The photograph changed the investigation.<\/p>\n
Until then, Beatrice could have argued that she was protecting the camp from a misunderstanding.<\/p>\n
She could have claimed ignorance.<\/p>\n
She could have blamed staff.<\/p>\n
Now there was a photograph placing her at the retreat house decades earlier.<\/p>\n
She had not simply arrived recently.<\/p>\n
She had history there.<\/p>\n
And she had lied about it.<\/p>\n
Detective Alvarez enlarged the photograph on her tablet.<\/p>\n
The children stood shoulder to shoulder in front of the same weathered building.<\/p>\n
The trees behind them were younger.<\/p>\n
The roof had a different shape.<\/p>\n
But the front porch was unmistakable.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo she was there in 1998,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
\u201cLooks that way.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDoing what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe're finding out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Renata watched the photograph.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe wasn't the director then.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was a counselor.\u201d<\/p>\n
Detective Alvarez looked at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow do you know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDaniela found her name.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn an old book.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat book?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe said it had pictures.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you see it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Renata looked frightened again.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe said the director didn't want anyone opening it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The detective wrote this down.<\/p>\n
Then another officer entered.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe found the cabinet records.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat kind of records?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAttendance books.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom 1998?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSome from then. Others from later years.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnything about missing children?\u201d<\/p>\n
The officer hesitated.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot directly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are gaps.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGaps?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPages removed.\u201d<\/p>\n
My stomach turned.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow many?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDifferent books. Different years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Detective Alvarez looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey may have been hiding something for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n
I thought of the list of twenty-nine names.<\/p>\n
Then the gray blanket.<\/p>\n
Then Daniela.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow many children?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don't know yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Renata whispered, \u201cTwenty-nine.\u201d<\/p>\n
The detective looked at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTwenty-nine names.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou mean the wall?\u201d<\/p>\n
Renata nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe the list isn't only this summer.\u201d<\/p>\n
That possibility was worse than anything I had imagined.<\/p>\n
Detective Alvarez returned to the camp.<\/p>\n
I remained with Renata.<\/p>\n
She asked for water.<\/p>\n
I helped her drink.<\/p>\n
Then she said something that made me stop.<\/p>\n
\u201cMom?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDaniela said her mother didn't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cKnow what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat she was scared.\u201d<\/p>\n
I waited.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe said her mother thought camp was safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
I felt a pressure behind my eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did Daniela say about her mother?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe said she promised to come back.\u201d<\/p>\n
I took Renata's hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid she say why?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe wanted to tell her everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat everything?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe room.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked down.<\/p>\n
The room without windows had become the center of everything.<\/p>\n
At noon, Detective Alvarez called again.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe found another entrance.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBehind the laundry room.\u201d<\/p>\n
Renata had been right.<\/p>\n
\u201cDoes it lead under the house?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere does it come out?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNear the storage building.\u201d<\/p>\n
I closed my eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow old is it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHard to say.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you find anything?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA child's shoe.\u201d<\/p>\n
My breath caught.<\/p>\n
\u201cRed?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. Blue.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCould it belong to Daniela?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don't know yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Renata heard me.<\/p>\n
\u201cDaniela wore red shoes.\u201d<\/p>\n
The detective heard that through the phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe'll check.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then the line went quiet.<\/p>\n
A few seconds later, Detective Alvarez said, \u201cThere's something else.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe tunnel walls have marks.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat kind?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHeight marks.\u201d<\/p>\n
My skin prickled.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow many?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSeveral.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cChildren?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPossibly.\u201d<\/p>\n
The detective sent another photograph.<\/p>\n
A wall.<\/p>\n
Horizontal lines.<\/p>\n
Dates beside them.<\/p>\n
Some were old.<\/p>\n
Some were recent.<\/p>\n
One line was dated three days earlier.<\/p>\n
The initials beside it were D.M.<\/p>\n
I stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat's Daniela.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Renata looked at the photograph.<\/p>\n
She nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was her.\u201d<\/p>\n
The evidence was becoming impossible to explain away.<\/p>\n
She had been there.<\/p>\n
She had been measured.<\/p>\n
And someone had recorded the date.<\/p>\n
I asked Detective Alvarez whether they had found Daniela herself.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
The word landed heavily.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we found a second room.\u201d<\/p>\n
My stomach tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBeyond the tunnel.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is inside?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe're waiting for the forensic team.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIs there a door?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWindows?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Renata closed her eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat room.\u201d<\/p>\n
Detective Alvarez said, \u201cWe haven't entered yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are signs the door was recently opened and closed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBy whom?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCould someone still be there?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe're treating it as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
I held Renata's hand.<\/p>\n
Then a loud sound came from the hallway.<\/p>\n
An officer hurried past.<\/p>\n
Detective Alvarez spoke into her radio.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n
A nurse appeared at the doorway.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone tried to enter the evidence room.\u201d<\/p>\n
My heart stopped.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
The nurse looked frightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cA man wearing a maintenance uniform.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid he get inside?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is he?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe ran.\u201d<\/p>\n
Detective Alvarez stood.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid he touch anything?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe door handle.\u201d<\/p>\n
An officer immediately began securing the area.<\/p>\n
I looked at Renata.<\/p>\n
She had gone pale.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you know him?\u201d<\/p>\n
She shook her head.<\/p>\n
Then she whispered:<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was in the picture.\u201d<\/p>\n
I turned.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat picture?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe old one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Detective Alvarez heard her.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhich man?\u201d<\/p>\n
Renata pointed toward the tablet.<\/p>\n
A man stood behind the children in the 1998 photograph.<\/p>\n
His face was partly hidden.<\/p>\n
But he wore a dark jacket.<\/p>\n
Renata's finger trembled.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat man.\u201d<\/p>\n
The detective stared at the photograph.<\/p>\n
Then at the hallway.<\/p>\n
\u201cGet me the security footage.\u201d<\/p>\n
She moved quickly.<\/p>\n
I stayed with Renata.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did he do at camp?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Daniela know him?\u201d<\/p>\n
Renata nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did she call him?\u201d<\/p>\n
She swallowed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe caretaker.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at Detective Alvarez.<\/p>\n
She had heard.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat's the caretaker's name?\u201d<\/p>\n
Renata shook her head.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe said everyone called him Mr. Gray.\u201d<\/p>\n
The detective's face tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cFind out who that is.\u201d<\/p>\n
An officer ran toward the elevator.<\/p>\n
Minutes later, Detective Alvarez received a message.<\/p>\n
She read it once.<\/p>\n
Then again.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho is Mr. Gray?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
She looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe retreat's maintenance contractor.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe died eleven years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
The photograph changed the investigation. Until then, Beatrice could have argued that she was protecting the camp from a misunderstanding. She could have claimed ignorance. She could have blamed staff. … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15253,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15260","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\/15260","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=15260"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15287,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15260\/revisions\/15287"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}