PART 3 — THE ROOM DEREK NEVER WANTED US TO SEE**
Detective Shaw stared at the photograph on Maria’s phone as though the screen had suddenly become a window into a nightmare he had spent eighteen months trying to understand.
“Everybody stay where you are.”
His voice was no longer conversational.
Cole noticed it immediately.
“So that name means something.”
Shaw looked toward the hidden gray door.
“It means this stopped being about a reckless grappling round five minutes ago.”
Officer Ramirez guided Martin toward the wall, his wrists secured behind him. Martin had stopped protesting. He seemed smaller now, as if whatever authority he had once possessed inside Apex Grappling had drained out of him the moment Detective Shaw recognized the name on that hard drive.
I stood beside Cole, one hand still pressed to my aching throat.
“Who is he?” I asked.
Shaw looked at me.
“Evan Mercer.”
Nobody reacted.
Nobody except Aaron.
His face went pale.
“Wait.”
Everyone turned.
Aaron stepped away from the wall.
“Evan trained here.”
Shaw’s eyes sharpened.
“When?”
“Maybe two years ago. Six months? Seven? I don’t remember exactly.”
Martin closed his eyes.
That tiny reaction told us Aaron was right.
Aaron continued.
“He was quiet. Brown hair. Worked construction, I think.”
“Electrician,” Martin muttered.
Shaw immediately faced him.
“You remember him.”
Martin said nothing.
“You told me you didn’t.”
Martin looked toward the floor.
Cole folded his arms.
“That sounds important.”
Shaw nodded.
“It is.”
He turned to Aaron.
“When did Evan leave?”
Aaron frowned.
“He didn’t exactly leave.”
“What does that mean?”
“He stopped coming.”
Maria whispered, “Like Noah.”
I felt something cold spread through my stomach.
Shaw pulled a small notebook from his jacket.
“Did anyone ever ask why?”
Aaron gave a bitter laugh.
“At this gym?”
Nobody needed him to explain.
Derek’s reputation had created a culture where disappearing members were considered weak.
Quitters.
People who couldn’t handle training.
People who “weren’t built for this.”
Shaw looked at Martin.
“What happened to Evan?”
Martin’s jaw tightened.
“I want a lawyer.”
“That’s fine.”
Shaw pointed toward the hidden door.
“But you should understand something. That photograph gave me enough to expand what we’re looking for.”
Martin swallowed.
Shaw stepped closer.
“Especially because Evan Mercer has officially been listed as a missing person for eighteen months.”
My pulse accelerated.
Cole’s expression remained unreadable, but I knew him.
His right hand had curled slowly into a fist.
Not because he was afraid.
Because he was controlling his anger.
Officer Chen returned from Martin’s office.
“Detective.”
He was holding a small external drive inside an evidence bag.
Martin’s head snapped up.
“Where did you get that?”
“Desk drawer.”
“You can’t—”
“It’s listed in the search authorization.”
Related Posts
