Page 45 of Vanish From Sight (High Peaks Murder, Mystery and Crime Thrillers #2)

“Exactly,” he said. “The Academy thought they were out of the woods. However, the next time the matter would have been brought up, was when Sawyer got involved. Now they realize this isn’t going away and not only are they dealing with sexual assault, but also Charlie’s attack and the unfair dismissal of an employee.

That’s one hell of a dark cloud to live under.

And to top it off, Katherine is now willing to lose her career for the sake of the truth. ”

Callie stared at him. “So, she’s murdered and they follow through with Laura.”

“Go on,” Noah said, encouraging her to follow that same train of logic.

“By this point Sawyer is inside but there is no way of knowing if he’s going down for it, so an attempt is made on Nicholas and they opt to pin the evidence on him.” She shook her head and ran a hand over her blonde hair. “No. Something’s not right here.”

“What?” he asked.

“All right. Just humor me on this one. We know that Hawthorne doesn’t have an alibi for the night Katherine was found dead.

Okay. If Hawthorne was behind it, let’s say he kills Katherine, he follows up with Laura and makes sure Sawyer’s stolen SUV is seen.

He then sets fire to it so it could be found and linked back to Sawyer.

However, Sawyer was inside when that fire occurred, leading us to believe that it couldn’t have been him.

That’s also backed up by the stolen vehicle report Sawyer filed and CCTV footage that wouldn’t have given him enough time to do the murder.

So instead of leaving the keys in the vehicle, Hawthorne or someone from the Academy plants them at Nicholas’ place along with the rest of the evidence, knowing full well that Nicholas was the only other person that Katherine might have talked to about the assaults, but that’s the problem… ”

Noah smiled. He could tell she was beginning to realize what he had discovered and why he’d refused to believe that it was Nicholas. “Keep going,” Noah said. It was a simple matter of connecting the dots and applying common sense.

“If Hawthorne is responsible for the murders, he couldn’t have known who Katherine told.

She may have told countless people. So, killing Nicholas wouldn’t have helped.

In fact, it might have worked against the Academy because they would have known that we would have looked into Katherine’s background, spoke with Nicholas, learned about the dismissal and the alleged interference with children.

We found no report had been filed, let alone the alleged assault on Isabella.

And that alone would have opened up a can of worms he didn’t want. ”

“Exactly. It would have ended up with the result Hawthorne didn’t want in the first place, which was for no one to know about what was covered up. An adult would think about that. A teen? Maybe not so much. Isabella was straightforward. Charlie didn’t deny it.”

They exchanged a contemplative stare.

“And there are only three other people who really knew about it: Hawthorne, Charlie and Isabella. You think they might be targeted next?” He didn’t even need to answer it. The penny dropped. “You think it’s the boys who murdered them?”

Noah nodded.

“But there were four of them. You honestly think they’re all involved?”

“Remember, Thorne, we are dealing with a theory here. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” He reached for a pen and piece of paper. “You got a map of the area?”

“Yeah. One second.”

She returned a moment later and helped him clear off the table so he could spread it out.

Noah unfolded the map. He circled the places where Katherine and Laura were found, and the Evans home, and then drew a red line back to the Academy.

“Connery Pond is nine minutes away for Laura. Pulpit Rock is fourteen minutes away for Katherine. The Evans residence in Keene is twenty minutes. Nate Sawyer’s residence is ten minutes.

” Noah turned to his scrap of paper and jotted down the names of the victims. “Here’s what dawned on me.

Katherine Evans, Laura Summers, and even if we include Nicholas Evans, who still hasn’t regained consciousness at the hospital.

All of their deaths occurred within a very specific time frame.

Okay, we don’t know exactly what time Katherine died at, but if we go on the timeline of Laura’s abduction based on her run, and then we take the incident at the Evans house, which we have McKenzie’s logbook to thank for that.

Then we take the time of when the farmer saw the SUV on fire.

All three, four if you include the site where Sawyer’s SUV was found, are within thirty minutes’ driving distance of the Academy.

Based on the estimated time of death for Lena, she doesn’t fall into the timeline as she was located at Split Rock Falls, a forty-minute one-way drive from here, which is less than an hour and a half if you race back.

Now I called the Academy tonight to find out when everyone eats in the dining hall.

They said between five-thirty and six-thirty.

That’s an hour window. Plenty of time for them to do what needs to be done and get back without anyone noticing they are gone. ”

“We saw people eating elsewhere — in the library.”

“Exactly,” he replied, nodding. Noah continued.

“And I’m pretty sure unless they knew to leave their phones behind, we’ll soon have a record of where their phones pinged.

There is a chance it will match these locations.

However, chances are if this is correct, and all four are involved, they may have left them behind with one or two of the other teens. ”

“So they would have an alibi,” she said.

“Exactly. Phones stay at the Academy, and the word of two other students. It’s busy. You saw it. Students were coming and going. Some were eating outside, in the library, walking down the hallway.”

“But surely all four wouldn’t go along with it.”

“If Charlie and Isabella are to be believed, they sexually assaulted a girl, Callie. They’ve already proven what they are willing to do together to get what they want.

They have the most to lose. This isn’t just about the loss of a school’s reputation, no, it’s their entire lives.

The only question is who out of them committed the murders. ”

“Do you have an idea?”

He chuckled. “I wish I knew that much.”

“Okay, so we have motive and opportunity but what links them to the crimes?”

“That rope for one. Nicholas and Katherine weren’t climbers.

There’s no gear in their home related to that.

But at the Academy. They have wilderness staff.

Access to gear for climbing and rope courses.

Hawthorne said it himself the first day I visited him.

So, when I phoned the school, I asked to speak with Dalton Mathers. ”

“The expedition leader.”

“You got it.”

“He confirmed they use a specific rope. Mammut 9.5 Crag Dry. It’s not your run-of-the-mill rope you pick up from a local Walmart. We’re talking three hundred dollars or more. He emailed me a photo. It’s a match.”

“All right, so maybe it connects the school to the murders. What, so you think the teens’ DNA might be on it?”

“That’s what we’ll have to wait on a lab to confirm. Of course, we’d need to get a DNA sample for them. However, in the meantime we know from the medical examiner there was red fiber found on the rope that was wrapped around Katherine that could be connected to a vehicle, a home or clothing.”

“That’s why you were pushing to go back to the school.”

“At that time. No. I just figured that they needed a closer look.”

Callie got up, set her drink down and snagged up her jacket. “Right, well, we need to alert Isabella, Charlie and Hawthorne immediately.”