The Hidden Grave (Harriet Harper Thriller Book 2)

by Dominika Best

  “That won’t be necessary,” Mrs. Prentiss said as she pulled herself straight.

  She gained back some composure and, by her demeanor, Harri knew she wanted her to leave.

  “I'm so very sorry for your loss,” Harri said, relieved that she could go.

  She stood up and looked at the woman awkwardly. “I’ll let myself out. I'm so deeply sorry for your loss,” she said again.

  Harri found herself tongue-tied as she witnessed the woman’s grief. Various emotions passed on her face. Mrs. Prentiss opened her mouth and closed it again. The woman finally found her voice as she stood up.

  “We lost Alan years ago,” she said. “I've been waiting for this phone call since the last rehab was such an utter failure. Good luck finding Dan. I hope he’s out there alive somewhere. Bring him home.”

  Harri nodded and left the woman standing in the middle of her formal living room. As she let herself out and hurried back to her car it occurred to her that Mrs. Prentiss kept her house so beautifully because the rest of her life was such an ugly mess.

  She drove away in a panic. Where was Dan Ledeyen? Was he being held somewhere, or would he be the next boy found washed clean in the woods?

  She called Jake. He picked up immediately.

  “Jake,” she croaked.

  “Harri? My god, what is it?”

  “They found Alan Prentiss in the woods like Atticus Menlo. I was with his mother when the police called her,” she said in a rush.

  Jake exhaled on the other end of the line.

  “I was worried about that,” he said. “Where are you now? Let’s meet up.”

  “No, I'm okay,” Harri said. “I’m okay. I have to talk to Tim again. I feel like we still haven’t accounted for all of Dan’s movements in the forty-eight hours before his abduction.”

  “The deaths are out of order,” Jake said. “Dan’s body should have been found next. He was the second boy abducted. Alan was the third. Something’s wrong here. I don’t know if the profile is off or could something have happened to bump Alan in front of Dan,” Jake said.

  “I wondered the same thing. But we can leave that to the police even if Dan was taken by the same perpetrator.”

  “Right,” Jake said.

  “Have you met with Dr. Brand yet?”

  “Not yet. I’m driving up now. Are you going to tell him?”

  Harri hadn’t considered telling Tim. It wouldn’t be good for him to find out on the news, though.

  “I’ll let him know when I see him. Another devastated family,” Harri said. “I hope Dr. Brand has pinpointed the location of at least one of the camps.”

  “I’ll call you after,” Jake said and hung up.

  Harri fought back the nausea as butterflies invaded her stomach. She drove to the Ledeyen home gripping the wheel so hard her knuckles turned white. She'd have to watch another parent’s face as they processed their deepest fear about their child. Harri desperately wished she had better news to tell him.

  Something told her Dan was almost out of time.

  24

  Day 6 - Afternoon

  The Ledeyen house was only several blocks over from the Prentiss home, but the neighborhood looked much different. The lawns were not as manicured, and the homes were modest. It didn’t matter whether these families were rich or poor or which neighborhood they lived in. The devastation of addiction was all-encompassing. This fracture in each of these families gave predators a healthy number of victims and a hunting ground that grew each day. This pain was such a waste, Harri thought.

  She parked the car in front of the house and scrolled through the breaking news on her phone. The discovery of Alan’s body made national headlines as Atticus Menlo’s had. If the killer wanted this kind of attention, he was definitely getting it. Harri turned off her phone and chewed on her lip. They had to know about Alan already. His death was already all over the news.

  She heaved open the door and stepped out. Exhaustion washed over her as she made her way to the front door. Molly had it open before Harri reached the top step.

  “We've just heard,” she said.

  Harri shook her head, unsure of what to say next. She was relieved she wasn’t the one to break the news.

  “Alan's mother called you?” she asked.

  Molly nodded and Tim appeared behind her.

  “She didn't tell us how it happened,” Molly said. “She just told us that Alan was dead.”

  Harri let out a deep breath and followed them into the house.

  Damn.

  “You're going to hear it on the news, so I might as well tell you. Alan was found in the same way Atticus Menlo was,” she said.

  Tim led them back to the kitchen.

  Harri had been to this house so often before the change in the atmosphere struck her hard. There was no warmth here. A faint smell of rotten food permeated the air. The stack of dirty dishes in the sink looked about to topple over.

  “I put the coffee on,” Tim said as he smoothed his unbrushed hair back with his hand. “Would you like some?”

  “I’d prefer water if that’s okay,” Harri said, worried the extra caffeine hit would send her nerves over the edge.

  Tim opened one of the cupboards and chose a glass. He filled it with water from the sink and handed it to her.

  “Thank you,” she said.

  Molly sat down on one side of her and Tim on the other. They both leaned in and Harri felt trapped. She hated that she had no new information for them.

  “How did you find out about Alan? Did the police call you?” Tim asked.

  Harri sipped her water before answering.

  “The police warned me off that case. I was with Mrs. Prentiss, asking her about Alan and Dan’s relationship when she got the phone call,” she explained.

  “Does this killer have our boy?” Molly asked, her eyes wide and her pupils dilated. The woman was terrified.

  “We don’t know that for certain,” Harri tried to reassure her. “The timeline isn’t entirely matching up. Alan disappeared after Dan, but his body was just found. This is a good thing for us since it indicates two possible scenarios. Either this individual doesn’t have Dan or he’s keeping Dan alive for some reason. Either scenario makes me think that Dan is still alive.”

  Molly covered her mouth with her hands to muffle her cry.

  Harri fidgeted in her seat.

  “I’m doing everything I can to find Dan. That is my only objective right now and it’s the reason I came here today,” she said.

  “Anything you need,” Tim said.

  He looked as if he’d aged ten years since she’d seen him two days ago. His clothes hung from his body and he had the sunken eyes of a man who hadn’t had a decent night’s sleep in weeks.

  Molly’s face was puffy and red and reminded Harri of her own mother in those first weeks after Lauren’s disappearance. She prayed that Molly stayed strong. Harri’s mother had cracked and killed herself within that first year.

  “I haven’t been able to map out exactly what Dan was doing the day before he disappeared,” Harri said. “I’ve retraced his steps on the day of his abduction. I’ve spoken with the Starbucks manager and with witnesses who saw him enter and leave the job interview. His schedule on that day doesn’t provide us with much to go on since he was home before he left for the job interview.” Harri paused. “Where did Dan go the day before?”

  “The day before was similar,” Molly choked out. “He’d become a real homebody after rehab. He’d lost all his friends from before he got into the drugs. He was staying away from the people who were still using. I enjoyed his company. I had my son back.”

  Harri waited as the woman gathered herself together again.

  “He was home until he left for his GRE class at Eugene Community College. His class runs for three hours,” Molly added.

  “He came home directly after,” Tim cut in.

  “And what time is this GRE class?” Harri asked.

  “It’s from three-thirty t
o six-thirty. The class meets today, too. In an hour,” Molly said checking the clock hanging over the door leading to the patio outside.

  “Do you know the instructor’s name?”

  Molly shook her head.

  “I don’t know it either,” Tim offered.

  “It’s the only GRE prep class at that time,” Molly continued. “Dan had a hard time finding a class in the late afternoon. He told us he’d been lucky he got into that one.”

  “Could I see a schedule of his to find the classroom I should stakeout?” Harri said in a light tone.

  Neither Molly nor Tim caught the reference.

  “I’ll go there today and talk to his classmates. Maybe they can give me more names of people I can interview.”

  “Are you thinking that whoever took Dan knew him? This wasn’t a random grab?’ Tim asked, stumbling on the words.

  “If Dan had been shoved into a car, I think more people would have witnessed that since it’s rare,” Harri said. “I think Dan knew the person who pulled up to him and he got into their car willingly. That’s why the witnesses are so vague on details. The action was too commonplace.”

  Her explanation was the most plausible one, she thought.

  Dan could have met his kidnapper in class and not in fact at Starbucks the next day. Had he seen someone he was friendly with; it would be that much easier for him to get into a car with the individual.

  “You mentioned he was staying away from all his friends,” Harri continued. “Did he do anything else outside of the GRE class and the NA meetings down at the Cochran Youth Shelter?” she asked.

  “He was sticking close to home,” Molly said. “Reading a lot of books and keeping himself away from people. It was the only way he said he could stay away from temptation.”

  Tears streamed down her face and she wiped them away. Harri saw anger brimming below the surface of her grief.

  “Let me find that schedule for you,” Tim said and left the kitchen.

  Harri took Molly’s hand in her own. “I won’t stop looking until I bring him home,” she said. “He’s out there somewhere. Alive.”

  Harri didn’t know why she added that, but she believed it, fervently even.

  Molly nodded and wiped her nose with a tissue. The familiar gesture reminded Harri of her mom. She’d taken her mom’s hand in hers and promised her that she’d bring Lauren home somehow. She’d been fifteen years old at the time, a child attempting to comfort her mother. The look on her mother’s face back then mirrored Molly’s now.

  Neither woman believed her, however much they wanted to.

  Harri let go of Molly’s hand when she heard Tim’s footsteps outside of the kitchen. Without finding Dan, her words could never take the pain of unknowing away from them. Harri knew that all too well.

  Tim came back with a single sheet of paper. “The class is held in Mills Hall. It’s Room 205. I think Dan mentioned it was a large auditorium on the first floor.”

  Tim handed the schedule to Harri. She snapped a photo of it with her phone and placed it on the kitchen table.

  “Take care of each other and get some sleep.”

  Molly stared blankly back at her.

  “I know that sounds cliché, but sleep will help with the pain. And you need to keep strong. For Dan’s sake when he finally gets home.”

  Tim nodded but Molly was gone. Most likely inhabiting her own personal hell. Harri gulped down the water and stood up.

  “If I’m going to make it to this class, I have to leave. I’ll see myself out.”

  Tim nodded but didn’t stand up. Molly stared out the window to the woods beyond as if Harri had said nothing. Harri couldn’t imagine the thoughts running through her head.

  She walked out of the kitchen and out the front door. The moment she got outside, she inhaled deeply. She hadn’t realized she’d been holding her breath until that very moment.

  The pain of this was so familiar. Her chest constricted and Harri pressed her hand hard against where her heart was. She knew this pain. She lived it every day.

  25

  Day 6 – Afternoon

  Harri Harper stood outside classroom 205 in Mills Hall watching the students file in. She had made it with ten minutes to spare before class. She parked herself to the right of the door, a photo of Dan Ledeyen in hand. She flashed it at every student who walked by, asking if they knew him. Most students shook their heads no and declined to speak with her. Two giggling teenagers strolled by her, one of them glancing back. Harri used that as her opening.

  “Hi, do you guys have a second before class?” she asked.

  The blonde-haired girl rolled her eyes and looked at her friend. “We're not really interested in whatever you're selling,” she said in a snooty voice.

  “I'm here about Dan Ledeyen,” Harri said and held up the photo. “He’s in your class.”

  “I've never seen him before,” the snooty blonde said.

  The quiet one nodded.

  “I've seen him in class,” she said in a small shy voice.

  “He's gone missing. I'm helping the family locate him,” Harri said.

  The shy girl's eyes widened. “Missing? Like did he run away or something?” she asked.

  Harri judged her age to be close to seventeen and wondered why she was taking GED classes at the local community college and not attending an actual high school.

  “His parents have no idea where he is,” Harri said. “Did you see him the last time he was in class? That would've been this last Tuesday.”

  “Oh, I remember him. He walked in late and the teacher kind of gave him shit for it,” the snooty girl said.

  How surprising that suddenly she knew exactly who he was. She seemed to Harri to be one of those girls that always needed to be at the center of attention.

  “I thought you said you never saw him before,” Harri said.

  She didn’t want to embarrass the girl, but at the same time calling the snooty girl out on her crap might give Harri points with the shy girl. By the look on the shy girl's face, Harri was correct.

  “Did either of you see him after class?” she asked.

  “I did,” Shy Girl said. “He was arguing with our teacher when we were all getting ready to leave.”

  “And are you sure it was an argument?” Harri asked, ears perking up.

  “I was pretty close to the front, where they were. I was waiting to ask my own question and I noticed our teacher was getting really upset,” the shy girl said.

  “What’s your teacher's name?” Harri asked.

  The paperwork Tim had found didn't list the teacher's name on it.

  “His name is Professor Robert Payton,” the snooty girl said.

  “How do you know he was getting upset?” she asked the shy girl.

  “It was his face. He turned all red and flushed and he was making his hands into fists,” the shy girl said.

  “That's a peculiar detail to remember,” Harri commented. “What made you notice that?”

  “My boyfriend has anger issues,” the shy girl said.

  Her voice became flat and emotionless when she said that. Harri read between those lines.

  “And did you see Dan leave?” she asked.

  “No. I gave up on waiting to ask my question and decided to ask him the next class,” the shy girl said.

  “Is your professor in class already?” Harri asked.

  “I don't think so. He's also a high school teacher at Milbourne. He sometimes gets here a little bit late because of traffic,” the snooty girl said.

  Harri's ears pricked up.

  Robert Payton was a teacher at the same school that Atticus had gone to. And it was the same school that Chris Becker had been seen staking out. That couldn’t be a coincidence.

  “Is he in the room now?” Harri asked and peeked around the door into the large auditorium.

  The shy girl did the same and scanned the room.

  “Is that him?” Harri asked, pointing to the older man sitting behind the des
k.

  “No. That's Professor Tremaine. He's here sometimes when Professor Payton is running late,” the snooty girl said.

  “He's generally like ten minutes late for every class,” the shy girl said.

  “Have either of you had any difficult interactions with Professor Payton? Do you like him?”

  The snooty girl rolled her eyes again. “I mean he's okay. Kind of boring.”

  The shy girl said nothing. Harri figured she was the one that really paid attention to people’s emotions and temperaments anyway. If the shy girl had a boyfriend with anger management problems, then she was pretty used to checking in on him constantly to see what temperature he was for her own safety.”

  “He has strange moods,” the shy girl said.

  “What kind of moods?” Harri asked.

  “He gets super angry about things being out of order. It's more than most normal teachers do. It bothers him a lot when he feels that anyone's misbehaving in class,” the shy girl explained.

  “This GED class is college age or high school age students?” Harri asked.

  “I think most of the students are our age,” the snooty girl said.

  “And what are your ages?” Harri asked.

  “I am seventeen,” the snooty girl said.

  “Sixteen,” the shy girl said.

  “How come you guys aren’t going to a normal high school?” Harri asked.

  Snooty girl folded her arms across her chest in a defensive pose. “I got expelled,” she said.

  “I did, too,” the shy girl said.

  “Really? Did you two get expelled together?” Harri asked.

  She wondered if the snooty girl had been the ringleader and the shy girl followed her lead.

  “We came from the same school. We got in trouble at the same time,” the snooty girl said confirming Harri’s suspicions.

  “Thank you, girls, so very much for your time.”

  “I hope you find him,” the shy girl said. “He seemed nice.”

  “Did you ever speak to him?” Harri asked.

  The shy girl shook her head no.

  Harri guessed that might have been the case.