**Chapter 2: The Lake of Echoes**
The precinct buzzed with the usual hum of ringing phones and murmured conversations, but today, there was an undercurrent of tension. A cold case had resurfaced—**the 1999 murder of Liana Soriano, a 17-year-old girl found in the same lake where Maria Lenora had been discovered weeks before.**
Shams sat perched on the edge of River's desk, flipping through the aged case file. The photos were faded, but the horror was fresh—Liana's body, pale and still, her dark hair fanned out in the water like spilled ink.
"They pinned it on her boyfriend back then," River muttered, nodding toward a scowling man in one of the old interrogation photos. **"Eduardo 'Eddie' Villanueva. Served five years before the case fell apart due to lack of evidence."**
Shams' fingers traced the report. "Because they were wrong."
Across the room, **Detective Naomi Reyes**, River's sharp-tongued partner, leaned against a filing cabinet, arms crossed. "And you're saying *you* can solve a case that's been cold for over twenty years?" Her tone dripped skepticism.
Shams didn't look up. "I'm saying you missed something."
Naomi scoffed, but River shot her a warning glance. "Let him work."
---
### **The Break**
Shams spread the evidence across the table:
1. **Liana's diary**, recovered but never fully analyzed.
2. **A faded polaroid** of Liana with a blurred figure in the background.
3. **The autopsy report**—cause of death: drowning, but with faint bruising around her wrists.
Shams zeroed in on the diary. He flipped to an entry two weeks before her death:
*"She won't leave me alone. Says I 'owe' her for being my friend. But I don't feel that way about her. Why won't she understand?"*
**No name was mentioned.**
Shams' pulse quickened. He grabbed the polaroid, tilting it under the light. The blurred figure—**short hair, a slender frame, the hint of a silver ring on their finger.**
"It was never Eddie," Shams said slowly. "Liana was being stalked. By a woman."
Naomi's frown deepened. "That's a stretch."
Shams ignored her. "Who interviewed Liana's friends back then?"
River scanned the file. **"A classmate—Mira Delos Santos."**
A quick search later, they found her: **Mira, now a 38-year-old bookstore owner, living quietly in the same town.**
---
### **The Confession**
They found Mira arranging bookshelves, her hands steady, her smile polite. But when Shams placed the polaroid on the counter, her fingers trembled.
"You loved her," Shams said softly. "And she didn't love you back."
Mira's composure cracked. **"She was supposed to."**
The pieces fell into place:
- **The silver ring** in the photo matched the one on Mira's finger now.
- **The bruises on Liana's wrists**—small hands, gripping hard in desperation.
- **The lake**—Mira had taken her there to "talk," then held her under when Liana screamed.
Mira didn't resist when River cuffed her. **"I just wanted her to stay,"** she whispered.
---
### **Aftermath**
Back at the precinct, Naomi stared at Shams, grudging respect in her eyes. **"You were right."**
River clapped Shams on the shoulder. **"Good work, kid."**
But Shams didn't celebrate. He stared at Liana's photo, thinking of all the lives one secret could ruin.
**TO BE CONTINUED…**
(Bonus)
Mira cries as she gets inside of her prison cell and she shouted "i dont want to be sentence for 12 years!"