She stood. And ten minutes later, they were on the road. A.L. was driving.

“Let’s try Perry and LuAnn Whitman now,” he said. “Do you have their numbers?”

“Yeah,” Rena said, flipping pages in her notebook. “Which cell do you think I should try first?”

“Try LuAnn. I think women are better about answering their phones.”

“Are you slamming women?”

He lowered his chin and gave her a stare. “I was complimenting women, the whole damn group of you. For your information, there are many things that I think women do much better than men.”

“Damn straight,” she muttered. She dialed and pushed Send. It was answered on the second ring.

“Hello.”

“Is this LuAnn Whitman?”

“Yes.”

“This is Detective Morgan of the Baywood Police Department.”

The quick intake of breath was audible. LuAnn was steeling herself for bad news.

“I am not calling with news about Emma. But rather, I have just a few questions for you and your husband, if he’s available, that might help us as we continue to investigate.”

“For a minute I was sure...” Her voice trailed off.

Rena understood. The woman didn’t want to put what she’d been sure of into words. Too ugly. Too harsh. “My partner, Detective McKittridge, is also on the line. I’m going to put you on speaker phone.”

“My husband is right here. I’ll do the same,” she said.

There was a slight pause and then a man said, “Hello, this is Perry Whitman.”

“Detectives Morgan and McKittridge here, Mr. Whitman,” Rena said. “Thank you both for being available to talk to us. May we call you LuAnn and Perry?”

“Of course,” LuAnn said.

“First of all, let me say that we’re both terribly sorry that this has happened to your family and we’re doing everything we can to find Emma,” Rena said.

There was no response. Hard to know if Troy and or Leah had said anything about them to LuAnn and Perry.

“We understand that you live in Milwaukee. Have you lived there for some time?” Rena asked.

“Eighteen years. Troy was just starting high school when we moved in,” LuAnn said. “He turns thirty-two next month.”

A.L. and Rena looked at each other. It was going to be a really bad birthday party if Emma’s chair was empty.

“Do you work in Milwaukee?” A.L. asked.

“I retired about three years ago,” Perry said. “I worked in logistics for a manufacturing company here in Milwaukee.”

“I’m working part-time at Brookfield Square mall. At Pagany Chocolates. Gets me out of the house,” LuAnn said.

“Can you tell us about your day on Wednesday?” Rena asked.

“Well, we got a call from Troy sometime after 6:00 that evening,” Perry said.

“Let’s start from the beginning of the day,” Rena said, trying to redirect them.