SECRETS BENEATH THE WAVES

Maya's POV

The gun was pointed right at my chest.

I threw myself behind my car door just as the bullet shattered my back window. Glass pieces flew everywhere. My heart pounded so hard I could hear it in my ears. This wasn't meant to happen. Not here. Not in this quiet little town.

But let me back up. This morning started different.

I was driving my beat-up Honda through heavy fog when I first saw Millbrook Bay. The GPS lady had been my only friend for the past six hours. "You have arrived at your destination," she said in her robot voice. I turned off the engine and sat there for a moment.

This was it. My new life.

Three months ago, I was Detective Maya Chen with the LAPD. I had a partner named Danny who made terrible jokes and brought me coffee every morning. We were working on a big case about missing kids when everything went wrong. Danny got shot because I made a bad choice. He died in my arms, and I couldn't save him.

After that, I couldn't sleep. I couldn't eat. I kept seeing Danny's face every time I closed my eyes. My boss said I needed time off, but I knew I was done being a cop. I quit and decided to become a private detective somewhere far from Los Angeles.

I picked Millbrook Bay because it looked peaceful in the pictures online. A small town by the ocean where nothing bad ever happened. Perfect for someone like me who needed to forget about bad things.

The fog was so thick I could barely see the street signs. I drove slowly past small houses with pretty lawns and fishing boats in the harbor. Everything looked like a picture. Old people walked their dogs. Kids rode bikes. It was exactly what I needed.

But then I noticed something weird. Every person I passed stopped and stared at my car. Not just a quick look, but a long, hard stare. Like they were remembering my face. A woman with a baby stroller actually pulled out her phone and took a picture of my license plate.

That made my detective brain wake up. Why would outsiders care about a new person in town?

I parked in front of a bakery with a "For Rent" sign in the upstairs window. The smell of fresh bread made my stomach growl. I hadn't eaten since yesterday. The bakery owner was a short woman with gray hair and kind eyes.

"You must be the one calling about the apartment," she said when I walked in.

"How did you know?"

She looked awkward. "Word spreads fast in small towns. I'm Mrs. Patterson. You want to see the place?"

The room was tiny but clean. Two rooms above the bakery with big windows facing the street. Perfect for a small detective office. The rent was cheap, which was good because I didn't have much money left.

"I'll take it," I said.

Mrs. Patterson looked surprised. "Don't you want to think about it? Maybe look at other places first?"

"This is great. I can move in today."

She gave me the keys but wouldn't look me in the eyes. "Welcome to Millbrook Bay, dear. I hope you'll be happy here."

But her voice sounded like she didn't think I would be.

I spent the afternoon moving my stuff from the car. I didn't have much. Just clothes, my laptop, and a box of police files I probably shouldn't have kept. Every time I carried something upstairs, I saw people watching me from across the street. They pretended to be doing other things, but I knew they were looking.