Grace didn't answer the message.
She took a screenshot instead.
Then another.
She forwarded everything to Detective Harris.
"Do not go," he said immediately when he called back. "If this is what we think it is, it's a trap."
Grace looked at Lauren.
Her friend was shaking, arms wrapped around herself, eyes fixed on nothing.
"He's my husband," Lauren whispered. "I can't just wait."
Grace lowered her voice. "You're not going alone."
They didn't tell Luisa everything. Just enough to keep her from panicking. Just enough to explain why they were leaving in the middle of the night.
The coordinates led them out of the city.
Streetlights thinned. Buildings disappeared. The road narrowed, swallowed by darkness.
Grace drove.
Lauren watched the screen.
Neither of them spoke.
Finally, the GPS instructed them to turn onto a dirt road.
Grace slowed the car.
"Police should be here," Lauren said, panic rising.
"They're on their way," Grace replied. "But we're closer."
The car stopped at the edge of an abandoned industrial lot.
Rusting fences. Broken concrete. A warehouse leaning under its own weight.
Grace turned off the engine.
The silence was immediate.
Too heavy.
"Mark?" Lauren called, her voice cracking.
No answer.
Grace stepped out first.
The air smelled like oil and wet metal.
They followed the sound of dripping water toward the warehouse entrance.
The door was slightly open.
Grace pushed it.
Inside, the space was vast and hollow. Their footsteps echoed.
"Mark?" Lauren called again, louder now.
Something moved in the shadows.
Lauren froze.
Then a figure stepped forward.
It wasn't Mark.
A man stood there, hood pulled low, face half-hidden.
Grace's blood went cold.
"Where is he?" Lauren demanded.
The man smiled.
"You're early," he said.
Grace felt the truth settle in her bones.
This wasn't about information.
It was about control.
Behind them, the warehouse door slammed shut.
Grace reached for her phone.
No signal.
Then, from the darkness above, a familiar voice drifted down.
Calm. Confident.
"I told you," Ted said. "I'd show you."
Grace looked up.
And saw him.
Free.
Watching.
Smiling.