The Lena Hart Files E-Book

Y Limond

• Herausgeber: via tolino media
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

In the shadows of the city, justice has a quiet voice. Detective Lena Hart doesn’t kick down doors or chase flashing headlines. She works in silence—watching, listening, following threads the system forgets. Her cases are the ones buried in dust: missing children, unsolved whispers, crimes that never made the news. But the deeper she digs, the more the past claws back. Every file she opens brings her closer to something personal—something dangerous. Because Lena isn’t just solving cold cases. She’s walking straight into one. Dark, atmospheric, and razor-sharp, The Lena Hart Files delivers a haunting collection of noir investigations—and the detective who won’t stop until every voice is heard.

Leseprobe

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Impressum

The Lena Hart Files

Y.Limond

Prologue: The Listening Woman Lena Hart never wanted to be seen. She didn’t join the force for glory or headlines. She became a detective because someone once listened when no one else did. That someone saved her life. Years later, Lena became the listener. The one who noticed the missing photo on the wall, the stray thread on a sleeve, the silence that said more than any scream. She wasn’t loud. She wasn’t liked by brass. But she solved what others gave up on. Because she knew what it meant to be forgotten. She carried the weight of old cases, and older secrets. No partner lasted long. Some feared her intensity. Others sensed what she hid—a past built on broken truths and an identity born from survival. But Lena never stopped. Not when it got hard. Not when the trail went cold. Because the forgotten children, the quiet victims, the ghosts— —they were always whispering. And she always listened.

Episode 1

Chalk Lines and Coffee Stains Detective Lena Hart arrived at the scene just after dawn, the smell of burnt coffee clinging to her coat like bad news. The rain hadn’t let up all night, turning the alley behind 47th and Main into a slick mirror of neon signs and broken promises. The body was already bagged by the time she ducked under the yellow tape, but the outline remained—chalk lines smeared by water and rushing footsteps. A man in his 30s, shot once in the chest. No ID, no witnesses, and no weapon. “Another ghost,” muttered Officer Cruz, flipping through his notepad. Lena crouched by the chalk lines, tracing the way the blood had pooled toward a storm drain. She noticed something others hadn’t—small, muddy footprints, too small for an adult. They disappeared behind a dumpster. A child? She followed the tracks to a battered teddy bear wedged between the bins. Its fur was soaked and red-stained, but its eyes were intact—wide, unblinking. That’s when she heard the sniffle. Lena turned, her eyes catching the reflection of a small face in a cracked window above. She didn’t need a warrant for instinct. Upstairs, the apartment was quiet—except for the soft creak of a rocking chair. And in that chair sat the only witness: a little girl, eyes hollow, the teddy bear’s twin clutched to her chest. “He tried to take my mommy,” she whispered. Lena’s pen froze mid-note. “And Mommy stopped him.” The case had just cracked wide open. And Lena knew this one wouldn’t end with chalk lines—it would end in courtrooms, in custody battles, in the shadow of trauma no child should ever carry. But for now, she handed the girl a blanket and whispered, “You’re safe now.” And for the first time that morning, the rain stopped. Lena called for backup and a child services liaison while the girl clutched the bear tighter, rocking slowly. “Where’s your mommy now?” Lena asked softly. The girl pointed to the bedroom. Lena pushed open the door and found a woman slumped against the far wall, breathing but pale. A bloodied kitchen knife lay nearby. The woman had a deep cut across her arm, and the adrenaline had kept her conscious—barely. Lena knelt beside her. “I’m Detective Hart. Help’s on the way. Can you tell me what happened?” The woman’s lips trembled. “He broke in… said I owed him. From before. I told him I had a child now. He didn’t care.” “You defended yourself,” Lena said, glancing back toward the girl. “You protected her.” Tears streamed down the woman’s cheeks. “I didn’t want her to see it.” “She saw enough,” Lena said gently. “But she’s strong.” Paramedics arrived, whisking the woman away. The girl hesitated at the door, eyes darting between Lena and her mother. Lena knelt again, eye-level with the child. “Do you want to go with her?” The girl nodded, silent but certain. “She’s going to be okay. And so are you. But I’ll need to talk to you again later, alright? Just to help me understand.” The girl whispered, “Okay,” and clutched Lena’s hand for a moment before slipping it away to follow her mother. By midmorning, the alley was empty. The chalk lines had vanished, washed away by the rain—and by something else. Lena stood in the quiet, staring at the spot where it all began. She sipped her now-cold coffee, eyes fixed on the building. This wasn’t the clean, tied-up ending she preferred. It was raw, complicated. But justice wasn’t always about arrests. Sometimes it was about survival. About a mother doing what she had to. About a child still breathing. Sometimes, that was enough. And sometimes, it had to be. A week later, Lena sat in her office staring at the open file. The man’s name was Devin Marris. He’d done time for aggravated assault and trafficking, linked to a string of debts and disappearances tied to women who’d tried to escape him. The woman—Janelle Rios—was one of them. He’d found her after nearly five years off the grid. Lena flipped through the crime scene photos once more, then closed the folder. She already knew the truth. So did the DA. That afternoon, Lena met Janelle at the county courthouse. Her arm was bandaged, her eyes clearer. The little girl—Maya—held a coloring book in one hand and Lena’s badge sticker in the other.

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