The Orphanage by the Lake

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of rape and pedophilia.

Hazel gets into the golf cart with Neil Paver. While he drives toward the lake, Hazel interviews him. Neil tells Hazel he is from Texas. He used to be in the Navy and was stationed in Saratoga Springs, New York. After he left the military, he stayed in the area and has been working as the security coordinator for Saint Agnes for 10 years. He says it was his idea to install the security cameras along the perimeter, although Dr. Mackenzie had been reluctant to do so. After Mia went missing, there was no sign of her on the cameras, so they assumed she had left via the lake. Afterward, they installed a camera at the lake.

They arrive at the lake and Hazel walks along the shore. She notices markings in the ground that look like they came from a boat. Neil says the school doesn’t have a boat, but that he has one he takes out sometimes on the lake. He isn’t sure if the markings came from his boat. Neil thinks it is unlikely Mia swam out into the lake and then came up on the shore some distance away, because it is rough terrain along the shore.