Page 58 of The Advocate’s Ultimatum

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Twenty minutes later, JP parked in front of a small, single-story house with a faded blue door and a yard that had seen better decades. It had a chain-link fence, one chair on the porch, and a wind chime that didn’t quite catch the breeze. The home was three blocks from the elementary school where Hannah had last been seen.

JP walked up the path and knocked. When the door opened, Deluca stood there, thinner than his file photo, but steady. He looked to be in his late sixties or early seventies, but his eyes were sharp.

“Are you Frank Deluca?” JP asked.

“That depends. Are you selling something?”

JP gave a half smile and handed him a card. “My name is JP Torn. I’m looking into an old case you were part of.”

Deluca glanced at the card. “What case?”

“Hannah Caldwell.”

Deluca opened the door wider. “Come on in. I got time.”

The place was simple, clean, and smelled like coffee.

Deluca waved him toward a chair at a small kitchen table. “You want some?” he asked, lifting a pot.

“I’m good.” JP took a seat.

Deluca poured himself a cup and sat across from him.

“Are you law enforcement?”

“I used to be,” JP said. “Now I help people take a second look at things.”

Deluca gave a small nod. “That one didn’t need a second look. They got their guy.”

“They got a guy,” JP countered.

Deluca sipped his coffee. “Are you here to tell me it was the wrong guy?”

“No,” JP said. “I’m here to ask what you saw.”

“I told them what I saw.”

“I want to know what you remember. Did the girl get in the car willingly?”

Deluca’s eyes narrowed. “She didn’t get in right away.”

“It doesn’t say that in the report.”

“No,” Deluca replied. “No one ever asked that question. They wanted to know about the car and what the guy looked like.”

“Walk me through exactly what happened.”

“School let out,” the ex-crossing guard said. “The kids came out in waves, the same as always. Hannah came out with the others, then stopped near the curb.”

“Like she was waiting for someone?” JP asked.

“Yeah,” Deluca said. “That’s what I thought, that she was waiting for the other kids she walked with sometimes. At least that’s what they told me after. At the time, I just saw a little girl standing there.”

“Then what?”

Deluca’s eyes drifted, focusing on something years gone. “She didn’t go to the corner right away.”