Chapter 5 - The Address in Moon’s Ear
The address belonged to an abandoned elementary school twelve miles west of the river.
The date was the following afternoon.
Dominic stared at the note while Nolan photographed it.
“Come alone,” Nolan read. “Convenient.”
“It’s Ava’s handwriting,” Nora said.
Everyone turned.
“You’re sure?” Claire asked.
Nora nodded.
“She makes the A like a triangle.”
Dominic had seen the same sharp A in the locker letter.
It was real.
That did not mean the meeting was safe.
Ava had written it weeks earlier without knowing whether Reece would discover it.
Nolan wanted a surveillance team.
Dominic agreed.
Victor objected.
“Reece will see them.”
Nolan looked at him.
“Thank you, man currently charged with obstructing an investigation.”
Victor winced.
Dominic almost enjoyed that.
The next day the floodwater began to recede.
Mud covered roads. Trees lay across ditches. Entire porches had moved hundreds of feet from where they belonged.
Dominic drove to the abandoned school in an ordinary county vehicle.
No Moretti convoy.
No black SUVs.
No visible weapons.
Nolan’s people stayed far outside the perimeter.
Dominic entered alone.
The hall smelled of dust and damp plaster.
Children’s murals still covered the walls.
A faded blue whale.
Handprints.
A sun with a smiling face.
“Ava?”
Nothing.
He moved deeper.
A classroom door stood open.
Inside, a woman sat at a tiny student desk.
Gray hoodie.
Dark hair cut to her jaw.
Thin face.
Dominic recognized her immediately from the video.
“Ava Bell.”
She stood.
“Close the door.”
He did.
Her eyes searched him.
“Nora?”
“Safe.”
“Where?”
“With my wife and daughter.”
Ava’s knees almost gave way.
She gripped the desk.
“She saw Lily?”
“Lily saw her first.”
Ava laughed once, then covered her mouth.
Tears came.
“I told her if everything went wrong, look for the Moretti house.”
Dominic frowned.
“You taught your daughter to come to me while telling her to fear me.”
“I taught her to find Lily.”
“Why?”
“Because children are more observant than men like you.”
Dominic could not argue.
Ava sat.
“Does she still have Moon?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
“Reece used my family to control you.”
Ava’s face hardened.
“He used everyone.”
“Why didn’t you go to police earlier?”
“I did.”
Dominic stopped.
“What?”
“Five years ago. Detective Thomas Rusk.”
Dominic knew the name.
Rusk had retired suddenly and moved to Arizona.
“He told Reece within six hours.”
That explained a lot.
Ava continued.
“I ran because I didn’t know who was clean.”
“And Nora?”
“I was pregnant when I disappeared. Reece didn’t know.”
Dominic stared.
“Nora is six.”
“Almost.”
“Then how did he find her?”
“My husband.”
“You were married?”
“Daniel Bell. He found me after Nora was born. We tried to leave Illinois.”
Ava’s expression broke.
“Reece found us first.”
Dominic’s voice lowered.
“What happened to Daniel?”
“He died in what police called a robbery.”
Silence filled the classroom.
Ava looked at him.
“Reece made sure I thought you ordered it.”
Dominic felt something ugly in his stomach.
“I didn’t.”
“I know now.”
“How?”
“Victor showed me records six months ago.”
Dominic thought of Victor’s secret operation.
“So you trusted him?”
“No.”
That answer came quickly.
“I used him.”
“Fair.”
Ava looked toward the windows.
“He wanted the evidence. I wanted Nora safe.”
“Why not bring her directly to my house?”
“Because if Reece had someone inside your security, I’d be delivering her to him.”
Dominic nodded.
That was rational.
Painfully rational.
“Is he inside my security?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then why the meeting?”
Ava reached beneath the desk and pulled out a metal cash box.
Inside were paper files and a small recorder.
“Because Reece is leaving.”
“Where?”
“Canada, maybe. Europe. He has money staged through relief contracts.”
“Flood relief?”
“Yes.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
Reece had turned disaster into another business opportunity.
“He plans to steal emergency funds?”
“Already started.”
A noise echoed in the hallway.
Dominic stood.
Ava went pale.
“That’s not your people?”
“No.”
The classroom door handle moved.
Dominic pushed Ava behind the teacher’s desk.
The door opened.
Victor stepped in.
Dominic stared.
“You have remarkable timing.”
Victor looked breathless.
“Nolan’s team spotted a second vehicle. Reece has men here.”
“You came inside?”
“Yes.”
“Against instructions?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Victor looked at Ava.
“Because I already failed her once.”
Ava’s expression held no forgiveness.
Good.
Dominic did not think forgiveness should be automatic.
A loud crack sounded outside.
Not a gunshot.
A transformer.
The building went dark.
Ava whispered, “He’s cutting power.”
Dominic looked toward the rear windows.
Three vehicles were approaching across the wet playground.
Victor said, “We need to move.”
Dominic took out his phone.
No signal.
Jammer.
Reece was not trying to hide anymore.
He was trying to erase what was left.
Dominic looked at Ava.
“Is there another exit?”
“Gymnasium.”
They moved through the hall.
At the corner, Ava stopped.
Children’s voices echoed faintly from outside.
Dominic frowned.
“What is that?”
They reached a window.
Beyond the playground, a yellow school bus sat half-submerged on the county road.
Flood evacuees.
Families.
Children.
Reece’s men had blocked the only dry route out.
Dominic understood the trap.
If he responded with violence, civilians could be caught in it.
If he surrendered the evidence, Reece walked.
Victor looked at him.
“What do we do?”
Five years earlier Dominic would have answered instantly.
Today he took one second longer.
“Exactly what Ava told us.”
He pointed toward the roof hatch.
“We call the police.”
They crossed the school gymnasium carefully. Water had leaked through one corner of the roof, leaving dark stains across a faded basketball court. Ava stopped beside a row of tiny wooden bleachers.
“I used to pick Nora up from daycare near here,” she whispered.
Dominic looked at her.
“Before Reece found you?”
“Yes. For six months we had a normal life.”
She smiled without humor.
“I worried about groceries. I complained about parking. I thought those were problems.”
Dominic understood the grief hidden inside ordinary memories.
“You can have boring problems again.”
Ava looked at him sharply.
“Don’t promise me things.”
He nodded.
“You’re right.”
After a moment he corrected himself.
May you like
“I hope you get boring problems again.”
That she accepted.
