Chapter 9 - What Logan’s Father Saw
Thomas Reed had copied more than one camera file.
He had copied maintenance logs too.
Mark Danner had disabled four cameras on October 11.
Not because they were broken.
He entered each outage manually.
Two covered the faculty lot.
One covered the administrative corridor.
The fourth covered a side entrance near the records room.
“Why disable that one?” Emily asked.
Thomas pointed at the map.
“It’s the closest door to Harlow’s office.”
Investigator Ellis nodded.
“So someone moved documents.”
Logan sat across from his father.
“You could’ve prevented this.”
Thomas looked at him.
“I could’ve reported it earlier.”
“You did report it.”
“To Harlow.”
“And then you ran.”
Thomas’s face tightened.
“Yes.”
Logan stood.
Emily recognized the anger.
It looked a lot like hers when she discovered Rachel’s envelope.
“You took me with you to my uncle’s and told me it was because you needed work.”
“I was scared.”
“So was I.”
“I know.”
“No, you didn’t tell me enough to be scared. You just made me confused.”
Thomas had no answer.
Rachel quietly led Emily into the hallway.
“Give them space.”
Emily looked at her.
“You did the same thing.”
Rachel nodded.
“Yes.”
“Do parents just decide lying counts as protection?”
“Sometimes.”
“That’s terrible.”
“Yes.”
Emily glanced at her.
Rachel smiled sadly.
“You wanted me to argue?”
“A little.”
“I’m learning.”
Inside the room, Thomas finally told Logan everything.
After seeing Danner remove the camera drive, Thomas copied its backup.
Harlow fired him.
Two days later, someone photographed Logan outside school.
Then a man visited Thomas in a parking lot.
Mark Danner.
“He told me boys your age get into accidents all the time,” Thomas said.
Logan went silent.
“He never threatened you directly.”
“That sounds direct.”
“I left because I thought distance mattered.”
“Did it?”
“I don’t know.”
That was the worst answer.
But maybe it was the truest.
Then Ellis entered.
“We found Danner.”
Everyone looked up.
“Where?”
“His brother’s hunting cabin.”
“Did he run?”
“No.”
“What is he saying?”
“Nothing.”
Danner had cash.
Two burner phones.
A passport.
No Ava.
One burner contained deleted messages.
Forensics recovered portions.
A conversation with Natalie.
NATALIE: Victor wants the girl moved out by Monday.
DANNER: She won’t sign.
NATALIE: Then make her understand what happens to her mother.
Another:
DANNER: She ran at County Line.
NATALIE: Find her.
Then:
DANNER: Sofia’s sister has her.
NATALIE: Victor can handle the family.
Emily’s stomach twisted.
They had known.
They had watched the aunt’s house.
“Did they find her after she moved again?” Emily asked.
Ellis shook her head.
“No evidence yet.”
“Then where is Ava?”
“We’re closer.”
That evening, Brittany called Emily.
Emily almost ignored it.
Then answered.
“What?”
“I heard they arrested Danner.”
“Yes.”
“My father hasn’t come home.”
Emily sat straighter.
“What?”
“He left after the board records leaked.”
“Call Ellis.”
“I did.”
“Then why call me?”
Silence.
“Because I found something in his desk.”
Emily closed her eyes.
“Stop touching evidence.”
“I know that now.”
“What is it?”
“A hotel receipt.”
“Where?”
“Millstone.”
Emily knew the town.
Fifty miles north.
“What date?”
“October twentieth.”
Nine days after Ava escaped Danner.
The same week a car appeared outside Ava’s aunt’s house.
“Whose name?”
“My father’s assistant.”
“Could be nothing.”
“There’s a handwritten note.”
Emily waited.
Brittany read it.
Morales — Room 308 — family contact unsuccessful.
Emily stood.
“Send it to Ellis.”
“I did.”
“Good.”
Brittany’s breathing was uneven.
“There’s something else.”
“What?”
“My father called me.”
“When?”
“Five minutes ago.”
“What did he say?”
Brittany whispered:
“He said if I tell anyone what happened at the terminal, he’ll make sure everyone believes I planned it.”
Emily stared at the wall.
“Did you record him?”
“No.”
“Then write down every word.”
Brittany was quiet.
“Emily?”
“What?”
“I’m sorry.”
“For Ava?”
“For you.”
Emily’s jaw tightened.
“Those are different things.”
“I know.”
“You don’t get forgiveness because you’re scared now.”
“I know.”
Emily almost hung up.
Then Brittany said:
“My father told me something about Ava.”
“What?”
“He said she was never the real problem.”
Emily froze.
“What does that mean?”
“I asked.”
“And?”
“He said, ‘The problem is the woman helping her.’”
Emily thought of Sofia.
Her sister.
Dr. Bennett.
Then Brittany added:
“He called her Evelyn.”
Logan, listening on speaker, looked up sharply.
“Evelyn Keene?”
Emily knew the name.
Everyone at Westbridge did.
Evelyn Keene had been the school librarian for seventeen years.
She had taken sudden medical leave the same week Ava disappeared.
May you like
And nobody had seen her since.
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