Mia Disappears Again

Mia vanishes from a federal safe apartment with no broken locks and no signs of panic, which means whoever moved her used credentials or someone she trusted long enough to hesitate. Nico goes white with controlled fury the moment he sees the untouched coffee mug on the counter. "Internal leak," he says. "It has to be."

Tessa paces so hard the floor complains. "Or she ran because she smelled the leak first."

Either way, the effect is the same: our best living witness is off the board again on the exact day Owen schedules his family-unity rally. The coincidence is not a coincidence. None of this is coincidence anymore. The machine just keeps disguising appetite as timing.

We search the apartment inch by inch. On the bathroom mirror, only visible when steam from the shower residue catches the light, Mia left one fingertip message: courthouse boxes.

"She didn't bolt randomly," I say. "She was directing us."

Nico nods once. "Then she thinks whatever she remembers is in the sealed court archive, not the Harbor House room."

"Or she thinks that's what Bell wants next."

My phone lights with an invite reminder for Owen's rally because old campaign automations do not care about morality. One image attached: Owen with Poppy from happier years, both smiling into a crowd that did not yet know it had been scripted from the start. Under it, the event tagline: Together, the truth heals.

Tessa sees the screen and laughs without humor. "There it is. The worst sentence in the English language when a donor says it."

Nico starts barking for internal device audits. I start planning how to get into the courthouse after dark.