The Midnight Train

Backstory (5): Nolan

Nolan Cole leaned back in his chair, the flickering fluorescent lights of the precinct casting a sterile glow over the mountain of paperwork piled on his desk. He rubbed the bridge of his nose, fighting off the exhaustion that clung to him like a second skin. Another long shift had come to an end, but the weight of the day’s cases pressed heavily on his mind.

“Hey, Cole!” shouted Officer Jacobs, poking his head into Nolan’s cramped office. “You still here? You know the night shift is gonna chew you up if you don’t get some rest.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m wrapping up,” Nolan replied, forcing a smile despite the fatigue that threatened to pull him under. He glanced at the clock—9:47 PM. He could already feel the chill of the autumn night seeping into his bones, and the thought of the drive home made him wince.

As he shut down his computer, his mind drifted back to the case he had been working on for the past week. A string of burglaries had swept through the neighborhood, and a young woman had been found beaten in her home. Her face haunted him, a stark reminder of the fragility of life and the darkness lurking just beneath the surface of the city he vowed to protect. Nolan had promised her family he would bring the perpetrator to justice, yet every lead had turned into a dead end, deepening his sense of helplessness.

“Cole, you coming or what?” Jacobs called again, interrupting his thoughts.

“Yeah, just finishing up!” Nolan replied, forcing himself to gather the last few files. He glanced at the photo of the young woman pinned to his corkboard. Her bright smile was a stark contrast to the grim reality he faced. *I’ll find whoever did this,* he promised silently before turning off the light in his office.

With a sigh, he grabbed his coat and headed for the parking lot. The crisp night air hit him like a splash of cold water, and he pulled his collar up against the chill. As he approached his car, he could see the way the moonlight glinted off the windshield, illuminating the scratches and dents that told the story of countless shifts spent on the road. He fumbled for his keys, feeling the familiar weight in his pocket, and climbed into the driver’s seat.

“Alright, Nolan, just get home,” he murmured to himself, shaking off the dread that had begun to settle in his gut. The engine roared to life, and he turned on the radio, hoping to drown out the silence that had settled around him.

But the music felt hollow, the notes slipping through his fingers like grains of sand. Instead, he found himself lost in thought, replaying the day’s events over and over again. *What am I missing?* He couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something crucial he hadn’t pieced together.

As he pulled out of the lot, his mind wandered to Natalie. She had been distant lately, caught up in her own life, and their usual late-night calls had become rare. “I miss you,” he’d told her last week, but she had just laughed it off, insisting she was fine.

“Fine my ass,” he muttered under his breath. *What if she needs me?*

Suddenly, his phone buzzed in the cup holder, and he glanced down, half-expecting it to be a message from his sister. Instead, it was a text from an unknown number: *“You’re being watched.”*

His stomach twisted in knots. “What the hell?” He swiped to open the message but found only static. No name, just one clue—possibly one of his creditors. Just the ominous words hanging in the air like a dark cloud.

*Focus, Nolan!* He chided himself, shaking his head as he turned onto a quieter road, the headlights cutting through the darkness ahead. The streets were empty, the silence pressing in, amplifying his thoughts. He took a deep breath, trying to steady himself, but the unease clung to him like a shadow.