Page 57 of Did You See Evie

It seems unlikely the girls could have done anything to Evie themselves, but they clearly made her life hell in the weeks leading up to the lock-in. Could there have been some kind of confrontation after we went to sleep? Was their mistreatment severe enough that Evie did decide to run away? At the very least, I know the girls have been lying about the true nature of their relationship with her. Perhaps that is what she was on the verge of telling me that night, before we got interrupted.

I’d give anything to go back to that moment and finish our conversation.

I’ve almost reached my car when I hear someone shout my name.

Turning around, I expect to see Kelly or Kyle chasing me out of the building. Instead, there’s a dark-colored sedan pulled up behind my vehicle. The driver’s window is rolled down to reveal Nadia behind the wheel. We’ve not seen each other since Sunday night, after we got into that argument coming back from Evie’s house.

“Get in the car,” she says. Her voice isn’t threatening, but there’s a seriousness behind her words.

“Not now, Nadia,” I say, turning back to my vehicle. “I’m not in the mood?—”

“I said get in the car.” This time it sounds more like an order.

“Are you blackmailing me again?” The last time Nadia went around shouting orders was right before we got into this mess. That damned open door. “What’s this about?”

“I want to show you something. I’m hoping it will change the way you think about me.”

“Look, I really don’t?—”

“Please.”

For whatever reason, a pleading Nadia is more convincing than an angry or even vindictive one. I drop my keys into my crossbody bag, taking one more look at the school building before I get into her car.

Once we’ve pulled out of the school zone and onto the main road, I ask her, “What’s this about?”

“I did some more digging into the boyfriend,” she says. “Turns out he was in prison for aggravated assault.”

“Yeah. I know. Once I had a name, I was able to do my own research.”

“Well, I talked to some people who know him. He’s been a creep for years. Rumor is he’s assaulted other girls that were too afraid to come forward. That guy has no business being under the same roof as Evie.”

I agree wholeheartedly. When I think about Josh and the crimes raised against him, a whole other wave of anger swells inside me. If there’s a silver lining to Evie’s disappearance, it’s that she’s away from that loser. Of course, she could be in an even worse situation we know nothing about. It’s the unknowns swarming around her disappearance that make me crazy.

“I appreciate you looking into him,” I say, “but if that’s what this is about, we’re wasting our time. He wasn’t involved.”

“What makes you say that?” she asks. “A couple of days ago you were convinced they were.”

“I’ve spoken with Detective Fields since then. They’ve looked into Crystal and Josh, and both have alibis. Over a dozen witnesses that were with them almost all of Friday night.” Before she can offer up the same theory I did earlier, I add, “And neither of them have enough money or pull to put someone else in charge of hurting Evie.”

“You think she ran away to avoid the creepy boyfriend?”

“No.”

Even if I didn’t know the full extent of what Evie was dealing with at home, I still don’t believe she would leave willingly. She would have come to me before she took matters into her own hands.

You didn’t go to Coach Phillips, a voice inside says, but I ignore it. Evie is different from me. Better. She knows I would have moved heaven and earth to protect her if she was at risk of being abused.

Besides, even in a rash moment, if she had run away, she would have returned by now. Her disappearance is too well known. It’s been covered on the local news. There’s been a prayer circle at the school. Evie isn’t the type of girl to sit back and take some kind of sick enjoyment from the attention her abduction has received. She’d be riddled with guilt for worrying so many people.

“Anyway, if this is about the boyfriend, we’re wasting our time,” I repeat. “He’s a total creep, but not involved with what happened to Evie.”

“We can scratch his name off the suspect list,” she says, “but that’s not what this is about.”

What list?That same skeptical voice pipes up again, but I push it away when I see where we’re going. We’ve entered the grounds of another elementary school in the area. It’s so close after dismissal, the school zone lights are still flashing. Parents guard their children as they walk through the crowded parking lot while other children play at the nearby playground, waiting for retrieval.

“What are we doing here?” I ask Nadia.

“There’s something I need to show you,” Nadia says, backing the car into a parking spot that faces the playground. Inside the fence, children dart across the brightly colored tarmac and soar on the swings.

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