June 10, 2024
David Johnson
It has been exactly one week since Lily Taylor was kidnapped. Since that day, reporters have practically set up camp in front of the police station; they are ready to trample one another for the slightest leak that holds any news value.
A whole week... and there isn't a single eyewitness from that night. The security cameras recorded what looks like a magic trick; Lily enters that alleyway and never appears in another frame. Whoever took her knows exactly where the blind spots are, like the back of their hand.
"Damn it! How is it possible that we don't have a single frame of that bastard's face?"
If we don't find a new lead soon, the case might be taken away from me. Even worse, we might encounter a cold corpse instead of a living woman.
Throughout my career, I've witnessed people killing each other for reasons that wouldn't even fill a nutshell. I'm tired of seeing these images.
Finding Lily Taylor's body is the last thing I want, but as time passes, that possibility looms over us like a nightmare.
June 17, 2024
An anonymous tip came into the station at the crack of dawn. The caller was hiding their identity. As suspicious as it seemed, we had nothing else but this voice. It felt like a miracle that someone would have seen a kidnapping in a deserted street in the dead of night. I held my breath as I listened to the officer's phone conversation.
— "I'm calling about Lily Taylor... I saw that woman walking on the street on the date mentioned in the newspaper. I didn't pay much attention at the time, but someone was following her. If I'd known it would turn out like this, I would have warned her."
— "Did you see the person's face?"
— "No, I was too far away. He was wearing a black T-shirt and pants of the same color. If I remember correctly, he was thin. That's all I remember."
And the phone hung up.
"Damn it! The man didn't give a single piece of useful information!"
A thin man in black clothes in the dark... This description could fit thousands of people in the city. Besides, eyewitness memory is deceptive; people often misremember colors and clothing in moments of stress. We scanned the cameras again; there were dozens of people matching that description, but none were seen following Lily. We were back where we started. For two weeks, we've been spinning in the same dark circle.
June 24, 2024
In the intervening time, there have been no developments other than the increase in the number of journalists at the door. A few more anonymous calls came in, but they were all baseless or useless tips. I went to the high school where Lily worked many times. I talked to the teachers for hours, but the result was always the same:
"She was antisocial, very successful in her job, she had no problems with anyone..."
This information didn't help us find Lily; it only helped us understand how lonely she was. Why would a woman with no enemies be targeted? Why her, out of all these people? The moment I find the answer to this "why," I will find Lily Taylor.
June 25, 2024
Early this morning, a man came to the station's front desk. He claimed to know Lily Taylor and wanted to provide important information.
Was a glimmer of light finally leaking through that blind spot?