Chapter 6 - We raced home.Every police cruiser followed behind us.
But when we arrived, the house looked untouched.
No broken windows.
No open doors.
No signs of forced entry.
Yet someone had been inside.
The kitchen table had been cleared.
Every chair was pushed neatly against it.
In the center sat a single envelope.
My name.
Again.
The detective opened it.
Inside was a key.
Small.
Old.
Brass.
Maya stared at it.
“I know that key.”
“Where?”
“The equipment room.”
At the school?
She nodded.
“But why would he leave it here?”
The detective examined the key.
A number was engraved on it.
We returned to the school.
The equipment room was locked.
The key opened it.
Inside, shelves were stacked with uniforms, pom-poms, sports equipment, old trophies.
Everything looked normal.
Then Maya walked to the back wall.
She pressed her hand against a wooden panel.
It moved.
A hidden door swung open.
Behind it was a narrow staircase.
The detective raised his flashlight.
We followed.
The staircase led underground.
At the bottom was a room.
A very old room.
And someone had transformed it into an archive.
Boxes.
Files.
Hard drives.
Photographs.
Names.
Dates.
School records.
Student records.
Everything had been catalogued.
Hundreds of people.
Years of information.
Then Maya found Sophie's file.
She opened it.
Inside was a copy of every text Sophie had sent during the past year.
Every photograph.
Every private conversation.
Every movement.
Someone had been monitoring her.
Then Maya found Emily's file.
The last page contained a handwritten note.
SHE KNOWS ABOUT THE VAULT.
Maya whispered:
“What vault?”
I heard something.
A sound behind us.
Footsteps.
The detective turned.
Nobody.
Then the lights switched on.
A speaker crackled.
A man's voice filled the room.
“You finally found it.”
Maya froze.
The voice continued.
“You've been asking the wrong questions.”
The detective shouted:
“Show yourself.”
The man laughed.
“You still think I'm the villain?”
The lights flickered.
A screen mounted against the wall suddenly turned on.
It showed Principal Harris.
He was sitting in a room.
Blood covered his shirt.
“Help me!” he screamed.
Then the video changed.
Coach Reed appeared.
His hands were tied.
He looked terrified.
Then another screen appeared.
Sophie.
Alive.
She was sitting in a dark room.
The same room we had seen in the earlier video.
Maya stepped toward the screen.
“Sophie!”
Sophie looked at the camera.
“Maya, listen to me!”
The man interrupted.
“Choose.”
The detective shouted:
“Who are you?”
The speaker replied:
“I'm the person cleaning up your school.”
Maya stared at the screen.
“What do you want?”
“The truth.”
“You kidnapped Sophie.”
“I saved her.”
“From what?”
Silence.
Then:
“From them.”
The screen changed.
A video appeared.
It showed Principal Harris.
Coach Reed.
And another man.
They were meeting in an office.
On the desk sat a ledger.
A bank transfer document.
The other man was someone I recognized.
The district superintendent.
I covered my mouth.
The man continued:
“They've been moving money for years.”
“Where?” the detective asked.
“Scholarships. Donations. Booster funds. Grants.”
Maya stared at the screen.
“What about the girls?”
The voice became colder.
“They were collateral.”
My blood ran cold.
“What does that mean?”
“They discovered too much.”
The screen went black.
Then Sophie appeared again.
She leaned toward the camera.
“Maya, there's one thing you have to know.”
“What?”
Sophie looked terrified.
“Emily didn't run away.”
Maya stopped breathing.
“I know.”
“No.”
Sophie's voice cracked.
“You don't.”
She looked toward someone off-camera.
Then whispered:
“Emily is alive.”
The screen went black.
Maya screamed.
And from somewhere in the darkness beneath the school, a phone began ringing.
We followed the sound.
It came from a metal box.
The detective opened it.
Inside was Emily's phone.
And one new text message.
May you like
Sent less than ten seconds earlier.
MAYA, DON'T TRUST YOUR MOTHER.
