(Derek)
After I left the coffee shop, I didn’t go straight back to the office. Instead, I pulled into a small gas station about two blocks down and parked off to the side where I could think for a few minutes without distraction. I opened my notebook and flipped back to the pages from our meeting. Every word Kendall said replayed clearly in my mind, and I wasn’t about to let anything slip through the cracks.
She was thorough. Smart, too. She had more awareness than most adults I’d worked with over the years. Still, the whole thing felt like trying to trace a shadow in a fog. Too many things weren’t lining up, and the more I looked at the timeline, the more questions formed.
The threats were something to be taken seriously. I know that the police were on this case, but Kendall's father w
