The Gilded Sanctum

by Keith Veverka

  The assailant was controlled with his weapon, but also moved it erratically, so at some point, Walker could probably get an open line of site. The subject held his handgun at the hostage’s head, but when yelling at the phone, he would point the weapon in that direction, away from the woman. It was in these moments that Walker would have the opportunity for a kill shot.

  He whispered into his headset, “Command, unit two has a visual of the subject.”

  “Copy that. Sit tight.”

  Walker heard the command, but kept his rifle raised, waiting for either the order to shoot or an irrational move by the subject. Either way, he would take down this assailant before anyone got hurt. As the man continued to shout and swing his handgun, Walker’s gun sights were trained on the perpetrator’s head. He simply waited for the order.

  Chapter 22

  After his tense meeting with Ellis and Castillo and a brief visit to the Student Records Office on the first floor of the admin building, Walker decided to meet again with his former partner, Mark Lewis. His interviews with the faculty members weren’t scheduled until later in the morning, so he had the time. He still didn’t trust Castillo, however, so the meeting had to be clandestine. Lewis suggested a remote, wooded park a few miles from campus, so Walker traveled a circuitous route to get there, ensuring he wasn’t followed by any security personnel from WA. It appeared he had gotten away without a tail, but he still passed the meager, gravel parking lot — on the edge of the park — to scope out the lay of the land before finally settling on that location.

  Lewis arrived a few moments later in a dark blue unmarked sedan. He was alone this time. They walked from their vehicles along a dirt path — conveniently called the ‘Hawk Trail’ — leading into the woods. The trail was shaded, and the air smelled of pine. Lewis mostly listened as Walker relayed what had happened so far in the investigation on day one. He asked some clarifying questions, but by and large, Lewis was simply intrigued by the insider information about the reclusive school. Intelligence like this on Washington Academy had been extremely hard to come by, so Lewis was appreciative of his former partner’s exploits.

  They traced the carved path through the woods for about a mile until it circled back toward the entrance. As they neared the end of the path and the woods opening up to reveal their cars in the parking lot ahead, Walker shared his most recent discovery. “There’s one more thing. I found my way into Castillo’s office.”

  “How did you manage that?” Lewis asked, surprised.

  “Long story.”

  “What did you find?”

  Walker paused for a moment, ensuring he was making the correct choice by telling Lewis. “Hidden camera footage. A lot of it. Looks like he has most of the campus covered. I don’t think he knows I saw it. Yet.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me. That’s an illegal use of surveillance. I’m sure those proud parents, who pay a fortune to have their kids to go to that school would be none too happy to learn about that.”

  “Wait, there’s more.” Walker stopped walking. “I also saw Amanda on that footage.”

  Lewis halted as well and turned. “What?”

  “Being led away by a person in a cloak.”

  Lewis shook his head in disbelief. “You can’t be serious.”

  “I can’t quite believe it myself, but I’m dead serious,” Walker said, then paused. “Based on what I could tell about the overall build of the person and a ring that’s worn by a lot of boys on campus, I presume it’s a male.”

  “You can’t tell from the footage?”

  “No, but I think it might be the boyfriend.”

  “Jesus,” Lewis gasped. “What the hell is going on there? Does Castillo know?”

  “I can’t see how he couldn’t. I’m wondering if there’s something with the boyfriend.”

  “Sounds like the boyfriend might need some further investigation,” Lewis said. “Any reason why Castillo would be protecting him?”

  “I don’t know. I looked at the kid’s school records before coming to see you, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary, no discipline or anything like that. However, I did discover that his mother is a senator from Connecticut. She sits on the Armed Services committee. Not sure if that’s related to the academy, but perhaps it goes back to Castillo’s time with CID. Can you possibly look into that for me?”

  “Of course.”

  “Thanks Mark.”

  It was now Lewis’s turn to be deadly serious. “Ryan, before you go digging too deeply into Castillo, there’s something you should know. I’ve looked at this guy’s history going all the way back to his time with the investigative division. When he left CID, he simply disappeared. I mean we literally have nothing on him. Nothing. He was a ghost for two years before he joined Washington Academy. That can’t be a coincidence. He obviously went way underground during the time he was off the grid, and God only knows what he found there. Don’t turn your back on him, my friend.”

  “Understood.”

  “We haven’t looked extensively at his CID files yet, so I’ll get to that ASAP. See if there’s some connection to this Armed Services senator.”

  “I appreciate it.”

  Walker started to move again, but Lewis stood still. He turned to his friend, wondering why he wasn’t following.

  “There’s one more thing I need to tell you,” Lewis said nervously, glancing at his car. “I really shouldn’t be telling you this, and I could lose my job for it, but you’re helping out an old friend, so I think you deserve to know.”

  Walker edged back toward Lewis. “Know what?”

  A long pause. “We’re coming in,” Lewis said finally.

  “What the fuck does that mean?” Walker asked sternly.

  Another long pause. “It means we’re coming in, buddy. I got the green light. The confirmation of Amanda Bryson’s unreported disappearance — in connection with everything else we have — gave us the probable cause we needed. We’re coming in. Full force.”

  “How the hell did you convince FBI brass and a judge based on my track record?”

  “I just told them it was a tip from a confidential informant.”

  “God damn you.” Walker sighed, moving away again.

  “With everything else we have, it was simply the straw that broke the camel’s back. Didn’t need to be solid, just reliable. Our sources within Arcuri’s inner circle confirmed the intel, so that’s all we needed.”

  “You used me.”

  “I’m sorry, my friend. It was my only option. You’ve seen it for yourself. You know that school’s got corruption written all over it. We’ve never been able to get this close before. We needed someone on the inside.”

  “There’s nothing in that file is there?”

  “No,” Lewis said, embarrassed. “We couldn’t risk it. It’s just some unclassified materials from a closed investigation a few years ago. Wouldn’t make any sense to you once you got into it, but I figured you would be too busy with your investigation to even bother.”

  Walker shook his head in disgust.

  “I’m sorry. I truly am. But this is much bigger than one missing girl. There are an unprecedented host of issues here. We need to take this school down.”

  Dejected, Walker asked, “When’s the raid?”

  “Tomorrow.”

  “What? His eyes sprung to life. “What are you doing? You can’t conduct an FBI raid on Washington Academy tomorrow. I’m still working my investigation.”

  Lewis shook his head. “No, we need to move now. If Castillo gets wind of this through his channels or contacts, we’re done. They’ll destroy everything — wipe it clean.”

  “I need more time, Lewis,” Walker pleaded. “Once you guys knock down the doors, it’s over for me. And Amanda. They’ll seize up and I’ll never get any answers.”

  “If we don’t move now, we might lose our only chance to put down one of the largest public corruption cases in this country’s history. We don’t have a choice.”

&
nbsp; “Lewis, please, I need this one. You have to listen to me. I need more time.”

  Lewis thought for a long moment, rubbed the back of his neck, and shook his head. Walker saw that his ex-partner was clearly struggling with the decision, and fortunately, he finally conceded.

  “Okay, I appreciate what you did for me here,” Lewis said, “even if it was unwittingly. I’ll give you your two days, but after that, buddy, you have to get out of there. We’re coming in with everything we have. They’re giving me a ton of resources on this.”

  “How many?”

  “Enough to take down that entire school. You don’t want to be around when it happens.”

  Chapter 23

  Walker was still seething at the thought of being betrayed by his former best friend as he sat in one of the upholstered chairs that surrounded a thick oak table. The conference room on the first floor of the administration building felt like an empty, cavernous space with just three people hunched at one end of the long table. Because each faculty member was being interviewed individually, only Walker, Castillo, and the interviewee were in the room. In addition to the annoyingly quiet space, the faculty members — nearly without exception — refused to speak above a whisper, so they all sounded like a scratched record because their stories were so frustratingly similar. The monotony was lulling him into submission, so Walker’s mind drifted.

  Now that Lewis and the FBI were closing in on Washington Academy, Walker realized he was under significant pressure to move quickly. Even if he had found some evidence and convinced Ellis to allow him a little more time, it wouldn’t matter now. The FBI could not be stopped. Walker was actually doubtful Lewis could hold off the operation for two more days. He would need one hell of an excuse, and Walker was unsure of what that would be. But he was depending on his friend to come through and give him the time he promised, the time he desperately needed.

  Meanwhile, Castillo was slowing down Walker’s investigation to a snail’s pace, slinking along with just enough lubricant to keep moving, but certainly not getting anywhere. He had been instructed to be discreet with his investigation, so he could only interview additional students, staff, or potential witnesses at the request — and approval — of Castillo. And this was the crux of his inquiry. The empty gesture of giving him a keycard versus actually talking to people was not one Walker would have chosen. Access to what? In the absence of any real physical evidence, witnesses were the key to this investigation, and they were essentially being withheld from him. Except in the presence and at the prerogative of Castillo.

  The faculty members did not seem to know anything beyond the rumors of Amanda’s disappearance anyway, but Castillo already knew that. From the sound of things, the teachers had been summoned individually to speak with the dean and security chief on multiple occasions already. Based on the teachers’ reactions, these “interviews” seemed more focused on keeping them quiet than learning any valuable information from them. Most likely, that was their intent. Again, without exception, the faculty members were extremely reserved in their responses, and Walker was learning nothing.

  Even the arrangement in the conference room was an exercise in intimidation. Castillo had each faculty member sit at the head of the table, directly across from a huge portrait of Dr. Ellis, hanging above a stone fireplace. Walker sat off to the side, facing the particular faculty member, while Castillo sat right next to him, focusing his gaze on the person the entire time as they recited their answers with the slow precision of an audio recording.

  With the interviews almost complete, however, one faculty member, Meredith Thomas, had called Castillo and said she had taken ill, so she would need to reschedule for the next day. Walker smiled when Castillo told him. Since they were now out of witnesses for the day, Walker decided to return to his residence and review Castillo’s file on Amanda again to see if he could cull anything about the case that had been alluding him thus far.

  As Walker approached his temporary housing unit, sitting on the front steps — her head buried in her knees — was Heather Yates. She was crying.

  “Heather?” he said, moving closer.

  No response.

  Walker sat down next to her on the step and pulled a bag of chips from his bag, which he had purchased from the vending machine as he exited the admin building. He leaned over to her and held out the bag. “Chip?”

  She signaled no, her head still on her knees.

  Walker shrugged, opened the bag, and popped one in his mouth, trying to act as nonchalantly as possible to not pressure her, but simply to let her speak when she was ready.

  After about three more chips, Heather slowly lifted her head, but did not make eye contact. “I lied to you yesterday,” she finally said.

  “I figured you did.”

  “I just thought this would all go away, you know? Or Amanda would just turn up. I’m really scared that she’s still gone.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I think something has happened to her.”

  “What makes you say that?”

  Heather breathed in deeply and looked at Walker, her face wet from the tears. “I’m scared, Mr. Walker. I didn’t want any part of this. They told me they would take care of it. But now, I don’t know what they did.”

  “Who’s they?”

  Heather ignored the question. “I remember that night. I remember her leaving. I remember the fight with her boyfriend.”

  “Heather, who’s they?” Walker repeated.

  Heather steadied herself, a look of resolve stiffening her face as though she had just made a fateful decision. She obviously wasn’t sure about it, but the choice was made. “Amanda didn’t take her backpack with her that night.”

  Walker tilted his head, “What?”

  “She didn’t take her stuff with her. It was gone when I came back that night. I’m positive she didn’t take her stuff, which I thought was odd at first, but then when I came back, it was gone. If she had come back to our room, she would have left a note or something. A text maybe. But it was just gone.”

  “Did you tell Mr. Castillo about this?”

  “Yes, that night. When I called the Campus Police. He arrived with them. After the officers had searched the room and left, I told him about her stuff, told him that I was sure it was here when I left.” Heather paused for several seconds, exhaling loudly. “He said I was probably confused and told me I should just say that she took it with her. That it would all be better that way.”

  “You’re absolutely sure she didn’t take it with her?”

  “Yes, and if she came back, she would have told me. That was our thing, remember? We always kept each other informed.”

  “But she may have simply forgotten.”

  “True. But then there was the next day.”

  Walker leaned in closer. “What happened the next day?”

  Heather paused again and swallowed hard before starting again. “The next day, I was called to Dr. Ellis’s office. He and Mr. Castillo were both there. They asked me more questions about the disappearance, told me a private investigator was coming, and that I should simply tell you that she had taken her belongings with her. They said if I told you too much, it might involve me somehow, and they didn’t want to see that happen. That this could just as easily be blamed on me because I was the last one to see her. They even said they could help me with my grades if I cooperated and stayed quiet about her personal belongings. I was scared. I didn’t know what to do, so I lied to you.”

  Walker leaned back on the step. “Is everything else you told me true?”

  “Yes, of course. I know you don’t believe me now, but it’s all true, I swear. She did get a text and left at about 9 PM, but she didn’t tell me where she was going. I thought it was to meet Josh, but I really don’t know for sure. That’s the truth,” Heather said, starting to cry again.

  Walker wrapped his arm around Heather to comfort her, and she lay her head on his shoulder, still sobbing. He looked around and immediately spotte
d two cameras pointed in their direction. These damn cameras are everywhere. Walker wondered if the cameras were capable of audio as well. Probably not. But knowing Castillo, the security chief most likely had directional microphones at his disposal, which could be used for that purpose if needed. He imagined Walker wasn’t enough of a threat to warrant to use of those devices just yet. Still, Walker scanned the immediate area around him for anything suspicious—looking. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The story of this entire case.

  However, what was clear to Walker was that anyone watching this video feed could easily discern that Heather Yates had just told Ryan Walker a very important secret. What wasn’t certain was how far Joaquin Castillo would go to keep that secret quiet.

  Chapter 24

  Heather Yates had convinced Walker that Castillo was definitely involved with Amanda’s disappearance in some capacity. He couldn’t yet pinpoint exactly how or why, but there was too much circumstantial evidence building up against him. It was moving into the realm of beyond a reasonable doubt, and that was a difficult threshold to attain for any criminal investigation and subsequent prosecution. Couple that with the warning from Lewis and the fact that Castillo was off the grid for two years, and all the arrows pointed to Joaquin.

  So why would your chief of security be involved in Amanda’s disappearance? Walker wrestled with the question. Castillo’s involvement could probably only indicate a select number of possibilities, most of which would lead one to believe that Amanda had stumbled onto something she shouldn’t have. Whether it was a skeleton in Castillo’s closet, some kind of corruption related to Ellis, or a discovery that could smear the school’s reputation — it didn’t matter. All indications were that Amanda vanished because she was supposed to and someone went to extraordinary lengths to cover his tracks. The only person with the necessary tools and talent to accomplish that task, as far as Walker had seen, was Castillo.