“Not once kids arrive. I could never leave them alone.” She said it fast, decisively. Almost too much so, thought A.L. “Let’s take another look at the sign-in sheet. Now, you said that you would not have been able to leave the room after children started to arrive. The sign-in sheet in your room indicates that the first child arrived at 6:42 a.m.” He pointed to the first line.

“Yes. Landon is always my first kid.”

“And between 6:42 and 7:30, six more children arrived.”

Kara nodded.

“Do you specifically recall being in the room when each of these children arrived?” A.L. asked.

“Yes,” Kara said. “Has someone said that I wasn’t?”

“No,” A.L. said. “We’re just trying to get a full understanding. Do you recall if Claire Potter was in the room when any of those six children arrived?”

“I don’t think so. Maybe for the last one. I don’t know.”

Now she was sounding frustrated. “Okay, no problem,” he said. “Kara, this morning, did you at any time, before or after Claire’s arrival, walk to the front of the building and talk briefly to Emma’s grandmother, Elaine Broadstreet? Did she hand off Emma to you?”

Something flickered in her dark eyes. More frustration? Anger? “I figured that’s what she was saying, based on Alice’s questions. But that never happened. I never saw her or Emma.”

Whatever emotions were reeling through her, her voice was steady. Confident.

“What kind of relationship do you have with Elaine Broadstreet?”

“I don’t really know her. I have responsibility for a bunch of kids. I don’t have time to chat with a lot of people.”

“What were you doing tonight when Alice Quest contacted you?”

“Getting ready to go to the gym. That’s where I go most days of the week after work.”

“Anybody else at your house right now?”

Kara shook her head. “My husband works twelve-hour days, 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the hospital. He’s a nurse in the Emergency Department.”

“He should be getting home soon, then?”

She shook her head. “He’s lucky to get out by 8:00 once he finishes charting. Then there’s a group of them that go out after work and toss back a few beers. It’s a pretty stressful job. He doesn’t generally get home until 10:00 or 11:00.”

A.L. had seen the inside of more than a few emergency rooms when he’d been a young cop. Lots of interesting characters ended up there. “What’s your husband’s name?”

“Sam. Sam Wiese.”

“Do you have any children?” A.L. asked.

“No. We’ve only been married for two years,” Kara added, maybe a little defensively.