“I told you I was home on leave, right? I seem to remember that I did.”
“Yes, but you didn’t say why.”
“I was home to bury my father.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I did think you seemed sad that night.”
“Don’t be sorry. If I appeared sad, it was because I was worried about my sister. This will sound harsh, but he’s not missed. Not by me or Emmie. He was mean, miserable and a drunk. But he was my father, and someone had to make arrangements for him. Emmie and I agreed to have him cremated. We didn’t want him buried somewhere that we would feel obligated to visit. I also had to meet with a Realtor that week to put his house up for sale.”
“Does your sister live here?”
“No, Emmie… Her name’s actually Emilia, but when she was little, she couldn’t say that, and she called herself Emmie. It stuck. She lives in Boston with her husband. She’s finally happy.”
She wondered what the story was with his sister and her finally being happy, but when he didn’t offer more, she didn’t ask.
“Tell me about you,” he said. “What do you do?”
“I’m a second-grade teacher, and I also have a monthly podcast that averages a thousand downloads.”
“Is that good?”
“It puts me in the top ten percent for podcasts.”
“Impressive. What is your podcast about?”
“Cold-case children’s kidnappings, but I don’t want to talk about that right now.” She’d have to explain why she did the podcasts, and she just wasn’t up to reliving that part of her life tonight.
“Okay, but I’d like to hear more about it when you’re ready. As for your full-time job, I can see you as a teacher, a good one.”
“I love teaching children.” He’d taken her mind off her missing daughter for a while, but she needed to be alone now. She leaned away from him. “It’s getting late. You can sleep in my bed.”
“The couch is fine. I don’t want to kick you out of your bed.”
“I’m sleeping in Livie’s bed. I know it’s silly, but I feel closer to her in her room. I’d sleep there even if you weren’t here.” Or not sleeping at all.
“Okay, then.”
After getting him settled, she went to Livie’s room, where she curled up with her daughter’s stuffed animals and cried herself to sleep.
“Are you sure you want to watch this?” Detective Rossi said the next morning when she and Cooper arrived at the police station.
“Yes.” It was going to be hard, but she had to. Had to know everything about what had happened to Livie.
“Come with me, then.”
As they followed him, Cooper put his hand on her back, and his touch gave her the confidence that she could do this. The detective pulled up a second chair and had her and Cooper sit at his desk in front of his monitor. She sucked in a breath as Detective Rossi clicked Play to show them the video.
Cooper reached for her hand as the video began to play, and again, his touch gave her the strength to watch. At seeing Amanda and Livie pushing the cart to the car, she wanted to yell at them to go back in the store.
This was the first time Cooper was seeing his daughter on film, and Kendall glanced at him. His eyes were glued to the monitor, and there was a small smile on his face as he watched Livie chattering away while Amanda loaded the groceries.
A white van was parked next to Amanda’s car, and even knowing what was going to happen, Kendall gasped when a man got out of the van and then came around the other side and eased the sliding door open. Amanda had her back to him as she helped Livie into her car seat. The man glanced around, then he hit Amanda on the back of the head with his balled-up fist. As she began to fall to the ground, he pushed her onto the floor of the car.
Confused and scared, Livie started crying. The man moved swiftly, grabbing Livie and shoving her into the van. He shut the back door of Amanda’s car, then jumped into the van, sliding the door closed behind him.
As she watched the van speed away, Kendall burst into tears.
“I told you she didn’t need to see this,” Detective Rossi said.