CHAPTER 5: Officer Brooks Lowers His Voice

Officer Brooks was not the kind of guard who made fear bigger by showing it.
He stepped closer to Noah and crouched low enough that the boy did not have to look up.
“Did anyone follow you here?” he asked.
Noah swallowed.
“A gray car was behind me near the bus stop. Dad said if that happened, I should go through the bakery alley and come in the front doors.”
Ms. Carter looked toward the glass entrance.
A man outside slowed near the doors, saw Officer Brooks staring, and kept walking.
That was not proof of anything.
But today, nothing innocent felt simple.
Noah reached into his hoodie pocket and pulled out a folded bank keycard. It was old, scratched, and bent at one corner.
“He said this used to open his office,” Noah said.
Ms. Carter did not touch it at first.
The card had been deactivated months ago.
But deactivated did not mean useless if Daniel had hidden something in a place the system believed no one needed anymore.
Officer Brooks stood and looked toward the ceiling camera, then at Ms. Carter. His eyes said what his mouth did not: assume we are being watched.
Ms. Carter nodded so slightly that only he could see it.