Page 9 of Shapeshifter's Vengeance

I step outside, the cool breeze hitting my face. I pull out my phone and send a quick text to Alexei.

How are you holding up?

No response. I sigh, slipping my phone back into my pocket.

I start walking, trying to clear my head. The town is quiet, but I can feel the eyes on me. Everyone is watching, waiting for answers.

As I walk, my mind races. Who could have done this? Who would want to frame Alexei? The questions swirl, but no answers come.

After a while, I head back to the Sheriff’s Department. The task force is still hard at work, faces etched with concentration.

"Any luck?" I ask, stepping back into the room.

Mark looks up, shaking his head. "Nothing yet. But we’re still looking."

I nod, feeling the weight of the situation. "Keep at it. We’ll find something."

I sit back at my desk, staring at the evidence laid out before me. Photos of the crime scene, a statement from Alexei. None of it adds up.

"We need to dig deeper," I say, mostly to myself. "There has to be something we’re missing."

Lisa looks up from her stack of papers. "What about the security footage? Did we get anything from that?"

I shake my head. "The cameras were down. Convenient, right?"

She frowns. "Very. Someone knew what they were doing."

"Exactly," I say. "This was planned. But by who?"

The hours tick by, each minute feeling heavier than the last. We go over every detail and every piece of evidence, but nothing points to a clear answer.

Finally, I stand up. "We need to talk to the witnesses from the bar again. Maybe they have remembered something new."

Mark nods. "I’ll get the team ready."

As the deputies file out, I sit back down, my mind still racing. I pulled out my phone again and checked for a reply from Alexei. Nothing.

I sigh, putting my phone away. "We’ll figure this out," I whisper to myself. "We have to!"

The next few hours are a blur of interviews and dead ends. Each witness has the same story and the same lack of any useful information. It’s frustrating, but we can’t give up.

I gather the task force once more. "We need to regroup. Go over everything again. We’re missing something, and we need to find it."

They nod, determination in their eyes. "We’ll find it, Sheriff," Mark says.

I take a deep breath, feeling the weight of the world on my shoulders. "Let’s get to work."

We dive back into the evidence, searching for any clue or any small detail that could break the case wide open. The room is filled with the sound of papers rustling and pens scribbling.

Hours pass, but we keep going. We have to. For Alexei. For the town. For the truth.

As the night wears on, I can feel exhaustion setting in, but I push it aside. There’s too much at stake to rest now.

Finally, Lisa looks up, her eyes wide. "Sheriff, I think I found something."

The room falls silent as she holds up a piece of paper. "Look at this. It’s a statement from a neighbor. They saw a black SUV leaving the scene around the time of the murders."

My heart skips a beat. "Did they get a plate number?"

---