Prologue: October 1st, 2003

Lenore Kayani's vanishing is only the beginning in a series of disappearances that will haunt the small town of Greywatch Island for over a decade.

In the morning, Lenore is there, right where she should be, at home with her children. In the afternoon, she’s not. She’s gone. Lenore Kayani has become what police would call a missing person. Without a trace, she’s vanished into thin air. It would be much easier to explain if she didn’t live on an island.

                Greywatch Island sits in the Pacific Ocean along the north coast of British Columbia, not far from the Alaskan border. The nearest major town is Prince Rupert, which boasts a population of just over 12,000. Greywatch itself is home to 2,500 people. Twice a day, every day a year except for Christmas Day, a ferry leaves the island for Prince Rupert, departing at 11:00 in the morning and 4:00 in the afternoon. There’s definitely a way to leave the place.

                This is all fine and well, except for the fact that the ferryman hasn’t seen Lenore in ages, and he definitely hasn’t taken her to Prince Rupert recently. She doesn’t own a boat that could make the journey, and all the boats on the island that can are present and accounted for. In fact, no boat has been reported stolen for three months.

                Either she sprouted wings and flew, or tried to swim. And if she tried to swim, she’s dead. The oceans between Greywatch Island and Prince Rupert are far too rough to traverse that way.

                Her husband, Detective Amar Kayani, is at a dead end. The entire island has been searched top to bottom, not only by the island’s five police officers, but also by a volunteer search party, complete with Old Gideon McCreary’s hunting dogs. Both the police officers and the volunteers found absolutely nothing. She’s just vanished.

                Dainty little Lenore, who stands a little over five feet tall and weighs half as much as the neighbour’s prized potbelly pig. Amar can’t imagine why she’d run away. She wouldn’t, of course. He and many of the other residents of Greywatch Island know that. She’s lived on Greywatch Island all her life. Her twins are only four. She’s happy.

                But Amar Kayani is one of those people who thinks about every single possible angle of any problem or situation meticulously and carefully before coming up with a solution or conclusion. And this problem is one with a trillion possible angles from his perspective. He’s considering even the absurd possibilities, like Lenore being mistaken for a seal by an orca whale and eaten. Well, that one’s actually possible. If it actually had happened, somebody would have witnessed it, though.

                There’s one possibility that keeps popping up. Kidnapping. Amar hasn’t encountered a kidnapping case before, but it could have happened. Someone who wants to hurt her might be hiding her in their basement or toolshed. Someone who wants to hurt him could be hiding her. Amar has seen many a news report about hate crimes since 9/11. It was two years ago, but the rage still hasn’t died down, and every person of Middle Eastern descent is subject to someone’s suspicion. Lenore is white, but hurting her is by extension hurting Amar. And everyone knows that Amar Kayani isn’t an easy target these days. He’s what you might call a little bit paranoid.

*****

Lenore is hidden now. Or at least, what’s left of her is. An empty body without soul or life is all that remains, and that body now rests beneath six feet of soil. Her grave is unmarked, in a place where the rain won’t wash away the dirt that covers her body. If someone were to stumble upon the site, they’d know that something was buried there instantly, but Lenore’s killer is counting on the fact that no one will. This place is one that’s well off the beaten path, masked by thick forests and only accessible to those willing to hack through the undergrowth. Moving Lenore’s body here was difficult, yes, but it was the only way to ensure that it would never be found.

                Lenore Kayani is dead, but no one will ever really know what happened. They’ll assume, of course, but people like Amar who can hold out hope forever will always wonder, plagued by grief. Their wondering will never cease, even though Lenore’s body could be right beneath their feet.

Author's Note

Anything goes.