DEAD ON PAPER

CHAPTER ONE

Chapter one

To most people, crime statistics are just numbers. A weather report for bad behavior.

To me, they're a map of failures.

I adjusted my glasses, staring at the bright red zones bleeding across the projector screen at the front of the lecture hall. High-density violent crime. Professor Hales saw a data set. The thirty senior criminology students around me, most of them half asleep, saw an exam question.

I saw the people the system had failed.

"Notice the correlation between the closure of youth centers and the fourteen percent increase in local theft," Professor Hales said, pointing to the graph.

I barely looked at the screen.

Instead, my eyes drifted across the room.

Eva.

She wasn't taking notes. She never did.

While everyone else typed away on their laptops, she simply sat there with a plain black notebook open in front of her, though she hadn't written a single word. Her dark hair was tied into a neat ponytail, and her expression was as unreadable as ever.

Eva was my only real rival.

For the past three years, we'd fought for the top rank in the department. I didn't hate her because she was arrogant or rude.

I hated competing against someone who never seemed to make mistakes.

She was calm.

Quiet.

Almost impossible to read.

Professor Hales switched off the projector and faced the class.

"For your final capstone project, you won't be writing another theoretical paper."

The room instantly grew quieter.

"Each of you will choose one unsolved cold case from the city archives. Your task isn't necessarily to solve it, but to identify mistakes in the original investigation and determine whether the case can be taken further." The professor paused and smiled. "Even better if one of you actually solves it "

My heartbeat quickened.

This has to be there...

Please...

I clenched my fist beneath the desk.

"All the case files are on my table," Professor Hales continued. "First come, first served."

The moment he finished speaking, the classroom erupted.

Chairs scraped against the floor as students rushed toward the front.

I was already moving.

Ignoring the complaints behind me, I slipped through the crowd and my eyes scanned the file labels.

Westbridge...

Westbridge....

Westbridge.....

until my eyes found the file I'd been hoping for.

Case File: CR-2016-1408

Victim: Alex

For a moment, everything else faded.

I knew that file.

I had known it for fifteen years.

Alex wasn't just another missing child, that child had been my closest friend

Without thinking, I grabbed the folder before anyone else could reach it and held it firmly.

When I looked up, Eva was standing a few steps away, another file tucked under her arm. I couldn't make out the title, but judging by the confident look on her face, she'd found the case she wanted.

Our eyes met.

Neither of us spoke.

We didn't need to.

There was only one thing that look meant.

Let's see who solves their case first.

A small smirk appeared on her face.

I answered with one of my own.

For Eva, this was another competition.

Another chance to prove she deserved the top spot.

For me...

This case had never been about grades.

-

An hour later, I reached home.

After a quick shower, I placed the old folder on my desk and carefully opened it.

The first page was worn with age.

Case File: CR-2016-1408

Victim: Alex

Age: 8

Location: Ash Pine Forest

Status: unsolved kidnapping

I stared at the page for a long moment.

Fifteen years had passed. The police had called it a kidnapping case.

My father had called it a tragedy.

The town had eventually called it unsolvable

I closed the file.

They were all wrong.

And I was going to prove it.