“Come on,” Alex muttered under his breath, his heartbeat ticking like a clock. The answers were seconds away.
Briggs unlatched the black case and withdrew a small swab, carefully running it along the man’s hands. She used a second for under his fingernails. “Checking for any defensive wounds or foreign DNA,” she said. “If he fought, there’s a chance we’ll find his attacker’s skin cells.”
“Tanya, when you’re done with that, grab the camera. He’s got ligature marks around his wrists.” Ridley glanced at the scanner as it beeped. “We have a hit.” His gaze flicked to Alex before he looked at the scanner again. His expression froze. “Jesus Christ.”
Alex stepped closer, his gut tightening. “What?” He already knew the answer.
Ridley turned the scanner around, showing the identification result on the screen. “Henry Byron. Waverly County police officer. Reported missing in 1993.”
The room went silent. Charlotte sucked in a breath, her face pale. Despite the chill in the room, sweat broke out along her hair line. The man in the bed was Henry Byron, the same as the man in the photograph.
Alex’s pulse hammered in his ears. He knew the name. He knew his relation to Charlotte. Charlotte had explained only hours earlier, Henry Byron had been a rising star, a young cop with a flawless record—until he vanished without a trace. No body, no leads, just speculation and dead ends. Until now.
Briggs whispered, “He’s been missing for thirty years.”
Paul turned to them sharply. “Wait—you’re telling me this guy has been missing for thirty years?
Alex nodded grimly. “Yeah. And somehow, after all these years, someone just left him on Charlotte’s porch to die.”
Charlotte’s voice was barely above a whisper. “Why now?”
No one had an answer.
Alex clenched his jaw, his mind racing. Byron hadn’t just disappeared; he’d been erased. Every investigation into his disappearance had come up empty. No trace, no signs of struggle, nothing. It was as if he had walked off the face of the earth. And now, he was here, dumped on Charlotte’s doorstep like an offering.
Ridley ran a hand over his stubble. “We need to process this. We have thirty years’ worth of questions that need answering.”
Briggs nodded. “We should run DNA for confirmation, prints again just to be sure.”
Paul’s voice cut through the thick silence. “I don’t care who he is right now—what I care about is keeping him alive. He’s in critical condition, and if we don’t keep his body stable, this whole conversation won’t matter.”
Alex’s attention stayed on the frail man lying on the hospital bed, his breathing shallow, his body struggling to recover from something far worse than just the cold. “First, we make sure he stays alive long enough to tell us himself.”
Ridley met Alex’s gaze. “We’ll call it in. Byron’s disappearance is officially no longer a cold case.”
Briggs pulled out her phone, stepping aside to make a call. Charlotte stood with her arms wrapped around herself, her face pale and drawn. Alex caught her eye, trying to assure her. She was gutted.
Ridley sighed. “Let’s hope he wakes up soon. Because I don’t think we’re the only ones looking for him.”
Alex didn’t doubt that for a second.
Two hours later,after an exacting examination, Briggs and Ridley packed up their forensic kit, their expressions unreadable as they secured the evidence. Ridley glanced at Alex. “We’ll process everything and keep you updated.”
Alex nodded. “Make it fast. Keep the circle tight. The longer we keep this from the press, the better.” He looked at the staff in the room. “He stays a John Doe. If any information leaks, you are in violation of the law.”
Ridley and Briggs exited the ER, and Alex followed them out into the cold night air. As soon as the forensic van pulled away, he yanked out his phone and dialed Ethan.
The line clicked. “Talk to me.”
Alex didn’t waste time. “Confirmed. It’s Henry Byron.”
Silence. Then Ethan exhaled sharply. “No way. Are you sure?”
“I’m looking at the printout from the fingerprint scan right now. It’s him.”
A rustle of movement, then Ethan’s voice firmed. “I’ll pull up whatever records are still available. But Byron’s been missing for thirty years. There’s no way he just walked back into town on his own.”
“The man couldn’t stand, much less walk.” Alex gritted his teeth. “That’s why I need a protective detail on him. Now.”
