Run: 2026-03-11-01KKFFX2DS79C3ZNCJ0EZJ4JNN

# The Café on Elm Street --- Hunter approached the small corner table where Maria sat hunched over her camera, scrolling through the images on its display. A half-eaten blueberry muffin sat beside her coffee cup, long since gone cold. **Hunter:** "Excuse me — miss? I'm Detective Hunter, Alborn PD. Mind if I sit down?" **Maria:** "¿Qué? ...¿Policía? No entiendo. Hablo español." **Hunter:** "I... uh, okay. English? Do you speak English?" **Maria:** "No, no inglés. Solo español. Lo siento." **Hunter:** "Right. Okay. Look, I'll just..." *(pulls out a small notepad and sketches a rough drawing of a person with a question mark)* "...person... you... see... anything?" **Maria:** *(looking at the notepad, then turning her camera around to show him a photo)* "Mire. Esta foto... la tomé cerca del lago. Había una persona allí, detrás de los árboles. Desapareció después. Fue... fue muy raro. Me asusté mucho." **Hunter:** "I have no idea what you just said, but that photo — can I see that again?" **Maria:** *(zooms in on the image, pointing at a dark figure partially hidden among the trees near the lake)* "Allí. ¿Ve? Alguien estaba allí. No era... normal. Mi amiga Jenna dice que tres personas han desaparecido. ¿Es verdad?" **Hunter:** *(staring at the photo, jaw tightening)* "That's... that's near Miller's Lake. That's where the last one was reported. When did you take this?" **Maria:** "No entiendo. ¿Cuándo? Ayer. Ayer por la tarde, antes del atardecer." **Hunter:** "Yesterday. Okay, I'm getting *yesterday*. Was this yesterday?" **Maria:** *(nodding vigorously)* "Sí, sí. Ayer. ¿Entiende?" **Hunter:** "Yesterday — good. How long was this person standing there?" **Maria:** *(holding up three fingers)* "Tres... tres minutos, tal vez. Después, nada. Se esfumó. Como los otros, ¿verdad?" **Hunter:** *(writing in his notepad)* "Three minutes. Three minutes and then gone." *(looks at Maria seriously)* "I need you to stay away from that lake. I mean it." **Maria:** "El lago... ¿peligroso? ¿Es peligroso?" **Hunter:** "Dangerous, yes. Very dangerous. Please." **Maria:** *(crossing her arms, troubled)* "Mis fotos... tengo más fotos de ese día. ¿Quiere verlas?" **Hunter:** "More? You have more photos? Yes — yes, show me." **Maria:** *(scrolling through her camera, showing a series of landscape shots of the lake, the tree line, the fading afternoon light)* "Aquí... aquí... y aquí. ¿Ve algo?" **Hunter:** *(leaning in, studying each image carefully)* "Wait — go back. That one. There's something on the ground near the dock. Can you zoom in?" **Maria:** "¿El muelle? Sí, espere..." *(zooms in on the dock area, revealing what appears to be a torn piece of fabric caught on the wooden railing)* **Hunter:** *(exhaling slowly)* "That could be evidence. Miss — Maria, right? Maria, I'm going to need you to come down to the station and let us copy these photos. Can you do that?" **Maria:** "¿Estación de policía? Sí, puedo ir. Pero, detective..." **Hunter:** "Yeah?" **Maria:** *(her voice quieter now, eyes uncertain)* "Tengo miedo." **Hunter:** *(pausing, not understanding the words but clearly catching the tone)* "...I don't know what that means, but I'm going to keep you safe. That's a promise." *(Hunter's phone rings. He glances at the screen and his expression hardens.)* **Hunter:** "I have to take this." *(answers the phone)* "Hunter here. ...When? ...Miller's Lake *again*? I'm on my way." *(He hangs up and turns back to Maria, already rising from his chair.)* **Hunter:** "I have to go. Right now. But take this." *(slides a business card across the table)* "Station address is on the back. Go there today. Ask for Officer Delvecchio — she speaks some Spanish. And Maria?" **Maria:** "¿Sí?" **Hunter:** "Stay away from that lake." *(He's gone before she can respond, the bell above the café door chiming behind him. Maria looks down at the business card, then back at her camera — at the dark figure among the trees — and shivers.)*