On the second visit, he had heard a woman arguing with Vale.
Simon hadn't seen Elena's face clearly, but he had recognized her voice from a recording Rusk had played in the vehicle.
"Did you know why she was being held?" Dana asked.
Simon hesitated.
"They wanted the original records."
"The flash drive?"
"I think so. Vale believed Elena had kept another copy. He thought she knew where it was."
"Did she?"
"I don't know. But she told them they were too late."
Dana wrote that down.
"What happened afterward?"
"Rusk said they were moving her east. Somewhere farther away from the highway."
"Do you know where?"
Simon shook his head.
"I heard them mention a place called Dry Creek. I don't know whether that's a road, a town, or a property."
Dana studied the map.
"There's a Dry Creek access road east of Kingman."
Simon nodded.
"That may be it."
She asked him to mark the route he had taken to the treatment facility. He drew it slowly, identifying turns and landmarks. His hand trembled, but the route matched a service road already under investigation.
Dana stood.
"We need to verify the location and secure the perimeter. Mr. Avery, remain here. You will not leave the building until an investigator speaks with you again."
Simon looked toward the door.
"Will you find her?"
Dana paused.
"We're going to try."
He nodded, accepting the same uncertain truth I had given June.
As Dana left the room, I approached her in the hallway.
"Do you believe him?"
"I believe we have reason to investigate his information immediately. His statement contains details that match the evidence recovered from the warehouse, but we need corroboration before we treat every part of it as fact."
"Could he be setting us up?"
"Yes."
I looked through the window at Simon.
He seemed exhausted, as though telling the truth had cost him the last piece of a life he'd been trying to preserve.
"What's your instinct?"
Dana considered that.
"My instinct is that he knows more than he's told us, and that he's afraid of the people he's naming. We'll protect him while we verify what he says."
She contacted the operations commander and relayed the new information. Investigators began checking the water-treatment facility's ownership, service contracts, and access records.
A team confirmed that Mesa Ridge had maintained the grounds for several years. Another team found that a vehicle matching Simon's description had entered the property the previous afternoon.
The evidence was no longer a collection of disconnected clues.
It was a route.
A route to Elena.
Dana returned to the conference room and called Simon back in.
"Mr. Avery, I need you to help us identify the precise building. You won't be sent onto the property, and you won't be required to confront anyone. You can review photographs and maps from here."
Simon nodded.
As the investigators prepared the materials, I stepped into the hallway and called the community center.
Rachel answered.
"She's asking for you again," she said. "She's been drawing all morning."
"How is she doing?"
"Better. She's eaten, slept, and played a little. But she knows something is happening, and she's worried that everyone will leave without telling her."
I looked toward the conference room.
"Put her on the phone, please."
A moment later, June's voice came through.
"Jack?"
"I'm here."
"Did you find Mommy?"
"We have new information. Someone has told us where she might be."
The silence on the other end was painful.
"Does that mean she's alive?"
I closed my eyes.
"We don't know for sure yet, sweetheart. But we have reason to believe she may be."
June breathed into the phone.
Then she asked, "Can I tell you something about Mommy?"
"Of course."
"When I was little, she used to say that being brave didn't mean you weren't scared. She said it meant you did the right thing even when you were scared."
I swallowed.
"She sounds like a very wise woman."
"She is."
June's voice grew smaller.
"Can you tell her I was brave?"
I stared at the wall.
"Yes," I said. "When we find her, I'll tell her."
June was quiet for several seconds.
Then she said, "Okay."
When the call ended, I stayed in the hallway.
The unexpected ally hadn't been a hero, a lawman, or someone with a powerful title. He was a frightened driver who had spent too long telling himself that he was only doing his job.
He had made mistakes.
But now he was trying to correct them.
Perhaps that was what courage looked like most of the time. Not a man who had never been afraid, but a man who finally decided he couldn't live with his silence.
Dana stepped out of the conference room.
"The water-treatment property has been identified," she said. "We're getting the necessary authorization, and the team is preparing to move."
"Is Simon's information consistent with the records?"
"So far."
She looked at the hallway clock.
"If Elena is there, we're going to bring her out. But we need to be careful. Whoever moved her knows we're getting closer."
I nodded.
We were running out of time.
But for the first time since June had tugged at my vest in the diner, we had something more than hope.
We had a witness.
We had a location.
And we had a road that might finally lead us to the woman who had risked everything to protect her daughter.
The water-treatment facility stood twelve miles east of Kingman, hidden behind a low ridge and a row of industrial storage tanks.
It had once served the surrounding communities, but a newer plant had replaced it years earlier. The buildings remained connected to electricity, and a security company performed occasional inspections to prevent vandalism. According to the records, the site was otherwise unused.
According to Simon Avery, a woman was being held there against her will.
The state team assembled before sunset.
Dana stood beside the lead vehicle while the operations commander reviewed the plan. Officers would approach the facility from the west and south, secure the access roads, and establish a perimeter before entering. Medical personnel waited nearby, ready to treat anyone who needed assistance.
I stood with Cole and Ben beside our support truck.
We had been asked to help identify the roads and remain available if a vehicle needed to be moved. We were not part of the entry team, and Dana had been explicit that we weren't to cross the perimeter without authorization.
I had no objection.
For all my anger, I knew that charging into the wrong room could get an innocent person killed.
The sun was low when the convoy moved.
We followed the service road Simon had drawn on the map. It crossed a dry wash, curved around a stand of mesquite, and climbed toward a gravel track that led behind the main treatment building.
As we approached the ridge, Dana asked everyone to stop.
The lead officer scanned the property through binoculars.