Page 8 of When You're Gone

"Midnight..." Ameliawhispered, the connection dawning on her. "Just like the image on the doorof the mill. The witching hour."

"The killer has amessage," Finn observed, staring at the morbidly pale face of the dead manbefore him.

"But what is it?" sheagreed, circling the body with professional detachment, though her handtrembled ever so slightly. “He seems preoccupied with time.”

Something moved in an unseen,shadowy corner. Finn spun around and caught the tale of a rat in his flashlightbeam, scuttling away, deeper into the old mill.

"Let's get forensics inhere," Finn said, the tension tight around his neck.

"If there's anything tofind," Amelia explained. "The secret room at the bathhouse was wipedwith bleach. I doubt the killer has left anything here to be found. He'scareful."

Amelia moved the beam of her torcharound the room and took a few steps away from the body. Suddenly, she stopped.

“What’s this?”

Finn stepped forward, put on someforensic gloves and then crouched by a leather-bound book on the floor, itscover worn and edges softened by time. He flipped it open with a carefulfinger, dust motes swirling in the sparse light filtering through the mill'sbroken windows. Amelia leaned over his shoulder, her flashlight beam cutting aswath across the yellowed pages.

"Looks just like the one fromthe bathhouse," Amelia murmured, taking the book in hand from Finn andscanning the neat script that filled the pages.

“Any more secret rooms?” Finnasked.

“No. But we have a name for ourvictim,” Amelia said, showing a page.

Finn peered at it in the dim light.“His name is Lucas Henshaw,” the text read. “And he died like the others willdie. The madness will end. The stroke of midnight is coming.”

“There are some sketches of cogs orgears here,” Amelia said. “They look like the pieces of a large machine. I’venever seen anything like it.”

"I wonder what it does,"Finn said, tracing the lines of text that spoke of a man caught between twoeras. “These gears look almost like a clock.”

The cautious march of footstepssounded, echoing throughout the rusted building. Finn looked at Amelianervously and picked up a piece of metal from the ground. He instinctivelystood in front of Amelia.

Soon, the ghostly white figures ofthe forensics team appeared. “You got here first,” one of the men said, as ifdisappointed. “Is that for us?” He pointed to the piece of metal in Finn’shands.

“No, of course not,” Finn answered,trying to avoid the embarrassment.

“We found a body,” Amelia said,pointing to the corpse attached to the old spinning wheel.

The forensic team buzzed aroundthem, their white suits ghostly figures against the backdrop of rusting ironand wood. One of the techs called them over, gesturing towards Henshaw's body.Finn and Amelia stood and watched, breathing in the musty air of the mill.Soon, the forensics team had finished their preliminary work.

"Blunt force trauma to thehead," the one of them reported, pointing to the wound hidden beneath theman's dark hair. "Killer used something heavy with an indentation in it.Something from here, maybe."

Finn looked around, studying theenvironment. The place was littered with the rusted remains of a once vibrantmill.

Amelia picked her way through thedebris on the floor, examining each piece of metal and wood as if it couldwhisper

its secrets. She paused by a heftygear, its teeth jagged and menacing. "This," she said, not touchingit but hovering her hand above its surface.

"Let's get it bagged andtagged," Finn instructed, knowing that every moment they spent theorizingwas another moment the killer was out there, planning the next move. "Thatgear looks similar to the sketches in the journal. It looks old, like it’sdiscolored with copper oxidization"

"I think I see some bonefragments on it," Amelia pondered aloud, stepping back as the forensicteam moved in.

"Seems so," Finn agreed,his eyes scanning the mill once more. "Well, we have two leads now. Ourvictim here, Luc Henshaw, and I think it might be worth going over more detailswith Emily Stanton’s boyfriend."

“I agree,” Emily said.

“Which trail of breadcrumbs do wefollow first?” Finn asked in expectation.

There was some movement among theforensics team as one of them walked slowly over to Finn and Amelia.

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