Echoes of the Vanished Boy

Previously

…This wasn't going to be simple. The man was a ghost, and Chris's disappearance, a carefully orchestrated vanishing act. The stone in his hand felt heavy, a tangible piece of an intangible puzzle. It was a clue, yes, but a clue to what? A game? A lure? Or something far more sinister? The woods held their secrets close, but Miller was a man who understood that secrets, like echoes, eventually found their way back to the surface. He slipped the stone carefully into an evidence bag, his gaze returning to the dark, impenetrable mass of trees. The hunt had begun in earnest, and the silence of the woods was no longer just an absence of sound, but a pregnant pause before a storm.