Page 74 of Twice Missing
"We know you did," Noah said.
Noah pulled on McKenzie's arm. "Let's go," he said firmly.
As they exited the room, Noah turned back one last time. "I apologize," he said sincerely before closing the door behind them.
In the hallway, Noah rounded on McKenzie. "What the hell were you thinking?" he hissed.
McKenzie had the grace to look sheepish. "I was just exploring all angles. You know we have to consider every possibility."
Noah shook his head. "There's considering possibilities, and then there's antagonizing potential witnesses. We're here to build trust, not burn bridges."
As they made their way back to the elevator, Noah's mind was racing. The information they'd gathered had opened up new avenues of investigation, but it had also complicated the case significantly. The connection between Kayla, her aunt Selena, Marcus Rivers, and Abel Davis seemed to be at the heart of the mystery. But how did Emily Carter fit into all of this?
Noah pressed the button for the ground floor, his reflection in the elevator doors looking tired and drawn. "We need to look into this Abel Davis and Sunrise Power Systems," he said to McKenzie. "And we need to find out more about that incident at the Pow Wow. If the Lawrence County Sheriff's Office covered it up, there might be more to this than we thought."
McKenzie nodded. "What about Marcus? Do you believe Jacob's accusation?"
Noah sighed. "I don't know. Marcus is definitely involved somehow, but I'm not sure he's behind Kayla's disappearance. There are too many players, too many conflicting stories."
It felt like the hardest case he'd ever worked on.
As they exited the hospital and stepped back into the cold winter air, Noah felt the weight of the case pressing down on him. They had more information now, but also more questions. The path forward was unclear, but one thing was certain: they were dealing with something far bigger and more complex than a simple missing persons case.
"Where now?" McKenzie asked.
Noah unlocked their car, the beep echoing in the quiet parking lot. "We're here in Massena. Let's visit Sunrise Power Systems," he said.
30
It was clearly a contentious situation. While McKenzie got some lunch, Noah sat in the vehicle, poring over information related to protests, land disputes, and the Sunrise Power Systems project proposal. At the center of it all were concerns over environmental impact and disputes with Mohawk natives.
St. Regis Mohawk Reservation, also known as Akwesasne, included parts of Massena and Brasher. For decades, the Mohawk view had been that much, if not all, of Massena and Brasher belonged to them. Claims to jurisdiction had been ongoing since the 1796 treaty with the United States. Natives had been using the area for hunting, fishing, gathering, and trading for thousands of years, and it held cultural and spiritual importance for the Mohawk people.
Sunrise Power Systems was building a 200-megawatt installation across thousands of acres, but getting approval for the project had been difficult. Sunrise was deniedpermission multiple times over concerns about its impact on the local ecosystem.
Noah scanned an article about an argument and fight breaking out at a meeting held at the community center to answer questions from the public.
One third of the project finally had been approved and started ten years ago. The other two thirds didn't get approval for another eight years.
The project brought with it hundreds of construction jobs. More man camps had to be established to house the workers, and leaders of the MMIW movement began raising concerns about a large number of women going missing from the St. Regis Reservation.
Fingers were pointed at Sunrise Power Systems, attempts were made to prevent any further developing, and a number of protests were documented. As Noah flipped through one article after another, he saw a photo of a clash between native protesters and St. Lawrence County deputies. Among those being dragged out was none other than Kayla Bravebird.
Noah quickly searched for the video taken ten years earlier, and, despite efforts to remove it, found a copy still online. The footage was dark and grainy, with no sound, but it clearly showed deputies arriving at the scene involving Selena's cousin and Abel. The officers' response was unmistakably excessive — punches and kicks continued even after the young man was down, an obvious overuse of force.
It took almost ten years before Kayla uploaded that to social media. Why wait? Noah figured delivering it to alocal newspaper would have been damning in more ways than one — it would have caused an investigation, possible suspensions, even dismissal from the service. Yet it appeared that the U.S. Attorney's civil rights department's investigation led to nothing more than the deputies being reprimanded.
Two weeks after that, Kayla went missing.
Was her disappearance related to her release of the video? Had she stumbled across something with Marcus? Or had her relationship with Abel taken a turn for the worst?
The door opened on the cruiser and McKenzie slid in.
"Cheese bagel. Toasted. Coffee. And all of it came with an attitude to boot."
"Who did you piss off now?" Noah asked.
"Me? It's never me. You have to know that by now," McKenzie said with a cheeky smile. "So… what did you uncover?"
