“No. I certainly don’t need anyone there knowing my business.” Leah stood up, her hands on her hips. “All of this happened before Emma. And if you don’t mind, I really don’t think it’s a good use of my time right now talking about it. My child is missing. Could we keep our focus on what’s really important?”

Leah and Elaine were playing some kind of weird cat-and-mouse mother-daughter game. God knew that Traci could go round and round with Jacqui sometimes. He tried never to get in the middle of their deal and he wasn’t too interested in getting sideways between Leah and Elaine, either. But there was one thing that needed to be hashed out. “You were in the room when your mom told us that she’d gone to work immediately after dropping off Emma. You knew that was a lie but you never said anything.”

“My mother is a lot of things but one thing I know is that she loves Emma. She would never do anything to hurt her.”

It was probably time to be blunt. “Your mom said that she handed Emma off to Kara Wiese. And then she signed in on the clipboard hanging by the office. Her signature isn’t on that paper,” he said. “So it looks as if she’s mistaken. Is it possible that she’s also mistaken about handing off Emma to Kara?”

“No. She would never, never, not make sure that Emma was safe before leaving. I can’t explain the sign-in sheet. Maybe she didn’t do that. It doesn’t matter.”

“I know it seems like a little detail but it’s actually a pretty big thing. If she didn’t sign it, then it’s possible that Emma wandered off. If she did, then that’s pretty much off the table because it means that somebody switched out that sheet before the next person signed in at almost nine o’clock.”

“If she says that she did it, I believe her,” Leah said.

Was that true or did Leah have another reason to know that Elaine wasn’t responsible for Emma’s disappearance? Because Leah was? Or maybe Troy? Maybe that was the cause of the permafrost between the two of them? It wouldn’t be the first time that one parent covered for another parent after something unfortunate had occurred. They did it because they felt as if they had to—but yet they hated the other person for putting them in that situation.

“Leah, we’ve talked to her boss. He tells us that your mom is making mistakes that she’s never made before. Potentially costly mistakes. And you mentioned that she repeats herself. All this makes us less sure than you that everything happened the way she says it did.”