The wind had grown colder by the time Detective Victor Kolon left the crime scene. Police vehicles slowly began clearing the area, though a few officers still remained to guard the garage through the night. The broken structure stood in silence again, like a wounded thing left behind after violence had passed.
Kolon stood beside his car for a moment before getting in. His mind was moving through every detail he had seen. the blood...the crash...the missing body...and Dr. Varun. Something about Kai's behavior had been… strange. Not enough to accuse him of anything. Kai had spoken calmly. His report had been precise. Everything about his work had been professional. Yet there had been moments, small pauses, subtle expressions; that felt slightly off.
Kolon leaned back in the driver's seat and closed his eyes briefly. Then he shook the thought away. There were bigger problems. Rhea was missing. Evan was about to be arrested. And somewhere out there, Hunter was still free. Kolon started the engine and drove away, returning to the station where the investigation continued with growing urgency. He spent the next hours buried in work, reviewing traffic cameras from nearby districts, checking vehicle records, sending patrol units through possible routes where a damaged car might have passed that night. Every minute mattered, but every search returned the same answer. Nothing...no witnesses...no cameras...no trace of where Rhea had been taken. The city had swallowed her completely.
Across town, the air inside Rhea's office felt heavy. Files covered the desk, the chairs, even parts of the floor. Noah sat at the desk again, leaning forward slightly as he read through another set of notes Rhea had written weeks earlier. His head still felt light. His body hadn't recovered from the surgery. Even sitting for too long made him dizzy, but he ignored the weakness as best as he could. Evan moved around the office restlessly. Opening drawers, checking shelves again, looking through cabinets. They had already searched the room once, then twice, then a third time and still nothing. The laptop was nowhere inside.
Evan rubbed the back of his neck in frustration. "This doesn't make sense," he muttered.
Noah nodded slowly. "If Rhea was working on the final piece of the puzzle… that laptop should be here."
Evan checked the desk drawers again anyway. Empty... He exhaled tiredly.
"I'm going to grab you something to drink," he said after a moment. Noah didn't argue. Evan stepped out of the office and walked down the quiet hallway. The vending machine at the corner hummed softly under the fluorescent lights. He inserted a coin and waited for the machine to drop the bottle. While waiting, his eyes wandered absentmindedly toward the trash bins near the wall. One of them was overflowing. Paper cups, food wrappers, office garbage. but something metallic caught his attention. Evan frowned slightly. At first it just looked like a piece of broken plastic sticking out from beneath the trash. But something about the shape felt familiar. He walked closer. His heart skipped. The shattered object buried under the garbage looked like a laptop.
Evan immediately pulled it out. The screen was cracked, the casing was bent, several pieces were hanging loose. It looked like it had been smashed hard. But Evan could tell whom it belonged to and whose victim it was.
He rushed back to the office.
"Noah!"
Noah looked up quickly.
Evan placed the destroyed laptop on the desk.
Noah's eyes widened.
"Where did you find it?"
"In the hallway trash."
Noah carefully turned the broken device over in his hands. The damage was severe. The screen was completely destroyed. Several internal parts were exposed. Someone had clearly smashed it on purpose.
Noah's jaw tightened. "Someone didn't want us to see what was inside this."
He immediately pulled out his phone and called a colleague. The call connected after a few rings.
"I need a favor," Noah said.
He explained the situation quickly. There was a long pause on the other end. Then his colleague sighed.
"From what you're describing… the hardware is probably beyond repair."
Noah closed his eyes briefly. "But?"
"I'll try to recover the data from the storage drive."
Noah leaned forward.
"Try your best."
"I will."
The call ended.
The laptop sat on the desk like a broken witness. Silence filled the office again.
Far from the city center, an old house stood quietly at the edge of a narrow road. The paint on its walls had faded long ago. Tall grass grew around the yard. No neighbors. No passing cars. Inside one of the rooms, Kai stood beside the bed. Rhea lay motionless beneath thick blankets. Her skin looked almost colorless. Bandages wrapped around her head and arms. Dried blood had soaked through some of the cloth. Her breathing was slow and uneven, barely lifting her chest. She looked like someone standing on the thin line between life and death.
Kai watched her silently. His mind was restless. He had cleaned the wounds. Stopped the bleeding as best as he could. Enough to keep her alive, but barely.
Now he stood there, staring at her face. Thinking... One part of him wanted to finish it... End it quickly. One simple move; No witness left behind; No risk... But another part of him hesitated. He imagined Evan's face. The moment Evan would learn that Rhea had died. That final piece of hope disappearing. Kai wanted to see that moment. He wanted to watch it. But killing her right now was dangerous. If the body was found too soon… If something connected back to him… Everything could collapse.
Kai exhaled slowly. For now, she would stay alive.
Back in the office, Noah was reading through Rhea's files again. Evan sat across from him quietly. After a while Noah spoke.
"There's something I've been meaning to ask you."
Evan looked up.
"You remember when I asked you to see a psychiatrist?"
Evan nodded slightly.
Noah had asked him before, and Evan had refused.
"I know you have said no."
Evan looked down at his hands. Noah watched him carefully.
"But this time," Noah continued softly, "things are different."
Evan was quiet for a long moment. Then he nodded. "I'll do it."
Noah blinked slightly.
"You will?"
Evan looked up at him.
"Yes."
His voice was calm but firm.
"I'll meet the psychiatrist."
The decision hung quietly in the room. And for the first time... they were one step closer to understanding the visions.