Mia screamed again.<\/p>\n
Then the intercom went silent.<\/p>\n
I ran for the door.<\/p>\n
Dana caught me before I reached the hallway.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy daughter is out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen let go.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the person who took her expects you to run blindly through this building, don't give them exactly what they want.\u201d<\/p>\n
The school resource officer ordered an immediate lockdown.<\/p>\n
Doors closed.<\/p>\n
Teachers locked classrooms.<\/p>\n
Nobody entered or left.<\/p>\n
Kaylee stood beside Mrs. Fox's desk.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was Mrs. Pruitt.\u201d<\/p>\n
I turned.<\/p>\n
Their teacher.<\/p>\n
Mrs. Fox asked if she was certain.<\/p>\n
Kaylee nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe talks like that when she's angry but wants everybody to think she isn't.\u201d<\/p>\n
The secretary checked the staff system.<\/p>\n
Carol Pruitt had called in sick.<\/p>\n
Her badge, however, had opened the east entrance at 8:41.<\/p>\n
Four minutes later the security camera near that door had stopped transmitting.<\/p>\n
Mia disappeared at 8:47.<\/p>\n
Police teams spread through the building.<\/p>\n
Kaylee tugged my sleeve.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe music room.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat music room?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe old one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mrs. Fox explained.<\/p>\n
An unused rehearsal room sat beneath the auditorium. Water damage had closed it years earlier, but staff service keys still existed.<\/p>\n
Kaylee said Mrs. Pruitt kept old keys in her desk.<\/p>\n
Officers headed toward the auditorium.<\/p>\n
Then the intercom activated.<\/p>\n
\u201cBring the memory card.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mrs. Pruitt's voice.<\/p>\n
\u201cCome to the auditorium alone. Otherwise you'll hear your daughter again.\u201d<\/p>\n
I reached toward the evidence.<\/p>\n
The detective stopped me.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe wants the proof.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe has Mia.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe already copied the files.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen give her the card.\u201d<\/p>\n
He prepared a decoy.<\/p>\n
A blank memory card went into an evidence sleeve identical to the original.<\/p>\n
A tiny transmitter was clipped beneath my collar.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou stop at the auditorium entrance.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I see Mia, I'm going to her.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe may be armed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kaylee spoke.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe has a little silver knife.\u201d<\/p>\n
The detective looked at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn her purse.\u201d<\/p>\n
The warning went over the radio.<\/p>\n
I started walking.<\/p>\n
The school looked almost grotesquely ordinary.<\/p>\n
Paper planets hung from strings.<\/p>\n
Children's paintings covered the walls.<\/p>\n
Someone had made a crooked cardboard rainbow above a classroom door.<\/p>\n
Near the auditorium I found something purple.<\/p>\n
Mia's hair tie.<\/p>\n
Farther along lay one sock.<\/p>\n
She was leaving a trail.<\/p>\n
I picked it up.<\/p>\n
\u201cI'm coming, Mia.\u201d<\/p>\n
A door creaked.<\/p>\n
\u201cShow me the card.\u201d<\/p>\n
The auditorium was dark.<\/p>\n
Morning light came through high windows.<\/p>\n
Mrs. Pruitt stood near the stage.<\/p>\n
Mia was trapped against her.<\/p>\n
A narrow silver blade rested beside my daughter's ribs.<\/p>\n
Silver tape hung from Mia's wrist.<\/p>\n
One hand was already free.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet her go.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPut down the card.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou get it when that knife moves away.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mrs. Pruitt laughed softly.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou've spent too much time listening to Kaylee. She thinks everything is negotiable.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou were her teacher.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was supposed to follow instructions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mia looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe said you care about Kaylee more than me.\u201d<\/p>\n
My chest tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cI'm standing right here for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mrs. Pruitt pulled her closer.<\/p>\n
\u201cPut it down.\u201d<\/p>\n
I placed the evidence sleeve on the stage.<\/p>\n
She ordered me backward.<\/p>\n
I obeyed.<\/p>\n
She snatched it.<\/p>\n
Then she started dragging Mia toward the backstage stairs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happens when you see the evidence is gone?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou leave.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWith Mia?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe comes back when we know it's gone.\u201d<\/p>\n
We.<\/p>\n
One careless word.<\/p>\n
Mrs. Pruitt realized it too late.<\/p>\n
\u201cTasha and Marlene are already under arrest,\u201d I said. \u201cGreg is talking.\u201d<\/p>\n
I had no idea whether Greg had said anything useful.<\/p>\n
Mrs. Pruitt did not know that.<\/p>\n
Her grip changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cGreg doesn't know everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knew about Eli.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knows nothing about the others.\u201d<\/p>\n
Others.<\/p>\n
Not merely the children in the photographs.<\/p>\n
More.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow many?\u201d<\/p>\n
She smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cAsk Angela Fox.\u201d<\/p>\n
My eyes flicked toward the auditorium doors.<\/p>\n
Mrs. Pruitt moved.<\/p>\n
She grabbed the evidence sleeve and dragged Mia backward.<\/p>\n
Mia twisted suddenly.<\/p>\n
Her heel came down hard on Mrs. Pruitt's foot.<\/p>\n
Then my daughter reached sideways and pulled the fire alarm.<\/p>\n
The building exploded with sound.<\/p>\n
Emergency locks released.<\/p>\n
Mrs. Pruitt lost her grip.<\/p>\n
Mia ran.<\/p>\n
I ran toward her.<\/p>\n
The knife lifted.<\/p>\n
Before Mrs. Pruitt reached us, the heavy stage curtain crashed between us.<\/p>\n
The resource officer had released it from the booth.<\/p>\n
Police surged from both sides.<\/p>\n
One officer caught Mia.<\/p>\n
Another brought Mrs. Pruitt to the floor.<\/p>\n
The knife skittered across the stage.<\/p>\n
I dropped beside my daughter.<\/p>\n
She wrapped both arms around my neck.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew you'd come.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was nowhere else I was going.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kaylee appeared with Dana.<\/p>\n
Mia reached for her.<\/p>\n
Kaylee ran.<\/p>\n
For several seconds we sat together on the floor while the fire alarm screamed overhead.<\/p>\n
When officers lifted Mrs. Pruitt, she stared at Kaylee.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is because of you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mia stepped in front of her friend.<\/p>\n
Her voice shook.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. It's because of you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Police recovered Mrs. Pruitt's phone.<\/p>\n
Messages connected her directly to Tasha and Marlene.<\/p>\n
Tasha had warned her about the pink sneakers.<\/p>\n
If police found the memory card, Mia was to be taken and exchanged for the evidence.<\/p>\n
Another message had instructed Marlene to move Eli.<\/p>\n
Older conversations reached back years.<\/p>\n
One concerned Brianna Cole.<\/p>\n
Tasha had complained that Brianna would not stop talking.<\/p>\n
Mrs. Pruitt suggested moving her beyond the county.<\/p>\n
Marlene had a farmhouse.<\/p>\n
They could give Brianna another name.<\/p>\n
Police demanded the location.<\/p>\n
Mrs. Pruitt refused.<\/p>\n
Marlene asked for an attorney.<\/p>\n
Tasha remained silent.<\/p>\n
Greg finally broke.<\/p>\n
When investigators confronted him with the video showing him carrying Eli, he provided an address near the state border.<\/p>\n
Police entered the farmhouse.<\/p>\n
It had been occupied recently.<\/p>\n
Children's clothing filled three bedrooms.<\/p>\n
Documents contained seven false identities.<\/p>\n
Brianna was gone.<\/p>\n
Coffee on the kitchen table was still warm.<\/p>\n
Someone had left minutes before police arrived.<\/p>\n
Paramedics examined Mia.<\/p>\n
She had bruising around one wrist but no serious injury.<\/p>\n
Kaylee refused to move far from her.<\/p>\n
At the hospital, Eli was recovering.<\/p>\n
When someone showed him Kaylee's photograph, he touched the screen.<\/p>\n
\u201cSissy.\u201d<\/p>\n
I thought that finally explained the relationship between them.<\/p>\n
I was wrong.<\/p>\n
At 11:36, an officer entered the counselor's office.<\/p>\n
\u201cA woman downstairs is asking for Kaylee.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kaylee grabbed my hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cI'm not going.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody is taking you anywhere,\u201d Dana said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho is she?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cRachel Mercer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kaylee looked up.<\/p>\n
Mercer.<\/p>\n
Eli's surname.<\/p>\n
Not Whitman.<\/p>\n
Dana asked whether she recognized the name.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mom was Rachel.\u201d<\/p>\n
A pause.<\/p>\n
\u201cDad said she died when I was a baby.\u201d<\/p>\n
The woman downstairs carried identification, court documents, and an original birth certificate.<\/p>\n
Rachel entered a few minutes later.<\/p>\n
She looked exhausted in a way that sleep alone could never repair.<\/p>\n
She carried an old photograph.<\/p>\n
In it, a much younger Rachel held a newborn wrapped in pink.<\/p>\n
Around the baby's wrist was a hospital band.<\/p>\n
KAYLEE MERCER.<\/p>\n
Rachel's eyes filled.<\/p>\n
\u201cI've been looking for you for seven years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kaylee backed against me.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mom is dead.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rachel glanced toward the police cars outside.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat's what Greg wanted you to believe.\u201d<\/p>\n
When detectives showed Rachel a photograph of Eli, her knees buckled.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy son.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kaylee stared at her.<\/p>\n
Rachel explained slowly.<\/p>\n
Greg and Tasha had not simply taken Kaylee years earlier.<\/p>\n
Five years later, Eli had disappeared too.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
Rachel opened the folder she had carried inside.<\/p>\n
She removed an old staff photograph from the private family-services agency.<\/p>\n
Tasha stood among the employees.<\/p>\n
Greg was there.<\/p>\n
Marlene Pike.<\/p>\n
Carol Pruitt.<\/p>\n
And another woman.<\/p>\n
I recognized her immediately.<\/p>\n
Rachel touched the photograph.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe helped decide which children they could take.\u201d<\/p>\n
I turned toward the counselor's desk.<\/p>\n
Angela Fox's chair was empty.<\/p>\n
The exterior office door stood open.<\/p>\n
The place where the evidence bag had been was bare.<\/p>\n
The real memory card was gone.<\/p>\n
Mia screamed again. Then the intercom went silent. I ran for the door. Dana caught me before I reached the hallway. \u201cMy daughter is out there.\u201d \u201cI know.\u201d \u201cThen let … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14937,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insightdrama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14941"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14941\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14969,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14941\/revisions\/14969"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}