Chapter 6
Ava woke twenty minutes later.
Detective Brooks arrived before we asked another question.
She did not want us accidentally influencing what Ava remembered.
We moved into the kitchen.
Ava sat beside her father.
Lily stayed with me.
Brooks asked, “You told Lily there was another person?”
Ava nodded.
“Who?”
“I don’t know his name.”
“Man or woman?”
“Woman.”
My stomach tightened.
“What did she do?”
Ava looked at her father.
He whispered, “Tell the truth.”
Ava nodded.
“She gave Mom papers.”
“What papers?”
“School papers.”
Brooks became very still.
“When?”
“A bunch of times.”
“Where?”
“Sometimes at our house.”
“What did she look like?”
Ava described a woman in her thirties.
Brown hair.
Glasses.
Usually wearing a blue cardigan.
Brooks asked, “Did your mother call her anything?”
Ava thought.
“Miss Erin.”
Daniel looked at me.
I knew that name.
“Erin Walsh?”
Brooks turned.
“You know her?”
“She works at Lily’s school.”
My entire body went cold.
“She’s in the front office.”
Daniel stood.
“She has access to student records.”
Brooks was already reaching for her phone.
Within minutes, officers were sent to Erin Walsh’s home.
She was not there.
Her car was gone.
Her phone was off.
I stared at Brooks.
“She ran.”
“Possibly.”
“You said Hale was arrested.”
“He was.”
“So why would she run now?”
Brooks did not answer.
She did not need to.
Because she knew the investigation was closing in.
The school district was notified.
Parents were contacted.
Administrators began reviewing access logs.
Erin had opened dozens of student files over the previous year without a clear work-related reason.
Lily’s file had been opened eleven times.
Sophie’s nine.
Harper’s eight.
Every child from Brenda’s most recent sleepover appeared in the log.
Daniel sat with his head in his hands.
“They knew everything.”
I wanted to argue.
But I could not.
Addresses.
Emergency contacts.
Parent names.
Custody notes.
Pickup permissions.
Information families trusted the school to protect.
Brooks said, “We believe Erin supplied records to Brenda.”
“And Brenda gave them to Hale.”
“Yes.”
I looked at Lily.
She was drawing beside Ava.
They were making name cards.
Their real names.
Bright letters.
Stars.
Hearts.
Glitter.
The contrast almost destroyed me.
Children rebuilding what adults had tried to take.
That night, Daniel received a call from an unknown number.
He answered.
No one spoke.
Then the line disconnected.
His face changed.
“What?”
I asked.
“Nothing.”
“Daniel.”
He showed me the screen.
Unknown caller.
My skin prickled.
We called Brooks immediately.
She told us not to answer unidentified calls.
An officer was assigned outside the guesthouse.
The fear returned.
Different now.
Sharper.
Hale was caught.
Brenda was jailed.
But Erin was missing.
At midnight, I found Lily sitting on the bathroom floor.
She had written her name on both palms.
LILY.
I knelt.
“Why did you do that?”
“So I remember.”
My heart broke.
“You remember your name.”
“What if I wake up and don’t?”
“You will.”
“What if someone tells me I’m Chloe?”
I sat beside her.
“Then you tell them they’re wrong.”
She looked at me.
“What if they keep saying it?”
“Then you keep saying Lily.”
“What if they get angry?”
I took her hands.
“Someone getting angry does not make them right.”
She stared at the marker on her palms.
I continued.
“Your name belongs to you.”
She whispered, “Can people take it?”
“No.”
“They tried.”
“They tried to make you doubt it.”
I touched her chest gently.
“But they didn’t take anything that matters.”
She leaned against me.
For several minutes, we sat on the bathroom floor.
Then she asked, “Did Mommy pick my name?”
“Yes.”
Her face softened.
“She did?”
“She picked it before you were born.”
“Why Lily?”
I smiled through tears.
“Because she said lilies looked delicate but came back every spring.”
Lily thought about that.
“So they’re strong?”
“Very.”
She leaned into me harder.
“I want to be strong.”
“You already are.”
The next morning brought news.
Erin Walsh had been arrested at her sister’s cabin three counties away.
Police found a laptop in her car.
On it were copied student records.
Hundreds.
Not all connected to Brenda.
The investigation widened again.
But this time, something changed inside me.
I was still afraid.
But no longer helpless.
One by one, every person involved was being found.
Every secret was becoming evidence.
Every lie was becoming a charge.
Brenda’s carefully controlled world was collapsing.
And the children she expected to stay silent were talking.
Brooks visited that afternoon.
“Erin is cooperating.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“Of course she is.”
“She says Brenda paid her.”
“How much?”
“Small amounts at first.”
Brooks shook her head.
“Gift cards. Cash. Favors.”
“For children’s records?”
“Yes.”
I felt disgusted.
“She claims she thought Brenda was helping families with private tutoring and childcare placement.”
Daniel said, “That’s garbage.”
“Probably.”
Brooks continued.
“But she admits she became suspicious months ago.”
“And kept helping.”
“Yes.”
I looked at Lily.
“So she had a chance to stop.”
“Many.”
“And didn’t.”
“No.”
That mattered to me.
Because people always imagined evil announced itself dramatically.
Sometimes it did not.
Sometimes it arrived as a favor.
A small rule broken.
A question ignored.
A warning dismissed.
Then another.
And another.
Until someone looked back and realized they had walked very far from the person they claimed to be.
Brooks stood to leave.
At the door, she paused.
“One more thing.”
I almost laughed.
There was always one more thing.
“What?”
“Hale wants a deal.”
Daniel’s expression hardened.
“For what?”
“He says Brenda approached him first.”
I stared at Brooks.
“He’s blaming her?”
“He says the entire operation was her idea.”
Daniel asked, “Do you believe him?”
Brooks answered carefully.
“I believe criminals often blame each other.”
May you like
Then she added:
“But we found evidence Brenda was doing this before she ever met Victor Hale.”
