Page 94 of Our Daughter's Bones

“Why did you tell me?” Nick asked. She looked at him. The wavering of his eyes gave away his curiosity.

She didn’t reply. He didn’t push again.

The rest of the drive was silent. As they headed to Anthony’s office, she wondered what evidence Daniel had found. Everything had been extracted from Erica’s phone—call logs, messages, and pictures and videos. The three of them had spent their nights devouring that information, looking for any clues. Justin and Jenna had been working non-stop, verifying the contents found on the phone, confirming witness statements, and exploring all threads of possibilities.

What had they missed that Daniel discovered?

“Thanks for coming,” Daniel said.

Anthony’s office was crowded, with four people trying to fit inside. The chemical odor of pest treatment still hung in the air. Nick winced. “Jeez, Anthony. How are you working here? Is your nose dead or something?”

He rolled his eyes. “Daniel, you want to explain why we’re spending Sunday morning inhaling bug spray?”

“I was thinking about Abby looking into 916 and Erica’s disappearance,” Daniel explained. “I realized we were so focused on where and how Abby found Erica’s phone that we never thought about where she was hiding it. We don’t know when Abby found the phone, but it’s safe to assume that it was at least days before she went missing. We also suspect that she was looking into 916 and uncovered evidence, which led to her being blackmailed and abducted. Then, I started thinking, what evidence could it be? Was it just Erica’s cell? But we found nothing on it.”

“Which means that 916 doesn’t care about Erica’s phone,” Nick said. “Nor did they care about the money. They didn’t take either of those things. If they arranged the drop at the gas station, theyknewthey wouldn’t be able to pick them up without being caught on camera. It was just to get Abby to let her guard down or mess with us. We established that already.”

“We did. But then what did Abby uncover? So, I started thinking about where Abby could have been hiding that evidence.”

“Maybe she was hiding it wherever she was keeping the phone,” Mackenzie finished his thought.

“Exactly!” Daniel said frantically. “I thought maybe the phone would have some evidenceonit. I went to Anthony yesterday, asking if he could find something that could give us information on where the phone was being kept.”

“I was not optimistic about this,” Anthony said flatly. “But still, I swiped the phone for particulates. I ran them on the mass spec and found something other than dirt and epidermal cells.” He slid the results for Mackenzie and Nick to read.

Mackenzie skimmed over the chromatograms showing various peaks. She didn’t have a background in science but working in law enforcement long enough had given her adequate working knowledge. “There is a lot of background noise.”

“Yes. The peaks with the highest intensity are essentially dirt. There were traces of Abby’s DNA. None of Erica’s DNA. It makes sense, since she touched this phone more than a year ago, and it wasn’t bagged immediately and has been under unknown conditions. But I cleaned up the sample a bit and played around with noise-to-signal ratio.” He turned the page to a cleaner chromatogram. There were fewer peaks, each marked with their signature molecular weight and signal intensity. Under it, the identified substances were listed. “There are high levels of toluene diisocyanate and methylene diphenyl diisocyanate, along with some acetone, ketone, and ethers.”

Nick raised his eyebrows. “Now you’re just showing off.”

“Adhesive. Polyurethanes, to be specific. There were also significant quantities of pumice powder, chalk, wax, and plywood. She definitely didn’t hide the phone in her closet.”

“All these materials. Where do you find them?” Mackenzie asked.

“Woodshop,” Nick said. “Lakemore High offers a woodworking program.”

“Abby hid the phone at school, not at home?”

“Maybe she suspected that her home wasn’t safe,” Daniel offered. “We know someone messed around with her medication. What if they left some evidence behind, and Abby grew suspicious?”

“Whoever was threatening her would search her home first. It was smart to find a hiding place at school.”

“I’ll ask Principal Burley if we can search today, without a warrant and without students around. It’ll save us time.” Nick pulled out his phone and ducked out of the office.

“You did good, Daniel,” Mackenzie admitted as they left Anthony’s office. “We didn’t think of checking for that.”

“I just wanted to help. I’m sorry; I should’ve been honest.”

“You should have.” Her words made him recoil. She registered his weary appearance: his creased suit, scuffed shoes, and loose tie. “But… sometimes we can be right, even if our actions weren’t. I can understand that,” she added softly.

“You can?”

“Yes. And I’m really sorry that we missed this. But I promise I’ll not stop till I find the truth.”

Fifty-One

Lakemore High had a separate section that looked like a bulb attached to the main building, with a single corridor connecting them. The bulb housed a greenhouse, photography studio, exercise studio, and woodshop. Principal Burley led them along the corridor, rubbing her hands feverishly. Dressed in loose tracksuit and sneakers, she was a stark contrast to the fashionable woman with high heels they’d met previously.