Chapter 1: Arrival in the Highlands

Mist draped over Elmspire as the Serious Crimes Unit van pulled up beside the contractor’s workshop. The town, known for its libraries and serene spiritual circles, held its breath under a slate-gray sky. Investigator Mira Lorne stepped out first, her boots crunching on damp cobbles, the air thick with anticipation. She glanced at her team: Yara Novik, sharp-eyed and steady; Elias Vann, already powering up the digital kit; and Dr. Ivo Grell, cradling a forensic case.

Two Highlands Civil Guard officers lingered nearby, their nervous faces betraying unease. “It’s him,” one whispered, ushering the SCU toward the body. Arlen Wetherby, tech contractor, lay sprawled at the threshold of his workshop. Deep, jagged wounds slashed his torso. The guards murmured about wild creatures coming down from the forests, feeding Elmspire’s growing fear.

Mira knelt, examining the wounds. “No sign of a struggle,” she said quietly. “No defensive injuries. And these marks—” she looked up at Dr. Grell—“they almost look too perfect.”

Yara prowled the perimeter, camera flashing as she documented footprints and subtle disturbances in the undergrowth. “I don’t see animal tracks,” she whispered as Mira joined her. “Nothing fresh, nothing big enough to match those wounds.”

Elias checked Arlen’s pockets for devices, turning up a cracked phone and a security fob. “He locked up at ten-forty last night,” he noted, scanning the logs. “No sign of forced entry.”

Villagers gathered in the distance, voices a low, anxious murmur. Elmspire prided itself on its calm—this violence felt like a curse.

Mira stood and regarded the mist-shrouded workshop. “This doesn’t feel like nature’s work,” she said. “We’ll need to talk to Arlen’s people. And we’ll need to do it soon, before the town starts spinning its own stories.”

The team fanned out, tension riding their shoulders. Something about this death didn’t add up, and Mira felt the first chill of doubt as the Highlands mist clung to her coat.

Chapter 2: The Workshop’s Shadow

Inside the workshop, the hum of machinery felt oddly hollow. Yara and Elias split off, cataloging tools and computer terminals. Mira found a desk littered with prototype diagrams and printouts—Arlen’s handwriting scrawled over all of them.

Dr. Grell, methodical, continued his examination. “These wounds are deep, but the edges are too clean for animal claws,” he announced. “Looks like a sharp metal implement. Maybe a tool from the workshop. And see this?” He pointed to faint bruising along Arlen’s wrists. “He may have tried to fight off whoever did this, but the attack itself—deliberate. Possibly staged.”

Yara called Mira over to a window. “There’s scratch marks on the sill—someone tried to make it look like an animal got in. But the glass is clean. No mud, no fur, nothing.”

Elias, meanwhile, had access to Arlen’s desktop. “Encrypted files,” he muttered, frowning. “He was working late, last login at ten-fifteen. Chat logs with someone labeled ‘Astrion.’ I’ll need time to break these.”

Mira took a slow breath, tuning in to the sounds outside. The town’s spiritual leader, Sister Alene, was gathering neighbors for prayers, her voice low and soothing. Elmspire had always trusted that the Highlands kept them safe. Now, their faith seemed shaken.

“I want to talk to Arlen’s coworkers and family,” Mira said. “Someone went to a lot of trouble to make this look like a beast attack. Why? And why Arlen?”

As the team prepared to canvas the town, a new question hung in the air: who in Elmspire had both motive and opportunity to orchestrate such a performance?

Chapter 3: Suspects and Confessions

The local tech office was a hive of tension. Arlen’s desk, now cleared of personal effects, stood as a silent accusation. Mira and Yara met with Gavin Lark, a wiry man with darting eyes and a quick, defensive tongue.

“He wasn’t as brilliant as he thought,” Gavin spat, voice tight. “He stole code. He’d do anything for a contract, for the spotlight. But I wasn’t here the night he died. My mother was in Silverbarrow Hospital—ask anyone.”

Yara pressed him. “Did you ever threaten Arlen?”

Gavin looked away. “I said things. I regret that. But I didn’t kill him.”

Elias, cross-referencing hospital logs, confirmed Gavin’s alibi within hours. But the animosity was real, and Mira sensed that old wounds ran deep in this office.

Another coworker, Maris Thale, described Arlen as driven but paranoid. “He was sure someone was out to get him. He’d mutter about sabotage. I thought he was just stressed.”

As they left, Yara voiced her doubts. “Gavin had motive, but his alibi’s airtight. Still, that kind of jealousy can fester.”

Mira nodded, her mind already forming new questions. “If not Gavin, then who? And why make it look like an animal attack? It’s too theatrical.”

The team retraced their steps to Arlen’s home, hoping for insights from his private life. Outside, the Highlands mist rolled in again, shrouding Elmspire in a deepening sense of unease.

Chapter 4: Crossed Wires

The investigation hit its first wall. Silverbarrow authorities, prickly about jurisdiction, resisted SCU involvement. “We’ll share what we can,” their supervisor told Mira curtly, “but this is an Elmspire matter.”

Elias, frustrated, dove deeper into encrypted files. “These messages with ‘Astrion’ are odd,” he reported. “Half code, half riddle. Something about leverage and ‘unfinished debts.’”

Meanwhile, Yara continued interviews. She met with Arlen’s ex-partner, Tessa Jorne, who described his recent paranoia. “He said he was being watched. He’d leave notes for himself, warnings. I thought he was losing it.”

Mira pressed further into Arlen’s social circle. Maris returned to the station with a new detail: “Arlen believed Gavin was sabotaging his work—he set up traps in his workshop, cameras. He was obsessed.”

The team compared notes. Every avenue seemed to double back, tangled in suspicion and jealousy. The sense of claustrophobia in Elmspire grew.

Late that afternoon, a breakthrough: Dr. Grell located traces of animal blood on a workbench—but the blood was old, likely from a project months before. Someone had tried to plant evidence.

“We’re chasing shadows,” Yara grumbled, rubbing tired eyes.

“Or someone’s leading us in circles,” Mira replied. “We need to be careful. We could miss what’s right in front of us.”

Chapter 5: The False Trail

The next morning, Elias brought in a potential bombshell. “I’ve traced a shipment of synthetic animal claws to a local entrepreneur, Els Barrowen. She runs a wildlife genetics business. There’s a payment from Arlen last week.”

The team hurried to Barrowen’s lab, a tidy building on the edge of town. Els met them at the door, unruffled. “Yes, those are for research—non-lethal wildlife deterrents. Arlen bought a set for a project. He wanted to test a rumor about animal attacks in the Highlands. It was for a presentation.”

She produced paperwork, receipts, and prototypes: all above board. Mira questioned her about Arlen’s behavior. “He was anxious, nervous,” Els said, “but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. He was worried about competitors stealing his work.”

Back at headquarters, the SCU reviewed the evidence. Everything pointed to a dead end. The synthetic claws were accounted for, none missing. Els’s motives were transparent.

“Red herring,” Elias sighed. “We’re back to square one.”

Mira’s frustration mirrored the team’s. “Every clue feels staged. Someone wanted us to find these trails.”

The team regrouped, the false lead having shaken their confidence but sharpening their resolve. If the answer lay elsewhere, they would find it.

Chapter 6: Ethical Faultlines

With tension mounting, the team found themselves on the brink of crossing boundaries. Yara, convinced there was more in Silverbarrow, argued for bypassing protocol to seize Arlen’s offsite backups.

“We can’t let jurisdictional pride keep us from the truth!” she insisted, voice rising.

Mira shook her head. “We do this by the book. If we cut corners, our work will never stand up.”

Yara’s frustration was palpable; she cared deeply about justice for Arlen. “Sometimes rules protect the wrong people,” she muttered.

Later, Elias quietly found a legal workaround—an old memo from Arlen to the Silverbarrow authorities requesting data preservation in the event of his death. It was enough to get a warrant for backup access.

Inside, files revealed more of Arlen’s state of mind: he feared sabotage, believed he was being watched, and kept meticulous notes about his rivals’ movements. He even left encrypted messages to himself about “setting the stage.”

Mira’s internal conflict grew. Was their pursuit of truth blinding them to the cost of their methods? The ethical tightrope felt narrower than ever.

Chapter 7: The Hidden Compartment

The next day, Yara returned to the workshop for one last sweep. Beneath a false floorboard in Arlen’s office, she discovered a concealed compartment. Within lay a tangle of wires, a bloodied synthetic claw, and a notebook with diagrams of fake wounds and staged attacks.

Mira and Dr. Grell examined the items. The notebook outlined Arlen’s plan in chilling detail: how to inflict believable wounds, how to scatter evidence, whom to implicate—most notably, Gavin and Maris.

“There’s no doubt,” Grell said. “Arlen orchestrated everything. He built the scene to frame his rivals.”

The team poured over the notebook. Arlen had written about his jealousy, his sense of betrayal by colleagues, and his belief that only by shocking the town could he expose their supposed treachery.

Yara was silent, her face pale. “He wanted to ruin them, even if it meant destroying himself.”

The compartment was the linchpin. With it, everything snapped into focus.

Chapter 8: The Unraveling

Mira gathered the team in the command post, the evidence spread before them. “Arlen staged his own death to look like an animal attack,” she said. “He wanted to punish those he believed had wronged him—especially Gavin. But the evidence was always just a little too convenient.”

Elias, reviewing the last encrypted messages, confirmed Arlen had scheduled emails to authorities, timed to arrive after his death, pointing suspicion at his rivals.

Mira’s voice was low. “He orchestrated every detail, knowing it would draw the SCU, knowing we’d dig into every corner of his life. He wanted us to see Elmspire’s shadows.”

The team reflected on the cost. Arlen’s jealousy and paranoia had led him to self-destruction, but the real damage was to the people he left behind: friends, rivals, a town stripped of its peace.

Yara spoke, her voice heavy. “He crossed a line—and so nearly did we. We can’t let the ghosts of the case haunt us too.”

Mira nodded. “We did our duty. The truth, as ugly as it is, belongs to Elmspire now.”

Chapter 9: Echoes in the Mist

The SCU met with Elmspire’s leaders to present their findings. Sister Alene listened quietly, her eyes wet with sorrow. “He was one of us, but lost to his own demons,” she whispered.

Public reaction was muted—Elmspire’s faith in fate overshadowed anger. The town held a vigil, prayers rising into the mist.

As the team prepared to leave, Mira stood on the steps of the old library, watching the Highlands fog drift over the rooftops. The case had left them changed—each investigator grappling with their own shadows.

“We almost lost ourselves,” Yara said quietly, falling in beside Mira.

“But we didn’t,” Mira replied. “Elmspire will heal. So will we.”

In the hush of early evening, the SCU slipped away, their work done. Behind them, the town began its slow return to peace, the illusion of claws lost to the Highlands mist.