The Envelope

It was raining when Emma Fraser arrived home.

Emma lived in a flat in Edinburgh. She worked as a journalist for a newspaper. It was October, and the weather was cold and wet.

She walked upstairs to her flat on the second floor. Near her door, she saw a small note from a delivery company. Someone had brought her a letter that afternoon.

The letter was in a cream-coloured envelope. It was on the floor next to her door.

Emma picked it up.

There was no address on the back. On the front, someone had written her name in blue ink.

Emma Fraser.

Emma looked at the writing. She felt surprised. She thought she knew it.

The letters were small. Some had long lines. She had seen writing like this before, many years ago.

But that was impossible, wasn't it?

Emma opened her door and went inside. Her flat was quiet. She put her bag next to the sofa and the envelope on the kitchen table.

She made a cup of tea and checked her phone. But she could not stop thinking about the letter.

Finally, she sat down and looked at it again. There was a small label from the delivery company on the back.

Now she remembered the writing.

Fifteen years earlier, Emma had worked on a news story about a missing woman. She had looked at many letters and notes written by that woman.

Her name was Claire Morrison.

Claire was a teacher. She lived in a small village in Scotland. In September 2011, when she was twenty-eight, she disappeared.

The police looked for her. Her family asked people for help. Emma wrote newspaper articles about Claire.

But nobody found her. After some time, the newspapers stopped talking about the case.

Emma looked at the envelope one more time.

The writing looked like Claire's.

But Claire had been missing for fifteen years.

Who had sent the letter?