Chapter 3: Blood in the Barn

👉 Previous Decision: You chose to escape the studio after the power cut, leaving the shell casing behind.

The next morning, the rain had ceased, leaving the air heavy and cool. Arthur, Lily clinging to his leg, returned to the studio. The front door stood ajar. Inside, the .30-06 casing was gone.

A dark blue sedan, polished to a mirror sheen, sat idling in his gravel driveway. A man in a neatly pressed suit, Agent Marcus Gable, stood by the front door, tapping a pen against a small leather notebook. Two sheriff’s deputies flanked him.

“Arthur Pendelton?” Gable’s voice was flat, devoid of warmth. “FBI. We’ve been monitoring some unregistered shortwave transmissions in the area.”

Arthur’s jaw tightened. “My station’s legal. I have a license.”

“That’s debatable,” Gable said, scanning Arthur’s face. “But that’s not why I’m here. We received a tip about a strange tape you might have. Something about a serial killer.”

Lily burrowed her face into Arthur’s side.

“You’re making connections that aren’t there,” Arthur stated, his voice steady. He noticed a file bulging from Gable’s coat pocket, stamped with the letters “VA” and a familiar name: Harlan O’Rourke.

Gable’s eyes narrowed. He motioned to one of the deputies, who began surveying the barn at the edge of Arthur’s property. “Two years ago, blood matching Clara Evans, one of the missing wives, was found inside your family barn.”

Arthur’s breath hitched. “That’s impossible. My father—”

“Your father passed away around that time, didn’t he?” Gable cut him off, a hint of something sharp in his tone. “That makes your family prime suspects in our investigation into these disappearances, Mr. Pendelton. And now you’re broadcasting tapes claiming to be a killer.”

He stepped closer, his gaze unwavering. “We think you’re producing fake tapes for publicity, and we’re here to shut it down. Unless you have something real to show us?”

Arthur looked at the file in Gable’s pocket, then back at the agent’s face. Gable suspected him, saw him as a kid playing dangerous games. But that VA land claim file, Harlan O’Rourke’s name on it… that was a lead. A real one.