Chapter 4:
The quiet of the office felt suffocating as Subey leaned back in her chair, her fingers tapping absently on the polished surface of the desk. The glow from the streetlights outside filtered through the blinds, casting long shadows on the walls. It was a stillness she was all too familiar with—a calm before a storm that she couldn't yet name.
Caroline, standing by the window, watched the city with a kind of distant curiosity. She hadn't spoken much since they'd left the station hours ago. Something was gnawing at her, an instinct that they were heading into deeper waters than they'd anticipated. They'd been chasing shadows, and now the shadows were closing in.
"Any word from Subey?" Caroline's voice broke the silence, smooth but laced with concern. She didn't look at Subey but felt her partner's eyes shift toward her, a familiar, knowing gaze.
Subey shook her head. "Not yet. But we've got this. He'll catch up. We're not in any rush, not yet."
Caroline turned, studying her. The silence between them wasn't just because of the case; it had been a subtle thing growing over the past few weeks. Caroline could sense it—Subey had been different lately. Something was off, but she couldn't pinpoint it. It had been a long time since she'd seen Subey so distant.
"We're getting closer, right?" Caroline asked, her voice quieter now. "Closer to finding out what's behind all this?"
Subey didn't answer immediately. Her gaze shifted to the papers scattered across the desk, the case files, the photographs, the handwritten notes. All the little details they'd gathered. But the more they dug, the more they realized how little they actually understood. Every lead felt like it was just a piece of a puzzle that had no clear picture.
"We're close," Subey said after a pause, her voice distant. "But every time we get one answer, two more questions pop up. It's like someone's been laying this out for years, weaving the story together."
Caroline nodded, but something in her gut told her it wasn't just coincidence. They had a suspect—Eleanor Carter, a woman with ties to both the recent disappearances and an older case that had gone cold. But Caroline was no fool. She could feel the presence of something far darker lurking just out of sight. Someone had been orchestrating these events long before Subey and she had gotten involved. But who?
As if on cue, the door creaked open, and Subey stepped inside, his face drawn with exhaustion but carrying a weight that instantly told both women that he had uncovered something important.
"I've got news," subey said, his voice steady but edged with tension. He dropped a thick folder onto the desk with a heavy thud, the weight of it making Subey look up sharply. "We're not dealing with a simple case of missing persons. This is much bigger."
Subey exchanged a quick glance with Caroline before reaching for the folder. She flicked it open, scanning the first few pages. A series of documents, some legal, some personal, but all tied to an old investigation that had been closed under questionable circumstances.
"This… doesn't make sense," Subey muttered under her breath, her eyes flicking over the familiar names. "This is the same case I worked on when I first left the force."
Caroline leaned over her shoulder. "What are you talking about?"
Subey's voice dropped to a whisper. "There was a string of disappearances years ago, all connected to a man named Daniel Hayes. I thought it was solved—he was locked up, his name was cleared from the files, and then it all went quiet. But now… now these names are showing up again."
The realization hit Caroline like a punch to the gut. She leaned back, trying to process what Subey was saying. "You're telling me Hayes didn't just disappear from the system—he was part of something bigger? Someone's been covering this up for years?"
Subey's eyes burned with a quiet intensity. "That's exactly what I think."
Subey stepped closer. "The thing is, these files… they don't add up. It's like someone's been erasing parts of the story. Daniel Hayes… he might be dead, but I think someone close to him is still pulling the strings."
Caroline's pulse quickened. The pieces were slowly coming together, but the picture was murky. "And Eleanor Carter?" she asked, her voice tight with suspicion. "How does she fit into this?"
"That's what we need to find out," Subey replied, her tone steady despite the sudden wave of unease. "Eleanor's been around longer than we realized. She was part of the investigation into Hayes years ago. But I'm starting to wonder if she's been hiding something from us."
The room was silent for a moment, the weight of the revelations settling over them like a fog.
"Subey," Caroline said quietly, her gaze focused on her partner, "You're not telling us everything. What do you know about Eleanor that you're not saying?"
Subey stiffened, her fingers tightening on the edge of the folder. She had been waiting for Caroline to ask, but she hadn't been ready to give an answer. It wasn't because she didn't trust Caroline—it was because there was a part of this case, a part of her own past, that she'd been trying to bury. Trying to forget.
"Eleanor… she was part of the investigation back then. But there's something more. Something I didn't tell you, Caroline."
Caroline's heart skipped a beat. "What are you talking about?"
Subey took a deep breath, as though steeling herself for what she was about to reveal. "When I was still on the force, Eleanor and I were involved in the same case—the one with Daniel Hayes. She and I… we were close. Too close."
The words hung in the air, unspoken for so long. Caroline felt a chill creep up her spine.
"What do you mean by 'too close'?"
Subey closed her eyes briefly, her voice barely above a whisper. "I was involved with her. More than just professionally. But something went wrong—she disappeared for a while, and I thought I'd lost her for good. When I came back to the force, she was gone. Her ties to Hayes, the disappearances—they were all part of a bigger game she was playing. And I was too naive to see it."
Caroline's eyes widened. "Wait, are you saying Eleanor might have been working with Hayes? And you… you were involved with her?"
Subey nodded slowly, her jaw tight. "I didn't know it at the time, but everything that's happening now… it's all connected. And Eleanor's been at the heart of it from the beginning."
The twist hit Caroline like a freight train. Subey, her partner, someone she trusted implicitly, had been caught up in a web she never fully understood. But there was no time for the shock to settle—because now, they weren't just hunting for a criminal. They were hunting for someone who had been hiding in plain sight all along.
"Subey, we need to stop her. We need to stop Eleanor before this spirals out of control."
Subey's eyes were hard. "We will. But first, we need to find out who's still helping her—and why they're doing it."