Chapter 3: The Ghost in the Machine
Elias's apartment was less of a home and more of a memory palace. The walls were covered in corkboards, but they were empty. He didn't need the boards; he had the hyperthymesia.
He closed his eyes. March 12, 2006. 11:04 PM. Rain hitting the windshield at 20 beats per minute. My father's breath smelling of peppermint and cheap scotch. He told me to stay in the car.
That was the night of the original Blackwood murder. His father had emerged from the warehouse thirty minutes later, his face pale, saying the suspect was dead in a fire.
The phone rang, shattering the memory. It was Julianna.
"Elias, I found something. The Senator's son? He wasn't the first 'new' victim. I found a Jane Doe in the morgue from three weeks ago. Same bruising. Same surgical precision. But someone suppressed the autopsy report."
"Who signed off on the suppression?" Elias asked, his heart hammering.
"That's the thing," Julianna's voice dropped to a whisper. "The digital signature belongs to your father's old partner. Captain Miller."
Elias looked at the clock. It was 3:14 AM. The exact time his father used to wake up screaming. "Meet me at the old shipyard in twenty minutes. Don't tell anyone."