Filer is a small, rural town in southern Idaho. With a population of 2,500 people, the most exciting thing that happens in Filer is the annual county fair every September. Because the town itself only occupies about a square mile of land, if you blink while driving by, you just might miss it. There are no traffic lights, two rundown gas stations, and a rest area for weary travelers just passing through; nothing to slow people down in a place where no one wants to be. There are no hotels, because let's be honest, no one stops in Filer to stay. It's nothing but a town you drive by on your way to someplace better, never sparing a second thought for the tiny town disappearing in your rear view mirror. The only people who stay in Filer are the people who swore that they would graduate high school, start a new life, and never look back. But instead, they get stuck in the same small town routines that have kept the sleepy town from disappearing altogether in the windy Idaho desert.
Growing up in Filer, I began to understand why people got stuck there - nothing ever happens. There is nothing exciting or troubling enough to shatter the carefully constructed illusion of safety in which the town's inhabitants are enveloped. Don't get me wrong, every now and then there is an unexpected event that stirs the whole town into a frenzy. Years ago, during the summer before my sophomore year of high school, our elderly neighbor with dementia went missing from her home during the middle of the afternoon. After three days and an exhaustive search by foot and air, she was found dead, face down in a canal seven miles downstream from her home. The townspeople endured a few days of media coverage and a graveside ceremony, then settled back down into their typical routines, content to put the events of that wretched week far behind them. So there you have it, Filer, Idaho, the place where nothing happens.
Well, I guess I should say that Filer was the place where nothing happens. It was, until a year ago, when Erica Milner walked into a dark September night and was never seen again.
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Hidden Truth: Missing in a Small Town
Mystery / ThrillerErica Milner disappeared into a dark September night, and was never seen again. Small town detective, Ron Hoffman, knows that there is something different about this case from the very beginning. Twists and turns lead the investigation in a directio...
