Page 37 of The Advocate’s Ultimatum

Sabre glanced at him. “Exactly.”

She read further into the court transcripts, her notes, her own handwriting—not as the attorney she had been then but as the investigator she was now.

Sabre went still.

“What?” JP asked.

“I pushed it,” she said quietly. “I argued for placement decisions for August based on the assumption Hayes was responsible.” She swallowed slightly. “I helped solidify the idea he was guilty.”

JP studied her. “You worked with what you had.”

Sabre didn’t respond. She turned another page. Then stopped again.

JP leaned in. “What is it?”

“The timeline the day she disappeared.” Sabre traced the line with her finger. “After school… there’s a gap.”

“How big?”

“Twenty-five minutes that no one really accounted for.”

“Not even Hayes?”

Sabre shook her head. “He accounted for it later.”

JP looked back at the page. “So, for twenty-five minutes no one knew where she was or that she was missing. When the mother got home, she discovered her daughter was gone.”

“That should’ve mattered more.”

JP nodded. “Maybe it was accounted for, and it’s just not in the file. Did you have an investigator on the case?”

“Daniel Rourke. I used him on a few different cases.”

“What did he say about the time gap?”

“Honestly, I don’t remember.”

“We’ll figure it out,” JP said.

“Do you ever get the feeling,” she said quietly, “that you’re looking at something you thought you understood and realizing you didn’t?”

“More often than I’d like.”

Sabre looked down at the file again. CALDWELL, HANNAH. The name felt heavier now. She sighed.

“What are you thinking?”

“Someone wanted me to look at this case again. We just have to figure out who.” Sabre closed the file. “Hayes seems the most likely. Nelson is checking to see if he’s still in prison, but even from there he could be pulling the strings.”

JP stood. “We’ll dig into it tomorrow.”

They walked outside. JP opened the passenger door for Sabre. He lingered there for a moment. “You’re thinking about taking the case, aren’t you?”

Sabre didn’t answer right away. She looked out toward the street instead, watching nothing in particular. “She won’t talk to anyone else,” she said finally. “You saw that. And if she’s telling the truth, and if someone’s actually pulling strings here, then she’s not safe.”

“Neither are you.” JP closed the door, walked around, and got in the driver’s seat.

“It’s not the same. She’s a kid, JP.”