Page 36 of Little Child Gone

“We need to speak with Principal Carlson about a missing student.”

“I’m Principal Carlson.” An older woman stepped out of her open office door. “Is this about Eli Robertson?” Her voice shook. “Please tell us it’s good news.”

“Taylor Hall didn’t make it to his shift at Menards yesterday afternoon,” Miller said. “We’re trying to locate him.”

Principal Carlson’s skin turned almost as gray as her hair. “Taylor is missing now, too?”

Miller introduced himself and Nikki. “We’re searching for him, yes. But please keep that confidential. Can we talk in your office?”

“Of course.”

They followed her into a mid-sized office filled with organized clutter. Nikki was impressed by the number of books about reading and critical thinking that lined the shelves behind the principal’s desk. She motioned for them to sit.

“Do you think this is related to Eli?” Her gaze shifted from Miller to Nikki, a knowing glint in her eye. “I’ve seen you on the news, Agent Hunt. You work really bad cases. If you’re here?—”

“Nikki’s not swamped with cases right now, so I asked her to come along,” Miller said. “Two heads are always better than one.”

Nikki smiled at the principal, hoping she believed Miller. “Nothing we’ve learned so far links the cases. Or says that this one is particularly ‘bad’ as you’ve put it. I’m just here to help. We’re here to talk with Taylor’s friends and the teachers who know him well.”

“To answer your question about Eli, we don’t know yet. Can you see if Eli and Taylor had any classes together?” Miller asked.

Carlson opened the laptop sitting on her desk and typed for several long seconds. “No, they don’t. Taylor’s in concert band and Eli does theatre, so they may have interacted there. But no classes together.” She looked at Nikki. “It’s hard to think that we have two different people taking boys the same age, for different reasons.”

Nikki decided to break one of her usual rules about giving out information—whether it was true or not. Tension drenched the small office, genuine fear in the principal’s eyes. They had to stop panic before it started. “We suspect Taylor’s taking some time to himself, but we still need to make sure we’ve spoken to everyone in his life. I’d like to get started with the band and the director.”

Carlson seemed to relax a little bit. “All right. Holly?”

The woman from the front desk appeared in the doorway. “I couldn’t help overhearing. I pray this isn’t happening again.”

“This is one of our paraeducators, Holly Black,” Carlson said. “Could you please escort Agent Hunt to the music department?” Carlson looked at Miller. “I assume you’d like me to call in his teachers?”

Nikki had learned through Lacey’s parent–teacher conferences that paraeducators were basically the teachers’ helpers or assistants, which was what they were called when Nikki attended high school. She followed Holly out of the office into the massive building, fighting memories.

In 1993, Nikki’s freshman class had been among the first kids to attend the newly built high school. Since then, the school had continued to grow into the sprawling campus it was today. If she hadn’t been with Holly, she probably would have gotten lost.

“Things change fast,” Holly answered when Nikki told her she couldn’t recognize a single part of the building. “I’ve been here six years, and I’m amazed at how much certain things change every year. Usually technology.” She laughed. “It moves way too fast for me to keep up with.”

“Me too.”

As they walked Nikki asked about Eli Robertson. “As I told Principal Carlson, we haven’t seen anything linking Taylor to Eli’s disappearance. But I’m not involved in Eli’s case, so I don’t have many details to compare. Do you know Eli?” With a student body of more than two thousand, she likely didn’t know half the students’ names. But given their limited knowledge about Eli’s case, Nikki felt it was worth asking the question.

“I do,” Holly answered. “I volunteered to help with the fall play. It wasThe Outsiders, and Eli played Randy, one of the rich kids. He was so good. Our last show was four days before he disappeared.”

“What can you tell me about him?”

“He seemed to be well-liked,” Holly answered. “Seemed to be friends with everyone. Or at least friendly.”

“Did he have issues with anyone at school?” Nikki asked.

“Not at all,” Holly answered. “He’s close with his family, and his parents are both high achievers.”

“He was walking home from school?” Nikki wanted to see if the information matched what Chen had told her yesterday.

“No, he was at the Jaycee Ball Fields, from what I’ve heard. They found his phone, but no sign of him.” She put her hand over her heart. “A parent’s worst nightmare. I don’t know how you recover from the death of a child. I know he might still be alive, but it’s been weeks now. After Scott Williams, I’m just terrified it’s going to happen again.”

Scott had also been a freshman when he disappeared and should have been a sophomore this year. Nikki had spoken with a lot of school staff during the initial days after Scott’s disappearance, but Holly hadn’t been one of them. “Did you know Scott?”

“No, and I’m selfishly happy that I didn’t.” Holly scanned her ID card to access the music department. Nikki heard the horns as soon as the doors opened.

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