Chapter 29: She’s Gone

*Dante*

A leaden knot of dread formed in the pit of my stomach, but I mustered my most dispassionate look. "An incident, you say? I'm afraid I'll need more than that rather vague explanation before I can–"

"It's your man, Mr. DeLuca," the second detective cut me off, looking distinctly uncomfortable. "You'd best come see for yourself. But we need to go now, sir."

Every protective instinct I had flared at the unspoken urgency in the man's voice. Something horrible had happened–something bad enough to make even decorated police detectives ill at ease.

I was already reaching for my coat and ushering them back out into the hall. "Very well, let's get on with it then. And officers...you'd better tell me everything you know on the way." 

The grim ride passed in tense silence, the only sound the intermittent crackle of the cruiser's radio. When we finally arrived at our destination–an overgrown clearing deep in the woods upstate–I felt the bottom drop out of my stomach.