Run: 2026-07-25-01KYCW0NFZKCKWBVQQFSNM0MTT

The late-afternoon light in Alborn filtered through the café windows, carrying the sweet scent of the upcoming apple festival. Marie sat alone at a corner table, her camera cradled in both hands as she scrolled through landscape shots of the orchard at dawn. When Detective Hunter approached—broad-shouldered, direct, and clearly out of place among the checkered tablecloths—she startled, pulling the camera closer. **Voice Sheet** Marie: "Bonjour... vous m'avez fait peur. Je regardais seulement mes photos du paysage." [Hello... you startled me. I was only looking at my landscape photos.] [She clutches her camera tightly.] Hunter: "Marie? Detective Hunter. I'm asking about the disappearances near the orchard—it's part of my investigation in Alborn. Did you see anything unusual?" Marie: "Un détective ? Je... je ne parle pas anglais, monsieur. Mais les disparitions... mon Dieu, j'ai vu quelque chose près des pommiers avant l'aube." [A detective? I... I don't speak English, sir. But the disappearances... my God, I saw something near the apple trees before dawn.] [She looks troubled and shaken, her voice trembling.] Hunter: "I don't speak French. I don't understand a word of that." [He looks genuinely confused, leaning back with a frown.] Marie: "Oui, c'est le problème ! Vous parlez trop vite... mais regardez, sur mon appareil !" [Yes, that is the problem! You speak too quickly... but look, on my camera!] [She turns the screen toward him, her finger trembling over a blurry image.] Hunter: "Photos. Okay. Show me slowly." [He leans in, examining the frame with a marine’s disciplined focus.] Marie: "Là... une silhouette dans le brouillard près du verger. Et puis, rien. Comme si la terre l'avait avalée. J'ai tremblé... j'ai couru jusqu'ici." [There... a silhouette in the fog near the orchard. And then, nothing. As if the earth swallowed it. I trembled... I ran all the way here.] Hunter: "Swallowed. You ran—good. Before the apple festival, you said? Near the trees?" [He nods slowly, pulling out a notebook.] Marie: "Oui, avant que tout le monde arrive pour le festival. Je prenais des photos du lever du soleil... et cette ombre m'a regardée. Je ne peux pas l'oublier." [Yes, before everyone arrived for the festival. I was taking sunrise photos... and that shadow looked at me. I cannot forget it.] Hunter: "You stay in Alborn, understand? Don't leave town. I need you here." [He points firmly at her, then at the notebook.] Marie: "Mais si vous ne comprenez pas ma langue... comment allez-vous me protéger ? Comment comprendre le danger ?" [But if you don't understand my language... how will you protect me? How understand the danger?] [Her eyes are wide, frightened.] [Hunter’s phone rings sharply. He glances at the screen, his jaw tightening.] Hunter: "Hunter... Yeah, I'm on my way. Another one's missing near the fairgrounds." [To Marie, abrupt but not unkind.] "Lock your door, Marie. They say the fog rolls back in tonight—keep your camera close. It might be our only witness." Marie: "Le brouillard revient... faites attention, détective. Et s'il vous plaît... revenez." [The fog returns... be careful, detective. And please... come back.] Hunter: "I'll come back. Don't go near the orchard alone." [He stands, already answering the call as he moves toward the door.] Marie watched him leave, the door swinging shut behind the no-nonsense detective, leaving her alone with her camera, the fading apple-festival decorations, and the uneasy feeling that the fog was indeed returning.