Page 30 of Did You See Evie

“How long until they’re able to watch the footage?”

“No idea, but we’ll get to the bottom of this,” Mr. Lake says, crossing the parking lot to join Joanna and Reynolds. I wish there was more confidence in his voice.

After they’ve spoken with everyone, the police allow the parents to leave. One by one, they shuffle their sleep-deprived daughters back to their minivans and SUVs. But no one comes for Evie. I wonder if she’d planned on walking home, as she usually does after practice.

I try calling Evie’s mother over and over again, hoping for a simple solution. Maybe, like Mr. Lake suggested, she left the lock-in sometime in the night, or early in the morning. There could be a logical explanation for her absence, something we know nothing about, but there’s no answer when I call. When I dial the second and third emergency contact numbers on her file, both of those lines are no longer in service.

I wonder, will a police cruiser arrive at Evie’s house? Is that how her mother will receive the news that her daughter is missing?

Every so often, Mr. Lake steps away to make a phone call, likely to someone above my pay grade. As the morning drags on, Joanna and Reynolds say less and less, our silence somehow easing the shock of the situation.

All the while, my mind keeps trying to piece together what might have happened. Innocent explanations lose their likelihood with each passing minute. Maybe she is injured, I think to myself. Unconscious and unable to respond. Maybe she got into a fight with one of the girls and took off without them knowing. All these possibilities arise inside me to drown out the one question I keep asking myself, over and over again:

Could Nadia be involved?

I revisit the computer lab in my mind. All that technology and equipment, still sitting there. Hadn’t that been the reason for Nadia’s heist to begin with? The reason she threatened me to get involved? The reason she continued to pester me with instructions and questions?

All that’s missing from the school is a very young, very impressionable girl, and I’m responsible. Evie is one of my players. And I might have put her in danger by opening that door, even though I don’t want it to be true.

It’s been over fifteen years since Nadia and I last spoke, and I know little to nothing about her life in that time. What she told me was likely a lie. I think of her expensive jewelry, her nice clothes. Maybe she’s funding her lifestyle by doing something a lot worse than ripping off local schools.

Every time I call Nadia, it goes directly to voicemail. Her phone is off, or she’s avoiding me. Either way it stops me from getting the answers I need.

“Cass?” Mr. Lake is speaking, but my mind was elsewhere. There’s no telling how long he’s been trying to get my attention. “Is there any other information you can give the officers?”

“Not right now,” I say, struggling to get out the words.

“Has anyone gotten ahold of her family?” Joanna asks. She stands beside me, arms crossed, as flustered as I am but seemingly less distracted.

“We have people going around to the house as we speak,” an officer says.

I’ve tried avoiding the police as best I could. They make me uneasy, as though they’ll be able to see right through me, know that I’m hiding something.

Part of me wants to tell them about Nadia, but I can’t. All that will do is incriminate me in Evie’s disappearance, and regardless of what Nadia had planned, I never would have gotten involved with something like that. I step away, dialing her number again, but it goes straight to voicemail once more.

“There’s nothing more we can do here,” Mr. Lake tells me. The officer has walked back to his police cruiser as though getting ready to leave.

“What do the police want us to do? Should we start searching the area?” I ask.

“Or maybe there’s more people we can contact?” Joanna asks.

“They’re still gathering information,” he says. “I’d say the best thing you can do is get some rest. Neither of you could have gotten much sleep last night.”

I scoff. “There’s no way I can rest. Evie is out there, and we have to find her.”

“Let the police talk to the family,” he says. “We’ll go from there. And keep your phone nearby, in case there are any updates.”

Before I can respond, Mr. Lake is gone. His behavior since he arrived has been hard to read. Clearly, we’re all rattled, but I’m used to him greeting me with warmth. That familiar demeanor has been replaced with a harsh coolness. He blames me for what’s happened, and he might be right.

“We should go home,” Joanna says. “They’ll contact us with updates.”

“I can’t just sit around and wait,” I say.

“What else are we going to do?”

The hopelessness in her voice is frightening. And I lack any power to improve this situation.

Outside, the rain is beginning to pour. My mind wanders, again, to where Evie might be. I wonder if she’s injured or endangered, if she’s cold and afraid. The rain only beats harder along my drive home, and by the time I do arrive at my house, I’m soaked from the short trek from the car.

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