Page 73 of The Advocate’s Ultimatum

JP cocked his head. Field continued, still looking out at the street. “I had to warn the kids somehow. So, I told them not to walk alone. I told them to stay together, cross early, keep moving. I did not explain why.”

“Why not?” JP asked.

Field finally looked at him. “Because they’re children,” he said. “And some things are not improved by explaining them.”

“They were afraid of you,” JP said.

Field gave a slight exhale. “Some of them were.”

“You didn’t correct that.”

“No,” Field said. “Fear, in that case, kept them moving.”

JP looked back toward the street.

“He did not sit out here and make himself visible,” Field went on. “That is not how men like that operate. He stayed inside most of the time. I could see the curtains move though. He paid attention without being seen.”

“Did you report it?”

“There was nothing to report that would stand,” Field said. “No contact or overt behavior. No witness who could say more than ‘he looks.’ That doesn’t go anywhere.”

“So, you watched instead,” JP said.

“I watched and warned where I could. I know it made some kids uneasy. That’s why I did it. Many of them crossed the street to avoid me.”

JP thought about what Tyler had said. If he was telling the truth, it worked.

“Did you ever speak to Gates?” JP asked.

“Once,” Field said. “It didn’t tell me anything useful, but I made sure he knew I was keeping an eye on him.”

JP shifted. “Is Gates still around?”

“No,” Field said. “He moved out not long after the girl disappeared.”

“How long after?”

“A couple of weeks,” Field said. “Maybe less.”

“That’s suspicious.”

“It bothered me, but we were keeping an eye on him.”

“Who is we?”

“After Hannah disappeared, I got a visit from her half-brother August.”

“He came to you?”

“He came to everyone,” Field said. “He went door to door asking questions nobody had answers to.”

“What did he want?”

“Answers,” Field said. “Same as everyone else. He just went about it differently.”

“How so?”

Field looked at the corner again, as if the details were still there if he chose to see them.