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** Skeleton in the Woods**
**Chapter 18**
I was sitting at my desk in the Riverton Police Department when the call came in. It was one of those calls that makes your heart sink before you even know the details. The voice on the other end was shaky, a parent whose kids had been hiking in the woods just outside of town. They’d stumbled upon something that no child should ever have to see—a skeleton, partially buried under a thick layer of leaves and dirt.
I grabbed my coat and headed out to the scene, my mind racing with questions. Who was this person? How long had they been out there, alone in the woods? As I drove, I couldn’t shake the feeling that this was going to be one of those cases that sticks with you, the kind that keeps you up at night.
When I arrived, the area was already cordoned off with yellow tape, the coroner crouched over the skeletal remains. The woods were eerily quiet, the kind of silence that presses in on you from all sides. I approached the coroner, who was carefully examining the bones.
“Blunt force trauma,” he said, not looking up. “This kid didn’t die of natural causes.”
I nodded, feeling a chill run down my spine. “Any idea who it is?”
The coroner sighed, standing up and brushing the dirt from his hands. “We’ll need to run some tests, but I have a feeling this is Tommy Woodbridge. He went missing about 20 years ago.”
Tommy Woodbridge. The name hit me like a punch to the gut. I remembered the case from when I was just starting out. A teenager who vanished without a trace, leaving his family in a state of perpetual grief. His father had passed away 11 years ago, and his mother just two years back. There was no one left to call, no family to notify.
I stood there for a moment, staring at the remains of a life cut tragically short. It was a sobering reminder of the fragility of life and the darkness that sometimes lurks just beneath the surface of our everyday world.
As I drove back to the station, I couldn’t shake the sadness that settled over me like a heavy fog. We had a name, but no answers. Who had done this to Tommy? And were they still out there, living their life while his had been so cruelly taken away?
I knew this case would haunt me, just like it had haunted those who had worked it before me. But I also knew that I wouldn’t rest until I found out the truth. Tommy deserved that much. Even if there was no one left to mourn him, I would see that justice was done.
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