The girl did give me pause though. The resemblance was uncanny. I’d never seen anyone so closely resemble Sophia. Admittedly she was the only reason I remained at the school. Normally I would have checked it out and then left in under twenty-four hours. This time, however, I found myself unable to walk away.
Despite my fascination, I was no more hopeful about the future than I had been before coming to Ardara. Yes, the girl had a remarkable resemblance, but that was as far as the similarities went. She was shy and allowed the others to push her around. Plus there was the fact that she was human.
My job investigating for the Council required observation and objectivity. This was why I now found myself pacing angrily around my dorm room on a Friday night. I’d been caught off guard and that wasn’t a good thing. I’d managed to avoid interacting with Shaylee despite my errors in sitting next to her in not one, but two classes. Who would have thought that my biggest mistake would occur outside of the classroom?
The library. What were the odds? It reminded me too much of the past. It reminded me of her. I’d only gone to the library to kill time while I waited for the school secretary, who was working late, to leave.
My open laptop on my desk dinged. I sat down and saw that it was the person I most wanted to kill that was calling me. I took a deep breath and accepted the call.
“Tremain,” he said, his pale round face filling the screen.
“Dominic,” I replied with a curt nod.
“Have you found the traitor yet?”
His bloodshot eyes pierced mind as he attempted to convey his perceived power through the computer screen.
“Whoever is on the recording covered their tracks very well,” I said. “I obtained the records of the Students and Staff housing and I find no irregularities or suspicious calls. I recommend that I remain on site until further notice to continue investigating.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed and he leaned closer to the screen.
“You’ve never requested an assignment extension,” he said with suspicion.
“I do believe there’s something here, or there was. Either someone has covered their tracks very well and it will take me more time to uncover clues or they have since left this location and I require time to track them.”
I’d been prepared for his suspicion. My lie was ready and waiting. I’d formulated it the second I’d laid eyes on Shaylee, knowing just what would happen to her if Dominic discovered her existence.
Luckily, I’d proven my loyalty enough times that Dominic believed me.
“Very well. We can spare you for a while, but I expect results,” he said.
“I understand,” I replied.
He nodded and then the screen went black.
I released a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding and closed the laptop. I probably had about a month before Dominic remembered my extended assignment and wanted an update. I could most likely get away with another month after that before he finally sent someone to check on me.
Student curfew was at eleven. Five after eleven I stepped out of my room, confident that few if any students would still be wandering around risking a detention. If I got caught, I knew nothing would come of it. I doubted any of the staff would even say something if they saw me. I couldn’t be so sure about the students however.
I made my way over to the Administration office. Breaking and entering was something I was familiar with and it was one of the less objectionable parts of my job with the Council. To my surprise the door wasn’t even locked.
Sitting at the secretary’s desk, I fired up the computer. I wondered briefly if it violated some confidentiality law to not have any kind of password needed for the computer. If I really cared about the Council’s agenda, I would report the lack of security at the school, but of course I didn’t care and it suited me to have them so lax, so I’d keep it to myself.
I pulled up the student roster. As I scrolled through student names, I realized that I’d yet to find out the girl’s last name and it would take longer than I wanted for me to find her by her first name. I pulled up the senior class photographs and found her easily.
Shaylee Neale.
I stared at her name in shock. Braeden and Alain Neale had once been dear friends. So loyal and kind. It had to be a coincidence the girl shared the same name. The Neale’s had evaded the Council for so long. Their deaths had been tragic. The house fire had been ruled an accident, but everyone knew it hadn’t been. No one had ever mentioned a child, at least not to me.
I pulled up Shaylee’s records. Under parents it simply said unknown. There was another name listed, however. Andrew Hastings, the Italian teacher, was her legal guardian. I leaned back and stared at the screen, trying to process the information in front of me.
Hastings was nowhere on the Council’s radar. He wasn’t even on the list of possible suspects I had worked up before coming to Ardara. He was a nobody so Shaylee had to be a nobody too. Right?
I powered down the computer and returned to my room. Once there I began a complete background check on both Shaylee and Andrew, careful not to use any resources that were connected to the Council. If the Council sent anyone else things would end very badly for Hastings and his ward. If anyone became involved,
