Leah’s face was so rigid she almost looked frightening. Rena wasn’t sure she was breathing. “My mother is sharp as a tack,” Leah said. “She’s not making mistakes at work.”

“We talked to Milo,” A.L. said. “He would know.”

“He doesn’t know shit. I know. I know because I’m the one who changed the spreadsheets. I did it.”

It was a what the fuck moment if there ever was one. A.L. looked at Rena. She was staring at Leah, like the woman might have two heads.

“You wanted Milo and others at work to think poorly of your mom?” he asked.

“That and I wanted to drive her a little bit crazy,” Leah said. “It felt good to know that she might be losing some sleep over it. God knows there were plenty of nights I couldn’t sleep when I was in foster care. But nobody cared then and nobody cares now.”

“Does Troy know what you’ve been doing?” Rena asked.

“No. Listen, I’m tired. I need to rest,” Leah said.

“That’s probably a good idea,” A.L. said.

They were at the door when Leah spoke again. “You think I’m a horrible daughter, don’t you?”

“We have absolutely no opinion about that,” A.L. said.

Rena waited until they’d pulled away from the curb. “I do sort of think she’s horrible. A video of her mother gambling at her lawyer’s office already is one thing. But tampering with her computer, altering work, that’s another whole level of maliciousness. She needs therapy.”

“I think there’s a lot of suppressed rage there. But at least now we know that Elaine isn’t slipping. Maybe she did sign the sheet.”

“And whoever took Emma also took the sheet,” Rena said. “It makes it harder to see this as a crime of opportunity. I think somebody planned to take Emma Whitman. The questions is, why her?”

Ten

Why Emma Whitman?

The question bounced around in his brain as he drove away from the Whitman house. “I don’t know,” he said finally. “I just don’t know.”

“All we can do is get back to basics. While I can’t see Leah making up any of that story since she looks bad, we should at least talk to Leah’s employer. Verify her work hours on Wednesday,” Rena said. “Also verify her presence at the casino.”

“Too late to do that tonight. I suppose we’re going to have to call it a day.” They’d been at it since early morning, after just a few hours of sleep. The two-hundred-mile drive there and back from Dover in the warm September sun hadn’t helped.

“You’re probably right. We’ll hit it hard tomorrow,” Rena said. “By then, Emma will have been missing forty-eight hours.”