Chapter 1
“Alright, Shawn, I’m off to work,” Audrey said, pulling on her coat and heading for the door.
“Okay. Be careful and drive safely.”
I nodded, grabbed my car keys, and stepped outside. Little did I know, this relationship was coming to an end.
Snow fell hard as I drove to work, the cold biting through everything. It was so frigid I could see my breath cloud the windshield. Tonight was going to be a late shift. I’m a local detective at a small police station, and we were investigating the disappearance of a single mother who never returned from a grocery run.
After what felt like an eternity, I finally reached the station. I shut my car door, my boots crunching through the snow as I crossed the parking lot. Inside, I greeted my coworkers.
“Hello, everyone. Tonight’s going to be a long one.”
They nodded as I grabbed the latest case file and headed to my office. I stretched as I sat down and opened it.
Case File:
Name: Harriet Walker
Age: 44
According to the report, she’d gone grocery shopping at 3:00 p.m the day before and never came back.
“Another one,” a voice said from the doorway.
I looked up to see my partner, Tristan. We’d been working together for years and made a solid team—probably because we actually did the work. Everyone else, except our boss William, seemed content to coast.
“Another missing person with no leads,” Tristan said. “I’m sensing a pattern here, Audrey.”
He pointed to a map pinned to the wall, circling a section with a red Sharpie. “All the disappearances happened around this area. See?”
I studied it, then nodded. “Yeah. I see it. Let’s check it out.”
Tristan gathered a few officers to assist us. “You should have the location I sent to your phones.”
They nodded, and we all headed out.
The drive took us down narrow, sketchy roads. “Stay alert,” I said sharply. “We may have backup, but we can’t let our guard down.”
Tristan nodded.
The GPS led us to an abandoned park near the forest. We got out and armed ourselves as the officers took the lead, calling out to see if anyone was there. Flashlights cut through the darkness as they searched the area.
“Audrey!”
I turned toward Officer Robbins, who was waving me over. “What is it?”
She held up a small, crumpled piece of paper. I took it and smoothed it out as the others gathered around.
Written in dried blood were the words:
Catch me if you can. — X
“X?” Tristan said, taking the paper from me. “Who’s X?”
“We should search the area,” another officer said.
“Agreed,” I said, pulling out my phone. “I’ll call the sergeant.”
I updated him on the situation and hung up. “He’s on his way with a K-9 unit. Let’s hope we find something.”
When our boss and the K-9 team arrived, we explained everything and let the dogs scent the note. Once they were released, the search began.
We searched for hours, but the cold worsened and it grew too late to continue. The snow finally stopped, which was a small comfort. Eventually, we packed up and headed home
The house was dark when I pulled into the driveway.
That alone was wrong. Shawn always left the porch light on when I worked late. I sat in my car for a moment, engine ticking as it cooled, listening. The woods behind the house whispered as the wind pushed through the trees.
I grabbed my coat and stepped inside.
“Honey, I’m home.”
My voice sounded too loud in the empty house. No footsteps. No reply. The silence pressed in, thick and unnatural.
“Shawn?” I tried again, softer this time.
Nothing.
I moved through the house, room by room. The living room was untouched. The kitchen was clean—too clean. His phone wasn’t on the counter where he always left it. My pulse quickened as I checked the bedroom. The bed was made.
My chest tightened.
I rushed outside. Shawn’s car sat in the driveway, dusted with snow. He hadn’t gone anywhere.
“Shawn!” I shouted, my voice breaking.
The cold sliced through me as I circled the house and reached the backyard. That’s when I saw them.
Footprints.
They led from the back door straight toward the tree line—deep, uneven impressions, half-filled with snow. My breath caught in my throat. He hadn’t gone for a walk. Shawn hated the cold. Hated the woods at night.
“Why would you go out there?” I whispered.
The forest stared back at me, dark and endless.
I knew I should call it in. Knew I should wait for backup. Every instinct I’d ever trained screamed at me to stop.
I didn’t.
I followed the footprints into the woods, my boots crunching too loudly in the frozen snow. The beam of my flashlight shook as it cut through the trees. Shadows twisted and stretched, every sound magnified—the snap of branches, the rush of wind, my own uneven breathing.
“Shawn,” I called, my voice barely more than a plea now.
No answer.
The footprints began to fade, swallowed by fresh snow. I moved faster, panic burning in my chest. The woods felt wrong—too quiet, like they were holding their breath.
Then the tracks stopped.
Just… stopped.
I spun in a slow circle, heart hammering. No signs of a struggle. No blood. No broken branches.
Nothing.
It was as if Shawn had been lifted straight off the ground.
I stood there alone in the dark, the cold finally seeping into my bones, and that’s when it hit me.
This wasn’t random.
And Shawn hadn’t vanished.
He’d been taken.
