“Yesterday afternoon.”
“What kind of car did he get into?”
The brown-haired boy frowned. “Why you asking all these questions? You a cop?”
“No, but the man kidnapped that little girl, and—”
“For real?” the blond asked.
“Yes, and that little girl is our daughter. We’d appreciate anything you can tell us.”
“Please,” Kendall said.
“It was a white sedan, maybe a Nissan,” the blond said. “Never saw the van or the car before, so I don’t think he lives here. Never seen him before yesterday.”
“What did the man look like?”
The boy shrugged. “Fat. That’s all I remember. Didn’t really pay attention.”
“Every little bit helps, so thanks. The police are going to want to talk to you. They need to know what you told me.”
“Oh, man, I don’t want to talk to the cops.”
Kendall put her hand on the boy’s arm. “Do you have a sister?”
“Yeah. Two of them. They’re always getting into my stuff.”
“What if someone took one of your sisters, and what if I saw who did it? Would you want me to tell the police what I saw?”
The boy kicked at the grass. “I guess.”
“So you’re good with me giving the detective assigned to the case your name?” Cooper asked.
“Yeah.”
He got the boy’s name, phone number and address. After they left, he called Detective Rossi and passed the information on.
“I was headed out there to knock on doors this afternoon,” Rossi said. “Guess you saved me some time.”
“There’s a camera under the eaves of the apartment right in front of where the van was parked. We’re going to see if it’s working.”
“Wait for me. I’m headed that way now.”
He didn’t want to wait, but it was probably better to have a police officer with them to view the video if there was one. No reason they couldn’t see if anyone was home. No one answered the doorbell. He called Rossi back, told him that he and Kendall were leaving and asked the detective to call him if there was a video. It would be great if the camera caught a tag number, but he’d be surprised if it did.
“What can we do now?” Kendall asked after they were back in the car.
“Let’s get some lunch and talk about that.”
“I’m not—”
“Hungry. I know, but I am.” He’d get her to eat something.
“I don’t know how you can think about food when our daughter’s missing.”
They were coming up to a grocery store, and he turned the car into the parking lot. After stopping and turning off the ignition, he shifted to face her. “One thing I learned growing up and in the military is that you eat when you can because you don’t know when you might get a chance to do it again. Food is fuel, and without fuel, you won’t have the energy to keep going. You need to stay strong for Livie, and that means taking care of yourself, too.”
“What do you mean you learned that growing up?”