Chapter 37

The student profile that filled the screen showed a school photo of Rosie Summers. Josie took a long moment to study the girl they'd been chasing for what felt like ages even though it had only been a few days. Six-year-old Rosie grinned at them, her bright blue eyes vibrant and intelligent. Brown curls tumbled to her shoulders. Josie could see the resemblance to both Seth and Mira.

Carol had said that Mira often went off with Seth for years at a time, cutting off all contact. It was entirely possible that Mira and Seth had had a baby together without anyone knowing. Josie wasn't surprised that Mira had never told her mother about Rosie. Carol Summers didn't strike Josie as grandmother material.

Gretchen tapped the screen with the cap of her pen. "Mira is the only parent listed here as a contact. There's no address listed in Rosie's record. Most districts are required to collect a host of documentation when enrolling students. You would have made a copy of Rosie's birth certificate at the very least, right?"

"Yes," Hope breathed. "Let me see if I can get that for you. Seth Lee is her father, isn't he? That's why he looked familiar. He's not listed here but he could have been outside the school. Our kindergarten teacher would have only released Rosie to Mira, since she is listed as guardian, but Seth could have picked them both up."

"Yes," said Gretchen. "That's possible."

Josie said, "Rosie's kindergarten teacher didn't say anything to you when the news broke about Seth Lee being a suspect in April's abduction or murder? Or when Mira was taken? Her photo has been on the news and on social media since last night."

A frown crossed Hope's face as her fingers continued to hammer the keys. "Mrs. Roman retired to Florida two years ago. She probably hasn't even caught wind of this whole mess. It's also possible that she did hear about it but just doesn't remember. We have a lot of students and a lot of parents come through the school. We always have some that leave in the middle of the year, and we never hear from them again. I'm not…I'm not seeing anything. I'll try something else. Just give me a few more minutes. This can't be right."

"No worries," Gretchen told Hope. She turned to Josie and arched a brow. Lowering her voice, she said, "If Seth was Rosie's father…"

Josie filled in, "It would be within his rights to take Rosie anywhere he wanted. It would have been up to Mira to contact the police if she believed that Rosie was in danger or to petition the courts if she wanted full physical and legal custody of their daughter."

Gretchen shook her head. "But she didn't do that."

"No, but she must have convinced Seth to let her enroll Rosie in school. Maybe her working at the school to keep an eye on Rosie was the condition."

"And April getting Mira the job there made it all possible," Gretchen finished.

"Detectives." Confusion deepened the lines of Hope's face. "We don't have a copy of the birth certificate. We don't have…anything."

Josie said, "How is that possible?"

"Could someone have deleted it?" Gretchen asked.

"No. It's not that." Hope clicked a few more times. "It's the McKinney–Vento Act. A federal law that applies to students experiencing homelessness. When I say homelessness, I don't mean they are necessarily on the street, just that they have no permanent address. Specifically, the act is in place to make sure that those students can still enroll in school and receive equal access to education."

"But you would still need to collect their information, right?" Gretchen pressed.

Hope sighed. "Not right away. Pennsylvania added another law to provide more rights to unhoused students in the same year that Rosie enrolled. It's called Act 1. Under that law, we have to enroll the student immediately, the very day they seek to be enrolled, regardless of whether they've provided any documentation."

Josie leaned in toward Gretchen, dropping back into a low tone that kept the conversation between them. "Seth would have wanted to avoid giving documentation relating to Rosie and his relationship to her at all costs."

"Right," Gretchen breathed. "He thought someone would take her if they found out. April would have known about these laws. She could have used them to help Mira get Rosie enrolled without alarming Seth, and it might not have been a stretch to prove Rosie was experiencing homelessness."

"True," Josie agreed.

Hope cleared her throat. "After the student is enrolled, we have to follow up and gather all the required documents from their parents as soon as possible. We have a faculty member who is designated—by law—as the McKinney–Vento liaison. They're responsible for identifying students experiencing homelessness, getting them enrolled, making sure they have access to all appropriate services to which they're entitled?—"

"Who was your liaison at the time that Rosie enrolled?" asked Gretchen.

Hope said, "It's normally our school counselor. That's who most schools designate, but if I recall correctly, three and half years ago our counselor was in the middle of chemotherapy. Her cancer persisted for a couple of years before she finally went into remission. However, while she was in treatment, the more ill she became, the more of her responsibilities I tried to delegate to other staff members. Including the liaison designation."

"April became the McKinney–Vento liaison," Josie said.

Hope searched her laptop screen. "Yes, but she'd been doing it for well over a year by the time Rosie Summers enrolled. April was extremely conscientious. Detail-oriented. Well-organized. This…this is very unlike her."

"What's unlike her?" asked Josie.

"It looks like she never followed up on the documentation for Rosie Summers. We never received anything and then Rosie left."

Josie would bet her paycheck that Rosie hadn't "left" but that Seth had removed her from school. The question was what had happened to precipitate that.

"How long was Rosie enrolled?" asked Josie.

"Five months."

Gretchen said, "If there is a birthday listed for Rosie, we might be able to subpoena a copy of her birth certificate from the Division of Vital Records."

"Yes, there is." A printer behind Hope's desk whirred to life. "I'll print all of this out for you."

"If you could email us a digital copy of Rosie Summers's photo," Josie said, "that would be great. We'd like to get it out to the press as soon as possible."

The picture was four years old, but it was better than nothing.

"Yes, of course."

Gretchen scribbled her email address on a notebook page, tore it out, and handed it to Hope.

Josie whispered, "Send that photo to Amber, not to Douchebag."

"No shit."

Hope's fingers trembled as she typed the email address into an outgoing message. "We have so many students. Year after year after year. It's difficult to remember them all, but I think I might have seen this girl in April's classroom sometimes in the mornings, before school started. I just can't be sure. I don't understand. If Rosie is Seth Lee and Mira Summers's daughter, how did April become involved?"

It wasn't their place to disclose the fact that April and Mira had been half-sisters, so Josie said, "We're still trying to piece everything together. As Detective Palmer mentioned before, we believe that Mira Summers worked here at one time. It was likely during the same time period that Rosie was enrolled. Can you check that for us?"

Hope's skin was turning greenish again. "No. That can't be right. I would remember if Mira Summers had worked here. I would definitely have recalled that when I saw her photo on the news. One of our teachers would have remembered!"

"We don't think she was a teacher," said Gretchen. "Maybe on the cafeteria or custodial staff? It's our understanding that April got her the job."

Hope started tapping away at the laptop again, murmuring as she searched the employee database. "I'll check, but that just can't be. I suppose it's possible that April talked to me about hiring her—she still would have had to go through the application process, getting clearances and all that—but given all that's happened the last few days, I'm sure seeing her face would have jogged those memories. I?—"

She broke off, shock blanketing her features.

Her voice was shaky when she continued. "You're right. She worked in the cafeteria. Maybe I don't remember because that was almost four years ago, and Mira Summers only worked here for roughly five months. The exact same time frame that Rosie was enrolled here."