Chapter 4 - The Girl at the Bus Terminal
Investigator Ellis arrived at the Carter apartment twenty-eight minutes later.
She brought a district attorney’s investigator and two evidence bags.
Nobody touched the envelope after that.
Emily sat at the kitchen table while every photograph was numbered.
Rachel gave a formal statement.
“How long did Sofia Morales work for Victor Cole?” Ellis asked.
“About seven years.”
“When did she leave?”
“Three weeks ago.”
“Voluntarily?”
Rachel looked uncertain.
“She said she was fired.”
“For what reason?”
“Accessing records she wasn’t authorized to copy.”
Emily almost laughed.
“After she found payments to Harlow.”
Ellis looked toward her.
“We don’t know that yet.”
“They’re right there.”
“They show payments. They don’t show why.”
That irritated Emily.
But she understood.
Evidence first.
Story later.
Ellis examined the bus-terminal photograph.
“Did Sofia give you this?”
“No.”
“Then who sent it?”
Emily showed the anonymous account.
The number was masked through an internet messaging service.
Ellis photographed the screen.
“Do not respond.”
“What if it’s Ava?”
“Then we still need to establish that.”
Emily hated how every answer created another delay.
Logan called.
Ellis put him on speaker.
“I need the original sketchbook untouched,” she told him.
“It is.”
“And do not search Ava’s locker yourself.”
“I wasn’t planning to.”
Emily raised an eyebrow even though he couldn’t see her.
Logan added, “I was considering it.”
“Don’t.”
A pause.
“Fine.”
The next morning, Westbridge High felt like a building holding its breath.
Brittany was absent.
So was Assistant Principal Harlow.
Dr. Bennett announced that Harlow had been placed on administrative leave pending a district review.
She did not mention Ava.
Everyone else did.
Logan’s video of Emily’s humiliation had escaped the school before breakfast.
Someone had forwarded it.
By noon, it had more than two hundred thousand views.
Emily hated every one.
Comments called Brittany evil.
Others called Emily poor.
Some accused Emily of staging everything.
One account posted photographs of the Carter apartment building.
Another wrote:
Maybe Emily’s mom should spend less time stealing donor records and more time buying her kid lunch.
Emily stared at the comment.
Only investigators knew about the envelope.
“Logan.”
He read it.
His expression changed.
“Someone leaked.”
“Or whoever messaged me knows what Sofia did.”
The hallway suddenly felt unsafe.
Not physically.
Exposed.
Dr. Bennett pulled Emily from class.
Investigator Ellis waited in her office.
“We found the source of Ava’s withdrawal authorization.”
Emily sat.
“Where?”
“An administrative workstation.”
“Harlow’s?”
“No.”
“Then whose?”
“The school security office.”
Emily frowned.
Westbridge employed four security staff.
Their supervisor was Mark Danner, a former police officer who wore a gray polo and always seemed to know when students were somewhere they shouldn’t be.
“Why would security withdraw a student?”
“They shouldn’t.”
“Did Danner do it?”
“We’re interviewing him.”
Dr. Bennett added, “There’s something else.”
She turned a monitor toward Emily.
A security clip from October 11.
Ava walked out of Westbridge at 5:18 p.m.
She wore a green jacket and carried her art portfolio.
Brittany followed three minutes later.
Then Mark Danner exited through another door.
At 5:27, Victor Cole’s black SUV entered the faculty lot.
Emily leaned closer.
“So the terminal picture is real.”
“Probably.”
“Why did they all go there?”
“We don’t know.”
The clip continued.
At 5:31, Logan appeared.
Emily turned toward him.
He was standing outside the office now, having been called in.
“You were there.”
Logan’s expression tightened.
“I stayed late for newspaper.”
“Did you see Ava?”
“No.”
“Brittany?”
“No.”
“Danner?”
He hesitated.
“His SUV.”
Ellis looked sharply at him.
“What about it?”
“I saw Danner driving out maybe ten minutes later.”
“Alone?”
“I thought so.”
“You thought?”
“The back windows are tinted.”
Ellis made a note.
Then Logan said:
“My dad saw something that night.”
Everyone looked at him.
Dr. Bennett frowned.
“Your father?”
“He used to do maintenance work for the district.”
“Used to?”
Logan looked toward Emily.
“He got fired three days after Ava disappeared.”
Ellis sat straighter.
“Why?”
“Officially? Missing tools.”
“And unofficially?”
Logan’s jaw tightened.
“He told me he saw Danner removing the hard drive from one of the parking-lot cameras.”
Silence.
Emily stared.
“You never said that.”
“My dad made me promise.”
“Why?”
“Because after he reported it to Harlow, someone searched our garage.”
Ellis stood.
“I need to speak with your father.”
Logan nodded.
“Good luck.”
“What does that mean?”
“He left town last week.”
Emily’s stomach dropped.
“Why?”
Logan looked ashamed.
“Because someone put an envelope on our porch.”
“What was inside?”
“A photograph of me walking home.”
Rachel’s hand flew to her mouth.
The same kind of threat.
The same method.
Then Dr. Bennett’s office phone rang.
She answered.
Listened.
Her face changed.
“Are you certain?”
She hung up.
“What?” Emily asked.
Bennett looked at Ellis.
“Mark Danner just resigned.”
Ellis was already reaching for her phone.
“When?”
“Seven minutes ago.”
“Where is he?”
“No one knows.”
Then Emily received another anonymous message.
A single sentence.
May you like
You’re looking at the wrong Cole.
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