Morning After the Charity Gala – Jane's House
The morning light filtered through the blinds, casting long slants of gold across the room. Jane Michaels sat on her couch, a half-empty cup of coffee growing cold in her hands. Her mind was still replaying last night's conversation with Eleanor Marks.
"Nathaniel's ex-fiancée—gone. Just vanished. One day, she was there; the next, poof."
Jane had prided herself on her instincts, on being able to read people. But the more she thought about Nathaniel, the more the edges of certainty blurred.
The case was twisting in ways she hadn't anticipated. Every new revelation seemed to loop back to Nathaniel Blackwell. His interest in the murders, his presence at every key moment, and now—this.
Had she been blind to something obvious?
A knock on the door jolted her from her thoughts. She pulled herself together and opened it to find Marcus Hayes standing there, holding two coffees.
"You look like you didn't sleep," he observed, handing her one.
"Didn't," she admitted, stepping aside to let him in.
Marcus dropped onto the couch, stretching his legs out. "You gonna tell me what's eating you up, or do I have to drag it out of you?"
Jane sighed. "Eleanor told me something last night. About Nathaniel."
Marcus raised a brow. "Let me guess—he's secretly a vampire?"
"I'm serious, Marcus."
"Alright, alright. Spill."
Jane hesitated before finally saying it. "His ex-fiancée. She disappeared. No one knows what happened to her."
Marcus frowned. "And you think that ties into the case?"
"I don't know what to think." She ran a hand through her hair. "But I do know that I need answers."
Before Marcus could respond, Jane's phone buzzed. It was Megan Price.
"You need to get down to the precinct," Megan said. "Now."
"Why? What happened?"
"We found something. Something big."
Ridgeview Police Precinct – A Disturbing Discovery
The precinct was humming with tension when Jane and Marcus arrived. The forensic team had gathered in a small room off the main floor, faces grim as they huddled around a laptop.
Megan waved Jane over. "You're gonna want to hear this."
She pressed play.
The room filled with a voice—shaky, terrified. The last words of the latest victim.
"Why are you doing this? Please, I didn't mean to hurt you!"
The voice was laced with desperation, cracking on the last word. Then—silence.
Jane felt a chill run down her spine. "Where did this come from?"
"We pulled it from the victim's phone," one of the techs explained. "The killer deleted it, but we recovered it from the cloud backup. It was sent just before she was murdered."
Marcus crossed his arms. "Sounds like she knew the killer."
"Or at least knew why she was targeted," Jane added.
Megan clicked her tongue. "What do you make of 'I didn't mean to hurt you'? That's specific."
Jane's mind was already working through the possibilities. "This isn't random. The killer feels wronged. Betrayed. This isn't just about murder—it's personal."
Megan exhaled. "Which means he's holding onto something from his past. Something he thinks justifies all this."
A dark thought curled in Jane's mind.
"Nathaniel's ex-fiancée—gone."
The timing, the secrecy, the strange fixation on the case…
She looked at Marcus. "I need to talk to Nathaniel."
Nathaniel's Apartment – Confrontation
Nathaniel Blackwell lived in a modest apartment downtown, a place that felt more like a writer's retreat than a home. Bookshelves lined the walls, papers stacked in neat piles on his desk.
He answered the door with mild surprise. "Jane. Didn't expect to see you this early."
"I need to ask you something," she said, stepping inside before he could object.
Nathaniel shut the door behind her. "You look serious."
"I am." She turned to face him. "Your ex-fiancée. The one who left you. What happened to her?"
Nathaniel's expression flickered with something unreadable before settling into a guarded calm. "Why are you asking me that?"
"Because people don't just vanish, Nathaniel."
He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "She left. That's all there is to it."
"That's not all there is to it," Jane pressed. "No one knows where she went. No family, no friends, no trace."
Nathaniel's jaw tightened. "I don't have an answer for you, Jane. She wanted out, and she took it."
Jane studied him. His voice was even, his expression unreadable. But there was something there—something buried just beneath the surface.
"Do you know where she is?" she asked quietly.
"No," he said.
And for the first time, Jane wasn't sure if she believed him.
A Theory Takes Shape
Back at the precinct, Jane relayed the conversation to Marcus and Megan.
"He didn't lie," she admitted. "Not outright. But there's something he's not saying."
Marcus leaned back in his chair. "Let's say, hypothetically, his ex was the reason for all this. That doesn't mean he's the killer."
"No, but it means he might know something," Megan pointed out.
Jane exhaled. "We need to find out what happened to her."
Megan tapped away at her keyboard. "Already ahead of you. I pulled up some old records—her name was Claire Atwood. She and Nathaniel were engaged five years ago. She worked at a small publishing house in Chicago before moving here with him. Then, one day… gone."
Jane stared at the screen. "Someone has to know where she went."
Megan frowned. "Funny thing is, there's no record of her leaving Ridgeview. No flights, no bus tickets. It's like she disappeared into thin air."
Jane's pulse quickened. "Pull everything you can on her. If there's a trail, we'll find it."
Marcus stood. "In the meantime, we keep our eyes on Nathaniel. If he's hiding something, we'll know soon enough."
Jane nodded.
The case was shifting.
And she was starting to wonder if the answers had been in front of her all along.
Shadow in the Dark
That night, as Jane locked up her apartment, she couldn't shake the unease creeping under her skin. The street outside was quiet—too quiet.
She glanced over her shoulder.
A figure stood at the far end of the block, just beyond the reach of the streetlamp's glow.
Watching.
Jane's heart pounded.
The killer was close.
And she was running out of time.