Page 10 of Three Girls Gone

“I can take them up, if you’d like,” McGee offered.

Vincent nodded. Jean was staring into space.

McGee led Amanda and Trent upstairs, leaving the Tanners alone with their grief.

They took a quick look inside Mara’s room, rooting in drawers and the closet. No scarves or anything else that was blatantly incriminating.

“I told you I searched this room,” McGee said.

“When Hailey was missing,” Amanda responded. “Now that she’s been murdered, we need to revisit everything.”

“There’s no way the nanny’s behind this,” McGee stated with confidence.

“Yet she volunteers to leave the Tanners’ home the day after Hailey is taken. That didn’t flag as suspicious with you?” Amanda served back.

“I think you’re making too much out of her leaving. There was no reason for her to stick around. Her job was looking after the child. She was doing a kindness and giving the Tanners some space.”

Amanda wasn’t as trusting as McGee seemed to be.

“I’m with Amanda,” Trent said. “Her leaving needs to be questioned. She could be caught up in this.”

Amanda nodded and shared her earlier thinking. “She’d know how important Hailey was to her parents. That they’d have done anything andpaidanything to get her back.”

“Except one key thing. Hailey is dead,” McGee said coolly.

“Sure, something went wrong.” Even as she said that she hated how it sounded like she’d downplayed the situation.

“Okay, but the medical examiner said Hailey died just last night. If this was about a ransom, statistically the demand would have been made sooner,” McGee kicked back. “Probably sometime on Saturday, but that didn’t happen.”

Yet they still never escalated Hailey’s case to Homicide…“No answer on that, but was Mara around for that conversation about a financial reward?” Amanda asked.

McGee’s cheeks flushed, and his nostrils flared. “She was, but?—”

“But,” Amanda cut in, “it is possible then.”

“If Mara took the girl, where was Hailey while Mara was here Friday night?”

“Mara might be working with someone,” Trent suggested.

“I don’t know.” McGee groaned.

“Let’s agree to disagree for now.” She led the way next door.

Hailey’s room was pink, pink, pink from the cushion on the window seat to the walls and the canopy over her bed with its gold stars. They likely glowed in the dark. The dresser, nightstand, bookshelf, and overflowing toy chest were white.

Amanda crossed to the window, and noted a wooden trellis beneath it, but took in the view it offered of a spacious backyard. It was surrounded by a six-foot-tall privacy fence made of cedar. An expensive choice, which again gave the message that the Tanners were financially comfortable. The playset, also cedar, offered a slide, climbing apparatus, small fort, and swings.

A mirror hung over a small makeup table and was bedazzled with stickers and drawings, likely made by Hailey. Amanda refused to dwell on that and opened the closet doors. It housed an organizational unit, but her interest was in the three tutus suspended from hangers. “They match the style of the one Hailey was found in.”

A startled outcry came from the landing. Amanda shot out the door to find Jean standing there, wide-eyed.

“Mrs.Tanner, it might be best if you go downstairs with your husband,” Amanda said softly. “We’ll join you soon.”

Jean shook her head. “I heard what you just said in there”—her eyes flicked toward Hailey’s room—“about the tutu. She was found in one?”

This wasn’t how she’d wanted to share this news with the Tanners. “She was. I see she must have loved one particular style. How many does she have?”

“Five. One was kept in her locker at the studio, then four here.”