Page 68 of The Advocate’s Ultimatum

“That’s odd and rather suspicious.”

“Did Rourke or the cops investigate anyone like that?” JP asked.

“Not that I recall, and I think I would remember that.”

“I looked through the file, the police reports, Rourke’s reports, and I couldn’t find any reference to him. I plan to check him out tomorrow.”

“Good idea.”

“Oh, and he would talk to the kids sometimes, but only if they were alone. He’d ask questions and sometimes scold them for walking by themselves.”

Sabre sat with that a moment, then said, “I talked to Bay again.”

“Yeah?”

“She said, ‘When something bad happens, I don’t cry. I just get really quiet.’”

“Does that mean something to you?”

Sabre swallowed hard. “Hannah used to say that.”

JP raised an eyebrow. “Those exact words?”

“Close enough that it doesn’t matter. Hannah said it to me more than once,” Sabre went on. “Different phrasing, but the same meaning. That was how she explained things. She didn’t cry. She just shut down.”

“That’s odd, but it doesn’t necessarily mean anything.”

“That’s what I thought until we started to leave, and I asked her if she was okay.” Sabre took a breath. “And Bay responded with, ‘I can be brave for a little while.’”

JP’s eyes narrowed in thought. “And you’ve heard that before too?”

“From Hannah. Those exact words. She said that the day we told her she might be going home,” Sabre said. “She wasn’t excited. Not like most kids. Just calm and resolved. She just looked me in the eyes and said, ‘I can be brave for a little while.’”

After a moment, JP said, “So, we’ve got two possibilities “Either Bay is Hannah. Or she got those words from someone.”

Sabre nodded. “Which would have to be from Hannah, or from someone who knew her.”

“Or someone who studied her,” JP added.

“Bay denied knowing Hannah.”

“Of course, she did.”

Sabre stared at the blank notepad. “If she is Hannah, then everything we thought about that case is wrong.”

“And if she’s not,” JP said, “then someone taught her those words.”

Sabre looked up at him. “Someone who knew exactly what to say to me.”

“That’s the part I don’t like.”

Sabre snorted. “Just that part?”

JP didn’t smile.

They sat in silence for a moment as Sabre rehashed it in her mind. “Either she’s Hannah or she’s connected to her.”

“I don’t see a third option.”