Run: 2026-07-01-01KWEA9XGTAGG444C4S80A3TEH

The bell above the café door jingled as Hunter stepped in, his eyes scanning the room until they landed on Selvi. She sat alone at a small corner table, hunched over her camera, scrolling through the photos on its screen with a frown creasing her brow. Her coffee sat untouched beside her, gone cold. Hunter approached, pulling out the chair across from her without asking. He'd been running on too little sleep and too many dead ends to bother with pleasantries. --- **Hunter:** "Ms. Sharma? I'm Detective Hunter. I understand you were out by Miller's Creek yesterday morning. Taking pictures. I need to ask you a few questions about what you might've seen out there." **Selvi:** *(startled, gripping her camera tighter)* "क्या? मुझे... मुझे समझ नहीं आया। आप क्या कह रहे हैं?" **Hunter:** *(blinking, taken aback)* "...I'm sorry, what?" **Selvi:** *(shaking her head, voice trembling)* "वह... वह बहुत डरावना था। मैंने कुछ देखा, कुछ बहुत गलत था वहाँ। मुझे नहीं पता कि मैं क्या करूँ।" **Hunter:** "Ma'am, I don't— I don't understand a word of that. Do you speak any English at all?" **Selvi:** *(pressing her hand to her chest, eyes welling up)* "मुझे डर लग रहा है। कृपया, कोई मेरी मदद करे।" **Hunter:** *(leaning back, rubbing his temple)* "Okay. Okay, just— hang on a second." *(pulls out his phone, thumbs typing quickly)* "Let me try something here." **Selvi:** *(watching him, still shaken, clutching the camera to her chest like a shield)* "आप... आप क्या कर रहे हैं?" **Hunter:** *(holding up the phone screen, a translation app open)* "This—can you read this? I'm trying to ask what you saw yesterday. At the creek." **Selvi:** *(leaning in, reading carefully, then nodding slowly)* "हाँ... हाँ, मैं समझ गयी।" *(taking a breath, she types her own response into the phone)* **Hunter:** *(reading the translated text on his screen, his jaw tightening)* "You saw someone running? In the woods, near the water—was there anyone else with them?" **Selvi:** *(nodding vigorously, pointing to the camera)* "मैंने तस्वीरें लीं। शायद उनमें कुछ हो।" *(she turns the camera toward him, scrolling to a blurred photograph of the tree line)* **Hunter:** *(squinting at the small screen, then pulling out a notepad)* "This could be something. I'm gonna need copies of these. All of them, if you don't mind." **Selvi:** *(understanding the gesture more than the words, nodding again)* "ठीक है। जो भी मदद करे।" Just then, Hunter's phone buzzed sharply against the table. He glanced at the screen, and whatever he saw there made his expression harden further. **Hunter:** "Damn it." *(standing abruptly, chair scraping against the floor)* "I have to go. Look—stay here, don't go anywhere. I'll send someone to get those photos, alright?" **Selvi:** *(confused by his sudden urgency, half-rising from her seat)* "क्या हुआ? आप कहाँ जा रहे हैं?" **Hunter:** *(already halfway to the door, calling back)* "I'll get someone who speaks your language, I promise! Just—stay put!" The door swung shut behind him, the bell jingling once more, and Selvi was left alone at the table, camera clutched tightly in her trembling hands, staring after him with no idea what had just happened.