“Alice tells us you’ve had a great work record here,” A.L. said. “Never missed a day of work until today. But it appears as if you’re feeling better.”

“Better,” she said. “Not great. But I slept most of the day so that was helpful since I was up most of the night. When I heard the news about Emma I couldn’t not join the search efforts. We have to find that little girl.”

“Anybody else home at your house today?” A.L. asked.

She shook her head.

“Anybody else able to verify that you were at your home today?” A.L. phrased the question just a bit differently.

She stared at him. “Why would that be necessary?” Her voice had cooled. She was starting to get the picture.

Rena leaned forward. “Olivia, you have to admit that it is interesting that you’ve never missed a day. Suddenly, on the day that Emma Whitman goes missing, you’re sick.”

“It’s not that interesting. I actually got sick the day before. I ate my afternoon snack and within a half hour, I was sick. My stomach hurt.” She paused. “I had really bad diarrhea, if you must know. That continued well into the evening and wasn’t showing signs of improvement. That’s when I sent Alice the text. I wanted to give her as much notice as possible. When I woke up this morning, I knew I’d made the right decision. I was exhausted and no doubt dehydrated. Not to get too graphic.”

“We’d like to have an officer search your house and your vehicle. Would you agree to that?” Rena asked.

“Whatever. It won’t take long. I live in a one-bedroom, one-bath apartment and I drive a Prius.”

“Is this your address?” Rena asked, showing her what Alice had written down.

“Yes. Somebody can look at my car here. And then I can meet them at my apartment.”

A.L. stood up. “That’ll be fine. If you’ll wait outside the front door, I’ll have an officer take care of that.”

He and Rena walked Olivia to the door. She was pushing it open when she turned. “I get why you need to search my car and my house. I do. And I guess I’m glad that you’re being thorough. But just tell me one thing. Do you think that we’re going to find her? That she’s going to be okay?” Her voice broke.

“I don’t know,” A.L. said. It was the best he could do. “The weather is working in our favor. Not too cold at night.”

“That’s if she wandered off. Do you think that’s what happened?”

“Do you?” he countered.

She shrugged. “On the drive here, I went over it a hundred times in my head. Five-year-olds are pretty responsible and she would have known not to leave the day care.”