DETECTIVE CLARA HAYES' POV
The drive to the Alexandria suburbs felt like a descent into a world that no longer made sense. In the city, everything was noise and pressure. Sirens echoed between glass towers, traffic lights blinked like tired sentries, and the air carried the faint ozone scent of overheated servers and burnt coffee from precinct break rooms. That world ran on urgency, suspicion, and the quiet understanding that everyone was chasing something they might never catch.
But the suburbs were different, and the moment I turned onto the tree-lined street where the Cole family had lived for thirty years, the chaos of the city vanished behind me like a bad dream.
