Chapter 6 - THE PHOTOGRAPH OF THE TEACHERThe photograph was taken at 7:13 a.m.
I was unlocking my classroom.
I remembered that moment.
I remembered balancing coffee in one hand and lesson plans in the other.
I remembered thinking it would be an ordinary Thursday.
Someone had been standing across the street.
Watching me.
Reyes placed the photograph inside an evidence sleeve.
“This isn't only about Lily anymore.”
I knew that.
The question was why.
The USB drive was encrypted.
The police couldn't open it.
The key unlocked nothing inside the school.
But the photograph had a handwritten number on the back.
3-1-7.
Reyes searched everything.
Rooms.
Records.
Cabinets.
Nothing.
Then Mr. Davis spoke.
“The old auditorium.”
We looked at him.
“Row three. Seat seventeen.”
The auditorium hadn't been used in years.
Dust covered the seats.
The stage curtains smelled like mold.
Bear led us directly to row three.
Seat seventeen.
He scratched underneath it.
We removed the cushion.
A thin metal panel was hidden beneath.
Inside was a second envelope.
This one contained a flash drive.
And a list.
Names.
Teachers.
Students.
Custodians.
Contractors.
At least thirty people.
Some had been crossed out.
Others had numbers beside them.
Reyes looked at the list.
“What do the numbers mean?”
Nobody knew.
Then I saw my name.
Sarah Bennett.
Next to it was:
3
Lily's name was marked:
1
Mr. Davis:
5
Reyes's face changed.
“What's your number?”
He looked down.
His name was there too.
Number 7.
At the bottom of the page was one final name.
Daniel Mercer.
Number 0.
Reyes swore.
Mercer wasn't simply involved.
He was at the center.
Then the USB drive opened.
A video file.
Michael Carter appeared on screen.
Lily's father looked exhausted.
He sat in a dark room.
“If you're seeing this,” he said, “then I failed to stop them.”
I couldn't breathe.
Michael looked directly into the camera.
“There is a group using school systems to identify vulnerable children.”
Reyes leaned toward the screen.
“They don't take random children,” Michael continued. “They select children connected to information, money, witnesses, or people they need leverage over.”
Lily.
His daughter.
My hands tightened.
“There is a list.”
He held up a folder.
“Names are assigned numbers.”
He swallowed.
“The children are numbers.”
The screen flickered.
“They have someone inside every school.”
Michael looked over his shoulder.
Then back at the camera.
“If they come for Lily, don't trust the person who says he is protecting her.”
The video ended.
Nobody moved.
Then Bear began growling.
Not at the door.
At the computer.
A second file had appeared.
It opened automatically.
A live feed.
The camera showed the playground.
The children who had been taken home that afternoon were gone.
But someone was still standing there.
Lily.
I spun around.
“Where is she?”
Mrs. Holloway was pale.
“She was with the nurse.”
Reyes ran.
We reached the nurse's office.
The window was open.
The nurse was unconscious on the floor.
Lily was gone.
Bear jumped through the window.
We followed.
His footprints disappeared near the fence.
Then Reyes found something hanging from the branch of a tree.
A pink ribbon.
Lily's.
Attached to it was another note.
COME ALONE, SARAH.
Underneath:
OR SHE LEARNS WHAT HAPPENED TO HER FATHER.
I looked toward the woods.
May you like
Bear was already waiting.
And for the first time since the nightmare began, he looked afraid.
Related Stories
