Joshua answers. “Tattoos are not allowed. Dad had a scar through his right eyebrow. It only shows up in the summer when he gets a tan outside working. I’ve never seen my mom naked, so I wouldn’t know.”

Sarah follows up. “Mom didn’t have any scars or anything. She was perfect.”

After gathering more details that would help identify the missing couple, I move on to the biggest question mark in my investigative mind.

“Let’s say they weren’t going to La Paloma,” I say. “Let’s say they were going somewhere else. Can you think of where it might be?”

Joshua answers first, his eyes fixed on mine. “That’s what they told us. Why would they lie?”

“Yeah,” Sarah added. “They would never lie. Our parents are all about the truth. It is the foundation of our faith. We don’t just believe in God’s existence and plan for us, Detective. We know it. Knowing is truth.”

I tell them what I know.

“La Paloma said they hadn’t registered to come. It’s a requirement.”

Joshua pipes up. “They are wrong. They’d planned it for weeks. Mom wouldn’t mess up on something like that.”

I catch the fear in his eyes.

“We double- and triple-checked, Joshua.”

He looks away from me, down at the table. “I don’t understand.”

“None of this makes sense,” Sarah says, this time holding her brother’s hand. “It has to be a mistake.”

“We’ll figure it out,” I tell them. The room feels warm, and I know that the two across from me are upset and confused. “I need to ask you about a few more things. Is that okay?”

Joshua nods. So does his sister.

“These might seem trivial to you, but they could also be important.”

“Okay,” Joshua says.

“Were your folks getting along?”

Sarah answers. “Yes. I mean, they disagreed about things, but they never really fought. Did they, Josh?”

“Maybe some little things now and then bugged them, but not much,” Joshua says.

“What kind of little things?”

“I don’t know. Mom wanted to spend more time with Dad.”

I wonder how that would be possible since they never went anywhere.

“What did he say?”

“That they would go on a trip to Mexico. The orphanage. It was going to be like a second honeymoon,” he says.

“They never really had a first one,” Sarah adds. “There wasn’t a lot of what most people would consider fun in either of their families. That’s why they moved to Washington. Trying to make a better life. A happier one.”

I press her. “Was it happy?”

This time Joshua answers. “I think so. I mean mostly. Maybe not as much after I graduated from high school.”

“What happened then?”

“I wanted to be like other kids. I didn’t want to wait until I was twenty-one to get married and start a life.”