Fraser Garden was a small public park right in the centre of Fraser, surrounded by a handful of local shops, a bus stop, and a few quiet residential streets that didn’t get much attention most of the year. On normal days it was just somewhere people passed through, but since the disappearance case had been reopened, it had started to feel busier, almost uneasy in a way it hadn’t before. It had become a meeting point for journalists, locals with opinions, and now investigators who were all trying to piece together something that still didn’t make sense.
Lexus arrived first, leaning against the low fence near the entrance, with Enzo beside him. The two of them had come together from the direction of Moretti’s, talking quietly on the drive over. Enzo looked more tired than he had the day before, like the weight of everything he had seen was finally settling into him properly. Lexus, on the other hand, looked focused in a different way. He had the kind of energy that came when someone believed they were getting closer to an answer, even if that answer wasn’t fully clear yet.
Morganta arrived a few minutes later. She walked through the main gates of the garden, adjusting the strap of her bag slightly as she approached them. The air felt different today, like the town itself was holding its breath. She gave a small nod when she reached them. “Alright,” she said simply, as if they were picking up right where they left off.
Lexus straightened up slightly. “I went through everything we collected,” he said, already slipping into investigation mode. “The glass and the skid marks both match the same vehicle profile. It’s the Dawson car. No doubt about that. The dirt displacement also lines up with the tires leaving the road briefly, then correcting back on.”
Morganta nodded slowly, taking that in. It confirmed what they already suspected, but hearing it spoken clearly made it feel more real. “So they were definitely here,” she said.
“Yeah,” Lexus replied. “But only here. Nothing after this point makes sense yet.”
Enzo shifted his weight, glancing between them. “What the Rachel say?” he asked, still speaking in his slightly broken English, but improving more each time they spoke to him.
“She gave us Addison’s phone password,” Morganta said, tapping her bag lightly. “We got it open. Nothing new in messages, but there were a few calls made after they disappeared. That’s the strange part.”
Enzo frowned. “Calls after?”
“Yeah,” Lexus said. “Someone or something accessed it later. That’s not normal.”
Enzo gave a small thumbs up, though it looked more like a nervous gesture than approval. “Good… maybe help.”
There was a short pause as the three of them stood there, each thinking through different parts of the case in their own way. The garden around them continued like normal life didn’t care what they were dealing with. People walked past, a couple sat on a bench eating takeaway coffee, and children ran near the far side of the park without knowing or caring about any of it.
“So what now?” Enzo asked after a moment.
Morganta looked around briefly before answering. “We keep moving. We walk through Fraser, see if anyone else remembers anything from that night. If nothing comes up, we go back to the original route. The highway. The wreck area. We need to retrace everything properly.”
Lexus nodded once, like he was already ready for it. “Makes sense. Patterns matter more than assumptions at this stage.”
They started moving together through the park and out toward the main street of Fraser. None of them noticed immediately how the atmosphere outside the garden had changed until they reached the edge of town activity.
That was when Morganta saw them.
News vans.
At least three of them were parked awkwardly along the roadside, cameras already set up, reporters moving quickly as they spoke into microphones. The Martins Detective Agency had already made their move.
Karl Martin was the first to step into view. He was followed by Jason Martin, both dressed too sharply for the environment, as if they were trying to present authority rather than investigate anything. It was obvious immediately that this wasn’t just about the case for them. It was about control. About being seen.
And behind them, like a ripple effect, more journalists had arrived.
Morganta slowed slightly without meaning to. Lexus noticed. Enzo looked uncomfortable immediately, like he wanted to step back rather than forward.
One of the reporters spotted them before they could move away. Within seconds, microphones were being pushed toward Morganta’s face.
“Miss Maddison! Is it true you’ve reopened the Dawson case?”
“What evidence have you found so far?”
“Do you believe the Martins agency is interfering with your investigation?”
The questions came fast, overlapping, aggressive in a way that didn’t feel like journalism anymore. It felt like pressure.
Morganta raised a hand slightly, trying to create space, but the crowd was already tightening around them.
That was when Karl Martin noticed them too.
He pushed through the reporters with practiced confidence, his expression shifting the moment he saw Morganta. Jason followed closely behind him, scanning the situation like he was already calculating how to take control of it.
“Well, well,” Karl said loudly enough for nearby cameras to catch. “Didn’t expect to see our former detective leading her own little investigation here.”
Morganta didn’t respond immediately. Lexus stepped slightly closer to her side without saying anything. Enzo stayed just behind them, clearly uncomfortable but not leaving.
Jason looked at Lexus briefly, then back at Morganta. “You’re stepping into something bigger than you understand,” he said. “This case was closed for a reason.”
“It was closed because no one solved it,” Morganta replied, finally speaking. Her tone was calm, but firm. “That’s not the same thing.”
Karl gave a small laugh, though there was no humour in it. “You think you’re the first person to look into this properly?”
“I think I’m the first person actually following evidence,” Morganta said.
That hit a nerve. Jason’s jaw tightened slightly, but before he could respond, another reporter shoved a microphone forward again, asking about supernatural theories that had started circulating online since the case reopened.
That word hung in the air for a second.
Supernatural.
Karl reacted quickly. “There are no supernatural elements involved here,” he said sharply. “This is a standard missing persons case that will be resolved by professionals.”
Lexus glanced at Morganta at that moment. It was subtle, but she noticed it. Not agreement exactly, but recognition that the Martins weren’t even considering all possibilities.
Before anything else could escalate, Morganta stepped back slightly. “We’re leaving,” she said quietly to Lexus and Enzo.
They moved through the crowd, pushing past reporters as the attention shifted back toward the Martins. Cameras followed Karl and Jason again almost instantly, drawn to the louder presence, the more aggressive narrative.
Once they were a short distance away, Enzo finally exhaled properly.
“They always like that?” he muttered.
“Worse,” Morganta said.
They headed back to their cars after leaving Fraser, the earlier tension still hanging in the air like something unfinished. Morganta kept replaying the encounter with the news reporters and the Martins in her mind, not because it surprised her, but because it confirmed what she already suspected—this case was no longer just an investigation. It was becoming a competition, and worse than that, it was becoming public property. Every move they made now would be watched, interpreted, twisted, and claimed by someone else. Lexus stayed quiet during the drive, focused on the road, while Enzo sat in the back, occasionally looking out the window like he expected something to be following them. The sun had started to drop lower in the sky, turning the edges of the town into long orange shadows. There was an unspoken agreement between them that they needed to move quickly. Whatever they were chasing, it didn’t feel like something that waited politely.
They arrived back at the highway scene where the skid marks and scattered glass were still visible along the side of the road. Even though it was the same place from the day before, it felt different now. The fading light made the forest line on one side of the road look darker, thicker, almost closer than it should have been. Morganta stepped out of her car first, followed by Lexus and then Enzo, who seemed reluctant to return to the exact place where everything had started to feel wrong.
But they weren’t alone.
Within minutes, the Martins arrived again, followed closely by news vans that had clearly been tracking their movements. Cameras were already rolling before anyone even stepped out of their vehicles. Reporters shouted questions across the road, but the Martins ignored them completely, moving with confidence straight toward the skid marks as if they owned the scene.
Karl Martin reached the evidence first. Without hesitation, he crouched down and picked up one of the pieces of glass Morganta and Lexus had already documented. Jason followed, scanning the ground quickly, then straightening up with a look that suggested satisfaction rather than curiosity.
Karl turned toward the cameras almost immediately. “This,” he said loudly, holding up the glass like it was proof of his authority, “is a breakthrough in the Dawson case. The Martins Detective Agency has identified key physical evidence that confirms vehicle movement at the disappearance site.”
Jason nodded beside him. “We will be working directly with authorities from this point forward. The Martins know how to handle cases like this.”
Morganta stood a few metres away, watching them take control of the narrative in real time. Lexus’s jaw tightened slightly, but he didn’t speak. Enzo muttered something under his breath in Italian, clearly unimpressed.
Within seconds, the news vans shifted their attention. Camera crews who had been following Morganta and Lexus moments ago now swung back toward the Martins. Microphones were pushed forward again. A reporter called it into a phone, and within minutes, the words “BREAKING NEWS” appeared across multiple screens being held by crew members.
The case had officially been pulled into the public spotlight again, and the Martins were making sure they were the face of it.
Morganta didn’t argue. She simply looked at Lexus once, and without needing to say anything, he understood. They couldn’t fight the media here. Not like this. Not when the Martins were actively feeding them a version of events.
So instead, Morganta turned away.
“We go into the forest,” she said quietly.
Lexus nodded immediately. Enzo hesitated for a moment, glancing back at the road, then followed.
They slipped away from the roadside, moving toward the tree line where the forest began. The noise from the cameras and reporters faded almost instantly, replaced by something quieter and heavier. The deeper they walked in, the more it felt like the world behind them was being shut off, like sound itself was being left at the edge of the trees.
The air inside the forest was cooler. The sunlight didn’t reach through properly anymore, leaving uneven patches of dim orange light between the trunks. Morganta could still hear distant shouting behind them, but it was muffled now, like it belonged to another place entirely.
Lexus slowed slightly as they moved further in. Morganta noticed him looking at her more than the surroundings, like he was thinking about something else entirely. She was about to ask what when he stepped a little closer.
“Morganta,” he said quietly.
She turned slightly toward him. “Yeah?”
There was a pause. Not awkward, just still. The kind of silence that didn’t feel empty.
For a second, neither of them spoke. The forest around them seemed to hold steady, as if waiting.
Morganta had been aware of Lexus since they first met. She had noticed the way he observed things carefully, the way he didn’t rush to conclusions like others did. She had also noticed things she hadn’t expected to notice—how calm he stayed under pressure, how his voice lowered when he was thinking, how he didn’t treat her like she needed to be handled or dismissed. It wasn’t something she had admitted out loud, even to herself, but it was there.
Lexus looked at her for a moment longer, then stepped closer again, just slightly.
And before either of them fully processed it, the distance between them disappeared.
The kiss was brief. Not dramatic, not loud, not planned. It was more like a moment that had been building without permission and finally happened without asking. It didn’t last long. Neither of them leaned into it fully, and neither of them pulled away immediately either. It existed for a second in a way that felt completely separate from everything else happening around them.
Then it ended.
Almost immediately after, the sound of movement came from behind them.
Morganta pulled back first, her attention snapping back into focus. Lexus turned his head slightly at the same time.
Through the trees, voices could be heard again. The Martins had entered the forest line, followed by cameras and reporters who had clearly decided to push further instead of staying at the road. Flashlights and phone lights cut through the darker areas between the trees, making the forest feel less like isolation and more like an invasion.
The moment was gone.
Morganta took a breath, steadying herself. Lexus didn’t say anything about what just happened. Neither did she. There wasn’t time for it.
It was 6:43. The sun was almost completely gone now, leaving only a thin band of fading orange light along the horizon. The forest was getting darker by the minute.
And then Morganta saw it.
Further ahead, between the trees, something stood out. At first it looked like part of the landscape—just a shape, darker than everything else—but as she focused, she realised it resembled something else entirely. The outline of a vehicle.
It was too far to make out clearly, but it was there.
Something resembling a car.
Her instincts sharpened instantly.
“We need to get there,” she said quickly, already moving forward.
Lexus followed without hesitation. Enzo looked between them and the noise behind them, then chose to follow as well.
Because whatever that shape was, it was closer to the truth than anything they had found so far.
And they needed to reach it before the Martins did.