I sat in a small office and watched the video from the afternoon before.

Students streamed out of the building in groups, laughing, shoving one another, checking their phones.

Then I spotted Daniel walking beside a girl.

At first I didn’t recognize her. But when she turned her head slightly, I saw her face clearly.

“Maya,” I murmured.

Maya had come by our house a few times before. Quiet girl. Polite, almost cautiously so.

In the footage, they exited the gate and headed toward the bus stop. They boarded a city bus together.

Then they disappeared from view.

“I need to talk to Maya,” I said to the principal. “Is that possible?”

“Maya isn’t enrolled here anymore.” She pointed at the screen. “She transferred suddenly. That was her last day.”

I drove straight to Maya’s house.

A man answered the door.