Run: 2026-09-02-01M1GS0C0JYWQP681E085X42NC

*Voice sheet — Scene: "La Testigo." The Sugar Maple Café, Alborn, MN. Sunday morning, three days after the disappearance. Festival bunting still droops over the windows. Maria sits alone in a corner booth, camera in both hands, thumb hovering over the delete button.* Maria: (to herself, barely a whisper) "No debería haber visto eso... Dios mío, ¿por qué tuve que mirar por el visor justo en ese momento? Bórrala. Bórrala, María. No... no puedo. ¿Y si la policía necesita esta foto? ¿Y si esa pobre chica la necesita?" Hunter: (the chair across from her scrapes back; he sits, laying his badge and a folded flyer on the table) "Maria, right? The one with the camera. Detective Cole, Alborn PD." (unfolds the flyer and turns it toward her — a young woman smiling under an apple-festival banner) "Nora Lindgren. Twenty-six. Vanished Thursday night near Miller's Orchard. Third one since spring, first one with a festival full of witnesses. Kid at the cider stand says you're out there every night. So. Were you there Thursday?" Maria: (startled, hugging the camera to her chest) "¡Ay! Perdón... me ha asustado. No le he oído llegar." (her eyes flick from his face to the badge) "¿Policía? ¿Usted es policía? Lo siento, no hablo inglés. Ni una palabra. Lo siento muchísimo." Hunter: (exhales through his nose) "Of course you don't. That'd be too easy." (speaking slower and louder, pointing at the flyer, then her, then the camera) "Thursday. Night. Orchard. You. There?" Maria: (a shaky little laugh, wiping her eyes) "No hace falta que grite, señor. Le oigo perfectamente. Es solo que... no le entiendo." (then her gaze drops to the flyer and the smile dies) "Dios mío. Esa chica... yo la vi. El jueves por la noche. Estaba en el huerto, cerca del granero rojo." Hunter: (squinting at her, catching nothing but the emotion; leans in, taps the photo, points to his own eyes) "You. Saw. This woman?" Maria: (nodding hard, voice breaking up) "Sí, sí. La vi con mis propios ojos. Corría entre los manzanos, estaba asustadísima. Y yo me escondí detrás de un manzano... ¡Perdón, perdón, debí ayudarla! Pero había un hombre. Un hombre con una capucha." (mimes pulling a hood over her head) "Y una linterna." (mimes a beam sweeping side to side) "La luz iba de un lado a otro entre los árboles. Tenía tanto miedo..." Hunter: (goes still, then mimics the hood gesture, eyebrows raised) "Hood? Guy in a hood?" (low, careful) "Did you see his face? Height? A truck, boots — anything?" Maria: "No. La capucha, la oscuridad... no le vi la cara. Pero espere. Espere, espere." (turns the camera around, scrolling with an unsteady thumb) "Estaba haciendo fotos de la luna sobre los manzanos. Una cada minuto, para mi clase. Mire. Mire, mire, mire." (holds the camera out like it burns her hands) Hunter: (takes it gently, thumbing through the little screen) "Moon. Orchard. Moon. Orchard— wait." (spreads two fingers to zoom; freezes) "Ma'am. There's someone in this one. Back edge of the frame, past the barn. Timestamp's 11:14." Maria: (leaning in, arms wrapped around herself) "Sí... esa silueta. Justo antes del grito. Un solo grito. Y después arrancó un coche, muy rápido, hacia la carretera vieja." (points out the window, due north) "Hacia el lago. No hacia el pueblo. Sin luces, ¿entiende? Apagó las luces en el cruce." Hunter: (following her finger, then tapping the table between them) "Lago. That's lake, right? You're pointing — lake? That way?" Maria: "¡Sí! ¡El lago! Wolf Lake, creo que es — vi el cartel. ¡Por favor, créame! Llamé al 911 esa misma noche, desde el huerto. Pero al día siguiente vino un agente que no entendía ni una palabra de español, y yo no sabía explicarme, y se marchó. Llevo tres días sin dormir. Y hasta ahora, nadie me había preguntado nada." Hunter: (jaw tightening) "Three days. You've been carrying this for three days because some desk jockey couldn't find one Spanish speaker in—" (stops himself, softer) "Not your fault. Okay. Here's what happens now." (taps the camera) "I need these photos. Everything from ten-thirty to midnight. Can you copy them for me?" Maria: (pulling the camera back, hugging it) "¿Las fotos? No... son para mi clase, para mi profesor... Pero si sirven para encontrar a esa chica..." (looks at the flyer — the smile under the banner — and swallows) "Sí. Sí, puede copiarlas. Pero necesito un traductor, por favor. Alguien que hable español. Hay demasiadas cosas que no sé decir." Hunter: "Traductor — translator. Yeah. Of course you do. First thing tomorrow I'll—" Hunter: (his phone buzzes against the table; he flips it over, rising halfway out of his chair) "Hold that. Cole. ... When? ... Where, exactly — the pull-off on the old logging road? ... A gray sedan, backed in past the tree line? ... No. Nobody touches that car until I'm standing next to it. Tape off the whole pull-off. Fifteen minutes." (hangs up, already shrugging into his jacket) Maria: (half-rising, alarmed) "¿Qué? ¿Qué ha pasado? ¿Adónde va?" Hunter: (grabbing a napkin, scrawling on it, setting it in front of her — DET. COLE / 9 AM / a star / a camera — then pointing at each thing) "Police station. Tomorrow. Nine." (mimes sleeping, hands folded at his cheek, then taps his watch, the star, her, the camera) "You. Camera. Me — Cole. Nobody else sees these. Nobody." Maria: (sounding out the napkin, decoding his gestures one by one) "¿Detective... Cole? ¿Mañana...? ¿A las nueve... en la comisaría? ¿Con la cámara? ¿Yo?" Hunter: (points at her, then out the window toward the north; his voice drops) "Lago. I'm going to the lake. Right now." (taps the napkin once more) "And tonight — door locked. Sleep. That's not a suggestion, ma'am." Maria: (standing now, gripping the back of her chair) "¿El lago? ¡Va al lago! ¡Tenga cuidado, por favor! Y encuentre a esa chica. Encuéntrela. Se lo pido." Hunter: (two steps toward the door, then turning back; looks at her, then the camera in her arms) "Nine o'clock. Bring the camera. And for what it's worth — calling it in Thursday night was the right thing. The rest of it's on us." (pushes through the door, bell jangling) Maria: (sinking back down, hugging the camera to her chest, watching the door swing shut) "Gracias... detective..." (whispering, to the camera) "Vale, María. Respira. A las nueve, la comisaría, con la cámara. Y hasta entonces... ni un paso fuera de casa. Y tú, chiquitina... tú te quedas conmigo." --- **Translation key (Maria's lines, for reference):** - Opening: "I should never have seen that... God, why did I have to look through the viewfinder at that moment? Delete it. Delete it, María. No... I can't. What if the police need this photo? What if that poor girl needs it?" - "Oh! Sorry — you startled me. I didn't hear you come over. Police? You're police? I'm sorry, I don't speak English. Not one word." - "There's no need to shout, sir. I hear you perfectly. It's just... I can't understand you. My God. That girl... I saw her. Thursday night. In the orchard, near the red barn." - "Yes, yes. I saw her with my own eyes. She was running between the apple trees, terrified. And I hid behind an apple tree... Forgive me, I should have helped her! But there was a man. A man in a hood. And a flashlight. The light swept back and forth between the trees. I was so afraid..." - "No. The hood, the dark... I never saw his face. But wait. I was taking photos of the moon over the apple trees. One every minute, for my class. Look. Look, look, look." - "Yes... that silhouette. Right before the scream. A single scream. Then a car started up, very fast, toward the old road. Toward the lake. Not toward town. No lights, understand? He shut them off at the crossroads." - "Yes! The lake! Wolf Lake, I think — I saw the sign. Please believe me! I called 911 that same night. But the next day an officer came who didn't understand a word of Spanish, and I couldn't make myself understood, and he left. I haven't slept in three days. And until now, no one had asked me anything." - "The photos? No... they're for my class, for my professor... But if they can help find that girl... Yes. You can copy them. But I need a translator, please. Someone who speaks Spanish. There's too much I don't know how to say." - "What? What's happened? Where are you going?" - "Detective... Cole? Tomorrow...? At nine... at the police station? With the camera? Me?" - "The lake? You're going to the lake! Please be careful! And find that girl. Find her. I'm begging you." - "Thank you... detective..." / "Okay, María. Breathe. At nine, the police station, with the camera. And until then... not one step out of the house. And you, little one... you're staying with me."