2025-02-06 23:50:14
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Ellen’s Return
Detective MarloweWhen the call came through, I was halfway through a lukewarm coffee and a stack of paperwork. The phone had buzzed twice, and my gut twisted before I even answered it. There was no reason for the Ops team to be calling me now, and I knew this could only mean one thing.“Detective Marlowe speaking.” I answered quickly, but the only sound I heard was the static on the other end, but then a tiny breathless voice cracking under panic sounded. “Ma’am, it’s Ops Team Seven. The transport has been hit.”My spine straightened so fast I nearly snapped something. “Repeat that.”“Transport van en route to Highwood Holding Facility… We were rammed off the service road. Multiple hostiles. Masks, tactical gear. We… we lost sight of the subject.”The room froze around me as soon as I heard that and my coffee slipped from my hand and splattered across my desk, but I barely noticed.“Are you telling me,” I said slowly, “that Ellen has been extracted?”There was a beat of silence on th
The Hunter in the Dark
ZionBy the time I stepped out of Ellen’s holding room, my head felt like someone had been hammering against my skull from the inside. The fluorescent hallway lights were too bright, and every sound echoed in my bones. Detective Marlowe was waiting just outside with her arms folded.I exhaled shakily when I saw her. “She’s never going to talk,” I said, rubbing my forehead. “I tried everything. She just… she’s gone, Marlowe. Completely gone.”The detective watched me for a long moment before letting out a tired sigh. “That’s alright,” she murmured. “We didn’t really expect her to give us anything now anyway.”I blinked at that. “So what happens to her now?”“We’re transferring her to a high-security holding facility overnight,” she said. “After that, the court will evaluate if she’s mentally stable enough to stand trial. If not…” she shrugged, “…she’ll likely be admitted into a psychiatric rehabilitation unit.”A hollow ache settled under my ribs when she said that. I didn’t wish all o
Zion’s Breaking Point
ZionI didn’t realize how hard I was breathing until the room seemed to shrink around me. The walls of the holding cell felt too close, like they were waiting for me to break. Ellen sat across from me with that maddening calmness, and her legs crossed the whole time, her fingers tapping lightly on the metal table. She looked almost bored, despite me losing my mind here.My hands shook as I shoved them into my pockets, trying to look like I had any control left.“I don’t remember that conversation,” I told her, forcing the words through clenched teeth. “I don’t remember anything you just played.”Her smile twitched, like she enjoyed watching me struggle. “Of course you don’t. You were drunk. Completely useless. Honestly, it was a miracle you didn’t choke on your own tongue.”“Stop.” My voice cracked. I didn’t care. “Just stop! You talk like you know me, but I’m now convinced that you don’t.”“I do know you, Zi.” Her tone slid into something soft, familiar, yet horrifying. “More than an
The Attack in the Ward
AriaI’d gone back to sleep shortly after Zion left to go see Ellen. I didn’t intend to, but the morphine in my system wasn’t giving me a choice. After about an hour, I finally woke up to a deep quiet. The hospital room had always hummed with something: machines, distant footsteps, nurses whispering at the desk, but now, everything sat still. Too still.My body still ached, stitched and tender in places I didn’t want to think about, but I had gotten used to ignoring the pain. Zion hadn’t returned from the station yet, but he’d promised he would “fix everything” before the detective came back to take more statements. I didn’t know what that meant, and honestly, I didn’t have the strength to overthink it.I shifted and adjusted my pillow, and took a slow breath, searching for my phone. And just then, the door slammed open so hard it bounced against the stopper.I jerked upright instantly as the pain sliced through my side. “What is going on?” I asked but there was no reply. Instead, thr
Doubt and Desperation
ZionAfter I stepped out of the holding room, Marlowe and I reconvened. She asked me if Ellen had said anything useful, and I told her that I was in no mood to listen to the rants of a mad woman. However, after a lot of back and forth, Marlowe finally convinced me to go back inside, and this time to try and keep my calm until she gave us something we could use against her.I’d reluctantly agreed, but the second I stepped back into the holding room, Ellen’s smile returned like it had been waiting on the door hinge. The smugness slid back onto her face the moment she saw me, like she’d never lost it.“Back so soon?” she asked lightly. “I knew you wouldn’t walk away from that easily.”“Don’t flatter yourself,” I said, pulling out the chair loud enough to scrape sharply across the floor. “We’re finishing this, that’s all.”She folded her hands on the table and leaned forward a little. “Then ask me the question. The one you’re scared to ask.”I didn’t want to give her the satisfaction, but
The Unwanted Truth
ZionDetective Marlowe walked beside me through the narrow hall that led to the holding cells, the rubber soles of her shoes clicking sharply against the concrete floor. The building always smelled like every bad decision ever made inside it had soaked into the air.I kept my hands clenched as we walked. Every step brought me closer to her. I didn’t want to be here. Every instinct in my body screamed that this was a trap, that Ellen thrived on attention the way oxygen thrived on fire, but Aria’s safety was reason enough. If Ellen had any information, any threat, anything hidden that could hurt her, then I needed to deal with it before it reached Aria’s ears.“Remember,” Marlowe said as we approached the reinforced glass window facing the cell, “she’s refused to talk to anyone but you. Not her lawyer, not the officers. If she says anything incriminating, I need you to keep her talking. We need her statement on the record.”I nodded stiffly. “I’ll get it.”When I stepped up to the glass
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