Chapter 34

April Carlson's family home was the opposite of Mira Summers's in every way. Ten times the size of Carol Summers's house, it towered over a generous four-acre lot of meticulously cut grass. Carefully trimmed bushes lined the long driveway and the front walk. They had called ahead and April's mother, Teresa Carlson, waited at the door, pushing it open to let them in before they could knock or ring the doorbell. Josie was struck at once by the resemblance between her and April—the April Josie had seen in photos, not the way she'd looked in death. Teresa's long hair was silver, but her bright eyes, high cheekbones, and wide mouth were identical to her daughter's, except for the tear stains that ran down her cheeks. She wore a fitted cashmere sweater and black slacks and carried herself regally as she waved them through the huge foyer into the back of the house.

The kitchen was twice the size of Carol Summers's entire house, with marble countertops and an island where Teresa motioned for them to sit. Stacks of flyers covered its surface, Officer Shane Foster's face staring at them again. Teresa quickly began moving them to the dinner table. "Sorry," she said. "I'm helping the Fosters get the word out. The three-year anniversary of Shane's disappearance is just around the corner. After what we went through with April, I felt like if I could help another family get through this, then it would give me some purpose." She paused to stare at Shane Foster's photo. "April went on a couple of dates with him, you know. Right before he disappeared."

"Heather told us," Josie said as she and Gretchen each sat on a stool. She was glad they wouldn't have to contend with smoke. She'd taken two more ibuprofen in the car on the way over but her throat—and nearly every other part of her body—still hurt. At least neither Carol nor Teresa had commented on the lingering rasp in her voice.

Teresa transferred the last of the flyers from the island to the table with a sigh. "April was so crushed. She took it really hard. I think she really liked him."

In the corner of the room a small table held a large, framed photo of April—the same one that had been used on her missing persons poster and on the news. It was surrounded by unlit candles. Teresa drifted toward it as if it was pulling her. She ran a finger over her daughter's face. The longing in the gesture made Josie's heart clench.

Gretchen said, "It's a beautiful photo of her."

Without looking away, Teresa said, "It's my favorite. It was taken on her thirty-fifth birthday. My mother gave her that bracelet—it had been hers. April was so moved. She wore it all the time until she lost it. She found it, thank God, but wouldn't wear it after that. It was too precious. Just like her."

The moment stretched on. Josie didn't feel as though they should interrupt Teresa's memories of April so they waited. Finally, Teresa used the heels of her hands to wipe at her cheeks. She turned back to them, managing a watery smile. "Anyway, can I get you officers anything? Water? Espresso? Something to eat? My husband brought home some goodies from our local bakery yesterday."

"No, thank you, Mrs. Carlson," said Gretchen. "We don't want to take up any more of your time than absolutely necessary."

Teresa hugged herself. "When the county coroner showed up here to tell us…" She trailed off. More tears ran down her cheeks. A tissue appeared from the sleeve of her sweater, and she dabbed at them. "Sorry. It's just been nonstop waterworks ever since we found out. When April wasn't located after two weeks of searching, I knew that things weren't going to end well but of course, as a mother, you hold out hope. Heather—Detective Loughlin—has been wonderful. She stopped by after the death notification to talk us through everything she knows about the case. Now you've got a suspect. When you called the other night to tell me, and then I saw the photo of him, I felt…I don't know. I guess I expected to recognize him or something. It seems so strange to me that he targeted April randomly, but that's just me wanting her disappearance and death to make some kind of sense. It's like if he knew her and had some reason for doing what he did—however sick—then maybe it won't be so painful, but then I think if I had recognized him, and it wasn't random, then I would be beating myself up for not seeing any red flags that could have saved her. My therapist says that it doesn't matter whether it was random or not. It doesn't change the outcome."

She heaved a sigh and wiped at her face again. "I'm sorry. You didn't need to know all that."

Her grief was so raw and palpable that it broke Josie's heart, plunging her right back into that painful time in her own life after the deaths of people closest to her. It was months of performing endless mental gymnastics as a way to make sense of something senseless and to alleviate pain that was not meant to be alleviated. In her own time, Teresa Carlson would come to live with the fact that none of those emotional maneuvers changed the outcome—or mitigated the devastation. It was one of life's hardest truths. "I get it, Mrs. Carlson," Josie offered. "My therapist said the same thing to me after I lost my grandmother."

Teresa reached across the counter and patted Josie's hand. "Thank you."

Gretchen said, "We understand that this is an extremely difficult time for you and your family. The last thing we want to do is make things worse. We can come back another time."

Teresa smiled through her tears and waved a hand, dismissing the suggestion. "No. No. I've been trying to stay away from the news and social media, but my son told me that this man—Seth Lee—abducted someone else just yesterday. The woman who tried to save April. I want to help in any way that I can."

Gretchen folded her hands on the countertop. "We appreciate that."

"Also," Josie said, "we're not entirely sure that what happened to April was random." Given the fact that Seth had been dating Mira, and Mira and April were half-sisters, Josie knew it wasn't random at all. They now knew what connected the three of them, but they still didn't know why Seth had kidnapped and killed April—or where the child fit into all of it. Or who the child was. Josie took a deep breath and then plunged into their next line of inquiry. "In the course of our investigation, it has come to our attention that April's biological father was Gordon Summers."

What little color left in Teresa's face drained away. She swayed a bit and then grabbed the nearest stool, sinking into it. "God, I haven't heard his name since…since April demanded to know it. That was…ten years ago. Why are you asking me about Gordon? He's been dead for a long time now."

"Are you aware that April sought him out?" asked Josie.

Her hand flew to her chest. "No, no. That can't be right. She promised me she wouldn't. I told her the truth about him. She was old enough to hear it by then. I barely managed to escape him. The only reason he didn't sue me for custody of April was because he couldn't afford it. But he would have taken her from me if he'd had the chance. Not because he cared about her—he never did—but to hurt me. That's how Gordon was—spiteful and cruel. Once I married my husband—Bill—he had an attorney contact Gordon. It took months, but eventually he gave up his parental rights and Bill adopted her. That's why she's Carlson and not Summers. No one even knows that she's not Bill's except for us and our kids, and even the kids didn't know until they were adults and realized that Bill didn't show up in her baby pictures until she was almost two years old. Oh God?—"

She swayed again as a realization hit her. "Mira Summers. She's Gordon's daughter, isn't she? My other children suggested it, but I told them it wasn't possible. Summers is a fairly common name. I thought it was just a coincidence. Oh no. No, no. Is it true?"

Gretchen grimaced. "I'm afraid so."

Teresa said nothing as she digested this fact.

Obviously, Teresa hadn't kept tabs on her ex or known that he'd had another daughter. Josie asked, "Gordon never contacted you again? After he gave up his parental rights?"

Teresa shook her head. "No. I think Bill's attorney intimidated him or he realized that he had lost control over me, and it just wasn't any fun anymore. God, I can't believe that April contacted him. I was honest with her about what he did to me. When he found out I was pregnant with her, he beat me so badly, I nearly lost her! I made her promise that she would never approach him. I don't think he would have been a threat to her at that point since she was an adult, but I just didn't think it was a good idea to poke that hornet's nest."

"I'm sorry," said Gretchen. "But it appears that she did, and from what Gordon's widow told us, meeting him once was enough to deter her from any further contact."

"I had no idea," Teresa whispered. "I remember seeing his obituary. That was years ago but I can't remember how long exactly. When did she…"

"We're not exactly sure," Josie said. "But he died five years ago so it had to be before that."

"I remember being so relieved when I saw his obituary because the temptation to contact him would no longer be there. And to think, I felt so guilty about not telling her he had died, but she'd already met him. I just can't believe this."

"When April disappeared and Detective Loughlin started her investigation, did you mention Gordon?" asked Gretchen.

"Why would I? Gordon had been dead for years by then and as far as I knew, April had kept her promise to never contact him. She must have met his other daughter when she reached out to him, but she never told me." Her entire frame shuddered. "Oh God. That poor child—enduring the fate I saved April from. I can't even imagine. I always hoped no other woman would be drawn in by him, but life is never that kind, especially not to women."

"All these years, you never knew he'd started a new family?" asked Gretchen. Her tone was curious, not accusatory. "The Summers don't live that far from here. Different town, but not a long drive."

"I truly had no idea. I didn't keep tabs on Gordon. I wanted to get away from him. There were a handful of times I'd see him in a store or at a gas station and I simply avoided him but other than that, our lives didn't intersect in any way. Thank God. Wait." She seemed to emerge from some pocket of the past into the present. "If Mira and April were in the same car when— They must have developed some sort of relationship after Gordon died and yet, she never said anything. Not one word. To any of us. Not to her father—my husband—or her siblings. None of her friends ever mentioned it either, and Heather questioned all of us quite thoroughly."

Which meant that April had kept any relationship or contact she might have had with Mira a secret. If April had told anyone in her life, it might have gotten back to Teresa and Mira's last name would have been a red flag. As it was, Teresa's other kids had picked up on Mira's last name immediately even though she lived hours away in Denton.

"Why wouldn't she tell me?" Teresa murmured, almost to herself.

Teresa Carlson didn't seem like the type who would let her anger get the best of her. Josie thought it was far more likely that April kept Mira a secret because she didn't want Teresa to be disappointed that she'd broken a promise, especially one so important to her. Josie hadn't exactly had a traditional upbringing, but Lisette had been the closest thing she'd ever had to a real parent. She remembered how awful it felt to disappoint her. Josie would have taken Lisette's anger over her disappointment any day.

Gretchen pulled her notebook and pen from her pocket. "We don't know the nature of their relationship. It's possible that they hadn't grown close, or maybe they did and then there was some sort of falling-out that ended things."

Or April had met or found out about Seth and wisely decided to run screaming in the other direction. But that's not what she'd done at all. She'd moved to a town only a half hour drive from Denton. Closer to him. Closer to Mira. Yet, there was no evidence of contact between April and either of them the entire time she lived in Newsham.

Teresa continued, "Though I suppose if she was in touch with Gordon's daughter, it would have been easy to conceal. She moved out right after college and lived on her own after that. Though if she had developed some sort of friendship with Gordon's daughter, wouldn't Heather have found evidence on her phone?"

Josie said, "The phone records Heather was able to get only go back two years. If April and Mira had had a falling-out or ceased to be in contact prior to that, then there wouldn't have been anything in April's phone records to find."

Teresa's brow furrowed. "You said you didn't think that April's abduction was random. What does that have to do with Mira?"

Josie cleared her throat. The painkillers were finally kicking back in, making it easier to speak. "Mrs. Summers told us that Mira was dating Seth Lee, for several years, apparently."

Teresa's eyes widened. "And if April became friendly with Mira then she would have had contact with Seth. This is some kind of domestic violence situation, isn't it? Seth and Mira. That was the example that poor girl grew up with, and then she fell in love with a man just like Gordon. Then my poor April got caught up in it."

"We're still trying to put all the pieces together," said Gretchen.

Thinking of the note that April had left for Mira on the Tranquil Trails brochure, Josie asked, "To your knowledge did April ever visit Denton or anywhere in that area?"

Teresa shook her head. "No, not that I'm aware of. We'd never even heard of Newsham, where she got that job. That's close to Denton, from what I understand."

"Did April have an interest in horseback riding?" Gretchen said, picking up on Josie's line of inquiry. "Or horses in general?"

"You're wondering because of those stables, aren't you? Heather told me about them but no, April never had an interest in anything like that. She loved animals but she was much more of a cat or dog sort of person." Teresa sighed. "I still don't understand why she didn't get a dog when she moved to Newsham. Living in a strange new town all alone with no family nearby."

Josie took out her phone and found the child's drawing to show to Teresa. "Also, as I told you when we first spoke on the telephone—right before we released Seth's information to the press—we believe that there is a child involved somehow. This was found at the accident scene. Does this mean anything to you?"

Teresa found a pair of reading glasses on a nearby countertop and took Josie's phone into her hands. She shook her head slowly as she studied the drawing. "Is that an eye?"

"We're not sure," said Josie.

"I'm so sorry," Teresa said, handing the phone back. "I don't know what to make of it."

Gretchen jotted something down in her notebook. "I think that's all we have for you today. We really appreciate your taking the time to speak with us. As soon as we know anything more, we'll contact you. We've got to get to Hillcrest Elementary before the principal leaves for the day. We have some follow-up questions for her."

"Hillcrest Elementary," Teresa echoed. "My friend Hope is the principal there."

Which explained why Heather's investigation hadn't turned up the connection between April and Mira via the school. If they had made their connection known at work, the word would likely have gotten back to Teresa very quickly.

"She called me when that man's photo began circulating," Teresa added. "She said he looked so familiar to her, but she couldn't figure out where she might have seen him. She wanted to know if any of us recognized him but as I've told you, I didn't. Neither did my husband nor my other children."

The doorbell rang. Teresa glanced at the clock on the wall. "That will be my neighbor with candles and such for the vigil. We're holding one for Shane Foster next week on the anniversary of his disappearance. If you'll excuse me."

Once she was out of the room, Gretchen tapped her pen against her notepad. Josie could see the diagram she'd drawn, complete with names and arrows.

Josie said, "You're thinking what I'm thinking."

"We can probably find out what we need to know by having the principal do one or two simple searches. Hillcrest Elementary is a public school, right?"

"Right," Josie said. "Public schools usually give us information without pushing for a warrant or anything."

"In our own jurisdiction, sure. We should get a records request letter together for Hillcrest just in case we need one."

Josie nodded. "That will take a little time, especially if Turner's doing it. The school day will be over soon."

"I'm so sorry," Teresa Carlson said, sailing back into the room.

"It's no problem at all," Gretchen replied smoothly. "We were wondering if you could do something for us before we go."

"Anything," said Teresa.

Josie said, "Would you mind calling the principal at Hillcrest and asking her to stay late to speak with us? Coming from you, it might help."