Scarlett Reeves's Arc

Chapter 1 of 1

Scarlett keeps the napkin in her jacket pocket, folded tight against her ribs where she can feel its edges through the leather. Three years, four months, and eleven days since Maya's sister vanished, and the napkin has worn soft from her fingers tracing the number she's never dialed. She pulls it out now, sitting alone in her apartment with the phone in her other hand, because every lead has dried up and desperation tastes like failure. But before she can press the first digit, her phone rings. The screen lights up with the exact number written on the napkin in faded ink. Her breath stops. She answers without thinking, and a woman's voice comes through, calm and certain. "Scarlett Reeves," the voice says, not a question. "You've been carrying that napkin long enough. It's time we talked about what you're really looking for." The napkin slips from Scarlett's fingers and falls to the floor, and for the first time in three years, someone else is controlling the search. The voice gives her an address and nothing else. Scarlett finds herself standing under a light post an hour later, its black metal frame glowing with soft lavender light that makes the street look like something out of a dream. Black swirls twist up the post like smoke frozen in metal. She's early, but she can't go back to waiting. A figure steps out from the shadows beyond the purple glow, and Scarlett's hand curls into a fist at her side. The promise she made to Maya burns in her chest. This person knows where bodies are buried. Scarlett is about to find out if one of them belongs to the girl she swore to find.