Page 48 of Little Child Gone

Rebecca slipped out of the room and leaned against the wall by the kitchen. She couldn’t see her mother or Karl sitting at the table, but Stephanie paced the kitchen like an angry cat.

“Did you even run a background check?” Stephanie demanded. “Does she speak English?”

The disdain in Stephanie’s voice brought Rebecca out of the shadow. “Excuse me? She speaks Spanish, English and French. How many languages do you speak?”

Stephanie stopped pacing and glared up at Rebecca, who still stood on the top stair leading down into the kitchen. “What did you say to me, child?”

“I’m eighteen,” Rebecca snapped back.

“Then you should get a job and stop sponging off my elderly father.”

“We aren’t sponging,” Rebecca answered. “We’re taking care of him and this house because you won’t. All you care about is getting his money.”

Stephanie was fast, but she hadn’t spent the last few years ducking fists. Rebecca blocked the smack and caught Stephanie by the wrist. The woman stared in shock before yanking her hand away. “How dare you speak to me that way!”

“How dare you speak to my mother that way,” Rebecca countered. “You don’t know anything about us, I promise you.”

Stephanie’s painted red lips curled into a cruel smile. “I don’t need to. I know moochers when I see them.”

“That’s enough.” Mr. Karl finally spoke. He used his cane to push himself to his feet and then pointed the cane at Stephanie. “Leave now before I say something I will regret.”

“Dad—” Stephanie started.

“No.” Mr. Karl waggled the cane. “I’m done trying to keep the peace. I don’t know where your mother and I went wrong, but this isn’t the daughter we raised.”

Stephanie’s face turned red. “You didn’t raise me, you lazy shit. You passed that off to Mom and the nanny.”

“Get out.” Mr. Karl’s entire frame trembled. “Don’t you dare set foot in this house again.”

FIFTEEN

Nikki took a few moments to clear her head before going into Menards. Why had Christy lied to them? Nikki’s gut told her that Christy hadn’t done anything to her son, but this certainly wasn’t going to help her case.

Inside Menards, she asked for Mr. Livingston, the afternoon shift manager that had hired Taylor. After a few minutes, Livingston arrived at the customer service counter, out of breath. He was shorter than Nikki’s 5’7” and balding, his cheeks pink from exertion. “My apologies, Agent. I had trouble getting off the phone with a customer.”

“No problem,” Nikki said. “Is there somewhere we can talk privately?”

“Follow me to the manager’s office.” Livingston led her past the customer service counter, through a narrow corridor to a large but cluttered office. “We all share this room, so I apologize for the mess.”

Nikki took the seat across from the desk while Livingston sat behind it. He sank against the back of the chair and sighed. “My shift starts at ten a.m. By the time I got in, the sheriff’s deputies had already received all the security videos.” He shook his head. “At first, I thought the entire thing was ridiculous. I didn’t realize he wasn’t at home the entire time.”

“I’m curious why you or another manager didn’t call his parents when Taylor didn’t show up for work?” Nikki asked.

Livingston’s dark eyebrows knitted together. “I did. I spoke to a woman yesterday evening who said Taylor was sick. She called herself his mother.”

Yet another lie Christy had told. “What’s the number you have for Christy Hall?”

Livingston unlocked his phone and scrolled through his contacts. “Since we all share this office, I keep my employee contacts in my phone. Here it is.”

Nikki scribbled the numbers he rattled off into her notes. That wasn’t the same number Christy had given them for her contact information. Could it be a burner phone? Maybe Taylor had actually just gone to a friend’s to lie low for whatever reason. Neena and Amelia had both seemed truthful about not having heard from Taylor, so who had pretended to be Christy?

Or had Christy just flat-out lied about all of it?

“Since Taylor is a minor, I know the hiring process is a little different. Have you met both his parents?”

“Just his dad. He’s the one who brought him for the interview. Nice guy. Didn’t hover, went and shopped during the interview.”

“Taylor’s last actual work day was last week, then,” Nikki confirmed. “Did he seem any different that day? Worried? Nervous?”

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