The Missing Student
It was a warm spring day when Ms. Tillett was in her classroom taking attendance. ¨Will Anderson¨,” said Ms. Tillett in a dull voice. ¨Here,¨ responded the student. ¨Annika Winterbottom.¨ Here,¨ said Annika. ¨Anjali Rao,¨ asked Ms. Tillett. No one answered. The room suddenly got kind of silent. ¨Anjali Rao?¨ she said again. ¨Has anyone seen Anjali?¨ Nope, they all said carelessly. ¨She was supposed to meet me after school yesterday at my house,” said Annika. Ms. Tillet emailed Anjali´s parents. She emailed them asking if she was okay and why she wasn’t in school today. Her parents emailed her back saying they don’t know why. Anjali´s dad also remembered dropping her off at school. He said she seemed a little tired. Her parents were also expecting her for dinner but she never showed up.
Anjaliś parents called Anjali´s tutor, Oliver, to see if he had seen her. Oliver didn’t really care because he was too attached to his cell phone. He just said that she never showed up for her tutoring session. The parents then called Anjali´s teacher, Ms. Tillet. She said that she wasn’t in any of her classes and she had her head on her desk. She never really does that. She is always up and ready to start class. Anjali´s parents started to get a little worried, especially her mom. They then called Anjali´s best friend Annika Winterbottom who probably saw her because they are ALWAYS together. ¨Sorry, I haven’t seen her but she was supposed to meet me after school at my house,¨ said Annika. Now her mother was really scared. ¨I´m so scared, where is Anjali?!¨ cried her mom. ¨Relax, you are too overprotective,¨ said her father in a calm voice. ¨Should we call the police or someone else?¨ Yeah, let’s call a detective,¨ said her mother still sounding kind of worried.
On Saturday, the doorbell rang. Mr. Rao opened the door for their guest. ¨Hello, my name is Gilderoy Lockhart,¨ the guest said in a low pitched voice. ¨I just got a call from you saying that your daughter is missing.¨ Is everything okay?¨ Are you sure you’ve checked everywhere?¨ ¨Well…we checked in with Anjali´s teacher, her tutor and her best friend,¨ responded Mrs. Rao. ¨They all said they haven’t seen her and her teacher was a little concerned too.¨ Okay, well I am going to ask them a few questions,¨ Lockhart said in a serious voice. ¨But before that, I would like to introduce my friend Parker Brown.¨ He will be around while I am helping you find your daughter.¨ Hello, it´s nice to meet you,¨ Parker said in a friendly voice. ¨Well, we better get going,¨ said Lockhart. Lockhart and Parker left the house and rushed off to Anjali´s school.
When they arrived at Anjali´s school, they first asked the front desk to page Anjali just to make sure she wasn´t actually missing. They waited for about 1 minute but she didn´t show up. Then, they went to Ms. Tillet´s classroom. Parker knocked on her door. ¨Come in,¨ she said politely. ¨Good Morning Ms. Tillet,¨ said Lockhart. ¨Hello, how may I help you?¨ Ms. Tillet said sounding a little curious. ¨My name is Gilderoy Lockhart and he is Parker Brown,¨ responded Lockhart. ¨We are here to ask you a few questions. Anjali Rao is one of your students, am I correct?¨ ¨Yes,¨ Ms. Tillet said confused. ¨Do you know where she went after school?¨ started Lockhart. ¨Was she in your class yesterday?¨ Was she in any of her classes? Do you—¨Excuse me,¨ Ms. Tillet interrupted. ¨I was also wondering where Anjali was yesterday but I thought she would’ve been home by now.¨ I´m not the one to ask.¨ Sorry.¨ Okay, well thank you for your time Ms. Tillet,¨ Lockhart said. ¨Sure,¨ Ms. Tillet said, sounding a little annoyed.
They then went to Anjali´s tutor´s house. Parker knocked on Oliver´s door. ¨Hello, can I help you?¨ said Oliver. ¨Hi, I´m Gilderoy Lockhart and this is—yeah, I´m a little busy right now, maybe another time,¨ Oliver said in a rushed voice. ¨On your cell phone I´m guessing,¨ Lockhart said. ¨We know all about you Oliver.¨ The Rao´s told us.¨ Wait a minute, who are you?¨ Oliver asked. ¨We were trying to introduce ourselves but you interrupted us,¨ Parker said annoyed. ¨Anyways, I´m detective Lockhart and this is my pal Parker,¨ Lockhart started again. ¨We are both detectives from the other side of town.¨ We wanted to ask you about Anjali Rao.¨ OK, what about her?¨ replied Oliver. ¨She has been missing for a little while now and we were all wondering if you knew where she might’ve gone,¨ Lockhart said. ¨Sorry but I really have not seen her anywhere,¨ Oliver said carelessly. ¨If I were you, I would go ask some of her friends.¨ Yes, we are going to Annika Winterbottom´s house now,¨ responded Lockhart. ¨Thanks,¨ Parker said to Oliver.
Their next stop was at 24 Old Tavern Road. This is Annika´s house. This time Lockhart rang the doorbell. The door opened slowly with no creaks. ¨Hello,¨ Annika´s father said in a happy voice. ¨Hello, I´m Gilderoy Lockhart and this is–Parker!! Mr. Winterbottom said in a happy and excited voice. ¨Hey Mr. Winterbottom, it´s so nice to see you!¨ Parker also sounded excited. ¨How do you two know each other?¨ questioned Lockhart. ¨I used to babysit Annika when she was younger,¨ answered Parker. ¨How have you been?¨ I´m doing fine, how about you?¨ responded Mr. W. ¨I´m doing fine, thank you,¨ said Parker. ¨So is Annika home?¨ asked Lockhart. ¨Yes she is upstairs, would you like me to call her down?¨ said Mr. W. ¨Oh, that would great, thanks,¨ Lockhart said. A few seconds later Annika came downstairs. ¨Hello,¨ said Annika. ¨Hi Annika!¨ Said Parker. ¨Uhh hello…,¨ Annika said confused. ¨Don´t you remember me?¨ asked Parker. ¨Umm no sorry, do I know you?¨ she was really really confused. ¨I used to take care of you about six years ago,¨ said Parker trying to remind Annika. ¨Oh, okay…¨ she said. ¨Anyways Annika, we would like to ask you something,¨ said Lockhart. ¨You are friends with Anjali right?¨ Yes, she is my best friend,” said Annika. ¨Okay, we just wanted to know if you have seen her around,¨ Lockhart said. ¨That´s what I was wondering too,¨ said Annika. ¨We were going to spend some time at her house this weekend and yesterday she was supposed to come to my house after school.¨ I hope she´s okay.¨ So, you haven´t seen her?¨ asked Parker. ¨No,¨ Annika responded. ¨Okay, thanks anyway,¨ said Lockhart. ¨Wait!¨ shouted Annika. ¨I know she loves to read.¨ You should go check in the school library.¨ Okay, thank you!¨ Lockhart shouted back.
Lockhart and Parker quickly walked over to the school library.
When they arrived, Lockhart saw part of a backpack near the mystery section of the library and was curious to know what was there. There in a little corner he found Anjali sound asleep. ¨I found Anjali!¨ yelled Lockhart. Anjali woke up when she heard Lockhart yelling. ¨AAAHHHH!¨ screamed Anjali. Lockhart was standing right in front of her when she woke up. ¨Who are you?¨ she questioned. ¨Hello Anjali, I am Detective Lockhart,¨ he said in a friendly voice. ¨Everyone noticed you were gone and were worried about you.¨ Especially your parents.¨ Okay….? Anjali responded in a confused voice. ¨Wait a minute, let me call your parents and to let them know that I found you,¨ said Lockhart.
A few minutes later, Lockhart took Anjali to her house. When they arrived, Anjali´s parents were so happy to see her. ¨ANJALI RAO!!¨ screamed her mother. WHERE WERE YOU!!!¨ YOU HAD ME SO WORRIED!¨ Lockhart told me that I slept in the library for a really long time but I don´t really know how I got there,¨ Anjali said back. ¨Okay we are just glad that you are back,¨ said her father.