Chapter 4 - The School Lanyard
Melissa Shaw worked at Fairmont Academy.
Noah’s school.
Assistant registrar.
That explained the lanyard hanging around her neck.
FAIRMONT ACADEMY.
Her photograph.
Staff badge.
Door-access card.
I knew her face.
Not well.
She had helped me once when Noah lost his lunch card.
Another time when I needed a copy of his vaccination record.
I had never spoken to her socially.
Now she was standing in my hallway beside a suitcase my husband had secretly packed.
Police separated us.
Daniel went downstairs.
Melissa remained in a guest room.
I went to the hospital with Noah and an officer.
Before leaving, I watched a detective place Melissa’s school lanyard into a temporary evidence bag after she consented to surrender it for documentation.
I remember thinking:
What does Noah’s school have to do with my bathroom door?
May you like
The answer took days.
And once I understood it, the broken door felt like the least sophisticated part of Daniel’s plan.
