JASON
By the time evening settled over Silver Hollow, I felt more exhausted than I had all day.
Not physically.
Mentally.
Every new piece of information seemed to create three new questions.
Instead of feeling closer to the truth, I felt as though I was sinking deeper into a maze with no clear exit.
I remained seated behind my desk long after the investigator had left.
The work before me remained untouched.
I had tried reading them.
Several times.
Each attempt ended the same way.
I would finish a page only to realize I hadn't absorbed a single word.
My mind refused to stay focused.
Instead, it kept returning to the same image.
The dead guard.
His body hadn't belonged near that warehouse.
It had been placed there.
Discarded.
Silenced.
Someone had wanted us to believe the
