“Rosemary is a strange one. She doesn’t like to leave her house. But for some reason, she came to me more than five years ago for a haircut. I didn’t really want to do it. After all, she’s not the best advertisement for my work. But I felt sorry for her. She seemed to have a really lonely existence. Anyway, she continues to come.”

A.L. had asked if there was a connection between Alice and Rosemary Bracken. Through Melissa, there was. “Have you and Rosemary ever discussed Corrine Antler?”

“No. She’s only been a client for about five years. Long after Corrine went missing.”

“Did you know that Rosemary was once considered a person of interest in Corrine Antler’s disappearance?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Okay. Did you and Alice ever talk about the Antler disappearance?”

“I imagine we did.”

“But you don’t remember for sure?” Rena asked.

“Detective, it was ten years ago. No, I do not remember every conversation I had with my sister ten years ago.”

“You’ve never talked about it recently?”

“No. I... I don’t want to sound crass, but quite frankly I’d sort of forgotten about it. I’ve had my own shit going on. In the last ten years, I got married, got divorced, started a business and watched Candiss’s mother die a slow death from Alzheimer’s.”

“When’s the last time that you saw Alice?”

“Fourth of July. We had a picnic at my house.”

Fairly recently. Was that when Alice had remembered the Antler case? Had they talked about it there? “Who was at the picnic?” Rena asked.

“Me. Her. Candiss. A few friends that we’ve all known for years.”

“Their names?” Rena asked.

“Is this really necessary?” Melissa asked.

“I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t,” Rena said, pen in hand.

“This is just getting ridiculous,” Melissa said, shaking her head.

Rena said nothing.

“Maggie Simmons. Patrice Candle. Ben Wallace. Patrice and Ben live next door. Maggie is Patrice’s sister.”

“Do you have contact information on all of them?”

Melissa pulled it up on her phone and Rena copied it down. “Thank you,” Rena said. She got up and had her hand on the break room door when Melissa suddenly stood up.

“My sister loves those kids. Fuck. Loves them more than their parents do. That’s who you should be looking at. Emma’s parents. Alice has said stuff about them. Stuff that sure as hell isn’t going to get them nominated for parents of the year.”

“What stuff?” Rena asked.

Melissa stared at her. “Just pay attention to the parents, okay?” She brushed past Rena. “I have to get back to work. Show yourself out, Detective.”