Part 2: The Whispering Ghost – News

Vance stared at the contact name. He clicked on the contact details to reveal the phone number behind the alias.

As the digits populated on the screen, Vance’s blood ran completely cold. He knew that number. He had that number saved in his own personal phone. It belonged to someone he had trusted for decades. Someone who had been at the crime scene five years ago, directing the forensics team, ensuring that the evidence against Mateo was found quickly and cleanly.

Before Vance could even process the betrayal, the heavy metal door of the lab clicked behind him.

The lights in the hallway went out.

Through the glass partition of the dark lab, Vance saw a silhouette standing in the doorway. The silhouette was holding a suppressed pistol, the long barrel reflecting the blue glow of the server tower.

And as the figure stepped into the room, the distinct, sweet, sickening scent of sour apples drifted through the air.

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My heart dropped straight into my stomach. The air in the kitchen suddenly felt too thick to breathe, and the white envelope in my hand felt as heavy as a lead brick. “Yesterday, some guys came to fix my refrigerator,…

Part 2: The Investigation and the Secret in the Cradle

The word “police” didn’t register as a sound at first

The word “police” didn’t register as a sound at first; it hit me like a physical blow, knocking the remaining air right out of my lungs. “Wait,” I stammered, my hands shaking so violently I had to grip the cold…

Part 2: The Shadows of Aranda

“Roger, make sure she hasn’t found it! If Elena sees those papers, we are finished. The Arandas will destroy us before we even touch a single cent!” Patricia’s voice hissed through the speaker, sharp and frantic, stripping away all her…

Roger, make sure she hasn’t found it!

“Roger, make sure she hasn’t found it! If Elena sees those papers, we are finished. The Arandas will destroy us before we even touch a single cent!” Patricia’s voice hissed through the speaker, sharp and frantic, stripping away all her…

Part 2: The Double Life

The words on the page didn’t make sense at first. They danced and blurred before my eyes, a chaotic jumble of corporate jargon and legal terms. But as my eyes adjusted and the sheer, brutal reality of the text sank…

PART 2: The cold air sticking to the back of my neck didn’t feel like a draft

The cold air sticking to the back of my neck didn’t feel like a draft. It felt like the breath of something that had been submerged in stagnant, metallic water for four long years. It smelled of pennies, wet rot,…

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