The clock read 22:48, four digits unmissable in shining white. Twenty minutes, since Luke received the text message.

He knocked on the apartment door with a sense of urgency, having dashed through the city in a record-time speed. The downpour had done little to deter the investigator who now stood in the brightly-lit hallway, his jacket dripping rainwater.

The door opened a few moments later, revealing Luke’s childhood friend—safe and uninjured. The brunette almost slumped over with relief, forcing his words out through laboured breaths, “I came…as soon as I saw your text…”

Having detected no immediate sign of danger, he placed one hand on the doorframe, while the other combed back the strands of wet hair currently plastered to his forehead.

“Are you—Is everything okay?”

He slumped over the threshold, coral eyes worriedly searching for any clue as to what could’ve happened.