Buried Truths

PROLOGUE

The Night Lily Rose Disappeared

The night was quiet, too quiet for Harrison Creek.

A dense fog had rolled in, swallowing the streets and casting the small town in an eerie, suffocating haze.

The cold air hung heavy, laced with the smell of damp earth and decaying leaves. The sound of the creek, usually a gentle murmur, was strangely absent, as though the water itself had been frozen in time.

The old mill, once the lifeblood of the town, loomed at the edge of the fog, its crumbling brick structure barely visible in the distance. The creek flowed dark and silent beneath it, its waters disturbed only by the occasional ripple of something that didn’t belong.

In the dim light, Dr. Robert Carter stood at the water’s edge, his breath coming in shallow, controlled bursts. His back was to the town, his eyes fixed on the shadowy form of Lily Rose as she stood just beyond the trees, her figure barely visible in the thick fog.

She was trembling, her clothes soaked through with the wetness of the night, her skin pale and clammy. Her face, usually so full of life, was now hollow, vacant. The light from Robert’s lantern flickered against her, casting a sickly glow on the scene.

“I’m sorry, Lily,” Robert murmured, his voice strained, as though the words were forcing themselves out. “But it has to be this way.”

Behind him, his wife, Sarah, stood in silence, her expression unreadable. She had always been the one who silently supported him, even when his obsessions spiraled. She didn’t ask questions. She never had.

But tonight, as she watched the girl,the girl who had been their son’s closest friend, the girl who had once made him smile,something shifted in her gaze. The weight of what was happening pressed heavily on her chest.

“Robert…” she began, her voice shaking. “Is this really necessary? Are you sure we can’t…”

Her voice trailed off as Robert turned to her, his face set, hard. His eyes, usually kind and comforting, were now cold, distant.

“This is the only way,” he whispered. “He needs it. You know he needs it.”

Sarah bit her lip, a tear slipping down her cheek. But she didn’t argue. She never had.

Lily was only steps away now, her ragged breathing cutting through the silence of the night. Robert stepped toward her, his hand extending with the syringe that gleamed faintly in the light.

He could hear her heart pounding in her chest, the fear radiating off her in waves. But this wasn’t about fear. It was about something else,something that had been gnawing at him for years.

The procedure had been planned for weeks, even months. There was no turning back now. For all the good the town thought he had done, for all the lives he had saved, this… this was the cost. The thing he had been hiding all along.

Lily’s eyes widened as she saw the syringe in his hand, and she staggered back, her feet slipping on the wet ground.

“Please, Dr. Carter, no…” she whispered, her voice breaking as she reached out for him.

But Robert didn’t hesitate. His gloved hand shot out, and with a single, precise movement, the needle pierced her skin.

Her body went limp almost instantly, falling into the cold embrace of the creek, her final breath escaping her in a single, strangled gasp.

Sarah stepped forward, her hand trembling as she reached for her husband’s arm. “It’s done,” she whispered, her voice hollow.

Robert didn’t respond. He only stared down at the water as it began to carry Lily’s lifeless form away, carried by the same current that had borne so many secrets in this town.

Robert didn’t respond, his gaze fixed on the water where Lily’s lifeless body drifted away. But it wasn’t just her body that was gone.

As the currents swallowed her, Robert turned to Sarah, holding something small and warm in his gloved hands.

“The heart,” he whispered, his eyes dark with certainty. “We have it now.”

But whose heart was it? and who had it now?