Page 40 of The Catcher
Noah hurried over to the viewer, his curiosity piqued. Although it had been marked OUT OF ORDER, the officer gestured for him to take a look regardless.
“But it’s supposed to be out of order,” Noah protested.
He peered through the viewer anyway and saw something that appeared blurry at first — a scrap of paper attached to the other side. It was small, almost invisible, and its text was difficult to decipher.
“What is it?” Porter asked, peering over Noah’s shoulder. “What do you see?”
“I don’t know. One second.”
Noah pulled away from the viewer and adjusted the dial labeled TURN TO CLEAR VISION. As soon as he did, the text became focused, revealing a cryptic riddle.
“What does it say?” Porter pressed, his curiosity mounting.
“It’s a riddle,” Noah replied, his brow furrowed in concentration.
In a realm of knowledge and learning’s creed, where young minds flourish and dreams take seed. Seek the right path with precise coordinates, and look through my windows to see futures and fate. What am I?
“Windows and fate?” Porter echoed, perplexed.
Noah reread the riddle, his mind racing as he tried to understand it. “Fate?” He stepped back and looked at the viewer and the message: OUT OF ORDER. He tried toshift the viewer, but it was locked in place. He ran his hand around it and felt something blunt. He took a closer look and noted that someone had jammed in a piece of metal to prevent the viewer from swiveling.
“He wanted to make sure no one touched this.”
Suddenly, a realization dawned on him, and he stepped back from the viewer, his eyes widening in understanding as he rotated the dial to push out the focus from a scrap of paper. That’s when he saw the building. That’s when it all made sense.
“Sonofabitch! It’s the high school,” he exclaimed.
11
Police swarmed down upon the high school like a flock of hawks descending upon prey. Cruisers sped through the streets, lights flashing and sirens wailing, heralding their urgent arrival. Noah had called ahead to get a janitor out to open up the school, as it was closed for the weekend, but they arrived before he got the message.
“Break it open!” one of the deputies commanded, his voice cutting through the tension-filled air. With a swift motion, a window was shattered at the front of the school, and moments later, officers surged in, a unified force comprising deputies from the Adirondack Sheriff’s Office, officers from the High Peaks Police Department, and state troopers. Unlike before, they had no idea what they would find or where to look, but Noah was convinced that the Matthews girl was there.
As one unit, they spread out, moving through the labyrinth of corridors, their footsteps echoing ominouslyin the empty halls. Room by room, they checked, their senses heightened with anticipation. Over the radio, McKenzie’s voice crackled urgently, “We’ve found a broken window on the north side. But no sign of the girl.”
“Keep looking; she has to be here,” Noah instructed firmly, his determination unwavering. “Check staff and student bathrooms, showers, locker rooms, and the basement. Look for anything with a missing faucet handle.”
Just then, Principal Wright hurried toward Noah down the corridor, flanked by the janitor who had been summoned to assist. “Detective!” he exclaimed. “I got here as quickly as I could. How can we help?”
Noah’s mind raced as he assessed the situation. Time was of the essence. With Hailey Matthews’ life potentially hanging in the balance, they couldn’t afford to waste a moment. “We need access to every inch of this building,” he replied. “Every room, every closet. We’re looking for anything out of the ordinary. And if you have any surveillance footage, we need to see it immediately.”
Wright nodded, and the janitor took off to help officers enter locked rooms. Noah peered into the bag of items, examining them, hoping to find something that would connect the dots.
“Where did you find that?” Wright asked, pointing to the shard of blue and white porcelain.
“Why? You recognize it.”
“It looks like one of the tiles from our swimming pool.”
Noah remembered a comment the principal had dropped when they arrived searching for Landry’sphone.You’ll have to forgive the chaos right now; we’re draining the pool over the weekend for repairs.
“Where is it?”
“At the rear of the school in a separate building.”
They moved fast. Noah got on the radio, updating the others.
Their footsteps echoed in the empty halls as they hurried toward the rear of the school. The words of the riddle echoed in Noah’s mind,“Look through my windows to see futures and fate.”
