The Last Confession

M Mehran

Detective Mara Vance had learned two unshakable truths in her twenty years with the Harbor City Police Department: people lie, and guilt never sleeps. Tonight, both truths pressed heavily on her shoulders as she stepped into Cell 12 of the precinct’s lower wing.

The man inside—Elias Rowan—sat on the metal bunk like he had been waiting for her. Maybe he had. His hands were folded neatly in his lap, cuffed, but calm. Too calm for someone accused of three murders.

“You asked for me,” Mara said, shutting the door behind her. “You said you wanted to confess.”

Elias smiled faintly. “I wanted to talk to the only detective in this city who still listens.”

Mara didn’t rise to the flattery. She’d interrogated enough criminals to know when she was being played. Still, there was something different about Elias Rowan—an eerie steadiness in his dark eyes, a quiet sincerity in his voice. Serial killers usually radiated either arrogance or panic. Elias radiated neither.

“You’re being charged with the deaths of Lorne Gibbons, Ava Morales, and Daniel Carter,” she said. “All found within three blocks of your apartment. All matching the same MO. You fit the pattern. Forensics fit the pattern. So tell me, Elias—what do you want to say?”

“I didn’t kill them,” he said simply.

She sighed. “That’s not a confession.”

“No,” he said. “But it’s the truth. And I can prove it.”

Mara paused. She hated wasting time, but she hated sloppy assumptions even more. “Go on.”

“Each victim…” Elias shifted slightly, cuffs clicking. “Each victim came to me before they died.”

Her brows rose. “Came to you? For what?”

“For protection.”

Mara crossed her arms. “And you didn’t think to mention this to anyone? Three separate people beg you for protection and then turn up dead? You see how that sounds.”

“I didn’t say they begged.” His voice lowered. “I said they came. Because they were being hunted.”

Mara leaned forward. “By whom?”

Elias looked up, and for the first time, fear flickered across his face. “By a man who doesn’t exist on paper. A man with no name. Someone who kills loose ends.”

The room suddenly felt colder.

“I was supposed to be one of those loose ends,” Elias continued. “I used to work for him. Not officially. Not in any way that could be traced. I laundered assets, covered digital prints, rerouted funds. I never touched blood. But when you work for a ghost, you don’t quit. You vanish.”

Mara hesitated—not because she believed him, but because she wanted to check. Something about this felt too detailed for fabrication.

“You’re telling me those victims were connected to this ghost employer of yours?”

“Yes,” Elias said. “Each one had something he wanted erased. Lorne was a driver. Ava was a runner. Daniel was a forger. They all tried to get out. They all came to me, hoping I could hide them like I hid transactions. But I’m not a miracle worker.”

“And you didn’t kill them,” she said.

“I didn’t kill them,” he repeated.

“So who did?”

Elias stared at her with the steady calm of a man speaking his final truth. “You already know. You’ve been chasing him for years.”

A chill crept up Mara’s spine.

“Corvus,” she whispered.

The nickname tasted like metal. Harbor City’s phantom. The mastermind behind a constellation of unsolved crimes—money laundering, disappearances, blackmail rings, digital sabotage. A shadow figure the department could never pin down.

“You’re saying Corvus killed them?” she asked.

Elias nodded. “And he’s going to kill me too. But I thought I could make one last good choice and tell someone who might actually do something.”

Mara swallowed hard. “Why now?”

“Because he’s tying up his entire network,” Elias said. “Everyone who ever touched his operations. He’s disappearing us one by one.”

Something buzzed in Mara’s pocket—her phone. She ignored it.

“You can’t just throw Corvus’s name out there without evidence,” she said. “You’re asking me to believe the boogeyman is real.”

“He is,” Elias said softly. “And if your phone is buzzing right now, it’s probably because you’re next.”

A second buzz. Then a third. Mara blinked and pulled the phone free.

Three text messages. Unknown number.

Stop talking to him.

Walk away.

This is your only warning.

Mara’s pulse quickened. “Elias… did you send these?”

He shook his head. “Detective… Corvus already knows you’re here.”

Her mouth ran dry. The basement level was nearly empty at this hour. If someone wanted to walk in and—

The lights flickered.

Elias tensed. “He’s here.”

“How?” she whispered.

“He’s always been here,” Elias said. “You’ve just never looked in the right place.”

The lights snapped back on.

A soft click echoed from behind Mara, near the hallway outside the cell.

Not footsteps. Not voices.

A door locking.

Mara unholstered her gun and moved toward the cell door, adrenaline spiking.

“Detective Vance,” a familiar voice crackled over the PA system.

Her blood froze.

Captain Rourke.

Her captain.

Her mentor.

“I’m disappointed,” Rourke said, voice calm, almost bored. “You were always the smart one. I thought you’d stay out of this.”

Elias’s voice broke. “I told you. He’s everywhere.”

Mara’s heart slammed against her ribs.

Rourke. Corvus.

Her captain was the ghost.

“You’re in my way, Mara,” Rourke continued. “Walk out now, and I’ll forget you were ever in that room.”

The problem was—she couldn’t walk out. The door was sealed. Locked from the outside.

Elias whispered urgently, “He’s going to kill both of us.”

Mara turned slowly toward him, mind racing.

“No,” she said. “Not tonight.”

She raised her gun—not at Elias, but at the cell’s lock.

One shot.

Sparks flew.

The lock cracked open.

Elias stared at her, stunned. “You… believe me?”

“I believe in evidence,” she said. “And I’m about to collect some.”

Outside, heavy boots hit the concrete floor—Rourke’s men.

Mara looked at Elias. “Run.”

And for the first time since she met him, Elias Rowan obeyed without a word.

The chase had begun.

And the city’s ghost was finally visible.