Chapter 13 - Bright Path
Dana sat down slowly and began writing.
Tyler moved toward the desk.
Melissa placed one hand near Owen’s shoulder but did not touch him.
Matthew asked, “Can you tell me where you are?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s okay. Tell me what you see.”
“There are wood walls. High windows. A light with bugs in it. Beds with numbers. Hay smell. One door.”
Matthew felt the room around him change.
People who had come for an opening ceremony became witnesses to a nightmare finding a voice.
“How many children are with you?” he asked.
Nora breathed.
“I don’t know.”
“Count the beds if you can.”
A rustle.
A tiny scrape.
Then a whisper.
“Eight.”
She had not counted herself.
Children in those places often did not.
“What do the adults call the place?”
“Bright Path.”
Tyler’s face tightened.
Matthew looked at Dana.
She underlined it.
Bright Path.
“Do you hear anything outside?”
“Trains.”
“How close?”
“Loud at night. The wall shakes.”
A rail line.
Matthew looked toward Detective Harris’s empty chair.
He had not arrived yet.
He was supposed to attend the opening and make a few awkward remarks about interagency cooperation.
Now Matthew needed him for the only reason that mattered.
“Nora, is an adult close?”
“Yes.”
“Can they hear you?”
“I don’t think so. I found the phone in a coat.”
A man’s voice shouted in the background.
“Nora!”
The girl sucked in a breath.
Matthew’s voice stayed low.
“Hide it if you need to. You did nothing wrong. Nora, listen to me. You did nothing wrong.”
The line went dead.
No goodbye.
No final clue.
Only silence.
Matthew did not move.
The receiver stayed pressed to his ear long after the call ended.
Then Tyler said, “Dad.”
That word pulled him back.
Matthew placed the phone down carefully.
Nobody in the office spoke.
May you like
The photographer held his camera against his chest with both hands.
The ribbon still hung across the doorway, blue and uncut.
