“I remember looking at the clock on the dashboard as I pulled away from Leah’s house. It was 7:08.”

“Then what?”

“Then I drove here.”

“What route did you take?”

“Paradise to Main to Second Street to Oak Avenue.”

They would be able to verify that with street cameras. Rena ripped a sheet of paper out of her notebook and pulled a second pen from her bag. “Can you write down the make and model of your vehicle as well as your license plate number?”

Elaine sighed but she did it.

“What time did you arrive at the day care?” Rena asked.

“I don’t know. I didn’t look at the clock. But I’ve done that drive a hundred times. It takes ten minutes, give or take a minute or two either way.”

If that was right, she would have arrived as early as 7:16 or as late as 7:20. “Then what happened?” Rena asked.

“We got here and Emma got out of her car seat. She can unbuckle herself. We walked in. I saw her teacher near the front door and handed Emma off to her.”

“What teacher would that be?”

“Kara Wiese.”

“Did you talk to her?”

“I think I said good morning.”

“And what did she say?”

“Good morning. And then she said hello to Emma. Then I left.”

“Did you see her make any other contact with Emma?”

“Contact?” Elaine asked.

“Reach for her hand. Other conversation? Point her towards the classroom? Anything?”

Elaine closed her eyes. She was silent. Finally, she opened them. “No. I didn’t see anything like that. Because I wasn’t looking. I had turned and I was walking out the door. Because I knew that Emma’s teacher was there.”

“You and Kara Wiese had no other conversation than ‘Good morning’?” Rena asked.

“No.”

“Okay. You regularly drop Emma off at day care, right?”

“Several days a week.”

“And is this your normal drop-off process?”

Elaine Broadstreet shook her head. “No. I walk her to her classroom.”

“But not today. Why not? Were you running late?”

“No. Like I said, I didn’t spend any time at my daughter’s house. We were early. I didn’t walk her to her classroom because her teacher was at the front door. There was no need. What the heck happened here? How did they lose a child?”

“We’ll find her, Mom,” Leah said. “We...have to. That’s the only thing that can happen.”

Rena knew that wasn’t true. There were any number of bad alternatives to a child missing for over ten hours.

“Mrs. Broadstreet, was there anyone else in the lobby when you handed Emma off to Kara?” Rena asked.

“I... I don’t know. I don’t think so. I really wasn’t here very long.”

“But you don’t recall talking to anyone else? Greeting anyone else?”

“No.”

“Okay. Did you sign Emma in this morning, on the clipboard next to the office?”

“Yes.”