The Absentee Report: Claim Denied

 

Some losses never close. Some fights never end.

 

Two years ago, James Monroe's husband walked out their door and vanished into thin air. No body. No answers. Just a cold case file destined for inactive storage and a five-year-old son asking questions she can't answer.

 

Now James makes a living finding what others have lost—a stolen ring, a runaway dog, an elderly couple's life savings. Small victories. Tiny triumphs. Enough to keep the lights on and the grief at bay.

 

But when she's hired by Veritas—the insurance giant where Tyson worked before he disappeared—the investigation becomes personal. A mid-level actuary named Stan Pirovic has been accessing files he shouldn't. Files connected to Project Longwood, the same project Tyson flagged as "ethically untenable" in his final weeks.

 

As James digs deeper, she uncovers something horrifying: an algorithm designed not to assess risk, but to prey on vulnerability. The grieving pay more. The sick receive less. The lonely and broke are denied outright. It's a machine that turns human suffering into corporate profit—and it's still running.

 

But someone is watching. Marcus Thorne, head of security, moves through the world with predator stillness, and he's been tracking James from the beginning. When Stan is murdered before her eyes, James realizes she's no longer just an investigator. She's a witness. A target. The next name on a list of people who asked the wrong questions.

 

With her son's life on the line and a killer walking free on immunity, James must decide: run and hide, or fight back. The system has already failed her. The police have moved on. The only justice left is the kind she makes herself.

From the gritty streets of Milwaukee to the gleaming towers of corporate power, The Absentee Report: Claim Denied is a heart-stopping thriller about grief, courage, and the price of truth. Because some files never close—and some fights are worth dying for.