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Joyce-Anne Gemsen.

Her name echoed in Luke’s mind.

Driving home after his shift, he pulled off the road near Fawn Ridge. He felt drawn here, to the place it happened—aware of the small dent, scrapes and spider-thread crack on his headlight cover that were still present.

A testament to his crime.

Pulling out his personal laptop and burner phone, he called Derek, thanking him with an undertone of nervousness.

“For sure, buddy,” Derek said. “Don’t worry, I’m keeping it all under the radar. No one knows. I’ll keep looking for you, send you what I get. You keep trying with open sources—you can use what I’ve just sent.”

“Appreciate the help.”

Opening the missing person poster Derek had sent him, he devoured every key detail.

Joyce-Anne Gemsen.

Date of birth put her at age 28.

***

Height: 5'3"

Weight: 118 pounds

Hair: Brown

Eyes: Hazel

Sex: Female

Race: White

Scars and Marks: Multiple ear piercings. A small tattoo of a rose on her inner right forearm.

Clothing at time of disappearance: Faded, torn jeans, a white Rolling Stones T-shirt with large tongue logo, a powder blue zippered hoodie, a white ball cap, white Adidas running shoes.

Remarks: Joyce-Anne Gemsen was last seen walking to the ramp for I-35. Video security images show her leaving the Starving MotherTrucker truck stop near Pauls Valley, Oklahoma.

***

Until she ended up here, in a storm, flying over the hood of my SUV, landing in the ditch and vanishing.

The time and date of her disappearance and the driving distance from Pauls Valley were consistent with Joyce-Anne being in Clear River. Luke replayed the construction site video, watching the rain-streaked flash of pink, then Joyce-Anne rising from the roadside before disappearing. And there were the headlights of an approaching car, which had prompted Luke to leave.

Reexamining what he knew, thoughts freewheeling, he went to the description of what Joyce was wearing when last seen. No mention of anything pink.

But Luke knew she was wearing pink the night he struck her. He remembered the flash at his windshield as well as the fragment of pink fabric he’d pulled from his grille. And the construction site video confirmed it.

Heaving a breath, he shook his head, looking at the poster’s contact section: If you have any information concerning the whereabouts of Joyce-Anne Gemsen, please contact Garvin County Sheriff’s Office, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, or your nearest FBI office.

Luke had to assume investigators had already exhausted every avenue, checking for the location of Joyce-Anne’s phone, if she had one. They would’ve checked her use of credit or bank cards, searched nearby security cameras and combed through databases.

Thinking about Derek’s suggestion on open sources, Luke searched Joyce’s name online, finding news reports out of Oklahoma City. There were several from TV and radio stations. Reading them quickly, he saw few new details. But the major newspaper, the Oklahoman , had something in-depth. An interview with a lawyer representing Joyce-Anne Gemsen’s boyfriend.

The boyfriend had cooperated with investigators and submitted to a polygraph, which showed him to be truthful and have no role in Joyce-Anne’s disappearance.

“My client admits that an argument they had at the truck stop about money upset Joyce-Anne. She exited the building and began walking toward the interstate ramp before vanishing,” the lawyer told the paper.

Luke processed the information.

So how does she go from Pauls Valley, Oklahoma, to this spot in Clear River County, Texas?

And most important, is she still alive to answer that question?