“We’re working on it,” he said. “I expect we’ll have something soon. In the meantime, I wanted to see if you’d heard back from your family. You were going to contact your brothers to see if anyone had talked to her recently or knew what she’s been up to?”

“I checked, and no one’s heard from her. But that’s really not unusual. Two of my brothers are in the military and one is on an oil rig in the Gulf. She doesn’t really keep up with them much since our mom died. Mostly, it’s me.”

She watched as Antonio jotted that down.

“Ms. Morris—”

“It’s Kate.”

“Kate.” He cleared his throat. “We went back to the location where Vanessa’s vehicle was found and talked to several residents nearby, as well as employees at the closest gas station.”

“The Exxon.”

He looked at her, surprised. “You’ve been out there?”

“Yesterday, while the girls were in school. I wanted to see the scene for myself.”

“Does Vanessa have any friends who live in that area, that you know of?”

She shook her head.

“Do you have any idea why she might have driven out there on Sunday?”

“I’ve been thinking about it ever since your call. I can’t think of any reason. All of Van’s friends live in town. The ones I know, at least.”

He jotted that down in his notepad, mainly to stall for time because he was getting to the tougher questions.

“Does your sister have any issues with substance abuse?” he asked.

“What, you mean drugs?”

“Drugs, alcohol, anything like that?”

“No.”

“What about her friends?”

Her brow furrowed. “I don’t think so. Why?”

“There’s been some methamphetamine activity out in that area. It’s an angle we’re looking into. Again, we’re trying to figure out why she might have been out there at night on the outskirts of town.”

“Well, it wasn’t for meth. Not Vanessa. I mean, I don’t know about her friends. But Vanessa isn’t into that. She’s really health conscious.”

Antonio wrote down her answer, even though in his experience, people’s families didn’t always know what sort of drugs they were into.

“What about the campground near the lake there?” he asked. “Do you know if she ever went there?”

“No idea.” She bit her lip. “Vanessa isn’t much of a camper, though. She hates bugs.”

She glanced down and looked like she might cry. Antonio flipped through his notes from their previous interview, trying to give her a moment.

“So, Kate—” He cleared his throat. “You said earlier that you’re an accountant?”

She dabbed her eyes. “A bookkeeper.” She took a deep breath. “Not a CPA. I haven’t passed the test.”

“Did Vanessa ever talk to you about her financial situation? Or maybe mention any money problems?”

“No.”

“She ever ask to borrow money?”