The Drive

Elena's POV

The phone rang at 3 AM, jolting me awake in my empty Los Angeles apartment.

"Detective Santos, we found another body," my partner Mike's voice crackled through the speaker. "Same killer, same pattern."

I sat up, my heart beating. This was the seventh victim in three months. Seven families destroyed while we chased ghosts. "Where?"

"Downtown. But Elena..." Mike's voice dropped to a whisper. "The captain says we're off the job. Orders from above."

My blood turned cold. "What do you mean, off the case?"

"Someone doesn't want us digging deeper. Someone with power."

I hung up and stared at the ceiling. Ten years as a cop, and I'd never felt so helpless. The system I'd trusted was broken. The people I'd believed in had sold out.

That was six months ago. Now I was driving my beat-up Honda up the twisting coastal road to Moonfall Bay, my German Shepherd Max panting in the backseat. The salty ocean air filled my lungs as I rolled down the windows.

"We're starting over, boy," I told Max, scratching his ears. "No more corrupt friends. No more dead bodies. Just quiet cases like lost cats and cheating husbands."

The town appeared around a bend like something from a picture. White Victorian houses sat on cliffs overlooking a peaceful bay. Fishing boats bobbed in the water. It looked great. Too perfect.

I parked in front of Betty's Bakery and stepped out, stretching my tired muscles. The long drive from LA had taken twelve hours, but I'd needed time to think. Time to figure out who I was without a badge.

"You must be the new private investigator," a cheerful voice called out.

I turned to see a round woman in her sixties wiping flour-covered hands on her apron. Her kind eyes crinkled when she smiled.

"Betty Morrison," she said, offering a warm hand. "Welcome to Moonfall Bay. I'm so glad someone finally rented that office upstairs."

"Elena Santos," I answered, shaking her hand. "Thank you for holding it for me."

"Oh honey, nobody wanted it before you called. People around here prefer to handle their problems quietly." Betty's smile weakened slightly. "Sometimes too quietly."

Before I could ask what she meant, Max started barking furiously inside the car. His hackles were raised, and he was looking at something across the street.

"Max, what's wrong?" I opened the car door and he jumped out, still barking.

That's when I saw him.

A tall guy in a doctor's coat stood in the doorway of the medical clinic across the street. He had light brown hair and tired blue eyes behind wire-rimmed glasses. But it wasn't his appearance that made my detective senses scream. It was the way he was watching me.

His face was carefully blank, but I caught the flash of fear in his eyes when he saw me looking back. Real fear. The kind that comes from having something terrible to hide.

"That's Dr. Archer," Betty said, following my eyes. "Wonderful man. Came here about five years ago from the big city, just like you. Keeps to himself mostly."

The doctor raised his hand in a small wave, then quickly disappeared back inside his office. Max finally stopped barking, but his ears stayed alert.

"Strange," I muttered. "Max usually loves doctors."

"Animals know things we don't," Betty said softly. "Your dog's got good senses. Keep him close."

Another vague warning. In less than five minutes, two people had hinted that Moonfall Bay wasn't as peaceful as it looked. My cop brain started working automatically, filing away information.

Betty helped me take my boxes upstairs to the small office that would be my new home base. It had two rooms - a front office with a desk and chairs, and a back room with a cot where I could sleep if needed. The windows faced the street, giving me a great view of the medical clinic.

"The previous tenant left in a hurry," Betty noted, pointing to some papers scattered on the floor. "Real estate agent. Nice young man named David Chen. One day he was here, next day he was gone. Didn't even take his things."

I bent down to gather the papers, and my blood froze. They weren't real estate papers. They were missing person reports. Seven of them. All young women. All vanished from Moonfall Bay over the past twenty years.

"Betty," I said slowly, "what happened to these girls?"

Betty's face went pale. "Oh my. David must have been... researching area history. Those are old cases. All ruled accidents or runaways."

"Seven accidents?" I studied the photos. Pretty girls, all between sixteen and nineteen. All worked at the same place - Daniels Fish Processing Plant. "The cliffs are dangerous," Betty said quickly. "And young people sometimes make bad choices. Sheriff Daniels always said-" "Sheriff Daniels?" I looked up sharply.

"Marcus Daniels. His family runs the fish plant. They've run this town for generations. Good people. Pillars of the community."

But Betty's hands were shaking as she spoke, and she wouldn't meet my eyes.

I was about to ask more questions when Max started growling again. I looked out the window and saw a black SUV parked across the street. The windows were darkened too dark to see inside, but I could feel someone watching me.

"Who's that?" I asked.

Betty glanced out and quickly stepped away from the window. "I... I should get back to the kitchen. Dinner rush, you know."

She hurried out, leaving me alone with seven missing person reports and a growing belief that I hadn't escaped trouble by coming to Moonfall Bay.

I'd driven straight into it.

The black SUV's engine started, and it slowly drove away. But I had the feeling whoever was inside had seen everything they needed to see.

My phone buzzed with a text from an unknown number: "Welcome to Moonfall Bay, Detective Santos. Some secrets should stay buried."

My hands shook as I read the message again. Nobody here knew I was a detective. I'd told Betty I was a private detective. So who had sent this?

And how did they get my number?