Page 40 of The Advocate’s Ultimatum

"What'd you find at Maddox's place?"

Nelson shuffled papers before speaking. "More than you'd expect. Less than I'd like."

"Meaning?"

"The apartment showed signs of a struggle. Bay's fingerprints are all over the place. That's expected."

"And?"

"We recovered DNA from other females."

JP straightened. "Where?"

"Hair on the couch. Touch DNA on the bathroom sink and inside the front doorknob. Enough for a profile on one. Others could belong to anyone."

"Did you identify anyone?"

"There was no CODIS hit, no criminal history, no missing persons. Nothing."

"So, Bay may not have been alone?"

“It’s hard to say.”

"What about the guy she keeps calling her guardian?"

Nelson laughed once, without humor. "I'd love to meet him."

"You can't find him?"

"I can't find anybody."

"What do you mean?"

"When we questioned Bay, I asked her where she lived. She said with her guardian, but wouldn’t give a name, address, or phone number. Nothing. We can’t find any record of school, medical records, social media. It's like somebody raised this kid without letting her exist."

"Anything else?"

Nelson hesitated. "There was one thing."

"What?"

"The Medical Examiner says Maddox didn't just get stabbed."

"I know about the head wound."

"It's more than that." Nelson lowered his voice. "The scene suggests two separate assaults."

“So, the stabbing and the blunt-force injury may not have happened at the same time? Well, that’s somethin’. Thanks, Nelson.”

JP hung up and checked his watch. He still had time to do a little more research before Sabre called after court. He read through the witness statements again, including the kids she was supposed to walk home with. Everyone accounted for what they saw. Or thought they saw. But there was twenty-five minutes of nothing when they didn’t know Hannah was missing. This bothered JP the most.

“Kids don’t just disappear into nothing,” he said under his breath.

He flipped another page. Police notes. The focus had been on Victor Hayes. He had an inconsistent timeline and prior issues. He was good enough to look guilty, more so than anyone else.

“Yeah,” he said. “I see how you got there.”

He turned another page and stopped on a supplemental report about the school pickup area and a conversation with a crossing guard.