also loves baking and playing video games such as Danganronpa and YTTD. He has an older brother and two loving parents. He also formerly ran his own crime mystery club.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dorrance Publishing Company
• Release date: Mar 22, 2024
• ISBN: 9798890275691

Book preview

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The contents of this work, including, but not limited to, the accuracy of events, people, and places depicted; opinions expressed; permission to use previously published materials included; and any advice given or actions advocated are solely the responsibility of the author, who assumes all liability for said work and indemnifies the publisher against any claims stemming from publication of the work.

All Rights Reserved

Copyright © 2024  by Jordan Ramirez

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted, downloaded, distributed, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, including photocopying and recording, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented without permission in writing from the publisher.

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Chapter 1

I woke up to my annoying alarm as normal. I opened my window curtains and my day officially began. My name is Lily Garcia and I am a high school student. Today is normal like any other day. I get up and take a shower and get ready then I eat breakfast and then I go to school. Once I drove up to school, I sighed knowing that today will be just as boring as yesterday and every other day before that. At least I get to visit the police department after school.

That’s probably the only thing I am very excited about. I can’t wait to see Sean. Sean Flow is one of the newest detectives there. He is a little bit older than me and he already graduated. We have been friends since we were kids but I didn’t get to see him much while we were in high school. He had most of his classes away from mine and even at lunch I didn’t really get to see him. That is why I am sort of excited for today.

The main reason I am going to the police department is because I wanted to get some information to become a police officer after I graduate. My friend Daniel wants to come with me so that he can look as well. We both have dreamed to become police officers since middle school and now that we are only a month away from graduating. Then after that we are going to apply at the police academy.

Daniel Lopez is my best friend. We have been friends since the fifth grade and we have never let each other go. He is such a funny and bright person he always finds a way to make me happy. One time I was so sad after a breakup, he tried baking me brownies to make me feel better. But he ended up burning them. Even though I didn’t get brownies I was still happy that he even tried to bake for me.

Finally there’s me, Lily Garcia. I am a normal girl, nothing too special about me. I might have the occasional drama here and there but that’s about it. Unlike Daniel I actually know how to cook and bake and I make some pretty cool treats.

Oh and there is one more person. Daniel’s little sister, Emma Rose, a bright, kind, young girl, only a year younger than me with such a huge future ahead of her. She is an amazing artist and she is a great emotional support friend. She always keeps a tiny watercolor book and paints with her everywhere she goes. She seems to have grown onto me calling me big sister. I let her do what she wants since I don’t have the heart to make her sad.

But other than that, there, isn’t really anyone else I talk to besides close family. I walk up to the cafeteria and I notice that Daniel isn’t here. That isn’t normal but maybe he is probably sick. It happens to the best of us. I’m just going to brush it off but it might be a little more difficult today. But luckily, Emma is here. Once she saw me, she jumped up and hugged me immediately. Hi Emma, how are you doing? I asked.

I’m doing good, big sis! I’m sorry that Daniel isn’t here. He is at dad’s house so I don’t know how he is doing at the moment, she responded.

Oh I see, well, I thought maybe he could be sick today and he took off from school.

 Yeah that’s probably the most likely case.

Anyways, are you coming with me after school to the police department?

No, I have the anime club after school today. Today we are going to watch something new but I don’t know what it is yet.

Well once you find out what you’re watching, come tell me about it.

Sure thing!

After a while of hanging out with Emma the first hour bell had rung so I waved goodbye to Emma and went to class. My first hour class is math and I’m good at math so I wasn’t really worrying about the pop quiz that the teacher handed out as a surprise for us. I’m immensely annoyed but if I get it done quickly I can spend the rest of my time on my phone and I can relax until second hour. So that is exactly what I did. I got the quiz done and graded before I left for second hour.

Once second hour hit, I started to get a weird feeling in my stomach. I feel like something terrible has happened. Maybe I should call Daniel real quick. I pressed the call button and it rang and rang but he didn’t answer. I pressed it again but the same thing happened. What is going on? Why is he not answering his phone? I’m starting to get really worried.

During lunch I saw Emma helping paint some new artwork for the school. I ran up to her and asked, Emma! I tried calling Daniel multiple times; what is going on?

I don’t know. I haven’t had a chance to call or text him since my phone is in my locker right now.

WELL! GO GET IT!

Fine, fine. Please, don’t yell at me.

She headed towards her locker and I followed closely behind. Once we got to her locker and opened it, she grabbed her phone and nothing. Not a single text or missed call. Now I am getting way more worried but there isn’t really anything I can do besides wait for school to be over. For the rest of the school day I was thinking about Daniel. I hope he is ok. Finally the final bell rang and I raced out of the door and in the direction of Daniel’s dad’s house.

I got there and knocked on the door over and over again. Once my legs felt weak, the door opened and standing there was Daniel’s dad. He looked really groggy. What do you want, Lily?

Is Daniel here?

No, he was supposed to get here a long time ago but I just thought he might have wanted to stay at his mom’s place for a while longer before he made it here. Why?

He wasn’t at school today and Emma said that he might be here since he wasn’t at his mom’s house.

What? That is weird he never came today. Maybe go check at his mom’s place. He might be there now.

But what about what Emma said?

I don’t know, maybe he went somewhere before she got up. You know how she sleeps until the exact time to leave the house unless someone wakes her up beforehand.

I nodded in agreement even though something is telling me that he isn’t there either. I ran to his mom’s house just hoping he would be there but just like his dad’s place he wasn’t there either. So he wasn’t at his dad’s house or school? Daniel’s mom asked.

Yeah he was supposed to go with me to the police station today.

I’m getting really worried about him now because when he left home he was acting perfectly fine.

Was Emma walking with him?

No, she left earlier to do that painting thing for the school.

And she didn’t see him?

Well no, she left at four in the morning and Daniel left at seven.

But that doesn’t make any sense.

I know but for now let’s go to the police station and report him missing.

Are you sure? We can keep looking for him.

I’m sure we could have more eyes looking for him if we do that.

We got in her car and drove to the police station. Once we got there, we went in different directions. The way she went was to report him missing and the way I went was to find Sean to help us find him. I looked around but I didn’t find Sean either. I asked one of the officers where he was but they said he was a no call; no show. Daniel and Sean are nowhere to be found. What is going on?

I went to go find another one of my friends who worked here. Her title is Officer Cary and she has known me since I was a baby and I never really considered her a family friend but an actual friend instead. She was one of the main reasons I wanted to become a police officer. The first time I met her was Christmas morning and she was sitting on our couch drinking coffee with my dad. I asked him who the lady was and he told me she was there when I was born and she played a special role in my life. Since then, she has always been around at my school plays, science fairs, so on and so forth.

I saw that she had a few papers in her hands and she looked really worried. So I decided to walk up to her. Hey Cary, are you feeling ok? I asked.

Oh hi Lily, I didn’t see you there. But to answer your question, no. I am really worried about Sean. He has been a no call; no show all week, she said with a worried look in her eyes

Really? That’s weird. I thought that he was here. We made plans to see each other today but something happened and I came here for a different reason.

Oh I see, so then why are you here?

I came here today to report my friend, missing. He hasn’t been at school or at either of his parents’ houses. I tried calling, texting, and looking for him but he seems to have just vanished into thin air.

Oh no, both Sean and Daniel? This isn’t good at all.

I know. I am really worried about them and I hope they find him soon because if he really is missing and not just hiding out somewhere something terrible could happen to him.

Everything is going to be ok I’m sure of it. The police and other detectives are already out looking for Sean and once Daniel is officially considered missing they will start looking for him too.

She gave me a hug when I noticed tears had started falling from my cheeks. I pray that they are alive and well but if something bad happens to them then they will be…no I can’t think like that they have to find him. They will find him because if they are found dead I will stop at nothing to find the perpetrator.

Lifting up my head off her shoulder, I