Hidden Truth: Missing in a Small Town

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Attorney Patrick Worst: Please state your name for the record.

Detective Ron Hoffman: Ronald James Hoffman.

PW: Detective Hoffman, can you please state your occupation for the record?

RH: I am a detective for the Twin Falls Police Department.

PW: And how are you connected to Case 181002337, the homicide of Erica Milner?

RH: I was one of the lead investigators in the case.

PW: When did you start working on the case?

RH: The day the victim was reported missing, so that would have been Saturday, September 1st, 2018.

PW: Can you walk us through that day?

RH: Of course...

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"Hoff, you better get over here, I think we might actually have something." I sighed and let my head fall back, it thumped quietly against the headrest. Damn.

"All right, Decker, I'm on my way. Address?" Decker was a good cop, but he was always looking too much into things. There was no need to call a detective over every single high school runaway.

"769 Union Street in Filer."

Reluctantly, I pulled into a parking lot, turned around, and headed west. "I'm ten minutes out. Be there soon."

It didn't take me long to find the house, regardless of the police cruiser parked out front. I knew Union Street well. Small brick houses lined the narrow street, each more rundown than the last. After stepping into the driveway, I could already tell what sort of case this was going to be: single mom, working a few jobs, wild high school daughter, bad relationship, fight, runaway. It didn't take a detective to figure out that things here weren't great. Obscured behind overgrown trees and a wild yard, the house seemed to be little more than a brick box. I pulled away the screen door, which hung crooked on its hinges, and knocked on the door.

A harried woman opened the door, her dirty blonde hair curled wildly around her face. "Detective Ron Hoffman, how are you?" I said as I flashed my badge. As I said it, I felt ridiculous. Obviously things were bad, and they probably had been for a lot longer than the last couple of days.

"Amber Milner. Please come in." She stepped aside to let me pass into the cramped front room. I noticed that she hadn't answered my question, but the state of her home answered it for me. The rim was dim, and every surface was coated with a thick layer of dust. The furniture looked used, and not only used, but used hard. Dirty children's toys littered the floor. Officer Decker was seated on a sagging loveseat, but stood up as I entered the room. There was barely enough room for the three of us to stand.

"Mrs. Milner, why don't we sit down and you can tell Detective Hoffman what you told me?" Decker suggested as he gestured to the space beside him on the loveseat.

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PW: And what did Mrs. Milner tell you?

RH: She told me that she hadn't heard from or been able to contact her daughter, Erica Milner, in approximately 24 hours.

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Reaching into my breast pocket, I grabbed my notebook and pen, ready to record Mrs. Milner's story. "Okay, Mrs. Milner, why don't you start at the beginning and tell me everything that happened?"

With a deep sigh, she wrapped her arms across her chest, as if trying to hold herself together to tell the story again. I had the feeling that with every telling, it got more difficult. With a jolt of surprise, I realized that her fingers were digging into her arms as she tried to keep herself from shaking. A sinking feeling settled into the pit of my stomach... maybe this wasn't a run-of-the-mill runaway after all.