At the orchard road, a maintenance worker named Felix Ward saw the first patrol car turn between the trees.
He was closing a shed when Kent stepped out.
Felix pointed toward a concrete loading platform at the back of the workshop.
“Somebody was here before sunrise,” he said.
“I heard a child shouting, and then a door slammed.”
Kent asked whether he had called anyone.
“I called the workshop owner,” Felix said.
“He told me it was a training exercise.”
“Who owns the workshop?”
Felix gave her a name that matched the contractor on Rosa’s receipt.
Kent asked him to remain beside the patrol car while another officer approached the building.
Inside, the workshop smelled of damp cardboard and old engine oil.
A kettle was still warm on a small electric stove.
Two paper cups stood on a bench beside an open packet of crackers.
A child’s blue scarf lay beneath the bench.
Kent picked it up by one corner and photographed its position.
The back door opened onto a narrow service track.
Fresh tire marks crossed the mud and disappeared toward the county highway.
The people they needed had left less than an hour earlier.
Chapter Ten C: The Woman at the Window
Emily waited at the diner because there was nothing else she could do.
The families spoke in quiet groups while Nadia made another round of telephone calls.
Grant offered to cook without charging anyone.
A few people accepted, though most only asked for water.
Rosa remained near the entrance with her clipboard.
She had begun checking the original transfer assignments against the revised route sheet.
“The two missing names were moved after midnight,” she said.
“Someone changed their pickup point.”
Adrian asked whether the system recorded the change.
“It records the desk that entered it,” Rosa answered.
“It doesn’t tell us who was standing at the keyboard.”
Emily looked at the time on the receipt Grant had given her when he paid her wages.
She remembered the man in the gray van asking about the bus before the diner opened.
“He knew the bus would come through here,” she said.
“He wasn’t looking for it by accident.”
Rosa turned another page.
“The route revision went out to three drivers and the contractor’s office,” she said.
“One driver called to say the road was blocked.”
“Which driver?” Adrian asked.
“Marta Solis,” Rosa replied.
“She was supposed to collect the children.”
Kent called from the orchard road before anyone could say more.
She asked Rosa to locate Marta immediately.
Rosa dialed the number on her list.
It rang six times before a woman answered in a whisper.
“I can’t talk,” Marta said.
“I’m at my sister’s apartment.”
Rosa passed the phone to Kent through the speaker connection.
“Are you safe?” Kent asked.
“I think so,” Marta replied.
“Someone followed me here after I refused the revised pickup.”
“Did you see the vehicle?”
“A gray van with plastic over the back window.”
Emily heard Rosa inhale sharply.
Kent told Marta to lock her door and stay away from the windows until an officer arrived.
Then she asked a question that made everyone in the diner turn toward the phone.
“Did you see the two passengers?”
“I saw a boy and a woman waiting under the orchard shelter,” Marta answered.
“The woman kept asking why the bus wasn’t coming.”
“Did the boy look injured?”
“No,” Marta said.
“He was holding a paper bag and asking for his mother.”
Samuel covered his eyes.
Emily moved a chair close enough that he could sit without crossing the room.
