Page 64 of Little Child Gone

“But Jared was at the hospital,” Miller said. “We confirmed his shift started in the morning. He stayed because they were short-staffed in the ER.” He looked at Nikki.

“The charge nurse did confirm it before I left,” Nikki agreed. “She seemed a little miffed that I would dare question Doctor Hall, but he told her that I needed to know so we could cross him off the list.”

Miller drummed his fingers on his cluttered desk. “It’s not implausible. The guy hurting himself to frame her is pretty extreme, but it’s happened before. Problem is, there’s no evidence, right? And Christy herself admitted to the domestic violence.”

“That’s what I was thinking,” Liam said. “We know she lied about when she came home, too.”

“In front of Jared,” Nikki reminded him. “Maybe she didn’t want him to know she’d driven around searching for Taylor.”

“Or she didn’t want Jared to know she’d had an issue with Taylor, and she overreacted,” Miller said. “She could have panicked.”

“And done what?” Now that she’d spoken to Kelsey, a lot of things began to add up. “She seems so meek. If she is a battered woman and she’s allowed her son to think Jared is the good guy, is she really going to snap?” She looked at Miller. “Any luck on finding the car Taylor got into at Culver’s on CCTV?”

“Adrian only saw the make and model,” Miller reminded her. “Chevy Malibu is one of the most popular cars on the market. He said it was a dark-ish color. We watched the CCTV at the nearest intersection and saw two at a light that we’ve confirmed weren’t the car that picked Taylor up. But two of the same model cars at the intersection doesn’t bode well for us finding him that way.”

“No one saw him after that,” Liam said. “For all we know, this isn’t related to the abuse allegations at all. He could have met someone online and got into trouble.”

“They only have Instagram, according to Jared,” Miller said. “Taylor didn’t post much. We can’t track his phone because it’s an older model and shut off.”

“School computers, friends’ computers,” Liam answered. “The library. It’s pretty easy for kids to get around those kind of rules.”

Nikki thought back to Logan’s twitch when she asked about additional social media for Taylor. “I’ll talk to Logan again. I felt like he knew a little more.”

“What about Taylor’s siblings?” Liam asked.

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “If that’s the rule in the house and he didn’t follow it, would he trust them not to rat him out? Even if they get along, siblings fight and use stuff like that against each other all the time. But if Logan can’t tell me, we’ll look at talking to them.” She gestured to Miller.

“I never noticed any signs of controlling issues other than how Jared spoke to Christy,” Miller said. “No locks on the cabinets or refrigerator. In every domestic case I’ve seen that involves complete control, stuff in the house is restricted.”

“Christy restricts it.” Nikki remembered something Neena had said. “She doesn’t let them get snacks out of the cupboard, they have to drink water or milk.” Her heartbeat accelerated the way it always did when her instincts were spot on. “He controls her completely, and she controls them. That way, he’s the good guy. It’s a lot easier not to get caught for abuse when the children don’t realize you’re behind it.” Nikki looked at her vibrating phone. Matt Kline had already called twice this morning. “I have to take this.”

She stepped into the hall. “Hi, Matt, sorry I haven’t called back.”

“I know you’re busy.” Excitement colored his deep voice. “But we just found birth certificates.”

TWENTY-THREE

Nikki met Matt in the lobby, her eyes drawn to the entrance. “Snow’s starting early, I see.”

“Sleet mixed in,” Matt said. “Which means I’ll probably be busy today.” He handed Nikki a large manila envelope wrapped in clingwrap. “The police finished their search and said I could go back into the house and start working, so we decided to start on the room next to the kitchen. It’s pretty empty, including the closet, just dirty. Luke was sweeping the closet and basically knocked out the side wall at the bottom. Vacuum barely touched the wood, too. Anyway, this envelope was hidden inside. I’m the only one who touched it. There are four birth certificates, but I didn’t take them out, so I don’t know any more than that.”

Nikki wanted to hug Matt for being so careful. As a firefighter for Stillwater, his prints were on file and would be easy to dismiss. “I’ll let you know what we figure out when I can.”

“I saw you guys were looking for a missing kid,” Matt said. “Obviously this isn’t priority, but I wanted to get them to you to protect the evidence.”

She thanked Matt again for his quick thinking and then headed back into the secured area to rejoin Miller and Liam. She fished a pair of latex gloves out of her bag and carefully took off the clingwrap.

“They were hidden behind a side wall in the closet.” Nikki explained how Luke had discovered the envelope. “Matt protected the evidence. He didn’t take the birth certificates out.” She carefully removed the yellowed documents and laid them out on the table. All four had been issued in Ohio.

Nikki tapped a gloved finger on the nearest document. “Bianca Carrero, born 1973 in Cleveland, Ohio.”

“This must be Ms. Smith’s real name,” Miller said.

“Most likely,” Nikki said.

She took out the next birth certificate. “Rebecca Lincoln. She would have been eighteen that summer.” The next certificate was Jason’s, who was three and a half years younger. His last name was also listed as Lincoln. “We might actually have a surname.”

“I’ve gone through the online Ohio public records,” Liam said. “There’s a marriage license for Bianca Carrero and Shane Lincoln dated May 30th, 1995.”

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