12,004
“Caroline Simms never picked up her son that morning.”
A photo filled the screen—Caroline laughing, her toddler reaching toward the camera.
“Her parents were the ones who reported her missing.”
Lila glanced toward the control room.
Micah raised his eyebrows slightly.
The chat feed was moving so fast it was almost unreadable—a bright, scrolling wall of reaction to a woman who had simply stopped being there.
“She would never leave that baby,” Lila said. “That’s what her family told investigators.”
The image behind her shifted again:
Construction equipment.
A development logo.
“Caroline had been dating a local developer named David Mercer.”
Lila kept her tone neutral.
“Mercer cooperated fully with police.”
She didn’t speak right away.
“No charges were ever filed.”
The screen behind her filled with old newspaper clippings:
SYLVA WOMAN MISSING
SEARCH CONTINUES
“Caroline’s father searched across western North Carolina for months.”
Images flickered past:
Flyers taped to gas station doors.
Trailhead bulletin boards.
Telephone poles along mountain roads.
“Sylva. Waynesville. Asheville. Cherokee. Even Gatlinburg.”
Lila leaned slightly closer to the microphone.
“And then something unusual happened.”
The image changed again:
A missing poster.
Weathered.
