Chapter 23
Thursday late afternoon
The warehouse let workers out in waves. JP waited off to the side of the entrance, watching faces instead of badges or names. People came out tired, ready to be somewhere else. That’s when they were easiest to talk to.
A young man in his early twenties came through the doors a few minutes later. He was leaner than the kid in the file photo, but his face hadn’t really changed.
JP stepped forward. “Tyler Burch?”
Tyler slowed. “Yeah?”
JP handed him a card. “JP Torn. I’m looking into something from a while back.”
Tyler glanced at the card, then back at him. “What kind of something?”
“Hannah Caldwell.”
That stopped him. “Did they find her?”
“No. I’m afraid not. But something has led us back to this case, so I’m trying to get all the facts.”
Tyler didn’t say anything.
“Have you got a few minutes?” JP asked.
Tyler nodded toward the side of the building. “Yeah.”
They moved away from the noise, toward a loading dock where the hum of machinery softened into the background.
Tyler leaned against the wall, arms crossed. “I already told the cops everything,” he said.
“I read what you told them,” JP replied. “I want to hear what you remember.”
Tyler gave a small, tired smile. “Same thing.”
“Maybe,” JP said. “Maybe not.”
A second passed, then Tyler looked away. “We were supposed to walk her home,” he said. “Me, my sister, and Alana.”
“Was that the regular plan?”
“Yeah,” Tyler said. “Every day.”
“And that day?”
Tyler rubbed the back of his neck. “We left without her.”
“Why?” JP asked.
Tyler hesitated. “Because I told them to.”
“Walk me through it.”
Tyler shifted his weight. “Hannah was always late coming out. She’d pack up slow, or she was talking, or whatever. We’d stand there, waiting.”
“And that day?”
“I didn’t want to wait,” Tyler said. “I had something to do at home, a new video game or something. I don’t even remember now.” He let out a short breath. “I just remember I didn’t want to stand there another ten minutes.”
“So, you left?”
“Yeah.”
“All of you?”
“I couldn’t leave without my sister or I woulda been in big trouble.”
“Did the girls want to leave?”
“They were tired of waiting for her too, so it was easy to convince them. I said she’d catch up. She always did.”
“Did you ever leave her before?”
“No. But sometimes she walked too slow, or stopped to pick a flower or something. But she’d always catch up before we got to the creepy guy’s house.”
That caught JP’s attention. “Tell me about the creepy guy.”
“An old guy who lived on the corner a couple of blocks from our house. He’d come out when school was over and sit on his porch, watching.
JP kept his voice calm. “Watching what?”
“Us,” Tyler said. “All the kids walking home.”
“Do you know his name?”
“No.”
“How old?”
“I don’t know. Looking back, I’d say maybe sixty. He seemed old to me then and a little off.”
“Off how?”
“He’d talk to you,” Tyler said. “If you were by yourself.”
“What kind of talk?”
Tyler shifted, uncomfortable now. “He’d scold you like you were doing something wrong. He’d tell you not to walk alone. Ask where you were going.”
JP narrowed his eyes. “Did he ever touch anyone?”
Tyler shook his head. “No. Nothing like that.”
“Did he threaten anyone?”
“It sounded like a threat when he scolded.”
JP gathered more information about creepy guy’s house so he could follow up.
“Was Hannah afraid of him?”
Tyler let out a breath. “She hated that part of the walk because once she was lingering behind us and he scolded her. He told her it wasn’t safe for little girls to be walking alone. She ran like crazy and caught up. She’s the one who first called him creepy guy. She’d say it with a whisper,
like if she said it too loud, he’d hear her. After that, we all said it that way.”
“What did you do when Hannah didn’t catch up to you that day?”
“We kept looking back, especially when we got to that house, but she never showed. Megan wanted to go back, but we didn’t.”
“Because you convinced her not to?”
“Look, I feel bad about this every day. Maybe if I’d gone back, she’d still be alive.”
“Do you believe Hannah’s dead?”
“Don’t you? It’s been almost ten years, and she hasn’t shown up. Do you have a reason to believe she’s alive?”
“I don’t know any more than you do, but I’d like to believe she’s still alive.”
Silence hung for a moment. Then Tyler added, quieter now, “We didn’t tell it like that.”
“How’d you tell it?”
“We just said that she didn’t show.”
“Why?”
Tyler looked at him. “Because it sounded better,” he said. “For us. Then after a while, I was going to tell, but Megan convinced me not to. She said it wouldn’t help anything, and we would only get in more trouble.”
“Did you see Hannah at all that day after school?” JP asked.
“Maybe. We had started walking, but I kept looking back. I think I saw her come out of the school, but then I couldn’t see her after that.”
“Do you think she saw you?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did she call out to you, or run to catch up?”
Tyler shook his head. “No. She was just walking slow like she always did.”
“Did you see a car?” JP asked.
“There were tons of cars, lots of parents picking up their kids.”
“But you didn’t see her walk toward a car?”
“I only saw her come out of the school and then I lost sight of her. We were already down the street.”
“After you left,” JP said, “did you ever think about going back?”
Tyler’s jaw tightened. “Yeah. But I was a stupid kid who didn’t want the responsibility. Looking back, I feel bad. I blame myself. She was just a kid.”
JP tapped him on the shoulder. “So were you.”