chapter 2: shadows at Riverside park
710 Words
The cold night air wrapped around Riverside Park like a warning.
Blue and red police lights reflected across the river, turning the dark water into a sea of broken colors. Officers hurried from one end of the crime scene to the other, while reporters shouted questions from behind the barricades.
Elena Marlowe ducked beneath the yellow tape.
"What do we have?" she asked.
Detective Liam Brooks walked toward her, his face pale.
"Male victim. Thirty-six years old. Name's Daniel Mercer."
"The one whose wife is missing?"
Liam nodded.
"Neighbors say they left home together around seven this evening. Only Daniel was found."
Adrien crouched beside the body.
Daniel lay on his back beneath an old oak tree. His expensive navy-blue suit was damp from the rain, but there wasn't a single sign of panic on his face.
It looked as though death had arrived quietly.
Elena noticed something immediately.
"No rose."
Adrien looked up.
"No missing heart either."
She frowned.
"So why does this feel connected?"
Liam handed her a transparent evidence bag.
"We found this in his jacket pocket."
Inside was a folded card.
Elena carefully unfolded it.
Only four words were written in elegant black ink.
One heart remains unpaid.
A heavy silence settled over the group.
Adrien slowly stood.
"This wasn't left for Daniel."
Elena looked at him.
"It was left for us."
---
An hour later, the forensic team finished collecting evidence.
"There are no defensive wounds," the medical examiner said.
"No bruises."
"No struggle."
"Cause of death?"
"A single injection to the neck."
"Poison?"
"We'll know after the toxicology report."
Adrien walked around the crime scene one last time.
Something bothered him.
The grass behind the oak tree had been flattened.
He followed the trail with his flashlight until he reached the riverbank.
There...
Half-hidden beneath the mud...
Was a woman's silver shoe.
"Elena."
She hurried over.
Adrien picked it up carefully.
"The missing wife didn't disappear willingly."
Elena examined the shoe.
The heel had snapped.
There were faint scratches along the side.
"She ran."
"And someone caught her."
Before Elena could answer, her phone rang.
Captain Holloway.
She answered immediately.
"Talk to me."
"We've identified Daniel's wife."
"Good."
"But there's a problem."
"What problem?"
"According to airport security..."
He paused.
"...she boarded a flight to Paris six hours before Daniel was murdered."
Elena's eyes widened.
"That's impossible."
"That's exactly what I thought."
She ended the call and looked at Adrien.
"Either someone is pretending to be his wife..."
"...or someone wanted us to believe she escaped."
Adrien slipped the silver shoe into an evidence bag.
"Which means this murder began long before tonight."
---
The next morning, newspapers across Blackridge carried the same terrifying headline.
THE HEART COLLECTOR STRIKES AGAIN.
Television stations replayed the story every hour.
Citizens locked their doors before sunset.
Florists reported that customers refused to buy red roses.
The city had become afraid of its own heartbeat.
Inside Major Crimes, Elena pinned photographs of every victim onto the investigation board.
Emma Collins.
Nathan Rhodes.
Daniel Mercer.
Three victims.
Three messages.
Three lives connected by something no one could explain.
Adrien stared at the board.
"They all attended the same charity gala."
Elena turned.
"What?"
He pointed to a photograph clipped to Daniel's file.
"It was taken three years ago."
She moved closer.
Daniel stood smiling beside dozens of wealthy guests.
Emma Collins was there.
Nathan Rhodes was there too.
"So they knew each other."
Adrien nodded.
"But that's not the interesting part."
He zoomed into the photograph on his laptop.
Near the back of the ballroom stood a young woman in a black dress.
Her face was partially hidden.
Yet she seemed to be staring directly into the camera.
Or...
At someone behind it.
"Who is she?" Elena whispered.
"No guest list mentions her."
As they studied the mysterious woman, neither of them noticed a tiny envelope that had been slipped beneath the office door.
When Elena finally picked it up, her stomach tightened.
Inside was another crimson rose.
And a handwritten note.
Stop looking backward.
The next heart belongs to someone you love.
For the first time since the investigation began, fear crossed Elena's face.
Because there was only one person she couldn't bear to lose.
Her younger sister.
- Writer
