Chapter 14: Grace Had Been Seventeen

I found Grace Bell in the high school yearbook from the year before Eli disappeared.
She stood in a photograph of the theater club with short dark hair and a thin silver chain around her neck.
The caption identified her as a stage manager, and Eli stood three people to her left.
I remembered her vaguely as a girl who repaired costumes and spoke quietly enough that teachers often asked her to repeat herself.
The next year’s yearbook did not include her picture.
A local newspaper archive revealed that Grace transferred out of the district midway through the fall term.
Her mother had died the previous winter, and her father moved them west soon afterward.
I called the number listed for a former classmate who still lived nearby.
The woman remembered Grace as talented, private, and fiercely loyal to Eli.
“They weren’t dating,” she said.
“But he stood up for her when people teased her.”
I asked why Grace left school.
The former classmate hesitated.
“People said there was trouble at the railway yard.”
“What kind of trouble?”
“Nobody knew.”
She lowered her voice as though someone might be listening.
“Grace stopped speaking in class after Eli disappeared.”
I thanked her and wrote down the information.
Then I noticed the photograph on my desk.
Grace’s necklace carried a little silver bird.

Chapter 15: A Bracelet Passed Between Girls

The charm had never been proof that Hannah visited my garage.
It was possible that Hannah passed it to Grace, or that Grace owned one like it.
I called Hannah instead of guessing.
She answered after several rings and sounded wary when I introduced myself.
“Nora, I haven’t seen you since the memorial service.”
“I know, and I’m sorry to call without warning.”
I asked whether she still had the bracelet Eli gave her.
There was a long silence.
“No,” she said.
“What happened to it?”
“I gave it back.”
“To Eli?”
“To Grace.”
I sat down.
Hannah explained that she and Eli separated two weeks before the party.
Eli asked her to return a box containing several belongings, and she gave it to Grace because Eli was avoiding her.
The bracelet was inside the box.
“I didn’t want to hurt him,” Hannah said.
“I just couldn’t keep pretending we were together.”
I asked whether Grace had feelings for him.
“Maybe, but that wasn’t why he trusted her.”
“Why did he trust her?”
Hannah took a breath.
“Because she believed him when he said someone had been stealing from the railway project.”

Chapter 16: The Summer Accounts

The old railway yard had been used for a county youth employment program during the summer before Eli disappeared.
Teenagers painted buildings, cleared walking paths, cataloged equipment, and earned modest wages through a grant administered by a private foundation.
Malcolm Rourke was a foundation trustee.
Calvin Sloane’s uncle supervised the work crews.
Eli had been hired to repair bicycles used to move equipment around the site.
Grace handled attendance sheets and helped calculate hours for the payroll office.
Hannah remembered hearing that several participants were being marked present on days they never worked.
Eli suspected someone was taking the extra wages.
“He thought it was small at first,” Hannah said.
“Then he found out the program was billing for equipment that wasn’t there.”
I asked whether he reported it.
“He told Grace he would, but he wanted proof.”
“What happened to that proof?”
Hannah said she never saw it.
She remembered Eli being frightened after a meeting with Malcolm.
“He said he was going to set things right before the party.”
I closed my eyes.
My father had spent eleven years searching for a boy who might have disappeared because he refused to be quiet about a theft.
The idea felt tragically simple.
But the man in the recording wearing Eli’s jacket remained unexplained.