Samuel Baker's Arc

Chapter 2 of 3

Samuel left the cottage with the journal tucked inside his jacket. The evidence felt solid against his ribs as he walked home through the frost. He spent the evening making copies, organizing the entries by date, matching them against his own calendar. The police would have to listen now. He had witnesses. He had documentation. He had proof. The next morning, Samuel walked to the government complex downtown with the journal and his folder. The stone building loomed over the square, its frosted windows reflecting nothing. Inside, he waited at the desk for forty minutes before they told him the detective wasn't available. He left the copies anyway, along with a note requesting a meeting. On his way out, he noticed a stone barrier near the entrance he'd never seen before. Ice covered the surface, and symbols were carved into it. A metal plate at the top read WARNING in block letters. He didn't remember it being there last week. When Samuel got back to the cottage that afternoon, something was wrong. His neighbor stood in her doorway, her face pale. She pointed to the wooden post by her garden without speaking. A torn notice was pinned to it, the paper stiff with frost. Dark red stains spread across the bottom half, still wet enough to drip. Samuel pulled it free. The text was brief: "Interference in official matters carries consequences. Return all materials immediately." No signature. No agency name. Just the stain and the threat. Samuel folded the notice and put it in his pocket. His neighbor asked if he was going to stop, her voice shaking. He looked at the journal still tucked under his arm, then back at her. "They came to your house," he said quietly. "Because of me." She nodded. He understood what the notice meant. Continuing would put her in danger. Continuing would cost him the only person who had tried to help. But he also understood something else now. Someone with authority wanted him to stop looking. Which meant there was something to find. He thanked his neighbor and told her he wouldn't come back. He would keep searching, but he would do it alone. She closed her door, and he walked home with the journal and the bloodstained warning both pressed against his chest.