The Gilded Sanctum

by Keith Veverka

  Abduction was indeed possible, but not likely. Amanda’s mother would have no reason to abduct her own daughter, especially since Arcuri did not appear to be a direct threat to them and actually supported them both financially. Arcuri wanted his daughter as invisible as possible already, so a co-parent abducting her to escape from the father simply didn’t seem plausible. A stranger abduction was possible, but as Arcuri had said, someone from the outside penetrating the security apparatus of WA, without at least some video footage, was also unlikely.

  A runaway was the next type, but these kids typically had some reason for going missing — a fight or confrontation which proceeded the disappearance or evidence of a bus or plane ticket. Missing under suspicious circumstances was based on evidence of foul play, such as getting into the car with a stranger or a witness seeing something unusual, but that did not appear to be the case here, or at least, there was no evidence to suggest that. It may very well have happened, but as far as Walker knew, no one on campus had witnessed a crime.

  The final category of missing persons was unknown, which meant that there were insufficient facts to determine the circumstances of the disappearance. To any investigator, that’s exactly where Walker was with Amanda Bryson. He simply did not have enough facts nor evidence to support any kind of conclusion. And that was baffling.

  Every missing persons investigator always hoped for at least something to go on — a train ticket receipt, a fight between lovers, a suspicious occurrence — something that would lead you down a certain path. There was no obvious path here, and for an experienced FBI agent who specialized in missing persons, that was odd. But odd wasn’t a technical term. It usually meant that there was a certain degree of premeditation involved and that someone had gone to great lengths to cover their tracks. But who? And why? Walker wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer.

  Chapter 9

  Walker arrived back to the administrative building a few minutes before he was scheduled to meet Castillo, so he took both files and made himself comfortable on a wooden bench beneath a small copse of trees, providing some shade as a gentle breeze rustled through the campus. He opened Castillo’s file first, the pages fluttering from the soft wind as he flipped through the collection of documents. He had grabbed some fast food on his way back to campus, so he chomped on chicken nuggets and fries while perusing the file.

  Amanda’s picture was still paper-clipped to the front of the report — her eyes staring back at him again — so Walker gingerly lifted the photo from the page to read the text. His delicate handling of the photograph was a typical subconscious reaction to the missing person as if any mishandling of it would somehow lead to more suffering. Walker had worked enough of these cases to know the horrors she might have endured, and so he had to be careful to control his tortured imagination at this point to not be distracted from the contents of the documents.

  The first page of the report listed a physical description of Amanda. Five feet eight inches tall, approximately 125 pounds, black hair, green eyes, seventeen years old. A senior. Walker remembered the large color image of Amanda on the screen in the security bunker.

  The following pages revealed her demographic and academic data: parents, teachers, friends, grades, college applications, etc. Walker skimmed through this section, forming an overall profile of Amanda Bryson in his mind. Smart girl. Popular student. Excellent grades. Involved in several student organizations and sports. Student Council President. Great soccer player. She even worked a part-time job on campus at the Tuition/Student Aid Office. Walker found that interesting and made a mental note to himself to remember to visit it.

  Each subsequent page contained the multiple reports related to the school’s investigation. Walker was surprised by the level of detail that had been provided to him. It appeared these documents were copies of the original reports written by the officers who investigated, all supervised and approved by Castillo. Nothing had been redacted.

  Walker was impressed by the adroit investigation. In his experience, it was superb. Castillo was CID, so he should have expected nothing less. According to the reports, all evidence had been collected, all witnesses had been questioned, and all leads had been followed. It was an exceptional investigation. There was only one problem...there was no evidence, there were no witnesses, and far as Walker could discern, there were no credible leads. Based on the preliminary findings of the school’s investigation, Amanda had simply vanished.

  He continued reading. No video evidence of an abduction, no eyewitnesses to an abduction, no forensic evidence of a crime, and Amanda’s personal belongings, including her cell phone, laptop, and backpack had not yet been recovered. This was unfortunate as any one of these items could provide an investigator with immediate clues as to the person’s whereabouts. But those did not exist. Did she take them with her when she ran away, or was abducted, or fell into a river? Any number of scenarios were possible, but without those personal belongings to provide some clues, it was simply a stab in the dark.

  A sweep of the local cell towers revealed some innocuous text and phone messages, but nothing sent after she was reported missing. And a scan of the school’s email server located a few old emails, but nothing was out of the ordinary — no red flags — just typical, routine stuff. Her social media accounts were overwhelmingly benign, and there was no indication whatsoever that Amanda was in trouble or had made a nefarious connection via digital media. Even if she was a runaway, there would have been some video footage of her leaving the campus in a car or walking out the front entrance, anything to indicate she was alive and well when she left Washington Academy. And what exactly was she running away from? A free ride to an elite private school, money in her pocket every week, a dad that kept his distance, but still paid the bills and sent the checks. Not likely.

  Walker wondered if Amanda may have committed suicide. There was no direct evidence to support this, but the academic and social pressures inherent for a popular young adult at a private school were enough to at least warrant it as a possibility. There would probably have been some warning signs, some kind of red flags to indicate she was unhappy or wanted to end her own life, but the mere absence of those behaviors did not automatically dismiss the potential. Today’s teenagers had gotten very good at hiding their true feelings or expressing them only online, parents woefully unaware of what their children were thinking. Although the absentee father lended credence to the possibility, the warning signs were simply not there, so for now, Walker left that theory alone.

  The next few pages of the report listed a timeline, based on the limited information available. Amanda had disappeared on September 23rd. According to the surveillance footage, she had entered her dormitory at 7:13 PM. The roommate recalled her leaving their room at approximately 9 PM, but there was no video evidence to support this. The roommate claimed she did not know where Amanda was going, but according to surveillance, she never left the residence hall. The roommate also had gone out that night, leaving the dormitory at 9:38 PM and returning back home at approximately 11 PM, all verified by the surveillance footage. Discovering that Amanda has not yet returned home and after several unanswered calls and texts, the roommate called Campus Police at 11:31 PM, according to the police log.

  Campus police arrived and conducted a cursory search in the vicinity of the dormitory, and Mr. Castillo personally interviewed the roommate. One of his students had just disappeared, so Walker did not think it was unusual for him to interview all involved. The roommate's texts and phone records — in addition to the surveillance footage — corroborated her story.

  The boyfriend’s text messages backed up his story as well. He claimed to have fought with Amanda earlier in the day, but didn’t see her that night, and his texts from that evening went unanswered. A check of his phone showed that any return texts had not been deleted, so at least for that part of the story, he was telling the truth.

  Both witnesses had willingly turned over their phones, so in that respect, they were
fully cooperating with the campus authorities, which made them persons of interest and not necessarily suspects. Yet. Perhaps she was already dead, and they both knew it, so the unanswered texts were simply for show. People watched enough cop shows on television to know that trying to create an alibi after the fact was typical of first-time offenders. But it usually got messy after that — suspects’ stories shifting, conflicting evidence coming to light — so if that was the situation here, his interviews with the two would most likely have revealed some inconsistencies.

  Walker flipped to the last section of the report which contained Castillo’s witness interviews, including the roommate and boyfriend. He didn’t read the interview notes, didn’t want to prejudice his impression of his two most important witnesses before he had a chance to speak with them. All interviews followed a certain format, but the interviewee’s answers could certainly steer the conversation in a certain direction, and those directions — depending on the interviewer — could be highly divergent. Therefore, separate interviews conducted with the same person could actually yield very different results. Finally, the nonverbal cues or specific way of answering a question could also take the interview on starkly different pathways.

  He didn’t want to know the pathway Castillo had taken or see where it had gone, which might color his thinking and dissuade him from asking certain questions, ultimately excluding important details. No. He was going to conduct the interviews himself and simply see where they led, where the non-verbal communication and answers took them.

  As Walker reached the end of the report, multiple questions still nagged at him: Did Amanda know about the cameras? Was there another way out of the dorm? Did she knowingly evade the cameras or was Castillo hiding some footage? Was this about a student with an elaborate plan to circumvent campus security, an accidental homicide by two students trying to cover up their tracks, or a classic cover up by the men in charge because Amanda had witnessed something she shouldn’t have? Whatever the reason, this was a very dangerous game.

  Castillo suddenly exited the front doors of the administrative building, emerging from his underground war room, wearing a dark green windbreaker with WA emblazoned on the pocket. He pulled it closer as the breeze met him at the door. Walker quickly closed up the documents to ensure Castillo did not see the FBI file and placed the two folders in his worn cloth briefcase as he stood to greet the security chief.

  Chapter 10

  The two men walked with purpose toward the female dormitory along the meticulously designed brick pathways through the campus, passing eager students on their way to and from class. The student body was remarkably diverse, but the Washington Academy uniforms — green blazers or blouses with khaki pants or skirts — cast an impression that was unsettling to Walker, as if any clues that laid just below the surface could be easily drowned out by the sea of uniformity. The sweet smell of autumn hung in the air.

  It was a short walk, and after several minutes of silence, they reached a small decorative plaza of rounded walkways and flower beds, intersecting each other in a beautiful array laid out directly in front of the entrance to the dormitory.

  Castillo spoke first again. “This residence hall is for females only. We don’t have strict guidelines about males in the dorm, but rooms are assigned to females only.”

  “So males are allowed to enter and exit the dorm?”

  “Yes, as long as they are escorted by a female resident, but everyone has to be back to their respective dorm by 11 PM.”

  “Do most kids follow the rules?”

  Castillo smiled. “For the most part. We have our frequent offenders of course, but most follow the protocol.”

  Walker wanted to push. “A safe campus, huh?”

  Castillo glared. “Yes, Mr. Walker, a very safe campus.” Castillo paused. “Look around at all of these cameras, all of this surveillance.” Castillo gestured to the cameras attached to the light poles along the paths. “This allows us to see what is happening, see what rules are not being followed, allows us to keep this campus safe.”

  Walker nodded at the cameras. “I’m still amazed that you didn’t capture any images of Amanda after 7 PM that night?”

  “I am as well,” said Castillo, in a smooth, matter-of-fact tone. “Like I said, if someone wanted to avoid the cameras, they can do it.”

  “You think Amanda tried to avoid the cameras?” Walker asked, pointedly.

  Castillo shook his head. “I don’t know, but it’s the only way I can account for the lack of video footage. If she didn’t make the effort to avoid detection, I’m confident we would have her on the video feed.”

  Walker pushed again. “All your footage is digital, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “So someone with the proper expertise could alter those images?”

  Castillo halted.

  Walker took a few more steps and turned to Castillo. Castillo approached slowly until he was only a few inches from Walker. Both men made eye contact and kept it.

  “What are you saying, Mr. Walker?”

  “I’m simply saying that someone with the technical expertise could alter that video footage.”

  Castillo breathed and spoke slowly. “Yes, someone could. But why would someone do that?” he retorted.

  Walker looked Castillo directly in the eyes, “We all have secrets. And most of us want to keep it that way.”

  With that, Walker turned and continued along the pathway to the front of the hall. Castillo huffed and followed him, pulling out his keycard to open the door. Walker suddenly moved away from the entrance around to the corner of the building.

  “Where are you going?” Castillo yelled.

  “I want to have a look around,” Walker said, not turning around.

  Castillo followed, visibly exasperated.

  The edge of the dormitory building was overcrowded with small trees and shrubs. Walker climbed into the waist-high mesh of twigs and leaves, chopping his way through the vegetation with his legs to make his way around the building. Castillo looked at his fancy shoes and nice pants as he entered the web of dagger-like shrubbery and muttered under his breath.

  Walker spoke as he trudged through the bushes, “The dorm was searched?”

  “Yes,” Castillo responded. “Under the guise of a canine search, my campus security officers did a complete search of the entire dormitory. All rooms and closets as well as the basement and any ancillary spaces.”

  “Anything?”

  “No.”

  Walker pushed through the last row of bushes, stepping down slightly from the elevated bed of mulch onto the flat ground at the rear of the dorm. He entered into a small clearing, which hadn’t been mowed in years and was overgrown with tall grass and brush. The clearing butted up against a tree line, which looked like an interwoven tapestry of thick trees, patchwork branches, and lush vegetation which encircled the space behind the residence hall. It was simply one section of the many acres of wooded land that surrounded the campus.

  Walking along the rear wall of the dorm, Walker eyed a series of old windows near the base of the structure, surrounded by small metal enclosures, buried in the ground. Walker selected one of the first windows, knelt down, and peered through its grime-laced glass. It led into a basement laundry room, but the rusted, dirty window appeared to be sealed shut and hadn’t been opened in years. He continued to the next one and knelt down again. The small grassy area just outside the metal enclosure appeared to be flattened and thin scuffs of dirt in the soft earth were visible throughout the immediate space. Walker picked up a handful of dirt and let it sift through his fingers.

  Castillo stood over him, still perturbed at having walked through the the razor sharp shrubbery to this desolate spot. “Tracking something? Are you planning to taste the dirt?”

  Walker smiled. “I might.”

  Walker wiped his hands together as the last bit of dirt fell from them, and still crouched, peered at the beaten down grass and disheveled brush. He reached for the wind
ow and grabbed the small handle on the bottom edge of the pane. A quick pull, and the window opened effortlessly. Walker stood up and looked down again at the small area of rustled earth beneath his feet and the metal enclosure which encased the window. The small space was easily accessible from the window, large enough to fit a person, and best of all, far away from the ever watchful eyes of Castillo’s cameras. Escape hatch.

  Walker turned and tilted his head for a better angle with the ground. Seeing it immediately, he followed a foot-worn path in the grass from the rear of the building to the tree line where the brush had also been trampled down. After a short distance through an easily navigable barrier of trees, the path emptied into another clearing. The edge of campus. Walker noticed several more grass—beaten paths leading off in various directions. He surmised that if one were to reach this point, he or she could either escape the campus or enter it again at any one of a dozen other entry points along the wood line.

  Castillo walked up beside Walker and squinted angrily at the multiple footpaths peeling off from the clearing.

  “Looks like we may have found how Amanda left the dorm undetected,” Walker said.

  He watched as Castillo shook his head, a light shade of embarrassment moving from his neck to his face. So enamored was Castillo with his omniscient security system and the blanket of protection he thought it provided, he was oblivious to its flaws, the chinks in the supposedly impenetrable armor of any video monitoring system. The blind spots. And they had just discovered one.

  Chapter 11

  Amanda’s dormitory room was typical of any student residence one would find on a private school or college campus. It measured 20x20 feet with a large, two-section window at the opposite end from the door. If a straight line was drawn from the window to the door, each side of the room was nearly a mirror image of the other. Matching closets and clothes drawers were located on either side of the entryway, followed by two twin beds — neatly made — and finally, identical wooden desks built into the wall symmetrical to the window. Shelves were also attached to the walls above the desks, and the entire space was painted in a drab green color.