The Missing Engineer
1066 Words
LOLA’S POV
I stared at the message on my phone.
‘You’re looking at the wrong man.’
A chill ran down my spine.
Only three people knew Daniel Cross had become the prime suspect.
Orion, Marcus and myself.
Yet somehow, someone else knew.
Someone who had been watching us.
I look at Orion.
‘I didn’t tell anyone about Daniel.’
Orion took the phone from me and read the message twice over.
‘This wasn’t sent to scare you.’, he said.
I frowned.
‘No?’
‘It was sent to redirect us.’
Marcus looked up from his tablet.
‘You think someone wants us to stop looking at Daniel?’
Orion nodded.
‘Which means Daniel is either innocent…’
He paused.
‘...or he’s already dead.’
The room fell silent.
Marcus then led a small security team to Daniel Cross’s apartment.
Orion insisted on going.
Against protocol, I followed.
The apartment was spotless.
Too spotless.
There were no clothes or photographs.
No laptop, toiletries and no food in the refrigerator.
No signs that anyone had ever lived there.
I slowly walked through the empty living room.
‘It feels staged.’
Marcus nodded.
‘It was cleaned professionally,' he adds.
I see Orion studying the bookshelf which was against the wall.
He runs his finger across it and notices dust.
‘There was a box here.’, he said, pointing to one square-shaped space.
Marcus photographed it.
I knelt beside the shelf.
Something tiny reflected the morning sunlight.
I picked it up carefully.
A silver cufflink.
Engraved with the initials: S.T.
Marcus looked at Orion.
‘Starsign Tech?’
Orion frowned.
‘No.’
‘I’ve never seen this before.’
I slipped the cufflink into an evidence bag.
Someone had clearly left in a hurry.
BACK AT THE SUPERNOVA
Lucas calls me into his office.
‘You’ve been spending a lot of time with Orion King.’ he starts.
‘I’m investigating him.’
He leaned back.
‘People are talking.’
‘I don’t care.’
‘I do.’
He slid a drafted article across the desk.
The headline reads:
BILLIONAIRE HIDES MISSING EMPLOYEE.
I frowned.
‘This hasn’t been verified.’
‘It doesn’t have to be.’
I look up sharply.
‘It absolutely does.’ I reply, raising my voice a little.
He sighed dramatically.
‘You’ve changed.’
‘No. I've started asking better questions.’
His smile disappeared.
‘You have twenty-four hours.’
‘For what?’
‘Bring me proof Orion King is guilty.’
‘And if he isn’t?’
He stared at me.
‘Then find someone who is.’
LATER THAT EVENING
Orion invites me to a quiet cafe away from the city center.
For the first time, neither of us talked about evidence. It was almost like a date.
We talked about ourselves and I started to realize that I enjoyed his company.
I admitted to him that I became a journalist because my father had been falsely accused of corruption years earlier.
Although the allegations were eventually cleared, they ruined his reputation and cost him his career.
‘He died before people believed the truth.’
Orion listened silently.
‘So I promised myself…’
I looked down at my coffee, trying to hide the hurt on my face.
‘...I'd never destroy someone’s life without proof.’
After my admission, Orion confessed that his own father had taught him something similar.
‘Reputation takes a lifetime to build.’ he said, looking out the cafe window.
‘One lie can destroy it overnight.’
The rest of the evening was calm and filled with us exchanging stories about ourselves and our values.
I was definitely beginning to become more comfortable around him and the events of tonight strengthened our bond.
3RD PARTY POV
Neither of them noticed a woman seated across the cafe.
She wore sunglasses despite the fading evening light.
A newspaper hid most of her face.
Inside her handbag, a small recording device captured every word.
She sent a short voice message.
‘They’re getting closer.’
The recipient replied immediately.
‘Separate them.’
BACK AT STARSIGN TECH
I was sitting with Orion in his office, going over some files when Marcus walked in.
He was carrying the evidence bag and reports showing he had completed the forensic report.
‘We identified the cufflink.’
Orion looked up.
‘It doesn’t belong to Daniel.’
‘It belongs to someone else.’
Marcus handed him a photograph.
The cufflink was part of a luxury collection presented only to senior executives during Starsign Tech’s tenth anniversary celebration.
Only twelve sets had ever been made.
‘We’ve located every owner’s cufflinks.’ Marcus continued.
He paused.
‘Except one.’
Orion slowly looked up.
‘Whose?’ he asked.
Marcus hesitated.
‘Stacy Summers.’
Orion immediately called Stacy into his office.
She entered with her usual graceful smile.
‘You wanted to see me?’
He placed the photograph of the cufflink on the desk.
‘Have you seen this?’
She looked at it for a second and smiled.
‘It looks familiar.’
‘It should. It was a company gift.’
‘Where is yours?’ he asked calmly.
Without hesitation she answered,
‘I lost it months ago.’
‘When?’
‘I don’t remember.’
I studied her carefully.
Stacy never stumbled on her words nor did she look nervous.
But she blinked rapidly, just once.
I remembered something my father used to tell me.
‘People lie with words.
Fear tells the truth with the eyes.’
LATER THAT NIGHT
A courier arrived at my apartment.
I found this strange because I wasn't expecting anything.
The package had no return address.
I opened it carefully and inside was a single envelope.
It showed Daniel Cross.
Alive.
Standing beside someone whose face had been deliberately torn away from the picture.
On the back, written in black ink, were six words:
“Trust no one inside Starsign Tech.”
As I stared at the photograph, my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered cautiously.
‘Hello?’
For several seconds there was silence.
Then a distorted voice whispered,
‘The next one to disappear…’
A pause.
‘...will be you.’
And with that, the line went dead.
I slowly lowered the phone.
I walked toward my window and noticed a black SUV pulling away into the darkness.
Someone had been watching me.
Someone wanted me to be afraid.
Instead, I picked up my notebook and wrote one sentence.
If they’re threatening me, I'm finally getting close to the truth.
- Writer
