PART FOUR: THE PLACE THE RECORDS POINTED TO

Chapter 31: The Search Continues

The first week of excavation at Fox Creek ended without an answer about Eli’s whereabouts.
Investigators confirmed that the lunchbox and notebook were placed near the drainage channel after the railway project ended.
They could not establish who left them there.
Calvin refused a second interview, and Vivian’s lawyer advised her to cooperate only through written statements.
News vans began appearing along Wren Court.
One reporter stood outside my driveway and asked whether I thought my neighbor was a murderer.
I said I did not know what happened to my brother and would not accuse anyone without evidence.
The answer disappointed him enough that he moved to Vivian’s side of the street.
I installed a temporary camera facing only my front entrance and garage.
This time, I checked the privacy settings with an independent technician and kept copies of the installation diagram.
I was tired of people discussing cameras as though the devices themselves had caused our misery.
The recordings had exposed a problem that existed long before the lens was mounted.

Chapter 32: The Contractor’s Old Ledger

A retired contractor named Arthur Baines contacted Vega after recognizing his company’s name in a report about the railway investigation.
He had installed temporary drainage barriers near Fox Creek during the summer Eli vanished.
Arthur kept handwritten work ledgers because he distrusted computer billing.
His records showed that Calvin’s uncle ordered an unplanned delivery of concrete panels three days after the party.
The panels were taken to an access road that was not included in the original project.
Arthur remembered protesting because the ground was too soft for the equipment.
The uncle offered cash to finish the job without paperwork.
Arthur refused and sent one worker to photograph the site for his records.
The photograph showed the narrow service opening beneath the hill before it was sealed.
Behind the opening stood a small truck bearing the foundation’s logo.
Vega compared the date with the second cassette.
The sequence suggested that someone had moved material from the railway building to Fox Creek after Eli disappeared.
It did not reveal what the material contained.

Chapter 33: The Missing Page

The notebook had one section torn from its center.
Forensic examiners found impressions from the missing page on the sheet beneath it.
Some words were readable after careful imaging.
The impressions included a telephone number, the name of a motel, and an appointment time.
The motel had closed years earlier, but its guest registry survived in a county business archive.
A clerk found a reservation made under the name Daniel Mercer.
That was my father’s name.
The reservation was dated four days after Eli disappeared.
My father never told me he stayed at a motel during the search.
I looked through his financial records and found a matching withdrawal.
The receipt included payment for two nights, but the registry recorded only one guest.
I wondered whether my father had met someone who claimed to know where Eli was.
The person who might answer was already dead.