Page 79 of The Advocate’s Ultimatum

JP wondered if it was the same car the crossing guard had seen. “Did anything about Hannah seem off to you?”

Ellen looked down at her hands. “I didn’t really know her, so I had nothing to compare her behavior to. I remember that she got quieter and more distracted the closer it got to school getting out. She wasn’t acting out. She just wasn’t focused on what we were doing. But that may have been normal for her.”

From the other room, a small voice called out. Ellen turned immediately, half rising from her chair.

“I’m right here,” she called back, her voice soft but quick.

JP stood. “I’ll let you get back to your kids.”

Ellen stood too. “I don’t let them out of my sight much. I just can’t. Whenever I do, I think about poor Hannah.” A quiet passed between them. Then she said, almost to herself, “I didn’t know I was supposed to walk them out. If I had…”

She didn’t finish the thought. She didn’t need to.

Chapter 29

Saturday late morning

JP offered to drive to Vista, but Rourke said he was going to San Diego anyway. They met at a coffee shop on Balboa. JP arrived early, ordered coffee, and took a seat near the window.

Rourke showed up right on time. He saw JP and came straight over to shake his hand.

After Rourke ordered, he settled back like he had nowhere else to be. “Have you come up with something new?”

“You tell me. I didn’t find anything in your report about Nigel Gates. Did you investigate him?”

“Oh yeah. I looked at him.”

“What’d you find?”

“He had a prior sexual abuse, a felony,” Rourke said. “That’s what put him on the radar early. The cops checked him out, and he had an alibi for that afternoon. Not airtight, but solid enough for them.”

“Did you ever talk to him?”

“I tried,” Rourke said. “He didn’t engage much. Kept his answers short.”

“Do you think he was involved?”

Rourke shook his head. “Not really.”

“So, you focused on Hayes,” JP said.

“That’s where the evidence led me, and the cops as well. Hayes was a mess. He had access and opportunity. The kids were afraid of him. He lied about everything, and the mother continued to cover for him.”

“Even after he was arrested?”

“I’m not sure about that. I didn’t really have much contact after the arrest. We continued to look for Hannah, but we were no longer searching for the perp. And Hayes told different versions of his day, and at least one I personally know to be false.”

“What was that?”

Rourke’s coffee arrived and he took a sip. “I had been tailing Hayes earlier that day and followed him to a bar. He was there a couple of hours and came out staggering. He had no business driving.”

“Why were you tailing him?”

“Because I suspected he was living at Hannah’s house against the court order. Or, at least hanging out there.”

“That makes sense. I’d have done the same. Where did he go?”

“He seemed to be heading home. He had the good sense to stay off the freeway, but he was driving pretty erratic.”