Run: 2026-02-20-01KHY9G7032JSC2DKKRKTAS5ZG

Isabella sat at an outdoor table in the heart of Alborn's quaint main street cafe, the late afternoon sun casting a golden hue over the town's apple orchards in the distance. The air smelled of fresh coffee and cinnamon from the nearby bakery, a staple of the small Minnesota community gearing up for its annual apple festival. She fiddled with the settings on her landscape camera, reviewing photos of the rolling hills she'd captured earlier that day. But her mind was elsewhere—haunted by the shadowy figure she'd glimpsed near the old mill the night before, during one of the recent disappearances that had the town whispering. Footsteps approached, and she looked up to see a tall man in a worn leather jacket, his expression stern and purposeful. Detective Hunter, though she didn't know his name yet, scanned the cafe patrons before zeroing in on her. He pulled out the chair opposite her without asking and sat down, flashing his badge briefly. "Excuse me, miss," Hunter said, his voice gravelly from years of fieldwork. "I'm Detective Hunter with the Alborn PD. Mind if I ask you a few questions? You were near the old mill last night, right? Taking pictures? We're looking into that disappearance—folks are saying they saw someone out there around dusk." Isabella's eyes widened, her hands trembling slightly on the camera. She hadn't reported it yet, too shaken to approach the local authorities with her limited English. Swallowing hard, she responded in a rush of Italian, her voice laced with distress. Isabella: "I—io non so cosa ho visto esattamente. Era buio, un uomo... o qualcosa... vicino al mulino. Ho sentito un urlo, ma poi è sparito. Ho paura, non dovrei essere qui da sola!" Hunter blinked, his brow furrowing in confusion. He leaned forward, trying to parse the words, but they might as well have been another language—which, of course, they were. He rubbed the back of his neck, glancing around as if hoping for a translator to materialize in the sleepy town. "Uh... I'm sorry, what? English? Do you speak English?" He pulled out his notebook anyway, gesturing vaguely toward the mill's direction. "Did you see anything suspicious? A guy? Yelling? Anything like that?" Isabella shook her head, her accent thick even in her hesitation, but she pressed on in Italian, gesturing wildly with her hands toward the horizon, mimicking a shadowy figure slinking away. Her face paled as she relived the moment. Isabella: "No, no inglese! Era alto, con un cappotto scuro. Mi ha guardata... pensavo fosse parte del festival, ma no, era sbagliato. La polizia... dovete controllare lì!" Hunter nodded slowly, frustration etching his features. He was no stranger to dead ends, but a language barrier in a town this small was a new wrinkle. He tried charades of his own, pointing to his ear and then shouting silently, mouthing "yell?" and "man?" while sketching a quick outline of a person in his notebook. "Look, if you saw something, it's important. The disappearances—three people gone in the last month. You point, I write." Isabella leaned in, her voice dropping to a urgent whisper as she tapped the photo on her camera screen—a blurry shot of the mill at twilight, something indistinct in the foreground. She rattled off more details, her words tumbling out faster. Isabella: "Guardate qui! Nella foto... non è chiaro, ma lui era lì. Qualcuno sta scomparendo, lo so! Per favore, capite—è pericoloso!" Hunter squinted at the screen, jotting notes phonetically, his no-nonsense demeanor cracking just a bit with empathy for her fear. He was about to pull out his phone for a translation app when it buzzed insistently in his pocket. He glanced at the caller ID—dispatch—and sighed, standing up abruptly. "Hold that thought. I gotta take this. Stay safe, alright? We'll figure this out." He tipped his hat slightly and hurried off toward his unmarked car parked nearby, leaving Isabella clutching her camera, her heart still racing. **Voice Sheet - Dialogue Between Isabella and Hunter** Isabella: "I—io non so cosa ho visto esattamente. Era buio, un uomo... o qualcosa... vicino al mulino. Ho sentito un urlo, ma poi è sparito. Ho paura, non dovrei essere qui da sola!" Hunter: "Uh... I'm sorry, what? English? Do you speak English?" Isabella: "No, no inglese! Era alto, con un cappotto scuro. Mi ha guardata... pensavo fosse parte del festival, ma no, era sbagliato. La polizia... dovete controllare lì!" Hunter: "Look, if you saw something, it's important. The disappearances—three people gone in the last month. You point, I write." Isabella: "Guardate qui! Nella foto... non è chiaro, ma lui era lì. Qualcuno sta scomparendo, lo so! Per favore, capite—è pericoloso!" Hunter: "Hold that thought. I gotta take this. Stay safe, alright? We'll figure this out."