It was around 4 p.m. when the group returned to the police station. The door swung open as the group entered the station. The air was tense and quiet, almost like someone could cut it with a knife.
“Well, that was eventful,” Millie said, cutting through the tension in the room.
The others really didn’t say much, probably because they were getting closer and closer to finding out who X was.
“How did it go?” Audrey asked, putting down another case file that she had been reading.
“We think we saw X. Like, we actually saw X!”
Audrey stood up, shocked. “Wait, what? You mean you actually saw him?”
“Ace got a piece of his clothing,” Eric said as Ace trotted forward and dropped a thin piece of cloth into Audrey’s hand.
“Good boy, Ace,” I said, giving him ear scratches as I held the piece of cloth in my other hand.
“This is our first lead. This cloth could be important,” I said, speaking up. “This is a small piece of evidence, but at least it’s not nothing.”
“That means we’re getting closer to finding out who X was,” Officer Robbins said in a determined tone.
“At this point, it could be anyone,” Millie spoke up. “But we still have to consider that Shawn and X could be connected.”
“Or X killed Shawn. I mean, think about it, Audrey,” Millie said thoughtfully. “He went missing in a snowstorm six years ago. There was no blood, no trace of a struggle.”
Tristan turned around to face the map sprawled out on the corkboard near my desk.
“Unless…”
“If Shawn willingly wanted to leave—”
We all stopped talking and turned our heads toward Tristan.
“What do you mean?” I asked, standing up and walking toward Tristan as the case file on my desk was completely forgotten.
“You think Shawn left willingly?” Millie asked as she stood on the other side of Tristan.
“That, or someone willingly killed him.”
I stood there silently as the gears in my head turned. Tristan wasn’t wrong. A crime scene doesn’t always mean there’s blood at the scene.
As a local detective in a small town, I had seen my fair share of people dragging their victims into the woods or a pond, whether it was by strangling them or forcefully drowning them.
And sometimes, the body wouldn’t be found until years later.
And if that happened…
That means it’s a cold case.
But cold cases can always be reopened.
Just like this one…
But that doesn’t matter.
We’re finding out who X is.
Regardless of whether it takes another six months or years…