It started like any other day. Eric and Jessica practiced their swordplay, but stopped before lunch. June had promised to bring them food, and it was about eleven thirty when there was a knock at the door.

“June, the door’s open.” Eric didn’t bother to look up from his computer.

“Eric.” Jessica did. “Eric?” She leaned over and shut his laptop.

“What? Oh.” It wasn’t June.

A police officer was standing in his doorway. “Are you Mr Smithson?”

“Yes?” Eric nodded. He had feared something like this would happen.

“You must be Ms. Spellman, I take it?” The officer looked at Jessica.

“Yes. Jessica.” She nodded back.

“Ah.” The police officer coughed. “Her sister? Yes?”

“You’re here about Anna, right?” Eric sighed.

“Is she here? Ms. Spellman?”

“It’s Mrs. Spellman.” Eric corrected them. “She’s my wife, and no, she isn’t here.”

“Do you have time for a few questions, Mr. Smithson?”

“Yes.” He sighed. “Would you like a cup of Tea? Coffee? Energy Drink?”

The officer nodded. “Any will be fine.”

Anna’s former employers had tried to contact her for over a month, with no response. They’d sent someone over to the apartment, but neither Eric or Jessica wanted to speak to them. One thing had lead to another, and someone had made a phone call to the local police station.

“I’m not sure where to begin.” Eric sighed. “It’s not a short story.”

“I do.” Jessica interrupted. “Ten years ago, my sister went missing, two years ago, she returned. I was overjoyed. Eric and I helped her find her feet, she ended up getting into esports, and I don’t know if you follow that sort of thing…”

“The demon queen. The unbeatable demon queen, so I’m informed.” The office nodded.

“Yep. The retired, unbeatable demon queen.” Eric explained. “Two months ago she made a rather extravagant exit, and the next day we got married. That was also the last time I saw her.”

Jessica sighed. “It was a small affair. Eric and Anna were there of course, I was officiating, and our friends June, Emma, and Rachel were also present. Anna was tired of stardom, and wanted a quiet wedding. In hindsight, that might have been a mistake.”

The officer nodded, continuing to write down notes.

“We just don’t know what happened.” Jessica paused. “Well. That’s not right. Three people turned up. All dressed the same, all in black, wearing masks too. They grabbed Anna and vanished. They were armed, they were dangerous, and none of us knew what to do.”

Eric was finding it hard to speak. “I knew what to do, but I couldn’t act fast enough. Anna told me to stop, not to take a risk, and like that, she was gone.” Eric sighed again. “I know she’s still out there, waiting for me, but….”

“We’ll find her soon.” Jessica leaned over to give Eric a hug. “I know it.”

“As best we can guess, we think something from Anna’s past caught up with her. She seemed to recognize the assailants, she didn’t put up much of a struggle….” Eric began to cry. “I couldn’t do anything. We’d just exchanged vows. I thought we’d be spending the rest of our lives together. I assume Anna got recognised from her tv appearance the previous day, and one thing lead to another.”

“I see.” The officer coughed. “I just have some follow up questions. Can you provide me with contact details for the other guests?”

Jessica nodded. She scribbled out a set of phone numbers and handed them over to the officer. “April stays in the bookstore, the second hand one a few streets over, if you know it. That’s where it all went down.”

“Right.” The officer nodded. “My other question is this: Can you explain why you didn’t report your wife’s abduction.”

Eric stared back. “Yes. I was in shock. For a start, I didn’t think there was anything you could do. Secondly, as I said before, Anna seemed to go willingly, if only to avoid trouble. Third? Well. I just didn’t want the attention. A high profile esports player vanishes on the day of her wedding? Her fanbase wouldn’t give up.”

Jessica sighed.

“Don’t blame yourself, Eric. It was my idea not to make a scene. I figured that it might make things harder for Anna. We did hope that she’d escape, or we’d hear something… but it’s been two months now. We still don’t know who took her, or even where. I just didn’t want to admit that she was gone. Not again.”

It was Eric’s turn to offer Jessica a hug.

“I’m sorry officer,” he began, “but, well, as you can see, we’re still struggling to deal with it. If you don’t have any more questions, I’d appreciate it if you could give us some time alone.”

“Just one more question, if that’s ok? I want to make sure I have everything.” The officer began. “Two months ago, on your wedding day, three armed assailants abducted your wife. You believe your wife was taken by people she knew, and avoided filing a report due to your wife’s celebrity status.”

“Yes.” Eric was on the verge of tears. “I… I’m pathetic. I couldn’t protect her and I don’t even know if I’ll ever find her again. The thing that gets me? I’m sure she did it to protect me. Keep me safe from whatever she was involved with.”

The officer just nodded back. “Thank you for your time. Here’s my card, please do call if anything comes up.”

“There’s one other thing.” Jessica began, “This person vanished about a year before. Anna asked us to look into it. One year prior, Erica Hilltop disappeared from Rudbrick college. It’s probably nothing, but you might want to check it out.”

“Erica… Hilltop… Rudbrick… College.” The office repeated back. “Thank you. I’ll be in touch.”

One week later, Eric made a phone call. The officer hadn’t called back, and he wanted to check up on how much trouble was incoming.

“Yes? Oh. I understand. Probably for the best. I will, if I hear anything. Thank you, officer.”

The officer had spoken to the other wedding attendees, confirmed the story, but there wasn’t much else they could do. Given Anna’s status, and the request of the family, no missing persons report would be filed.

“Jessica. I can’t believe it, but your plan worked.”