Run: 2026-07-01-01KWE8TJ0658PWRZYJM3EA8PY5

The frost-rimmed window of the Alborn Café framed Maria perfectly as she scrolled through the images on her camera's small display, her dark eyebrows knitted together. Outside, the last of the apple festival banners still clung to their lampposts, tattered and forgotten now that something far darker had settled over the town. Hunter pushed through the door, the little bell above it jingling against the silence. He'd noticed her three days running now, always alone, always with that camera. In a town where everyone knew everyone, the stranger with the Spanish accent had caught his attention — especially since she'd been seen near the old mill the night Ted Baugher vanished. He approached her table, pulling out his badge more out of habit than necessity. Maria: "¿Otra vez esto? No sé nada más de lo que ya dije." Hunter: "Ma'am, I need to ask you about last Tuesday night. Down by the mill. You were there, weren't you?" Maria: "No entiendo lo que dice. ¿Puede hablar más despacio?" Hunter: "I'm gonna need you to answer my question. The mill. Tuesday night. Did you see anything?" Maria: *(her hands trembling slightly as she clutched the camera closer)* "Vi algo... algo que no puedo explicar. Una luz extraña, y luego... nada. Desapareció todo." Hunter: *(frowning, leaning in)* "Light? Was there a light? Ma'am, I don't— I can't understand you. Do you speak any English at all?" Maria: "Lo siento, no hablo inglés. Solo un poco... muy poco." Hunter: *(rubbing his temple, frustrated)* "Great. Perfect timing for a language barrier." He glanced around the café as if searching for someone who might translate, but the few patrons scattered about kept their eyes down, unwilling to get involved. Maria pushed her camera toward him hesitantly, turning the screen so he could see. Maria: "Mire. Las fotos. Tal vez... tal vez esto ayude." Hunter: *(looking at the screen, squinting at the blurred nighttime images)* "What am I even looking at here? Is this the mill?" Maria: "Sí, el molino. Esa noche. Hay algo detrás de los árboles, ¿ve? Una sombra." Hunter: "A shadow. Okay. I see a shadow. But I need to know what *you* saw, not just what your camera caught." Maria: *(shaking her head, visibly shaken)* "Tenía miedo. Escuché un grito, y corrí. No miré atrás. Lo siento, sé que esto no ayuda mucho." Hunter sighed, pulling out a small notepad from his jacket pocket, jotting down what little he could piece together — a shriek, a shadow, a photograph he didn't fully understand. He needed a translator, and fast. This woman had seen something, that much was clear even through the fog of language. His phone buzzed sharply against the table. He glanced at the screen — DEPARTMENT — and answered immediately, his posture straightening. Hunter: "Yeah. Talk to me... Where? ...I'll be there in ten." He shoved the phone back into his pocket, already rising from his seat. Hunter: "I have to go. Look — stay in town. Don't leave. I'll find someone who can translate, and we'll finish this conversation properly. You understand? Stay. Here. In Alborn." Maria: *(catching only fragments, but understanding the urgency in his tone)* "Sí, sí... entiendo. Me quedaré." He paused at the door, glancing back at her one last time — at the trembling hands, the haunted eyes, the camera she clutched like a lifeline. Whatever she'd seen out at that mill, it had frightened her badly. And in a town where three people had vanished without a trace, that fear felt like the first real lead he'd had all week. The bell jingled again as he disappeared into the gray afternoon, leaving Maria alone with her photographs and the cold weight of a secret she couldn't yet share.