She shook her head. “The ones outside those doors are fake. But no one is supposed to know.” She sounded like she was sharing a secret.
“But who would know?” Someone definitely did and used that fact to their advantage.
“Let’s start with all the custodians and principals.” That got her a list of names. “But that’s just an assumption,” she added, and Grant shook his head, the list vanishing. “What else could you use?”
“The person is tall. We know that. Over six feet,” he said. “Do you have that data?”
“Yes. Because of the background checks, we keep basic description data. Do you want current and past employees?” Grant nodded, and that search produced a list of names and a realization of just how fucking little they actually knew about this guy. “Wait. In Mooreland Elementary, the old water tank was decommissioned. When was that?”
Unity shrugged, but then picked up the phone and made a call. She knew exactly who would have the answer and got it before hanging up. “Eight years ago. That was when they remodeled the heating. Why?” He met her gaze, and she turned away. “Forget I asked.”
“Okay. So this tank is sitting there in the school, but it’s empty and unused. No one is going to think much about it. Why would you?”
“Exactly, and no one is going to even know it’s no longer used or pay attention to it,” Unity added. “Unless you were there at the time of the remodel. Those are very disruptive. The custodial staff isn’t able to work in the building at that time, and afterward they have to clean up the mess. Sometimes the teachers can’t get into their classrooms until the very last minute because they’re still being cleaned up after the remodel.”
“Yeah. But most people aren’t going to pay attention to the remodel details themselves. Teachers are going to be worried about how it affects their classroom and their work. But the custodial staff has to deal with it all.”
“Yes. So let’s concentrate there,” she said and narrowed the search. “I have four past and present members of the custodial staff that are over six feet tall. None of them worked at Mooreland Elementary, and two of them are part-time and over sixty-five.” She brought up images of the other two. It was obvious that the build for either man was not the person standing outside the school. One was quite muscular, and the other was a very tall, thin man in his fifties. Neither one of them was the person Cameron identified. Grant had thought that he might have had a way to figure this out, but it was coming to nothing.
“Okay. Let’s start over. Everyone over six feet.” She nodded, cleared everything, and started again. “Eliminate anyone Black, Asian, or of Latin descent.” Those were most definitely out. It took her a few minutes, but the list shortened. It was still quite a few people. Unity worked a little longer and then added the data into a spreadsheet.
“Okay. I added a bunch of data points in here. Now you can get a better idea of each person. This is their name, positions held, age, height, weight, date of hire, gender, and schools that they’ve worked at.”
Grant looked more closely at the information. “The thing is that the person I’m looking for seems to know the school systems pretty well. We barely caught them on camera, and even then, they knew to keep to the shadows. This is someone who might have worked with those systems.”
“A security officer?” she asked and began typing quickly. “I’m not sure this helps, but we used a private company for security for a while. It was ridiculously expensive, so we developed a program in-house.” She brought up another list of names. “Our security people who meet your criteria are on this list. I’m giving it to you because no students are directly involved. Otherwise I wouldn’t be allowed. These are the peoplefrom the private security firm who meet your criteria, though it has been two years since we used them, so it may be difficult to find what you need.”
He took the information and thanked her. “It’s a place to start. I appreciate all your help.” Grant stood and put Dexter on his lead and left the office. Once back inside his car, he sat with the lists, staring at names and wondering how he was going to narrow this down. It wasn’t like he could question each and every one of them just because they had worked for the school and were over six feet tall. It was quite a few people and potentially a ton of loose ends. What he needed was a way to break down the list. He got out of the car and went back inside.
Unity met him at the door. “I just thought of something. Can you take the list of people you gave me and remove everyone who was at work in locations other than LeTort Elementary and Mooreland on the following dates?” He gave her the exact dates all three boys went missing. She led him to the office and worked a few minutes.
“I have it. I can send it to you,” she said, and Grant gave her an email to send the file to.
“Thank you very much.” He waited until the file came through. They were now down to eight names. That was a real place to start. He returned and started the car and headed back to the station, hopefully with something he could use if he could only put the pieces together.
Chapter 13
HE WOULDnever have guessed working a specific list of names would be so damned hard. Grant had been able to track down two people on the list. As soon as the first man opened the door, Grant knew instantly he couldn’t be the person he was looking for.
“Can I help you?”
“I’m sorry to disturb you,” he said after introducing himself to the man, who was balancing on crutches. “When did you break your leg?” he asked. “That must be painful.”
“I fell a few weeks ago and had to have surgery on it because the bone was a mess. Who would have thought that running down a hill with my four-year-old would end up with me getting hurt and him trying to take care of me?” He rolled his eyes, and immediately Grant mentally scratched him off the list.
“We’re just canvassing in the neighborhoods. Making sure parents are aware that three boys have been taken in the last few weeks. We’re asking the schools and parents to be vigilant and watch for anyone suspicious.” He smiled as the man nodded.
“Yeah, I heard. I work at LeTort, but I’m off on disability for the next month at least. Maybe longer.” He easily held himself upright, which told Grant that he had been using the crutches for a while. People who had just gotten them were incredibly unsteady, but once they got used to them, people tended to balance pretty well. “My wife takes our son and daughter to school, and she picks them up at night.”
“Thank you,” Grant said and left. There was no need to question him any further. This was not the person he waslooking for. The next name on the list wasn’t home, and the following address was answered by a woman who said she had been living there for two months and had no idea where the previous occupant had moved to. Grant thanked her and continued down his list, finding plenty of people not at home. The last name on the list turned out to be a retiree who volunteered at the school. He checked the date of birth again and wondered what was wrong, because it should have been someone much younger.
“That’s my son. He volunteers at the school as well.” He held out his hand. “I’m Hansen Gunderson Senior. Can you tell me why you’re looking for Hansen Junior? Has he done something?”
“There have been a few issues at Mooreland that we’re looking into. Can you tell me when you expect him to be back?”
“Hansen said he was going to be away for a few weeks. I used to volunteer at the schools as a library assistant up until a few years ago. Then the winters got to be too much, and I spent them in a chair because my arthritis hurt so bad.” He was nice enough. “Should I tell Hansen that you’re looking for him?”
Grant nodded and handed Hansen a card. “Please ask him to give us a call.” He smiled and left, returned to the car to check on Dexter, and then drove back to the station.
