“317 Brookline Drive. It’s a house that my sister rented a month ago. That’s who she’s with.”
He sent the address to the task force members. Felt his chest ease up a little.
“You don’t have a sister,” he said. “We checked.”
“My parents were boyfriend and girlfriend in high school. My mom got pregnant her junior year in high school. She gave away the baby for adoption. My parents went their own ways but seven years later, reconciled and married. I was born two years later. I was never told that there had been another child. I don’t believe they ever tried to find her. My parents were killed in a car accident almost four years ago. Two years ago, my sister, who had always been told she was adopted, had DNA testing done. My first cousin had also had DNA testing done. Long story short, ultimately my sister and I got connected, the story got sorted out, and we had some further testing to verify the results. But it was really unnecessary because it was like looking in a mirror. She’s a couple inches taller and there are a few other minute differences, but we look almost like twins.”
“What’s her name?”
“Catherine Wood. I let her in the back door of the day care before we opened on Wednesday. She was to hide in a stall in the hall bathroom.”
She’d been careless and stood in front of the mirror. It was Catherine Wood that Shana Federer had seen and spoken to.
“How did Catherine know when to go to the front door?” Rena asked.
“I can see the street from a window in my classroom,” Kara said. “When I saw Elaine Broadstreet coming, I texted Catherine so that she could be by the front door.”
“Not on your cell phone,” A.L. said. There had been no activity on her phone that Wednesday morning.
“A few months ago, I got a second phone. It’s in my sister’s name. Everybody knows that cops check phone records.”
She’d been ready for their questions about the phone calls between her and Steven Hanzel. She’d had time to prepare her perfectly reasonable answers to all their questions. There was little doubt that down the line they’d find a second phone for Steven Hanzel, too.
“You knew about Corrine Antler. You were college roommates with her aunt.”
“I was,” she said. “And I thought if Emma disappeared in a similar way, people might think that it was related.”
“We found out about Dover from a totally unrelated source,” Rena said.
“I know. But if you hadn’t, Steven or I would have made sure you knew about it. It was much better that we didn’t have to. We weren’t worried about Emma telling people that she’d gone with me. I had an alibi. She’s a child. People would think she was confused. Elaine Broadstreet signed Emma in but Catherine took the sheet with her. I had already placed a second one with Wednesday’s date underneath.”
It seemed as if Kara had anticipated most everything. But there was something that still needed an explanation. “Scent-trained dogs picked up Emma in Alice Quest’s yard. Is she involved?”
“No. Absolutely not. Catherine does not have much experience with children. Evidently Emma was happy enough to get in her car but quickly became restless. I had driven by Alice’s house with Catherine. She remembered that there was playground equipment. She promised Emma that she could play if she would stop crying. It was a bad decision. I don’t know her well enough to know if it was a lapse or whether her judgment is always a bit off.”
“Alice didn’t know about your sister?”
“No, but oddly enough, I know Alice’s sister. I met Melissa Wayne at the time of my roommate’s wedding. She did our hair and makeup. Years later, when I applied at Lakeside Learning Center, I was amazed at the resemblance. And when my own sister appeared and there was such a strong resemblance, I was tempted to tell Alice but I never did.”
“Your plan was dependent upon Alice not being in the office. How did you manage that?”
“Olivia Blow eats yogurt every afternoon. I added some stuff to her yogurt to make her sick. Nothing that would hurt her but enough to keep her in the bathroom for a long time. If she was ill, then Alice would be in a classroom.”
Kara Wiese was a piece of work. “What’s in this for Catherine?”
“Twenty thousand dollars. That’s the amount of bonus that Steven will get if he reaches his ten-year anniversary with the bank in December and has a certain amount of loans in his portfolio.”
He was pretty confident she had no idea how close Steven really was to losing his job. Steven wasn’t ever going to see that money. If A.L. had anything to do with it, he was going to be in jail.
“You did all this for a man that you’re not married to,” Rena said.
“I love him,” Kara said. “He was very concerned about losing his job. Had made some threats that scared me.”
“What kinds of threats?” Rena asked.
“Threats that he was going to harm himself. I couldn’t take that chance.”
“Troy Whitman has said that he never would have used the money in the fund-raising account to pay off his debts.”
Kara shrugged. “He would have. Steven would have convinced him.”
There was a quick knock on the door. It opened and Chief Faster motioned for A.L. and Rena to come into the hallway. “They’re at the house. Emma isn’t there. She was there. Dogs verified that. But both she and her kidnapper are gone.”
“Fuck,” A.L. said.
“Let’s have Kara call her sister,” Rena said.
“Do whatever you need to do. I want to find this kid,” Chief Faster said as he walked away.
A.L. and Rena walked back in. “317 Brookline Drive has been searched. Emma isn’t there. Neither is your sister. I need you to call her and find out where the hell they are.”
He could tell the news shook Kara. Her hands fumbled with her phone.
“Put it on Speaker,” he said. “And don’t warn her about the police.”
It rang three times. “Hey, sis,” a woman answered. “I was just about to text you.”
“Why?”
“I just dropped the kid off like we discussed. She should be walking out of the cornfield in ten minutes.”
“You were supposed to do this at noon.”
“I know, but she was getting cranky and crying and I just couldn’t stand it a minute longer. So she gets back a couple hours earlier. People will be happy. I’m heading home.”
A.L. motioned for her to end the call.
“Okay, Catherine. I’ll talk to you later.” Kara hung up before her sister could respond.