Page 16 of Once Vanished
Elizabeth pressed a hand to her mouth, tears welling in her eyes.
“Mrs.Dillard,” Riley continued, leaning forward, “I need to know where Kelli died.Where exactly.”
Elizabeth shook her head slightly, as if trying to ward off the question.“I—I can’t.I can’t talk about that day.”
“I understand this is painful,” Riley said, fighting to keep impatience from her voice.“But I don’t have time for evasion.Every minute counts now.I can search official records for the location, but that would waste valuable time—time my daughter might not have.”
Elizabeth’s tears spilled over, tracking perfect lines down her powdered cheeks.“You don’t understand.We’ve never spoken of it.Not to anyone.Charles and I agreed.”
“Elizabeth,” Riley said, using the woman’s first name, creating an artificial intimacy, “Leo wants me to go there.He’s leading me to that place because that’s where he has Jilly.Please.”
The raw plea in her voice seemed to penetrate Elizabeth’s defenses.The older woman took a shuddering breath.
“We have—had—a cabin in the woods near Harper’s Ferry.It’s been in Charles’s family for generations.We used to spend summers there when the children were small.”Elizabeth’s voice grew distant, as if she were speaking from the bottom of a deep well.“Kelli loved it there.The wildflowers, the stream behind the house.She used to collect smooth stones from the streambed and paint them.Little works of art.”
Riley waited, not daring to interrupt the flow of memory.
“We had no idea of how cruelly Leo was tormenting her, and she wouldn’t tell us about that.But we could see that she was suffering.One day she asked to go to the cabin alone.To ‘clear her head,’ she said.”Elizabeth’s hands twisted together in her lap.“We should have known.We should have seen how broken she was.”
“The specific location, Mrs.Dillard,” Riley prompted gently.“I need an address, directions.”
Elizabeth visibly pulled herself together.“It’s off Harpers Ferry Road, near the national park.There’s a private drive marked with a stone pillar—no sign, just a small carving of a deer on the pillar.Follow that road about half a mile until it ends.The cabin sits in a clearing surrounded by oak trees.We’ve left it deserted ever since …”
Riley committed the directions to memory, already rising from her seat.“Thank you,” she said.“Officers, please stay with Mrs.Dillard.I’m going to have additional agents join you shortly.”The two police officers moved closer to the woman they were charged to protect.
As Riley turned to leave, Elizabeth called after her, “Agent Paige?”
Riley paused at the doorway, looking back.
“Leo...”Elizabeth hesitated, then continued, her voice stronger, “Leo likes to control … everything.He always has.He’s intelligent.He’s manipulative.He’s cruel.”
Riley nodded, understanding the warning.“I know.”
“And Agent Paige?”Elizabeth’s eyes, though red-rimmed, held a fierce intensity.“Find your daughter.”
“I will,” Riley said, the promise burning like a brand in her chest.
She hurried back through the corridors of the elegant home, past the butler who appeared from somewhere to open the front door for her, and down the steps to her car.As she slid behind the wheel, she pulled out her phone—her phone, not Jilly’s—and started to dial Bill.But then her fingers stopped dead still.
She remembered the words from Leo’s message: “There are some things all of us have to do alone.I’m sure you understand what I mean.”
The message was implicit but clear.Leo meant to have this out with Riley face to face, with no one else on hand.Leo would surely know if she brought any kind of backup, even if they tried to stay concealed.He probably had the whole area monitored.
If he’s holding Jilly there …
She understood that the message was nothing less than a threat.If she involved Bill or anybody else in this errand, it would mean Jilly’s death.Riley put the phone away and pulled away from the curb, leaving the refined quiet of Georgetown behind.Ahead lay Harpers Ferry, the woods, the cabin—and Leo, waiting with Jilly in a place marked by another young woman’s despair and death.
Leo was controlling the narrative for now, but Riley was determined to take it away from him.She had faced monsters before and she’d be damned if she’d let Leo Dillard write the ending to this story.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Bill eased his sedan into a visitor parking space at Jefferson Bell University.Campus life flowed around him—students wandering between buildings with backpacks slung over their shoulders, a frisbee arcing through the late afternoon sunlight—all of it jarringly normal.How strange that this bubble of collegiate calm existed in the same world where Jilly was missing, where Leo Dillard was orchestrating his sick game.Bill checked his watch: 5:15.He’d texted April from the road, and she should be waiting.
He scanned the quad, searching for her familiar silhouette among the scattered groups of students.The red brick buildings of the freshman dormitories loomed ahead, their windows reflecting the slanting rays of the autumn sun.Somewhere in those hallways and shared spaces, April had been trying to live the life of an ordinary college student—before today, before Leo.
There—a flash of dark hair by the entrance to Westmoreland Hall.April hurried down the steps, her backpack clutched in front of her like a shield.
Bill stepped out of the car and raised a hand.April saw him and quickened her pace, weaving between clusters of laughing students with single-minded focus.