4338.209 · July 28, 2018 AD
Interview Room Three
Detective Sarah Lahey arrives for another day at Hobart Police Station, trying to bury personal turmoil beneath professional routine. Sergeant Claiborne summons her urgently to Interview Room Three—a room reserved for cases that leave fingerprints on souls. Inside waits Louise Jeffries, reporting her son and brother missing. When Louise accuses Luke Smith of harm and demands to speak with Karl Jenkins specifically, Sarah realises nothing about this case will be routine.
Sarah Lahey's morning begins like any other—arriving early, compartmentalising personal complications, seeking refuge in the structured world of police work where chaos bows to logic and truth can be hunted. But before she can settle into the comfortable disorder of her desk, Sergeant Claiborne appears with an urgent summons.
Interview Room Three. Never used lightly.
Inside, she meets Louise Jeffries—mid-forties, exhausted, holding herself together through sheer will. Two people are missing: Louise's son Kain and her brother Jamie. But this isn't a standard missing persons report. Louise speaks with unsettling certainty about Jamie's partner, Luke Smith. She doesn't suspect he's involved—she knows he's done harm.
The interview takes an unexpected turn when Louise addresses Sergeant Claiborne by his first name, revealing a shared history Sarah knew nothing about. Then comes the demand that changes everything: Louise wants Detective Karl Jenkins. Despite Claiborne's caution, despite protocol, despite everything, she insists.
Sarah is dispatched to find her partner—the one who promised to be in early but isn't there. As she leaves Interview Room Three, the weight of Louise's certainty follows her into the corridor. This case has already become personal, and it hasn't even officially begun.
