Chapter 2 - The Footprints in the Dark
Liam dropped to one knee and snatched up Nora’s ring.
It was freezing cold.
The folded note beside it was damp along one edge. He opened it just enough to see the first handwritten words.
Liam, I tried—
The rest was folded underneath.
His hands shook too badly to continue.
“Where is she?” he whispered.
Gwen remained several feet behind him.
“I don’t know.”
Liam looked down at the wet marks crossing the floor. At first, they appeared to run from the hallway toward the balcony.
But Nora had been barefoot.
These prints were narrow.
Sharp at the heel.
Liam slowly turned his head toward Gwen’s beige shoes.
She took a step backward.
“Don’t look at me like that.”
“You went outside.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“There’s snow on your heel.”
Gwen glanced down too quickly.
That tiny movement changed something in Liam’s face.
The rage he had aimed at Nora collapsed into dread.
He rushed toward the hallway, shouting Nora’s name. He checked the bathroom, bedroom, stairwell, and elevator lobby.
Nothing.
When he returned, Gwen had picked up the note.
Liam tore it from her hand.
“What are you doing?”
“Trying to help.”
“You’ve helped enough.”
He unfolded the paper.
Most of the message was missing.
The bottom half had been ripped away.
Only four lines remained:
Liam, I tried to protect you.
The transfers weren’t what Gwen said.
Please look inside the blue—
The sentence ended at the torn edge.
Gwen’s face went pale.
Liam looked up.
“What blue thing, Gwen?”
May you like
For the first time that night, his sister had no answer.
👉 Before Gwen could invent one, someone began pounding on the apartment door.
