Chapter 11: The Last Goodbye

Dan Harper was a carpenter, always working on construction sites, coming home to help with the farm during the busy seasons—what locals called ‘helping out’.

He’d only left home two days before.

“I just left two days ago—she saw me off at the station…”

Dan Harper couldn’t believe the news. Again and again, he broke through the police tape, desperate to reach his wife.

How could it have come to this?

How could it have come to this?

Everyone in Maple Heights remembered how Lila had seen Dan off two days before.

Dan Harper’s house sat at the edge of town, with endless maple woods outside and no road, so he had to pass through the neighborhood to leave.

That day, he rode with Lila through town. Neighbors were already up, eating breakfast on their porches, calling out to him:

“Hey, heading out again? Finished with work?”

“All done, going back. Every day I miss is a day’s less pay.”

Joe Barnes stood at his own door, holding a bowl. He looked at Dan Harper, smiled, but said nothing.

Dan Harper called out, hoarsely, “Joe, having breakfast?”

Joe shot back, “Yeah, just grabbing a bite. You heading out for work already?”

“Yeah, yeah, I ate at home. I’m off.”

Dan Harper said, “That day, I felt something was off about him, but I didn’t think much of it.”

The little town hummed with its usual morning rituals—clanging coffee pots, radios playing country music, the smell of bacon drifting through screen doors. Nobody thought twice about the scene until it all fell apart.