Chapter 1 - The Radio
“I’m still under the station.”
Emily’s voice burst through the radio beside her own memorial portrait.
Every officer in the briefing hall turned toward the floor.
Captain Harris reached across the flowers and pressed the mute control.
The transmission died.
Detective Maya caught his wrist before he could touch another button.
“Why did you know which channel?”
Harris froze.
When he pulled his hand away, an old brass key slipped from his uniform jacket and landed beside Emily’s badge.
Senior Officer Reed stared at it.
“That opens the sealed basement.”
Exactly three knocks sounded beneath the polished floor.
No one moved.
Harris looked toward the basement-stairwell door before he could stop himself.
The radio crackled again.
“Don’t let the captain come down.”
Maya picked up the key.
Harris’s face had turned pale.
“This could be a recorded prank.”
Reed looked at him.
“You muted the correct channel before anyone checked it.”
Harris straightened his uniform.
“I recognized the frequency.”
“It was removed from active service eleven years ago,” Maya replied.
The room fell silent.
Emily had disappeared three weeks earlier while reviewing old evidence-storage records.
Harris told the department she left the station distressed.
Two days later, her abandoned car was found near a river.
No body was recovered.
Yet Harris arranged a memorial before the official missing-person review ended.
Maya looked at the framed portrait, the flowers and the badge presented as though Emily could no longer reclaim it.
“Why were you so certain she was dead?”
Harris did not answer.
Then another sound came from beneath the floor.
Not knocking.
A metal file drawer sliding open.
May you like
And Emily’s voice returned through the radio:
“He’s holding the ledger.”
