Chapter 470: The Missing Old Lady

Chapter 470: Chapter 470: The Missing Old Lady

The police officer on duty heard the commotion and hurried out, reaching out to support Faye Hughes, whose legs had gone limp. "Ma’am, take your time, take your time," he said. "Don’t panic."

Another officer handed her a glass of warm water.

Faye Hughes took the glass and drank it all in one go. After calming her frantic heart a little, she said, "My mother-in-law has dementia. She can’t remember things. Last night, she suddenly left home by herself."

"We’ve searched the entire area, and the villagers helped us look in a lot of places, but we still haven’t found her."

The officer listening to the side looked serious, taking notes as he asked, "Was she carrying anything? Like a GPS tracker, a cell phone, or something like that?"

Faye Hughes shook her head, her voice filled with regret. "No. We used to always have someone stay with her, so she could call for help anytime she needed anything."

"But there’s been so much work in the fields lately. Everyone was out working, the kids were at school, and those with other jobs were at work. We just couldn’t spare anyone to watch her."

As she said this, Faye Hughes raised her hand and slapped herself.

’It’s all my fault. If only I hadn’t slept so soundly last night, I would’ve heard her leaving, and this never would have happened.’

"Ma’am! Hey, ma’am, don’t blame yourself."

"It’s good that you realized she was gone first thing in the morning. There’s still time. We’ll organize a search party right away. We’ll find her."

The two officers and the village chief’s son were startled by Faye Hughes’s action. They couldn’t believe she had actually hit herself!

They quickly rushed to stop her before she could hurt herself.

"We understand the general situation," the officer continued. "We’ll send people to ask around. Do you have a photo of her? And do you know what she was wearing when she went missing?"

At this question, Faye Hughes nodded frantically. "Yes, yes! I have a screenshot from the security camera footage last night!"

As she spoke, Faye Hughes pulled out the prepared screenshot on her phone and showed it to the officer.

The officer looked at the screenshot and nodded, satisfied. After transferring the photo to his own phone, he said, "Rest assured, we will definitely find her."

"Your family can print some missing person flyers and post them around. You might get an unexpected lead."

An elderly woman with Alzheimer’s disease, who had a very limited ability to care for herself, had gone missing. She had to be found quickly before something terrible happened.

Therefore, as soon as Faye Hughes filed the report, the two officers on duty escalated the matter.

In less than ten minutes, every available officer at the station, aside from the essential skeleton crew, was dispatched.

They began their search, fanning out in all directions from Faye Hughes’s home.

Meanwhile, following the officers’ advice, Faye Hughes printed a thick stack of missing person flyers and began posting them in the surrounding towns, hoping to find someone who had seen her mother-in-law.

But the entire afternoon passed with no results.

Faye Hughes sank weakly into a chair at the village committee office, the inexplicable dread in her heart growing heavier by the minute.

"This is no good. It’s getting dark now," one of the officers in charge of the case said anxiously, his hands on his hips. "If we don’t find her soon, she’ll be in real danger." He scanned the surroundings, his mind racing to think of any places they might have overlooked.

But after thinking it over, he realized they had already checked everywhere, even the remote little ponds nearby, and had still come up with nothing.

There were no footprints and no signs of anyone slipping and falling in, which was at least some small comfort.

"Thank you all for your hard work. Please, have something to eat." Faye Hughes’s younger brother-in-law and his wife returned with a load of steamed buns and bottled water, handing them out one by one to the villagers and police officers helping with the search.

After all, they couldn’t let the people helping their family search on an empty stomach.

"What a terrible business," another villager remarked, shaking their head and sighing as they looked at the exhausted Faye Hughes and her family sitting on a doorstep. "Everything was fine, and then she just walks off and disappears."

With the old lady missing, everyone in the family, except for the few children still in school, had returned to join the search.

Given the circumstances and her frail condition, the consequences would be unthinkable if they didn’t find her within the next few days.

Just then, a taxi approached from the distance and pulled over at the village entrance.

A young woman got out, suitcase in tow. She was taken aback when she saw the large crowd gathered by the road.

Finally, the woman spotted her parents squatting by the roadside, eating steamed buns. She hurried over to ask what was happening.

"What are you doing back now?" the woman’s mother asked, pleasantly surprised to see her daughter. But she quickly lowered her voice. "Mrs. Holloway’s mother-in-law went missing last night. She can’t remember things, so everyone in the village is worried and helping with the search."

"See? The police are here too. But they’ve been searching all day and there’s no news at all."

At this, the young woman’s mother couldn’t help but sigh.

"According to what one of the officers said, if they don’t find her tonight, her situation will become critical!"

A worried expression crossed the young woman’s face. Mrs. Holloway’s family were all kind-hearted people who had often looked after her when she was a child. She even remembered one time when, as a mischievous kid, she had snuck away from the adults at midday to play by the pond.

She had slipped and fallen in, and if Mrs. Holloway hadn’t been passing by at that exact moment to pull her out, she might not even be alive today.

Now that their family was in trouble, the young woman wanted to help in any way she could.

Her eyes swept over the scene. After asking her parents a few more questions, she had a general grasp of the situation.

"Should we call a professional rescue team?" the young woman suggested. "They have things like drones that can fly high and cover a lot of ground. It would be much more efficient."

"They did," her mother said. "The police brought one this afternoon. They searched the entire area and still found nothing."

"Now that it’s dark, they’re planning to expand the search area tomorrow morning and check other places," her mother finished with a sigh.

’That’s not good enough,’ the young woman thought.

She fell into deep thought, trying to think of anyone she knew who might be able to help.

Just then, the phone in her pocket rang.

She took it out; it was her boyfriend. "What’s up?" she asked.

An anxious male voice came from the other end of the line. "Jane, why didn’t you let me know you got home? I’ve been waiting here for the last half hour for you to call and tell me you’re safe!"

Jane’s tone was apologetic. "I’m so sorry. An old woman from my village went missing, and the villagers and police can’t find her. I was just getting the details from my parents."

"They can’t find her?" Her boyfriend’s voice held a note of hesitation.

"Hold on a second, don’t hang up!"