ORYL
Chapter 09 - ORYL
The safe house cameras showed Lily leaving at 2:13 a.m.
Evelyn stood outside the back door holding a phone to the glass. On the screen was a crying boy.
Noah.
The video was old, but Lily did not know that.
She opened the door because she believed saving Noah meant leaving her mother.
“That child has more courage than half the adults in this county,” Dolly said.
The Amber Alert went out before sunrise.
Lily Rachel Lawson. Seven. Denim jacket. Brown braids. Last seen with Evelyn Ward.
A truck stop waitress called two hours later.
A woman matching Evelyn’s description had come in with a little girl. The girl asked for crayons and left a napkin behind.
The drawing showed a motorcycle, three circles, and the word:
ORYL.
Mason stared.
“Oriole.”
Captain Hayes nodded.
“Lake Oriole.”
They raced to the old church camp.
The black SUV was behind the chapel.
Empty.
Inside were crayons, a sock, and another note in Lily’s handwriting:
I left Button where Sarah left the picture.
Mason ran to the maintenance shed.
The plastic storage bin was open.
Button the bear sat inside, and tucked into his blue ribbon was a tiny flash drive.
On it was a video.
Preston Vail sat in his office with Kyle Mercer.
Preston’s voice was clear.
“Sarah doesn’t have to die, Kyle. She just has to disappear from the courtroom.”
Kyle laughed.
“And if she won’t?”
Preston looked straight into the hidden camera.
“Then she becomes the warning.”
Mason could not breathe.
Sarah had hidden the video.
Lily had found it because Evelyn brought her to the place Preston never wanted searched twice.
Then Rachel screamed from the dock.
Lily’s denim jacket lay on the wet boards, one sleeve in the lake.
Empty.
Rachel tried to jump in, but Mason caught her.
“No,” he said, though he barely believed his own voice.
Captain Hayes knelt beside the jacket.
The collar was dry.
The jacket had not fallen in.
It had been placed.
May you like
Lily was still leaving clues.
And someone wanted them looking in the wrong direction.
