“Well, no. I like to walk Nathan to his room. But I was running late. I saw Alice in the hall, she said that she was working in Nathan’s room, and I asked her if she could do me a big favor and walk Nathan down. I’ve already been late to work four times in the last three months. If I’m late again, I’m going to get another warning in my file. I cannot lose my job. It’s ridiculous, really. Like, what’s the big deal if I’m a few minutes late? I answer phones. Is the world going to end because somebody has to call back for their PVC pipe?”

A.L. rolled his eyes in Rena’s direction.

“Maybe,” she mouthed.

A.L. turned in his chair so that he couldn’t see her. “Do you recall, Ms. Opal, whether there were any other signatures on the form already?”

“No. I know that for sure because when I signed it, I remember thinking that there were no other losers who had to shuffle their child off at the door because they couldn’t get up in time.”

“Okay, then. We appreciate your time,” A.L. said.

“I really hope Emma is found. Every parent I’ve talked to is so nervous.”

“We’re doing our best,” A.L. said. “Goodbye.”

He looked back at Rena. “I’ll bet her boss is looking for a reason to fire her.”

“Perhaps. But she was pretty confident that she was the first signature.”

“At 7:52. Only way that could happen, if Elaine Broadstreet really did sign in around 7:15, is that somebody took that sheet and replaced it with a fresh one,” A.L. said.

Rena stared at him. “I don’t think Emma Whitman thought to do that before she made a run for the back door.”

“Yeah, me either.”

“If we only knew if Elaine really had signed the sheet.”

“We’ll go back at that if we need to,” A.L. said.

“Let’s call the other one,” Rena said. “It’s a lot later in the morning.”

A.L. pushed the paper her direction. “Your turn.”

Rena smiled and dialed. She rang several times and was expecting it to roll over to voice mail when it was answered.

“Hello.” The man on the other end sounded a little breathless.

“Devon Bridge?” she asked.

“Yes. Who is this?”

“This is Detective Morgan with the Baywood Police Department. I’m here with my partner, Detective McKittridge. We’d like to ask you a question about your drop-off process at Lakeside Learning Center this morning.”

“Sure. I’m in a cornfield right now, looking for Emma.”

“Thank you for volunteering to search. Your daughter, Gabrielle, is in Emma’s class, right?”

“Yeah. They’re friends. Hell of a thing. All I keep thinking is that this was a good day for us to be late. It could have been Gabby.”

“You were late?” Rena followed up.