“My parents were boyfriend and girlfriend in high school. My mom got pregnant her junior year in high school. She gave away the baby for adoption. My parents went their own ways but seven years later, reconciled and married. I was born two years later. I was never told that there had been another child. I don’t believe they ever tried to find her. My parents were killed in a car accident almost four years ago. Two years ago, my sister, who had always been told she was adopted, had DNA testing done. My first cousin had also had DNA testing done. Long story short, ultimately my sister and I got connected, the story got sorted out, and we had some further testing to verify the results. But it was really unnecessary because it was like looking in a mirror. She’s a couple inches taller and there are a few other minute differences, but we look almost like twins.”

“What’s her name?”

“Catherine Wood. I let her in the back door of the day care before we opened on Wednesday. She was to hide in a stall in the hall bathroom.”

She’d been careless and stood in front of the mirror. It was Catherine Wood that Shana Federer had seen and spoken to.

“How did Catherine know when to go to the front door?” Rena asked.

“I can see the street from a window in my classroom,” Kara said. “When I saw Elaine Broadstreet coming, I texted Catherine so that she could be by the front door.”

“Not on your cell phone,” A.L. said. There had been no activity on her phone that Wednesday morning.

“A few months ago, I got a second phone. It’s in my sister’s name. Everybody knows that cops check phone records.”

She’d been ready for their questions about the phone calls between her and Steven Hanzel. She’d had time to prepare her perfectly reasonable answers to all their questions. There was little doubt that down the line they’d find a second phone for Steven Hanzel, too.

“You knew about Corrine Antler. You were college roommates with her aunt.”

“I was,” she said. “And I thought if Emma disappeared in a similar way, people might think that it was related.”

“We found out about Dover from a totally unrelated source,” Rena said.

“I know. But if you hadn’t, Steven or I would have made sure you knew about it. It was much better that we didn’t have to. We weren’t worried about Emma telling people that she’d gone with me. I had an alibi. She’s a child. People would think she was confused. Elaine Broadstreet signed Emma in but Catherine took the sheet with her. I had already placed a second one with Wednesday’s date underneath.”