Run: 2026-09-02-01M1GWK22YECFM5QGHSGA1W6WQ

**Scene: The café on Main Street, Alborn, MN — mid-morning. Maria sits alone, scrolling through photos on her camera. Hunter approaches.** --- **Hunter:** "Maria Ferrer? Detective Hunter, Alborn PD. Got a minute?" **Maria:** "¿Perdón? ¿Habla usted... conmigo?" *(Sorry? Are you talking... to me?)* **Hunter:** "It's about Tuesday night. You were out on the Holloway orchard trail around eight, sunset. Somebody said you had your camera out." **Maria:** "No entiendo. Lo siento, lo siento, no hablo inglés. ¿Habla usted español? ¿Un poco? ¿Nada de nada?" *(I don't understand. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I don't speak English. Do you speak Spanish? A little? Nothing at all?)* **Hunter:** "English. Do. You. Speak. English." **Maria:** *(flinching)* "Por favor, no grite... Yo solo estaba haciendo fotos. Fotos. ¿Ve? Paisajes." *(Please, don't shout... I was just taking photos. Photos. See? Landscapes.)* **Hunter:** "Photos. All right, that I speak." *(sits)* "Anybody in this place speak Spanish? Anybody? ... Naturally." **Maria:** "Nadie. Tres días. Tres días intentando contar lo que vi, y nadie me entiende." *(Nobody. Three days. Three days trying to tell what I saw, and nobody understands me.)* **Hunter:** *(opening his notepad to a photograph)* "This man. Gerald Pratt. Runs the cider stand at the apple festival. Missing since Tuesday night. Look at his face. Have you seen him?" **Maria:** *(voice trembling)* "¡Ese hombre! ¡Sí! ¡Le vi! ¡Le vi el martes en el sendero!" *(That man! Yes! I saw him! I saw him Tuesday on the trail!)* **Hunter:** "Whoa, hey—slow down. You've seen him? Where?" **Maria:** "¡En el sendero de Holloway, al atardecer! Estaba con otro hombre, uno grande, con gorro. Le cogió del brazo y se lo llevó hacia el granero rojo. Yo me escondí entre los manzanos. Tenía tanto miedo que no podía gritar..." *(On the Holloway trail, at dusk! He was with another man, a big one, wearing a cap. He grabbed him by the arm and took him toward the red barn. I hid among the apple trees. I was so scared I couldn't scream...)* **Hunter:** "Holloway—I got Holloway. And... 'granero'?" *(pointing out the window toward the orchard road)* "The barn? You mean the barn?" **Maria:** "¡Sí! ¡El granero rojo! ¡El granero!" *(Yes! The red barn! The barn!)* **Hunter:** "Okay. Barn. What about the barn?" **Maria:** "La camioneta. La camioneta gris, aparcada detrás, con las luces apagadas. El hombre del gorro le empujó dentro y... y se fueron. Yo no pude hacer nada. Nada." *(The truck. The gray truck, parked behind it, lights off. The man in the cap pushed him inside and... and they drove off. I couldn't do anything. Nothing.)* **Hunter:** *(quietly)* "Ma'am, I'd trade my badge to know what you're telling me right now." *(scribbles on his notepad, turns it around: "8:00?")* "Eight o'clock. Tuesday. Ring any bells?" **Maria:** *(taking his pen, crossing it out, writing "8:15")* "Ocho y cuarto. Ya apenas quedaba luz." *(Quarter past eight. There was hardly any light left.)* **Hunter:** "8:15. Fine." *(nodding at the camera)* "Tuesday's pictures still on there?" **Maria:** "¿Las fotos? Sí, todas. Mire... esta fue la última que hice, antes de esconderme." *(The photos? Yes, all of them. Look... this was the last one I took, before I hid.)* **Hunter:** *(studying the screen; stiffening)* "Gray pickup. Far edge of the orchard, right by the barn. Can't read the plate—it's bent. You've had this the whole time." **Maria:** "¡Sí! ¡Esa es la camioneta! ¿La ve? ¡Esa es!" *(Yes! That's the truck! Do you see it? That's it!)* **Hunter:** "Yeah. Yeah, I see it." *(Hunter's phone buzzes.)* **Hunter:** "Hunter. ... The Holloway barn? Who called it in? ... Is it still there? ... Nobody touches that truck. Nobody. I'm twenty minutes out." *(lowering the phone)* "Gray pickup, parked behind the red barn since Tuesday night. Somebody finally noticed it." **Maria:** "¿Qué ha pasado? ¿Han encontrado... al hombre de la foto?" *(What happened? Have they found... the man in the photo?)* **Hunter:** "You knew. Three days you've been walking around with this in your chest, trying to tell anybody who'd listen." *(pressing his card into her hand, tapping it twice)* "Police station. Today. Four o'clock." *(writing "4:00" and showing her)* **Maria:** "Las cuatro... Sí. Allí estaré. Con la cámara." *(Four o'clock... Yes. I'll be there. With the camera.)* **Hunter:** "I'm driving an interpreter down from Duluth. Somebody who can actually hear your story. Until then—don't talk to anyone else. Not a soul." **Maria:** "No entiendo ni una palabra, detective. Pero por primera vez en tres días... alguien me ha mirado a los ojos." *(I don't understand a single word, detective. But for the first time in three days... someone has looked me in the eyes.)* **Hunter:** *(pausing, softer)* "Whatever it is you've been carrying—come four o'clock, it stops being yours alone. You have my word on that." **Maria:** "Gracias." *(Thank you.)* **Hunter:** "And keep that camera close, ma'am." **Maria:** *(alone, softly)* "La mantendré. Y cuando vean la foto entera, verán lo que yo vi... Hay algo más en ella. Algo que todavía no me he atrevido a mirar." *(I'll keep it. And when they see the whole photo, they'll see what I saw... There's something else in it. Something I haven't dared to look at yet.)*