Elaine led them into her kitchen and they took a seat at the table while she started a pot of coffee. Once she’d sat down, A.L. wasn’t sure how to start. Leah and Elaine had some bad history. Were he and Rena going to open new wounds?

“Going to the casino this morning?” he asked, for lack of something to say.

Elaine smiled. “Interestingly enough, I’ve sort of lost my interest in gambling. Every time I think about going I think about dropping Emma off at the day care. Was I distracted because I was excited about the gambling? Was I more interested in that than the safety of my own grandchild? You know, Leah is taking medication just to get through the day and then again at night, to sleep. I’ve caused my daughter so much pain. When does it end?”

Her spirit truly seemed broken. “I spoke to your boss at work, Elaine. He said that there’s been some mistakes in your work lately. Mistakes that might have been costly to the company.”

“I’m aware of them. I don’t think Milo has to worry about that anymore.”

“Why do you say that?”

“No reason,” she said.

A.L. took a breath. “I think the reason you say that is that you know that it was Leah who modified some of the files on your computer.”

“None of that matters now,” Elaine said.

“How long have you known?” Rena asked.

“For several weeks.”

“That must have made you pretty angry?”

She shrugged. “Angry. Sad. It’s taken me some years to realize that Leah has more pain from her childhood than I ever imagined. I regret that because it is largely my doing. Our sins really do catch up with us.”

“‘Our sins really do catch up with us,’” Rena repeated as they drove away from Elaine’s house. “Once this is over, Elaine and Leah have a lot to talk about.”

A.L. pointed at the time on his dashboard clock. It was 7:14. “Five days,” he said. “Five long days.”

“Missing people have been found months, sometimes years, after the event. You can’t give up hope until...well, until you find a body,” Rena said.

“Tell that to the Antler family,” A.L. said. “Listen, we both better grab a few hours of sleep. I’m probably a danger on the road right now.”

“Okay,” Rena said. Her cell buzzed. She read the screen. “We’re not going home,” she said. “The tail on Kara Wiese has something. They were in place for less than fifteen minutes when Kara left her house this morning.”

“She went to work,” A.L. said. “She starts at 6:30.”

“Yeah, she ultimately went to work. But first she drove to a park on the south side of town.”

“To jog?” A.L. said.

“To meet a man. They want us to see the video.”