Samantha sat rigid in the plastic chair as Officer Hawkins locked the ring in an evidence bag. The air in the station felt heavier now, thick with things no one wanted to say aloud. Emily Jones wasn’t just a name from an old file; she was a wound this town had carefully bandaged and buried. Yet somehow, the ring had clawed its way back to the surface.
Outside, Mr. Dalton finally confessed in a trembling voice that Emily had come to him days before she vanished, asking how much the ring could sell for “in case I need to leave fast.” He’d thought it was just marital trouble. Now, Samantha realized she hadn’t found a simple clue—she’d disturbed a secret that might expose who wanted Emily gone. As the sun dipped behind the park, Officer Hawkins looked at Samantha and said quietly, “If that ring surfaced, someone else knows. And they won’t like that you got there fir…”
