Page 7 of Once Vanished
The front door opened, and Riley turned to see Garner Hogue entering.The sight of him—competent, thorough, by-the-book Hogue—triggered a surge of irrational anger in Riley.
“Took you long enough,” she snapped, knowing even as the words left her mouth that they were unfair.
Hogue absorbed the barb without flinching.“My team is mobilizing resources across the eastern seaboard.We’ll find her, Paige.”
Riley looked away.“I need to talk to Gabriela,” she muttered, brushing past Hogue toward the stairs that led to Gabriela’s downstairs apartment.
*
Bill watched Riley disappear down the stairs to Gabriela’s apartment.In their years working together, he’d seen her face down serial killers without flinching, but this—having her family targeted—was different.This cut to the bone.He turned back to Garner Hogue, whose expression remained professionally neutral despite Riley’s harsh words.
“She didn’t mean that,” Bill said quietly.“You know how it is when it’s personal.”
“No apology necessary.If someone had taken my child, I wouldn’t be talking at all—I’d be tearing the world apart with my bare hands.”
The simple honesty in Hogue’s voice reminded Bill why he’d always respected the man.Hogue was thorough, meticulous, and careful about rules—qualities that sometimes clashed with Riley’s more intuitive approach.But he was also fundamentally decent.
“What do we have so far?”Bill asked, shifting to the practical matters at hand.
“Not enough,” Hogue admitted.“My team members Gleason and Jenson should be arriving any minute with additional equipment.We’ll set up a command center here, if that works for you and Paige.”
“It’s what Riley would want,” Bill confirmed.“The closer to home, the better.”
As if on cue, the front door opened, admitting two more agents.Bill recognized Siobhan Gleason, a sharp-featured woman with auburn hair pulled back in a severe bun, and Clark Jenson, a stocky man whose rumpled appearance belied his razor-sharp analytical mind.Both carried equipment cases.
“We’ve got the satellite uplink and additional monitoring equipment,” Gleason reported to Hogue, then nodded to Bill.“Agent Jeffreys.”
“Set them up in the dining room,” Hogue instructed.“I want every traffic camera, ATM, and storefront security system within fifty miles monitored in real-time.And I want facial recognition running on all of them.”
“Already in progress,” Jenson assured him.“We’ve got the system scanning feeds while we were en route.”
As the agents moved to establish their makeshift command center, Jay Mathers approached Bill, tablet in hand.The digital forensics specialist’s normally animated face was drawn with concern.
“So the back door was hacked,” Bill said.“How much skill would that take?”
“This is a professional-grade intrusion,” Mathers said.“Military or intelligence community level hacking skills.”
“I want to see the security footage,” Bill said.
“I was about to review it when you arrived.”
Bill joined Mathers in the alcove where he himself had set up a security monitor weeks ago.The screens flickered, then displayed a time-stamped feed from that afternoon.Bill leaned forward, his hands gripping the back of Mathers’ chair as the footage began to play.
At first, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.The back yard appeared peaceful.Then, at 3:27 PM, a figure appeared at the edge of the frame.
Bill’s breath caught.Even through the grainy security footage, there was no mistaking the man’s identity.Bill recognized him from photographs.Leo Dillard entered the yard from the back alley, walking with unhurried confidence.He wore jeans and a windbreaker, his dark hair neatly trimmed—the very picture of unremarkable normality.
“He’s not even trying to hide,” Bill muttered.
“He wanted to be seen,” Mathers replied, tapping another command to switch camera views.
The new angle showed Leo approaching the back door.He paused, glancing up directly at the camera—a small, knowing smile playing at the corners of his mouth.Then Leo reached into his pocket and removed what appeared to be a lockpick set.With an ease that spoke of considerable skill, he manipulated the tools in the lock.It took him less than thirty seconds to defeat it.
“Professional-grade lock picks,” Mathers observed.“And he knows how to use them.”
“Can you skip ahead to when he leaves with Jilly?”Bill asked, his voice tight.
Mathers fast-forwarded through several minutes of footage.The timestamp showed 4:02 PM when Leo emerged from the back door again, this time with Jilly held firmly in front of him.Jilly’s little dog Darby darted around at Leo’s feet, snapping at him helplessly.