Chapter 12 - The Classroom
Police reached the school in six minutes.
The building should have been empty.
It wasn't.
A side door stood open.
Inside, hallway lights glowed dimly over rows of student artwork.
Detective Ramirez ordered Ethan and Lily to stay in Claire's car with Naomi.
Lily was crying now.
“Mom's inside?”
“We don't know,” Naomi said.
“I want her to be okay.”
Ethan looked at her.
Lily wiped her nose.
“I'm still mad at her.”
“You can be both,” Naomi said softly.
That sentence stayed with Ethan.
Inside the school, police followed the phone signal to Classroom 1B.
Lily's classroom.
Amanda sat on the floor behind the teacher's desk.
Her wrists were tied with electrical cord.
Trent was gone.
The guardianship letter lay torn beside her.
An ambulance checked Amanda while officers searched the building.
Claire wanted the children kept away from her.
Lily begged to see her.
Finally Ramirez allowed a brief conversation in the hallway with two officers present.
Amanda looked smaller without makeup, without perfect hair, without anger holding her upright.
Lily stopped six feet away.
“Did Uncle Trent hurt you?”
Amanda nodded.
“Why?”
“Because I tried to call Claire.”
Lily's eyes filled again.
Amanda reached out.
Lily did not move closer.
“I'm sorry,” Amanda whispered.
Lily looked at Ethan.
Then back at her mother.
“You were mean to Ethan before Uncle Trent hurt you.”
Amanda flinched.
“I know.”
“You said he's not my brother.”
“I was wrong.”
Lily's voice rose. “You knew you were wrong!”
Amanda started crying.
Ethan expected satisfaction.
He felt none.
Only tiredness.
Amanda looked at him.
“Ethan, I—”
“Don't.”
She stopped.
“You don't get to say sorry yet,” he said. “You just get to tell the truth.”
Even Ramirez looked surprised.
Amanda nodded slowly.
So she did.
Trent had contacted her after the police took Ethan and Lily to Claire's.
He told her the evidence would send them both to prison for financial fraud.
He forced her to retrieve the guardianship letter, then made her lure Claire to the abandoned house.
When Amanda tried to warn Claire, Trent tied her up and fled.
“Where would he go?” Ramirez asked.
Amanda hesitated.
Then she said, “Daniel's company storage yard.”
“Why?”
“Because that's where he hid the original loan files.”
Ramirez turned away to make the call.
Amanda grabbed his sleeve.
“Wait.”
He looked down.
She whispered, “There's more.”
Ethan knew from her face he wasn't going to like it.
“Trent has Daniel's truck.”
Ramirez frowned. “The wrecked truck is in Alaska.”
“Not that one.”
Amanda swallowed.
“Daniel's old pickup. The one registered to the company.”
Claire asked, “Why does that matter?”
Amanda looked at Ethan.
“Because two days before Daniel left, Trent hid something inside it.”
“What?”
May you like
Amanda's voice broke.
“A second brake-line cutter. With my fingerprints on it.”
