“Yes. It’s a long story, but this is truly touch or go.”
She processed that then nodded. “Pack an overnight bag, Anna.”
Anna whooped and then ran back into the house.
Todd waited until she was out of earshot. “I have to warn you, Eliza is in the ICU at Bryan West in Lincoln.”
“What happened?”
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out.” He looked down at the phone Anna had left behind. “Do you mind if I scan the texts between Anna and Eliza for a minute?”
She waved toward the kitchen. “I’m going to check on Anna. Make sure she packs the right things.”
Todd nodded but was already scrolling back to locate the thread’s beginning. The girls had started texting months earlier. Somehow, Anna had kept her mom in the dark. Why? Did Eliza ask her to do that? It felt like something was right outside his frame of reference. Just out of reach. He should see something he kept missing.
What was it?
He scrolled through simple messages from one young teen to another.
Notes that said one girl was still okay.
Why would Eliza make sure her friend understood that?
It wasn’t normal for girls that age to be concerned about safety. At thirteen, they should be whispering about boys and wondering what high school would be like in another year or two.
He kept scrolling and saw that occasionally, about once a week or two, Eliza would say something about where they were. She was using her middle name.
That was it.
This had the hallmarks of witness protection or a family hiding.
The move in the middle of the semester.
The way as far as the parents knew, Eliza and Anna had lost all contact. But the enterprising thirteen-year-olds found a way. The lengths Eliza took to have someone know she remained out there.
What compelled her to ensure someone knew, even if it was another kid?
Why not go to an officer?
Did that feel dangerous?
Or did she think she wouldn’t be taken seriously?
It was certainly possible that if she’d come to the Waverly police or Lancaster County Sheriffs, they wouldn’t have really listened. It didn’t speak well of his fellow law enforcement, but he knew if he’d met her before finding her he would have likely thought she had an overactive imagination.
He pulled out his phone and took a couple of screenshots. Then he forwarded them to Caleb before calling his partner. “Do you have any ideas how to connect with the Marshals to see if Eliza’s family was in witness protection?”
“Hello to you, too. And that’s quite a leap.”
“I know, but something’s been bugging me all day. We couldn’t find anything about the accident or her family. And in the screenshots I just sent, Eliza told her friend she was using her middle name. Why do that if you weren’t changing your identity?”
“Huh.” There was a muffled sound as if Caleb had pulled the phone away to look at the images. After a moment, he wasback. “That’s an interesting theory. The question is why they’d be protected.”
“Maybe they found something about what Ryan found that got him killed. And that’s what necessitated protection.”
“That’s quite a leap.”
“Sure, but it’s worth checking. Unless you’ve got a better idea.”
