CHAPTER 3 — THE SECRET OF LOCKER 317
CHAPTER 3 — THE SECRET OF LOCKER 317
Despite the confusing evidence, Detective Foster couldn't ignore one fact.
Someone had dropped the key.
Locker 317 sat inside an abandoned train station scheduled for demolition.
When officers cut the old padlock open, a rotten smell drifted into the hallway.
Inside were dozens of cardboard boxes.
Each one labeled with a woman's name.
Each containing photographs.
Work schedules.
Home addresses.
Daily routines.
Every victim had been followed for months.
Emma's box was the newest.
It contained photos taken only days earlier.
Pictures of her leaving work.
Buying groceries.
Standing on her apartment balcony.
Even sleeping through her bedroom window.
The officers fell silent.
Someone had been watching her long before that night.
Then Detective Foster found one final envelope.
Across the front, written in neat black ink:
"IF YOU FOUND THIS, I'M ALREADY DEAD."
Inside was a handwritten confession.
The masked man wasn't a serial killer.
His real name was Daniel Mercer.
He had once worked for a private security company.
Months earlier, he discovered an underground organization that kidnapped young women, erased their identities, and sold them into international human trafficking networks.
He stole the evidence.
They hunted him.
The knife...
Was never meant for Emma.
He carried it because they wanted him dead.
He had followed her because he learned she was the next target.
Before he could explain...
Police sirens scared him away.
Detective Foster's phone suddenly rang.
His face drained of color.
"What?"
He looked at Emma.
"The evidence room..."
"It's empty."
Every photograph.
Every document.
Every file from Locker 317...
Had disappeared.
Someone inside the police department had helped erase everything.
May you like
Emma realized the nightmare wasn't over.
It had only grown bigger.
