Chapter 10: Missing

The school office smelled of crayons and floor cleaner, and Cavan's hands were perfectly steady.

That frightened Ingrid more than shouting would have.

"He had a Sandvik Freight badge," the aftercare teacher said, close to tears.

"A blue lanyard. He said you'd been delayed at a board meeting and sent him."

"You didn't call me?" Cavan asked.

"He said he'd called you from the car. He knew her name. He knew the goldfish's name."

"The fish," Cavan said.

"Yes."

Posy had told a stranger about the goldfish.

She was seven, and strangers who knew about goldfish were friends.

"Show me the camera," he said.

The principal, a heavy man in a brown cardigan, led them into a closet with a monitor on a metal shelf.

He pressed a key, and grainy footage played.

A man in a gray coat stood at the gate with a lanyard around his neck.

He bent down.

Posy took his hand, easily, and they walked out of frame.

At the last second, she turned her head and looked straight into the lens.

Then she lifted her free hand and tapped her thumb twice against her palm.

Cavan stopped the footage.

He ran it back.

Two taps.

"What is that?" Ingrid asked.

"It's a signal we made up," Cavan said. "When she's scared and can't talk."

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