### **CHAPTER 3: THE JOURNALIST**
**1:30 PM - Press Conference**
"Detective Carter!" A man in a charcoal suit blocked his path—**Ethan Cole**, press badge glinting. "The mill victim's missing kidney matches two cold cases from your *first* stint in homicide. Before your... accident."
Daniel's vision tunneled. **1998 case files flashed in his mind—small bodies, missing organs.**
**Parking Garage - 3:00 PM**
His car door bore fresh scratches. Inside, a Polaroid: **A child's grave with his police hat on the cross.**
**Flashback:**
*Dirt rains down on the child's face. A man's voice from above: "Count to a thousand and you can come out."*