Chapter 5
The Father's Shadow
Mr. Miller appears distraught but his intense worry seems to conceal something. Harding suspects he knows more than he's revealing about Mary.
Detective Harding watched Mr. Miller twist his hands, the knuckles white as bone. The man’s eyes, red-rimmed and hollowed, darted around the sterile interrogation room as if searching for an escape route, not for answers. Every tremor in his voice, every stammered plea for his daughter’s safe return, felt rehearsed. Harding had seen grief before, raw and ragged, but this was different. This was a performance.
"She wouldn't just… leave, Detective," Mr. Miller insisted, his voice cracking. He swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing like a trapped bird. "Mary is a good girl. She's… she's sensible."
Harding leaned back, the cheap plastic chair groaning in protest. He steepled his fingers, his gaze steady on Mr. Miller. "Sensible girls don't vanish into thin air, Mr. Miller. They don't leave behind a neatly made bed and a perfectly empty room. They leave something. A note, a sign, a hint."
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