Page 47 of Little Child Gone

“Is there any particular reason you think Jared’s controlling?” Miller asked.

Renee hesitated, running her hand through her short hair. “I don’t want to make Christy look bad.”

“We’re not here to judge,” Nikki assured her. “We just need the truth.”

“At the final band competition in early November, I noticed Christy drinking. I didn’t say anything to anyone because it’s their business, but I watched them the next couple of hours. He just seemed… shitty to her.”

“She was drinking at the competition, Mom,” Logan said.

“And there’s a reason why she drinks,” Renee said. “We don’t know what that is, and we aren’t going to judge. I don’t think her husband should either, much less grip her arm the way he did.”

“So she wouldn’t fall down.”

Renee ignored her son. “The competition was at our stadium, so a lot of the parents volunteered for concessions and things like that. Jared and I worked concessions together in the morning. He made several comments about Christy not being able to work concessions because she stressed over counting money back and would get disoriented. He laughed when he said all of this, but I’ve only spoken to him a few times, and I didn’t like hearing him disparage his wife like that. That’s why I started paying more attention that day. I remember thinking I might drink too if I had to deal with him.”

“Doctor Hall is really cool,” Logan said. “Taylor says Christy has mood swings. You just don’t like the idea of answering to anyone.”

Renee glared at her son. “That’s not true. I answer to your father about your life all the time. He doesn’t talk to me like I need to be in a remedial classroom, though.”

“Logan, is there any chance Taylor could be hiding somewhere, maybe teaching his mom a lesson?”

“I don’t know,” Logan answered. “He talked about getting her back sometimes, but his life’s pretty good in general.”

“I think it’s safe to say that Taylor still has a grudge against his mom,” Miller said after they’d left.

“Agreed.” Nikki scanned her messages from Liam. “Still no sign of Taylor in Indianapolis. Liam is in contact with public transportation officials and the TSA. They have a BOLO with Taylor’s photo on it.”

“What about his old friends or a teacher he might trust?” Miller asked.

“Kendall’s going through the list. We aren’t coming up with anything so far,” Nikki said. “Adrian Lynch can prove he was at Culver’s when Taylor actually left school because of the receipt.”

“But we don’t know how long he was there,” Miller said. “I’ll see about getting CCTV from them, too.” He glanced at her. “I need to get K9s and searchers around the wildlife preserve near Logan’s. You want to split up?”

“I was thinking the same thing,” Nikki said. “I can go back to the Halls’ house and look at Taylor’s room, see if anything stands out. I’d also like to stop at Menards and talk to his manager, make sure we’re not missing anything.”

“We know he cut school early,” Miller said. “He headed east, so he could have been taking a longer route to Menards, through the soccer fields and into those woods. It’s been searched, but I’m going to have a K9 go through. Taylor could have been hanging out and ran into someone up to no good.”

“It does sound like the Halls shelter the kids somewhat,” Nikki said. “I guess it’s possible he was gullible. But that’s so rare.”

Miller called Reynolds as they neared the sheriff’s station and asked him about getting CCTV from Culver’s. “You’re kidding me. Yeah, we’re splitting up. Nikki’s heading over there.” He ended the call. “Guess what?”

“Someone lied to us?”

He snorted. “Am I that obvious?”

“I know how to read people,” she said. “But yes, that was pretty obvious. What’s up?”

“Christy Hall lied. Stillwater PD pulled all the closed-circuit video in the neighborhood, including the one at the intersection a few blocks from the Halls’ house. She came home ninety minutes later than she claimed.”

FOURTEEN

JULY, 2015

Rebecca laid the sleeping toddler into the pack-and-play in her mother’s bedroom, listening to the rising voices in the adjacent room.

“Dad, what is wrong with you?” Stephanie had barely even acknowledged her mother or Rebecca when she’d stormed into the house. She hadn’t figured out the entire situation yet, but Rebecca was pretty sure that Mr. Karl, as her mother called him, had hired them without consulting Stephanie. From the way she shouted, consulting Stephanie must be a requirement before doing anything in the Hendrickson house.

Mr. Karl’s response was too soft for Rebecca to hear. He seemed so gruff and quiet, and no-nonsense. How could he allow his daughter to yell at him like that? Didn’t she realize how lucky she was to still have her father even though he was in his eighties?

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