Cal stared at the radio, willing it to crackle.

Static, then silence.

No one had heard from Hadley Carr in forty-eight hours.

He tried not to think the worst. She was resourceful. Smart. Maybe the power went out again. Maybe she’d driven into Stanley and gotten stuck behind a downed tree.

But he’d been to her cabin that morning.

The fire was out. The door was unlocked. No tracks in the snow.

Gone.

Vanished.

And no sign of a struggle - which, somehow, made it worse.

He sat at his desk, half-finished reports pushed aside, a trail map spread in front of him. His pen hovered over the grid, circling the place she mentioned in her last message: Echo Point.

He hadn’t thought about that ridge in years.

Old-timers called it cursed. Back in the sixties, a controlled burn there had gone sideways, and two firefighters were never found. Hikers avoided it. The trail didn’t even show up on the newer maps anymore.

Cal leaned back and rubbed his jaw. The last few times they’d talked, Hadley had looked… different. Distracted. Like she was remembering something she didn’t want to.

Or couldn’t.

He replayed their last hike in his mind - the way she’d gripped that old notebook, the strange photo, the look in her eyes when she said someone had been watching her.

He hadn’t pushed then. Maybe he should’ve.

A knock at the door pulled him out of it.

Deputy Lang stepped in, brushing snow from his shoulders. “You heard anything?”

Cal shook his head.

Lang hesitated. “We found tracks near the overlook. One set. Headed straight to the drop. No sign of anyone coming back.”

“She didn’t jump,” Cal said quietly.

Lang didn’t argue.

After he left, Cal sat a long time in the quiet, staring at the ridge lines on the map.

Then he stood. Pulled on his boots. Packed water, food, the small sidearm he kept under lock.

He was done waiting.

If Hadley was still out there, he was going to find her.

And if she wasn’t-

He was going to find out why.

Continue reading (Chapter-2) » Sometimes the only way to find someone is to follow the pieces they didn’t mean to leave behind.