Do we have any leads on the rider?" Alina asked, her voice low with exhaustion as she set the stack of documents onto the table with a soft thud. Her eyes, ringed with fatigue, drifted between her two colleagues.
Leif let out a slow, weary sigh, dragging a hand through his already disheveled hair. "Apparently, none yet. He's... elusive. Only a handful of security cameras even caught a glimpse of him, and the footage is grainy at best."
Alina exhaled sharply through her nose, shaking her head. "Is he really on our side?" Her gaze narrowed. "And more importantly, how does he know about our witnesses? Have you checked with anyone inside the force? Any leaks?"
Eldric's brows furrowed, the lines between them deepening as he fixed a questioning stare at Leif.
Leif offered a sheepish, almost apologetic smile and shrugged. "I tried asking around... but no one's talking. Either they don't know, or they're too scared to say anything."
Alina rubbed her temple, trying to push back the dull ache forming behind her eyes. "That's enough for now," she said with finality, flipping open one of the folders. "So... what do we have here? Anything stand out to you two?"
Eldric straightened in his chair, his tone steady and analytical. "Since we've tied this case to the Louzoù Laboratory Fire... we're looking at possible hidden victims. The unidentified bodies we recovered—they could be linked to missing persons cases from over a decade ago." He tapped the edge of the file in front of him for emphasis. "Given that the latest victim went missing around ten years back... there's a pattern emerging. The other victims might have disappeared during their childhood or teenage years."
Alina's expression shifted, the weight of the realization sinking in. "That would explain why their fingerprints aren't showing up in any national database... They were likely never entered because they went missing before turning eighteen."
Leif's hands curled into fists on the tabletop. "We're talking about a pool of over 75,000 children and teens reported missing every year in this country. It's... overwhelming. Like hunting for a needle in a haystack, except the haystack keeps growing."
A brief, uncomfortable silence settled over the room.
Alina's gaze hardened with new resolve. "We'll start by revisiting the families of the identified victims. Anything trivial could turn out to be critical. Even something that didn't seem worth mentioning before."
Eldric nodded, closing his file with a decisive snap. "We can head out tomorrow. Ms. Alina, are you free?"
"Yes," she said, already mentally clearing her schedule. "Leif, can you check in with Dr. Paul? See if there's anything else he can tell us about the victims' remains. Something we might've missed."
Leif nodded, pushing back his chair. "Noted."
As they each gathered their things, the air in the room felt just a little heavier—laden with unanswered questions and the looming shadow of truths buried far too long.