New Discoveries

After returning to the station, Jack began sorting through the case files, planning to visit Emma in three days to ask about a few lingering questions. When he had last spoken to the doctor at the hospital, he'd been told that Emma was expected to be discharged in three days. Jack made a mental note: he would speak with her again and get the answers he needed.

But three days later, when Jack knocked on the door of the Carter residence, it was opened by a woman he didn't recognize.

"Can I help you?" the woman asked coldly, eyeing him with mild suspicion.

"I'm looking for Emma Carter…" Jack said, a trace of confusion in his voice.

The woman shook her head. "She sold this house to me. Moved out already."

Jack froze. "When did that happen?"

"Around two weeks ago, I think." Her expression remained unfriendly. "She said she needed money urgently and sold it at a low price. It was such a bargain, I bought it on the spot."

Jack's chest tightened. He continued to press, "Did she take all her belongings with her?"

The woman paused for a second, then answered, "She seemed to have thrown everything out."

Jack's heart sank. He thanked the woman and turned away, his steps heavier than before.

As he made his way back to the station, his thoughts grew increasingly unsettled. On the way, he passed a local supermarket—the same one they'd visited early in the investigation when Rachel first went missing. At the time, employees had confirmed that Rachel had indeed come in three days before she disappeared, but there had been nothing suspicious. Still, something compelled Jack to go in again.

He approached the counter and showed a photo of Emma to the clerk."Have you seen this girl before?"

The employee studied the photo and then said, "Oh yeah, she came in with that other girl who went missing, didn't she?"

Jack's pulse quickened. His eyes narrowed. "They came in together?"

"Sure did," the clerk nodded, thinking back. "They looked like they were having a good time—talking about going camping, I think."

Jack felt a chill run through him. That same creeping unease began to spread again. He didn't ask any more questions. He turned and left the store in a hurry, the words echoing in his mind.

Back at the station, Jack dove into Emma's file again. He flipped through the pages carefully, until something made him stop cold—there it was. A line buried in the adoption documents.

Emma Carter was adopted by the Carters.

The words sat heavy on the page. Jack leaned back in his chair, the implications settling on his shoulders like lead. Emma's adoptive status added a new layer of complexity to the case. But still—it wasn't enough. It didn't prove anything. Not yet.

There was no concrete evidence tying Emma directly to the crime. No reason to contradict the official conclusion that David was the killer. Her background might raise questions, but it didn't change the facts Jack already had.

Emma's sudden disappearance… maybe it was just a young girl trying to escape a life filled with trauma. Or maybe—maybe it was something far more deliberate, and far darker.

But until more proof surfaced, Jack could do nothing.All he could do was bury the doubt deep in his gut, where it would continue to fester in silence.