Chapter 9 - LILA IS GONE
Elliot tore through the house.
Security teams locked down the property.
One camera showed Lila leaving through the side garden twenty minutes earlier.
Alone.
No kidnapping.
No struggle.
She had left willingly.
Elliot felt relief and fury at the same time.
“Track her.”
Her phone was upstairs.
But the security team traced her school tablet.
A signal appeared near Ashbury Hall.
Elliot stared.
“She went back.”
He drove there himself.
Police followed.
The school was closed.
Dark.
Silent.
One side door was open.
Elliot entered.
“Lila!”
No answer.
He found her backpack near the auditorium.
Then heard voices below.
The basement.
Elliot ran down the stairs.
Lila stood inside the old surveillance room.
Maya was with her.
“What are you doing?”
Lila jumped.
“Dad!”
Elliot grabbed her shoulders.
“Do you understand what you just did to me?”
“I’m sorry.”
“You left during a threat investigation.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
Maya lifted a hard drive.
“Because there was another backup.”
Elliot stared.
Lila explained.
“Maya remembered a hidden cabinet.”
They had come back to retrieve evidence before the school could destroy it.
Elliot wanted to scream.
Instead, he pulled both girls into a hug.
“You never do this again.”
Lila nodded against his chest.
Then footsteps sounded upstairs.
Everyone froze.
Police should have been outside.
But these steps were coming down.
Slowly.
A man appeared.
State Senator Richard Hargrove.
Peyton’s father.
He raised both hands.
“I’m not here to hurt anyone.”
Elliot stepped in front of the girls.
“Then why are you here?”
Richard looked exhausted.
“Because my wife is lying.”
Silence.
He pulled out a flash drive.
“And I have proof.”
Elliot didn’t move.
Richard continued.
“I didn’t know what Caroline was doing at first.”
“At first?”
“She told me the scholarship fund was being mismanaged.”
Elliot stared.
“And later?”
“I found accounts.”
“Fake vendors?”
Richard nodded.
“I confronted her.”
“What did she say?”
“That everyone does it.”
He looked ashamed.
“I should have reported it.”
“But you didn’t.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I was running for reelection.”
Elliot almost laughed.
Of course.
Reputation over children.
Again.
Richard held out the drive.
“This contains recordings Caroline made.”
“Why would she record herself?”
“She recorded everyone.”
“Insurance.”
Elliot understood.
Blackmail.
Richard’s face tightened.
“There’s one recording about your wife.”
Elliot’s heart stopped.
“What does it say?”
Richard swallowed.
“It proves Caroline knew someone was following Sarah the night she died.”
Lila grabbed Elliot’s hand.
Then a noise came from behind them.
The basement door slammed shut.
May you like
The lights went out.
And gasoline fumes filled the room.
