By one in the afternoon I found a sidewalk cafe and was enjoying lunch when I was suddenly surrounded by police.

Two squads and four officers weapons drawn ordered me to my feet and slammed me face down onto the table while I was handcuffed. I was shoved into the backseat of one of the squad cars and whisk off to the police station without any...

Backwater Bridge rose ahead, old and worn, stretching over the slow, dark river like it had something to prove.Two patrol cars waited along the shoulder.Randy stood near the railing. Steve and Tom were a few feet off, already scanning the area.

Randy looked up as they stepped out.
“Chief.”
“Randy.”
“Didn’t think you’d get your first day back this...

“Funny place to meet,” he said, voice steady, carrying just enough to break the silence. Footsteps answered him.

Slow. Measured.Not hiding.

A figure stepped out from the shadows between two abandoned freight cars. No rush. No fear. Just certainty.

Derek’s jaw tightened. “Didn’t think it’d be you,” he said.

“That’s the problem, Chief,” the figure...