Page 35 of Vanish From Sight

Noah nodded. “Mr. Evans. What can you tell us about the last day you saw Katherine?” His tone was gentle but probing.

Nicholas looked up, meeting Noah’s gaze. For a moment, hisface betrayed a flicker of emotion — was it fear or regret? It was gone as quickly as it appeared. “It was like any other morning.”

“What day?”

“Wednesday. I believe that was the sixteenth, I think.”

“So, two days before her body was found.” Noah glanced at Callie; she scribbled it down. It meant she had to have stayed somewhere, a motel, a friend, with parents, or perhaps the shelter.

“I brought her a coffee then left for work. She is usually here when I come home. I arrived back here just after five thirty. The SUV was gone and so was Sonny. I just assumed she’d taken him out for a walk to one of the parks in the area.”

“Was that normal?”

“Yes. The time that she took him out varied.”

“Did she ever head into High Peaks?”

“No. I mean. Not to take the dog for a walk. We have lots of trails and parks around here. With the fall it gets dark soon. She doesn’t like the dark. That would have taken her a good thirty-minute drive.” He sighed, then took another sip of coffee. “When I hadn’t heard from her by six thirty, I texted but got no answer. Ten minutes later I tried to phone. No answer. Around eight, I was starting to get worried. You know, that perhaps she’d been in an accident or something. I phoned multiple times. I checked to see if she was online. You know, because you get a green dot beside a person’s name on social media if they are online.”

“And?”

“It was greyed out. By nine, I…”

He paused.

“Mr. Evans?”

He closed his eyes. “I was beginning to think she had done the same thing as the previous year.”

“Why would you immediately jump to that conclusion versus thinking she could have been in an accident?”

“I assumed if it was an accident, she would have contacted me, or the police, or the hospital would have.” He set his cup down on the table and laced his fingers together. “By the following morning, I figured she was taking time away.”

“You said you never called her parents, work or friends this time?”

“No. But then again, things had been a little tense in the days leading up to her leaving.”

“And why was that?”

“Where do I even start? She lost her job at the Academy six months before.”

“Lost? We were told she stepped down.”

He chuckled. “Stepped down, my ass. They gave her no other option. She was told in no uncertain terms that if she didn’t leave of her own volition, she’d never get another job in counseling again. They forced her out.”

“Why?”

“In the months leading up to her exit from High Peaks Academy, several accusations had been brought to the attention of Alexander Hawthorne. Rumors, you might say.”

“Of what kind?”

“Sexual in nature.” He sighed. “Several students were saying that she was…” He looked uncomfortable. “Interfering with them.”

“But you don’t believe that?”

“Not for one minute. Katherine was a good woman. She loved her job. She loved those kids but not in that way. She would have walked over glass for her students. She liked to think of herself as an advocate for the ones who couldn’t speak out or were struggling with life. The trouble is her job placed her alone one-on-one with students. If someone didn’t like her,or wasn’t getting what they wanted, then it would have been easy to create a false narrative about her. It’s not like their sessions are recorded.”

“Was a report filed with the police?”