Chapter 15 - One of Their Own
The message at Briar Depot confirmed that someone was watching the investigation. It did not prove who was responsible.
Alvarez reviewed access logs for every officer who knew about the search. Danner's badge had entered the evidence garage after he called in sick. His private phone appeared near the depot an hour before the warrant was served.
Internal affairs and state investigators moved to interview him. Danner surrendered at his home without incident. He asked for a lawyer and declined to answer questions.
Ben felt no satisfaction. He had admired Danner's calm at accident scenes for years.
"We have evidence," Alvarez reminded him. "We still have to establish what it means."
Nora brought a second set of water reports to the state environmental agency. The independent tests confirmed contamination at the south well and contradicted the county's public assurances. The school district immediately provided bottled water and shut the affected well while further testing began.
"The kids were sick," Nora said on the courthouse steps, watching parents gather for a briefing. "And they called the parents hysterical."
"Now the parents have data," Cho said. "And officials who have to answer for it."
Leah entered a plea agreement limited to her own role in the records fraud and the taking of Eli. She accepted that she had frightened him. She also agreed to identify the adults who had ordered the relocation and to help locate affected children. Nora wasn't ready to call it redemption.
Eli asked if Aunt Leah was good or bad.
"She made a bad choice and then helped fix part of it," Nora told him. "Both things can be true."
That afternoon, a school bus mechanic found a taped packet beneath a seat in a vehicle tied to an old county transport route. It contained recent photographs of three missing children.
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On the back of the newest picture was a date: tomorrow.
And an address where nobody had thought to search.
