Chapter 4 - The Unseen Saboteur
The next morning, the heat in the investigation intensified. News outlets were relentless, camping outside the Jefferson County School District headquarters. Public outcry against Ray Collins had reached a fever pitch, with local groups calling for his immediate arrest.
Ray, however, was not hiding. He walked directly into Detective Dana Brooks’ office at the precinct, ignoring the startled looks of the officers at the front desk.
"You're trespassing, Ray," Dana said, standing up from her desk. "And you're technically interfering with an active police investigation."
"I don't care," Ray said gruffly, throwing a printout of the photos he had taken beneath Bus 18 onto her desk. "Look at those. That’s a secondary heating bypass. Someone wired the bus to overheat independent of the dashboard switch. And they used a portable RF jammer to freeze the internal camera loop—that's why the system showed my card deleted the footage. My card was cloned."
Dana picked up the photographs, her sharp instincts kicking in. She examined the wiring work in the pictures. "This isn't an amateur job. This requires advanced knowledge of district vehicle schematics."
"And there's one more thing," Ray added, leaning over the desk. "The man who retrieved the jammer from the bus last night was wearing a dark navy suit and a gold signet ring with an engraved crest. I saw it under the streetlamp."
Dana’s mind immediately raced back to her meeting earlier that morning with District Superintendent Marcus Vance. Vance was notorious for his immaculate dark suits, and he wore a massive, gold university crest ring on his right hand.
"Ray," Dana said quietly, "go home. Stay inside. Don't speak to the press, and let me handle this."
"I'm not letting them pin this on me, Detective," Ray said, his voice trembling with a mixture of anger and age. "That boy almost died on my bus. I have a grandchild his age. Whoever did this is a monster."
Meanwhile, at the hospital, Andrew sat by Eli’s bedside. The boy was sitting up, eating a bowl of warm broth. The guard outside the door ensured no unauthorized visitors could enter.
"Eli," Andrew said gently, reaching out to softly touch the boy's small shoulder. "I want you to know something. I didn't know about you. If I had known... if I had known your mother was struggling, if I had known you existed, I would have been there every single day. I would have protected you."
Eli looked at Andrew, his dark blue eyes—so identical to Andrew’s own—filled with caution, but also a desperate longing for safety. "Mom said you were a good man," Eli murmured. "She said you were the only person who couldn't be bought by Mr. Vance."
Andrew froze. "Marcus Vance? Your mother knew Marcus Vance?"
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Eli nodded slowly. "Mom used to work as an accountant for the district central office before I was born. She told me she found out Mr. Vance was taking money meant for the children's school supplies. When she threatened to tell the police, he made her disappear. She had to hide me so he wouldn't use me against her."
The pieces of the puzzle were finally slamming together with horrifying clarity.
