The office had settled into its late-morning rhythm. Phones rang in steady patterns papers shuffled across desks and the faint hum of typewriters filled the air. Ethan sat at his desk reviewing yesterday's reports. The buzz of activity a comforting backdrop. It's been a week since his recent arrest. It had brought him joys, but work never slowed down in this office.
He was scribbling notes when a shadow fell across his desk.
"Detective Cross," Evelyn Ward's voice rang soft but insistent.
He looked up, half-expecting another jab about his "heroics." Instead, Evelyn's expression was sharper than usual. She clutched her notebook against her chest. her brow furrowed in that way she had when chasing a lead no one else believed in.
"Evelyn," Ethan said, leaning back in his chair. "If you're here for a gossip news, I don't have one."
"I'm not here for a story," she replied. "I'm here because I think people are disappearing and no one's connecting the dots."
That caught his attention.
Ethan gestured to the empty chair across from him. Evelyn sat, leaning in as though afraid the walls had ears.
"I've been tracking missing cases. Adults, young people, a few older homeless folks. No obvious links. They don't show up as homicides, not officially. Families report them missing but the reports are buried under paperwork. It looks like random vanishings at first."
"People go missing all the time," Ethan said, though his voice softened. "Runaways, debts, bad choices."
Evelyn shook her head. "Not like this. Not without a trace."
She flipped open her notebook. pages filled with frantic handwriting and clipped newspaper articles. She laid them out on his desk. eight different missing persons spread across the last four months.
Ethan frowned as he scanned the reports. Each victim had last been seen at home or in familiar surroundings with no sign of forced entry and no evidence of abduction.
"No footprints, no broken locks, no neighbors hearing anything," Evelyn said. Her voice dropped lower. "It's like they were just… erased. One moment they are here and one moment gone."
Ethan studied the papers longer. It was strange, yes, but strangeness alone didn't make a case.
Then Evelyn tapped her pen on a map she'd drawn. Red circles marked different neighborhoods across the city. At first glance, they seemed scattered. But then Ethan noticed the clustering.
"You found a pattern," he murmured.
She nodded. "It took weeks, but I noticed. They're all within a mile radius of the old Southwick district. Abandoned buildings, closed factories, half the area's condemned. No one pays attention to what happens there."
Ethan's jaw tightened. Southwick was a ghost of its former self, a patch of forgotten streets where the city had stopped caring.
"What makes you think it's more than coincidence?" he asked.
Evelyn hesitated. For the first time, uncertainty flickered across her confident reporter's face. "Even though I've never seen cases like this before. but… i trust in my guts. Something's wrong. Wrong in a way I can't explain with logic. I've covered murders, gang wars, and political scandals. But this? This feels colder."
Her voice dropped, almost a whisper. "Like the city's being hollowed out, piece by piece."
Ethan leaned back, folding his arms. "And you came to me because…?"
"Because you'll care enough to dig," Evelyn said without hesitation. "The others, they'd write it off as runaways or bad records. Too little evidence, not worth the manpower. But you? You don't look away. Not when it matters."
Her words hit harder than he expected. She wasn't flattering him. Her eyes were steady almost pleading.
Ethan exhaled, glancing down at the reports again. He did feel the pull, the itch of curiosity and the sting of injustice. People don't just vanish into thin air. Something was there, waiting to be uncovered.
Before he could answer, a low voice interrupted.
"Careful, kid."
Ethan looked up. Marcus Hale had approached silently with his arms crossed as his gaze was heavy on both of them. Evelyn straightened, almost defensive.
"Marcus," Ethan said. "How much did you hear?"
"Enough," Marcus replied, stepping closer. He picked up one of the files skimming through it then set it back down. "Disappearing people, no evidence, no witnesses. I've seen a dozen of these in my career."
"And?" Ethan asked.
"Most of them lead to nowhere and evidence dries up fast. You could chase ghosts for months, and the trail won't get warmer."
Evelyn bristled. "So you'd just let it go? People are gone, Marcus."
Marcus turned his gaze on her, calm but unyielding. "You're not wrong. But police work isn't about chasing every whisper. It's about fighting the battles you can win"
Ethan frowned. "So you're saying ignore it?"
Marcus sighed, looking at Ethan now. "I'm saying weigh it carefully. Don't let obsession pull you into a black hole. There are hundreds of cases, all screaming for attention. You dive too deep into the shadows, you'll drown before you help anyone."
The words weren't lazy or dismissive. They carried weight, the tone of a man who had learned through bitter experience.
But Ethan's chest tightened anyway. The nightmare of his sister flashed behind his eyes. The smirk of a killer walking free. He clenched his fists under the desk.
"With respect, Marcus," Ethan said slowly, "if we look away because it's difficult, then justice fails before it even begins. These people deserve someone chasing the shadows. Even if it's me."
A long silence stretched. Marcus studied him, his gaze sharp as if trying to see into Ethan's very bones. Then he sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"You've got fire, kid and I won't put it out. But remember son, Fire burns what it touches. Even you."
He turned and walked away, leaving the weight of his words behind.
Evelyn leaned closer, whispering, "What does he mean by that?"
Ethan shook his head. "Marcus has his own rules or whatever. That guy believes in proficiency. Would rather spend time on something 'real' rather than chasing a shadow. I can't do that."
He gathered the papers, stacking them neatly. "You're right, Evelyn. There's something here. And I'm going to find out what."
Her expression softened expressed her relief mingled with worrying . "I knew you'd listen."
Ethan slipped the files into a folder, his jaw set.
People vanish without a trace. No footprints. No signs. Just gone.
He could already feel it in his gut that this wasn't an ordinary case. It was the beginning of something darker. And if the others wouldn't dig then he would.
Without any hesitation Ethan drove a car to southwick district with Evelyn. Time is the essence here. An extra person could go missing.