Christopher James Owen

Case File 018-062: The Owen Investigation

Conservationists Karen and Chris Owen, aged fifty-seven and forty-five, vanished from their remote Collinsvale cottage around 27 July 2018. A neighbour's 000 call three days later brought police to an open front door, daisies on the verandah, and a blood trail belonging to no one the investigation could identify. Their vehicle disappeared. Their geese fell silent. A witness described activity she was geographically incapable of observing. The case offered everything except an explanation.

July 26, 2018 AD

Cutting the Power

Chris Owen has a list. The stone fruit needs pruning, the compost needs turning, and there's a drainage problem at the shed footer that's been waiting long enough. Then there's the junction box — old rubber, bare copper, someone else's problem that became his. The sensible thing would have been to leave it for morning. Chris has never been particularly interested in the sensible thing. By the time the floodlight goes up and the ground freezes around him, the house has been dark for hours.