"Why isn't he in jail?"
"He pleaded it down to reckless endangerment and paid the fine."
Will sped up, passing a truck. "That's a slap on the wrist. Why didn't he go to trial?"
"He met her in a bar. He claimed he took that as proof that she was twenty-one. The prosecutor was scared the jury would equate her sneaking into the bar with asking for trouble."
Will slammed on his brakes, nearly rear-ending a car that was stopped for another red light. "She deserves to be raped for having a fake ID?"
"The parents didn't pursue it. They didn't want their daughter raped again by the court system and the media."
Will could understand their fear. Fewer and fewer rape cases were making it to trial for this very reason. The light changed and he pressed the gas pedal to the floor. "Why was his DNA in the system?"
"It was processed through the rape kit when he was arrested."
"We need to get a copy of his fingerprints to Gordon Chew to match them against the thumbprint on the letter."
"We can't do that."
"Why not?"
"Part of his deal with the district attorney was that his record be expunged if he kept his nose clean for a year."
"But his DNA was still in the sex-offender database."
She mumbled a curse. "That's our fuckup. He should have never ended up in there. He's not a convicted sex offender. Legally, we have no right to use Evan Bernard's DNA or his fingerprints as evidence."
"But if we get a match—"
"Then a judge will throw it out before we even make it to trial."
Will felt the bottom drop out of his case. Unless the teacher was feeling particularly generous—or stupid—they could not get a sample of Evan Bernard's DNA without a court order. A judge would not sign off on the order without probable cause that Bernard had committed a crime. Illegally obtained DNA was not probable cause.
Will stated the obvious. "If we can't use the DNA, we can't link him to Kayla Alexander." He saw the possibilities fall like dominoes. No Kayla, no crime scene. No probable cause, no arrest.
No hope for Emma Campano.
"Faith's waiting outside Bernard's apartment right now. His unit is on the first floor. All the blinds are open. She can see straight into the rooms. There's a garage, but the car is gone. Without the DNA, we can't do anything. She needs legal cause to go inside. I need you to link Bernard to one of these crimes, Will. Get me into that apartment."
Will jerked the steering wheel, swerving the car into the school's parking lot. It felt like a lifetime since he'd been here, though only a day had passed. He thought of Emma Campano again, how a day could be an eternity for her, every second the difference between life and death. Bernard would know that they would come to Emma's school. He would know that they would eventually find out about the arrest, just as he would know that the apartment was the first place they would look. He had to be keeping her somewhere remote—somewhere no one would hear Emma scream.
Two cruisers were parked on the street, away from the school's security cameras. Will jogged toward the front door, directing one team to go around the back of the building and the other to wait at the front. The rent-a-cops on the front steps seemed confused for a moment, but they knew better than to interfere.
Will glanced across the street. The photographers were still there. CNN was doing a live news feed, the reporter's back to the school as she gave absolutely no new information on the case. She would have some information soon enough. This would probably be the scoop of her career.
Will told the security guard, "Get some more of your men around here. Keep the press off school property."
"Yes, sir," the man replied, taking his walkie-talkie out of his pocket.
Will took the steps up to the main building two at a time. He had already debated with Amanda about how to approach this. Emma Campano was in danger, but Evan Bernard could not hurt her while he was at school. Surprise was the only element they had in their favor. The fact that the ransom call was supposed to be made within the next half hour had sealed the deal. If they could catch him on the phone, that would be all the proof they would need.
Will reached out to press the intercom button, but he was already buzzed in. Olivia McFaden waited for him on the other side of the door.
She didn't mince words. "There are two officers with guns in front of my school."
"There are two more in the back," Will informed her, ushering her down the hallway by her arm. He led her into the same conference room they had used the day before. "I'm going to tell you some things and I need you to remain calm."
She jerked her arm away. "I run a high school, Mr. Trent. There's not much you can say that would shock me."
Will did not feel the need to go into the fact that they had found Bernard's sperm inside one of his dead students. Instead, he told the woman, "We have reason to believe that Evan Bernard was having a sexual affair with Kayla Alexander."
Apparently, she could be shocked. She sunk into one of the chairs. "My God." She stood up just as quickly, her mind leaping to the next conclusion. Kayla had been murdered, but Emma was still missing. "He's got students—" She was heading toward the door, but Will stopped her.
"Is there a camera in his room?"
She was still trying to absorb the news, but McFaden snapped out of her surprise quickly enough. "This way," she said, leading him back into the hallway and to the main office. "Colleen," she told the woman behind the desk. "Pull up Mr. Bernard's classroom."
The woman turned to the bank of monitors and tapped some keys. There were six screens in all, each partitioned into smaller images from various cameras around the school. They were all in color, all showing crisp, clear images. Colleen pressed another key and Evan Bernard's classroom filled the middle screen.
There he was in his rumpled jacket and patchy beard, walking up and down the rows of desks, surrounded by teenagers. The class was a small one, maybe a dozen kids in all. They were mostly young girls, their knees clenched together under their desks, pens scribbling nimbly as they recorded Mr. Bernard's every word. No one had their heads down on their desks. They seemed enraptured. Had the fifteen-year-old whom Evan Bernard met in Savannah looked at him the same way? Maybe she did until he raped her.
Will asked, "Is there audio?"
Colleen tapped another key. Sound came out of the speakers, Evan Bernard discussing the importance of The Awakening in American literature.
Will asked, "When is his planning period?"
The principal provided, "Right after lunch, so he gets about an hour and a half between classes."
"Can you give me an exact time frame?"
"Class ends at eleven forty-five. Evan wouldn't have to be back until one-thirty."
Plenty of time, Will thought. Adam's car was parked in the garage at eleven-fifteen. Paul Campano had made the 9-1-1 call at twelve-thirty.
Will asked the secretary, "Do you archive footage?"
"We have everything from every school year since we started recording in 1998," Colleen told him. "What do you need?"
"Two days ago," Will said. "From eleven forty-five until one-thirty."