4338.213 · August 1, 2018 AD
Interstate Inquiry
Detective Jeremy Harding stares at his phone, weighing whether to trust a colleague's instinct about Luke Smith. Paul's been missing over a week—last seen boarding a flight his brother purchased. The mathematics don't add up. So Jeremy bypasses official channels and calls Hobart directly. One name. One profane response. Five people already disappeared. And Paul just became number six.
Paul Smith storms out after a heated argument, flies to Tasmania on a ticket his helpful brother purchased, and vanishes. Eight days. No contact. Wife reports him missing. Should be routine—domestic dispute, cooling-off period, embarrassed return.
Except Detective Dave Santos dropped a casual warning about Luke Smith. About concerns from Tasmania. About other missing persons. The kind of careful comment that means someone's instincts are screaming but the evidence isn't there yet.
Jeremy doesn't wait for bureaucracy. He picks up the phone, calls Hobart CID, reaches Detective Karl Jenkins. Within minutes, one name transforms everything. The routine missing person case becomes something far darker. Five disappearances Karl's been tracking. Five people who vanished without trace. And Luke—the helpful brother who bought the plane ticket—sits at the centre of it all.
From his window overlooking Argent Street, the Barrier Ranges stand eternal and indifferent. But Jeremy's quiet posting to the outback has just shattered.
Paul didn't just go missing.
He walked straight into a trap baited by his own brother.
And the investigation has only just begun.
