by Elle Gray
“You should speak to our neighbor,” Richard piped up. “She said she heard something last night. She drove us here this morning so she might still be around.”
“That’s really helpful. Thank you both. You know where to find us if you remember anything of note.”
Olivia and Brock gathered their things and left the room. They fell in step with one another as they headed back to the reception area.
“What do you think about the information they gave us?” Brock asked Olivia quietly. “Do you think any of it will be useful?”
“Maybe. Once we have the list of people who have keys, maybe we can look into them further. But I’m interested to hear what the neighbor is going to tell us. If she said she heard something, that might give us a time frame for when Hayleigh went missing.”
Back in the reception area, they found Maggie talking to someone. It took Olivia a moment to realize where she recognized the other woman from. She was the hiker they’d seen in the forest. She spotted Olivia and Brock coming and smiled at them, though she looked tired out and saddened. Olivia gathered that she must be the neighbor.
“Hello,” the woman said pleasantly, stepping forward to shake Olivia’s hand. “It’s good to see you again. I’m Susan Combes, the neighbor. I’ve been waiting to speak with you. I’m hoping that I can be useful to your investigation.”
“Well, we’re taking all the help we can get,” Brock replied with his pleasant smile. “Whatever you tell us will surely be useful.”
“Great. Is there somewhere we can go to talk?”
“I’ll let you into my office,” Maggie said, leading them all through. “Can I get anyone some coffee or water?”
“Some coffee would be fantastic, but I’ll come with you,” Olivia said. She wasn’t particularly interested in the coffee, but she wanted to get Maggie alone for a moment. Brock began chatting with Susan in the office and Olivia walked with Maggie to the break room.
“What’s on your mind? You look a little confused.”
“Maybe I am a little,” Olivia admitted. “Do you know Susan well?”
“Not personally, but well enough. She hasn’t lived here too long, but she’s always so friendly. She’s the kind of person who always says hello when she sees you on the street, even if she don’t know you. Not many’ll do that these days. I like that about her,” Maggie said fondly, smiling to herself as she poured a cup of coffee for Olivia. “Why do you ask?”
“I don’t know. She just seems very… forthcoming. I guess that fits with what you said about her, but I don’t meet many people who are so willing to be interviewed. And I’m just curious. Hayleigh’s family said that she claimed to have heard something in the night. If she did, then why didn’t she report it at the time?”
Maggie shrugged. “Who knows? If she knew the girls were there, she might have just chalked it up to that. Probably didn’t think anything of it until she got the context of the disappearance.”
Olivia nodded, but she still felt a little uneasy. The morning’s events ad put her on edge and made her suspicious of everything. “I guess that could be true. Is she known as a busybody? I mean, does she tend to be nosy?”
“She’s... I’d call her curious. She does ask a lot of questions around town, I guess. She’s just friendly. I wouldn’t say she’s acting out of character by coming in today. I know what you’re thinking. A lot of people who get involved in crimes like this like to get all pally with the people investigating. But this is just how she is. Maybe interview her before you jump to conclusions.”
Olivia rubbed her forehead. “You’re right. You’re absolutely right. I’m sorry, it’s been a tough few days. I guess I’m just ready to get to the bottom of this. This new disappearance has given the case a newfound boost. I’m glad we’re getting a second chance, but there’s a lot of pressure.”
“I understand,” Maggie said, putting a hand on Olivia’s arm. “You’re doing a great job. This whole thing has been as aggravatin’ as a rock, but keep at it. You’ll get there and find these poor girls.”
Olivia’s cheeks heat up. It was one thing having Brock reassure her when he spent every day at her side watching her work, but to hear such a compliment from Maggie was very flattering to Olivia.
“Thank you. That means a lot to me.”
Maggie handed the hot cup of coffee to Olivia. “You go in there and do your thing. I’m chasing up a few leads at the house, and hopefully I’ll have something useful for you when you come out. You got this. And we got your back.”
Olivia felt a little better as she returned to the office. She sipped her coffee and felt reinvigorated. She told herself not to go in on the offensive. Susan was being kind enough to help them and she needed to remember that.
Susan smiled warmly at Olivia as she entered the room and Olivia couldn’t help being taken by her smile. She looked like a kind person, Olivia thought. There was something in the gentle gaze of her eyes and her aged face that made Olivia want to like her, even if she’d been unsure of her at first. But Olivia really didn’t want to start forming opinions so early on. She needed to stay balanced if she was going to be an asset in such an important investigation.
“Susan here was just telling me that she woke up at around four-thirty and thought she heard a noise outside,” Brock told Olivia. “Would you mind retelling Agent Knight what you told me?”
“Of course,” Susan nodded readily. “I woke up at four-thirty. I don’t sleep well at the best of times, so it’s not unusual for me to be awake at all sorts of hours. I’d heard the girls giggling all night long, but it had quieted down by that time.”
“Hayleigh’s parents mentioned that you’ve made noise complaints before?” Olivia asked, glancing up at Susan. She tossed her head back in a laugh.
“Oh no, that wasn’t me. That was the neighbor on the other side of them. No, I don’t mind the noise at all. I think it’s nice to hear those girls having a good time. They’re carefree and happy. I wouldn’t dream of trying to dampen that,” she said with a smile. Olivia made a couple of notes.
“Do you know the family well?”
“Well enough. We’re neighborly, of course. I’ve been a babysitter for Hayleigh several times when her parents have been out on dates, but she’s really old enough to look after herself now. We always chat when we cross paths. They’re a nice family.”
“And can you comment on Hayleigh’s character? Her family don’t think she’d be likely to go out in the middle of the night, but children can often deceive their parents.”
“Oh, they certainly can. I know plenty of the kids around here sneak around at night. I sometimes hear them giggling outside on the streets when I can’t sleep. But not Hayleigh. I’d know if she ever left in the middle of the night. I’m very sensitive to noises. I’d hear her leaving. She’s a good girl.”
Olivia nodded to herself. “Okay. So you woke up at four-thirty. You said the girls were quiet by then?”
“Yes. I remember waking up and thinking just how quiet it was. But then I heard a door closing somewhere. I can’t be certain it was Hayleigh’s house, but I don’t imagine it was on the other side of me. My other next-door neighbor is elderly and barely gets out of bed. And my bedroom is on the side closest to Hayleigh’s house. It sounded like it was close.”
“And you didn’t think it was unusual when you heard it?” Olivia pressed. Susan shrugged.
“Not really. It wouldn’t be the first time the girls went out to the garden late at night. I know a few of the other girls sometimes sneak out to smoke. I can smell it from my window whenever they do, and I hear them talking sometimes. They’re fifteen, they’re feeling rebellious... they’re all like that at that age. So no, I didn’t think it was particularly unusual. But when I heard this morning that Hayleigh was missing, well of course I had to say something. I didn’t want it to get overlooked in case it might be important.”
“It’s good that you came to tell us,” Brock told Susan. “You might have been the o
nly one to hear anything. Did you hear anything else? Or see anything?”
“No, I was in bed and I didn’t get up. I’m usually up early to hike, but I didn’t sleep well, so I went right back to sleep. Honestly, I forgot all about it until this morning. Now I wish I’d just gotten up and looked out the window... maybe then I could’ve been of more use.”
“Believe me, Susan, this is extremely useful,” Brock told her. “Have you seen any unusual activity in the neighborhood lately? And is there anything you can tell us about the other missing girl? Do you know Sophia at all?”
Susan let out a long sigh. “I’ll admit, I haven’t noticed anything out of place in the neighborhood. Of course, people have been on edge since the Edwards girl went missing, but other than that, I can’t think of anything of use. As for Sophia... I know that she’s been running into trouble lately. It’s funny. She and Hayleigh couldn’t be more different. Hayleigh has her lovely little friend group, I often see them hanging out together in town, but Sophia has become kind of a loner. I’ve seen her sometimes with her boyfriend, who is definitely a bad influence on her, but I think she gravitated toward him because she felt misunderstood. You know how it is to be her age. To feel like the entire world is against you. To feel like you have nobody to turn to. I think I understand that young lady very well, though, even if nobody else does. She needs to be handled with care.”
Olivia didn’t know what to say in response to that. Susan seemed like a woman with a lot to say. She was curious as to why she seemed to have more information about people in the town than anyone else. She seemed like more than just a busybody. Even the details she was giving about her neighbors were bordering on obsessive. But then again, Olivia knew what it was like to lie awake at night with nothing better to do than just observe the world around her. Maybe if she lived in the middle of town, she’d be more observant too. But the way Susan spoke about Sophia was like she’d spent a lot of time getting to know her.
“What do you do for work?” Olivia asked Susan. She blinked in surprise.
“Why do you want to know that?”
“I’m just interested in how you form relationships around town. You seem like you know Sophia Edwards quite well. Do you work with children?”
Susan shook her head, looking a little flustered. “No, not directly. I’m actually a volunteer at the moment... I do work at the rec center. I’ve run into Sophia once or twice there. But it’s not a big town, Olivia. You tend to pick up little details about people that you see all the time. You know, you see these young people every day as you’re going about your life. You see them and you see yourself in them, you understand? We always look at our peers and we feel we’re completely different from them, but when I see young people... I know their struggles. Being a teenager is a universal struggle, don’t you think? At that age, you don’t know what you want or how to be. It’s a sickness. Sometimes we carry it over into our twenties. As you get older, you earn your sense of self, but I look at young people and I pity them at times. They just don’t know who they are.”
Brock exchanged a glance with Olivia. She knew what he was thinking: this interview was veering off the rails. She felt like there was something that Susan was trying to say, to allude to, but she had no idea how it was relevant. All she’d gained from the conversation was the knowledge that Susan was an outsider. She might be known well in town, and she might be friendly with everyone, but Olivia would bet anything that she didn’t have any real friends. She made a few cryptic notes, noticing that Susan’s eyes were constantly being drawn to what she was writing down.
“You seem pretty observant,” Brock said after a pause. “Perhaps you can keep your eyes peeled for anything else that seems unusual. You’ve been a big help so far.”
“I’d like to be as useful as I can,” Susan replied, smiling at them again. “These girls are precious. I want to make sure they make it home safely. I’ll be sure to tell you anything else that I come up with, but I’m not sure I can tell you anything more right now.”
“That’s okay. You’ve given us a lot to think about,” Olivia said, closing her notebook. As she slid it into her bag, she noticed that Susan was watching her.
“Have you spoken to the young ladies yet?” Susan inquired. “Those poor things…”
“Not yet, but we will.”
“Of course, of course. Well, I’ll head home now, if there’s nothing else you need from me. Do you have a number I can call if I think of anything else?”
Olivia slid Susan her card and she took it eagerly, slipping it into her pocket. Her smile was a little too wide for someone whose neighbor had just disappeared in the middle of the night, but Olivia could tell that Susan was a people pleaser. She clearly wanted her and Brock to like her. Still, something about Susan made Olivia feel a little off.
“Thank you for all your hard work, Agents,” Susan said as she put her bag on her shoulder. “I hope you find what you’re looking for.”
Brock and Olivia smiled until Susan had left the room, but the instant the door closed behind her they let their expressions drop. Olivia folded her arms over her chest, slumping a little in her chair.
“That was weird.”
“Definitely weird.”
“Still, it’s good that we have a time frame now for the kidnapping,” Olivia offered, thinking back to her notes. Brock pressed his lips together. He didn’t look particularly convinced. “What’s on your mind?” Olivia asked him. He fidgeted.
“Did you notice anything unusual about her?” Brock asked her. She shrugged.
“A lot of things. Were you thinking of anything in particular?”
“I think she might be an alcoholic.”
Olivia hadn’t been expecting that assessment. She raised her eyebrow. “What made you say that?”
“She looked flushed in the cheeks, but it’s not warm in here. I remember an aunt of mine was an alcoholic, and she used to look like that. It’s something to do with enlarged blood vessels in the face. She had a slight tremor in her hands. She tried to keep them flat on the table, did you see that? And she’s very thin. My aunt lost a lot of weight when she was at her worst. She lost interest in eating. I guess you could say she had a liquid diet.”
“I didn’t notice. Do you think that’s why she was so all over the place?”
Brock shrugged. “It’s definitely possible. There was definitely something strange about her. I don’t mean to judge her, but she doesn’t seem completely stable, does she?”
Olivia shook her head. “What does that mean for us? Do you think her story is unreliable? If she’d been drinking then maybe she misremembered some of the details.”
“I think that could be the case. But on the other hand, we can’t really afford to be picky with which details we pay attention to. She may be the only lead we’ve got.”
Olivia nodded. This really was their last chance, unless the kidnapper got brave and struck again. And that was not a risk she was willing to take. They needed to take any details they could get, especially if they didn’t find anything at Hayleigh’s house. She stood up, stretching her arms out.
“We should talk to Maggie about setting up a curfew. Now that we know there’s a pattern, we should be focusing on keeping the town safe. The young girls around here are going to be terrified that they’ll be next. If we can get Maggie to put some police patrols on the streets too, then we can focus on getting to the bottom of this. I say we take everything we know and run with it, no matter how unreliable it might seem. I want to ask the other neighbors on the street if any of them saw or heard anything unusual last night, particularly at the time Hayleigh supposedly went missing. We need to try to paint a picture of the entire night.”
“I can go and ask around. What are you going to do?”
“I think we’re supposed to get those lab results back today about what we found in the forest. I’d like to go up to the lab and get more information about it. I know that it might come up as nothing, but I’ve just got this
feeling that it’s important.”
“I trust your instincts,” Brock told her with a smile. “You do what you need to do. I’ll see what I can get around here, and speak to Maggie. I can interview the girls whenever they get here.”
“Perfect,” Olivia said, returning Brock’s smile with her own. “It’s good to be working together again. I was worried it might be the last time.”
“Me too” he replied. “I just wish it was under better circumstances. But I think we’re going to crack it this time.”
“Here’s hoping.”
They stood awkwardly for a moment. Olivia wanted to head out and start her day, but she had this feeling that something was being left unsaid between her and Brock. But when neither of them made an attempt to say anything else, she just shrugged.
“Alright... I’ll head out now. Maybe we can meet up later and discuss anything we find?”
“Sure. You know I’m only a phone call away.”
Olivia nodded and left the room, her face feeling flushed. She felt like she’d made an idiot of herself in front of Brock. She knew she could easily spend the rest of the day replaying the uncomfortable moment over and over in her head, scolding herself for how easily she came undone in his presence. But she didn’t have time for any of that. She had to retake control of the case. She had to focus.
She was not going to mess up her final chance.
Seventeen
Olivia headed straight from the hospital up to the lab in Quantico. They had offered to send the results out to her, but she wanted to speak to an analytic expert. She was desperate to see what knowledge they could gain from the plastic envelope she’d found in the forest, if anything. There was no proof so far that it was connected, and Craig didn’t seem to know anything about it, but Olivia was sure that the evidence from inside that folder would be the key to cracking the case wide open.