Shadows from the Past

Chapter 1

4 years later

Cold case detective Melanie Wolfe sat at her desk staring intently at her father's case file, pen in hand. The murder had never been solved. The detectives working on the case back then hadn't found much evidence. All they had found were footprints that lead to nowhere and a shell casing for a rifle bullet. Whenever she had spare time, Melanie worked on her father's case.

"Hey Wolfe, everything okay?" Asked her friend and partner, Jennifer Smith.

"Yeah, everything's fine." Melanie replied as she closed the file and looked up into Jennifer's green eyes. "Any new developments on the case?" She asked as she leaned back in her chair. They were working on the disappearance of a 12 year old girl that had never been found. They had recently found a piece of information that could lead them to the missing girl. After all, nobody had found the girl's dead body so Melanie took the chance that she was still alive.

"No, we found the girl's mother but she won't talk. She says that we couldn't find her daughter when she disappeared so why could we now?"

"Wow"

"Yeah. If it were my kid, I'd want us to reopen the case."

"Me too. We'll need to find a way to make her talk. Try to talk to her and show her that we have a new lead. She might just need someone to talk to"

"Alright." Jennifer hesitated, "How's your dad's case coming?"

Melanie stiffened, she didn't like talking about her father's case, "Nothing new."

"Don't worry, you'll find him." Jennifer looked at her, eyes filled with compassion.

Melanie looked down and back up again, "Yeah." She said with uncertainty.

                                                                   ****

That night when Melanie got in her car to head home, she got a weird feeling. Like she was being watched. She took a quick look around but couldn't see much since it was dark. She started the car and headed home, every few seconds making sure no one was following her.

When she got home she still had that feeling, but again, saw no one. Would she ever feel safe again? She felt she wouldn't. Ever since her dad had been killed, she hadn't felt safe. She longed to feel his arms around her and to hear him say that everything would be alright.

                                                                  **** 

The Sniper watched as Melanie got out of her car and went into her house. He had made that big mistake of leaving that bullet shell casing behind when he had killed her father. Now someone had to pay for that mistake. And it sure wouldn't be him. He had to be careful though, that friend of hers, Jennifer, was as good a detective as Melanie.