"I must say, in cases of disappearances, we generally allow a twenty-four-hour time frame for the person to come home before launching an official investigation. How old is your daughter?"
“She is only fifteen."
"Any chance she would run away?"
"No chance. Where would she go? We live in the middle of nowhere!"
"When did you last speak with your daughter?"
"Last night, around 9:00... Why?"
"What was your conversation like? Was there an argument?"
"Well, yes... but I don't think she would run away because of it!"
"I have to cover all possible scenarios. Where is your wife? I will need to question her next."
"My wife?"
"Yes, your wife. There is a Mrs. Morrow, correct?" DiNolfo added with a bite, eyeing the gold band on his ring finger.
"There was...," Jack began hesitantly.
"I'm sorry, Jack, but can we not play coy?"
"My wife is dead. She died shortly after giving birth to Tristan."
Jenna's face went white, shocked and embarrassed.
"I'm sorry. I did not realize."
"No big deal."
"So what was your argument about?"
"Actually, it was about my wife."
"Oh?"
"She was angry with me because I didn't tell her that her mother was dead. I tried to lessen the blow by telling her that she left."
"Why would you do that?"
"My wife didn't die an ordinary death, Sergeant."
"I thought she died in childbirth."
"No, not exactly. That is just an easy answer."
"Now would be a good time to start telling the truth."
"My wife drowned in the lake out there. The coroner wasn’t sure whether it was suicide or foul play. The case was investigated for a long time, but it was never determined whether she died at her own hands or another’s. I have my theories, though.”
Jenna glanced down at the file that was lying across her lap.
"Was her name Catherine?"
"That is her."
"I stumbled across her in the unresolved case files today."
Jack stared across the table at Jenna, unsure of what to say.
"I am on the case. We will do everything we can to find your daughter and hopefully get to the bottom of your wife's case as well. So, you told your daughter a white lie to protect her from knowing the truth?"
"Not just my daughter. My sons too. The only one that knows the truth now is Adam, my oldest son, and Tristan found out she is dead last night, but she doesn’t understand the circumstances surrounding her death. I intended to tell the rest tonight, once things calmed down."
“Was your daughter upset?”
“Very. But I don’t think that is why she is gone.”
"Where do you think your daughter is?"
"I have no idea, but I know who has her. My sons found an outsider in the barn, and he was wearing a Trafford's Auto Body shirt. It was her English teacher."
"What is his name and about what time was this?"
"Bernard Kendricks… Around 7:30 this morning."
"What happened next?"
"My sons chased after him, and they think they recognize who it was."
"I will check in with them next. How many sons do you have?"
"Four – Adam, Liam, Tommy and Blake."
"I counted five boys in the family portrait on the wall."
"Good eye. My sister and brother-in-law live here, too, with their boy Shane, and my parents live seasonally in a guest house near the lake. Our kids were raised more so like siblings than cousins." Jenna scribbled into a notepad as Jack spoke.
“Fifteen... did she have a boyfriend?”
“Not a boyfriend exactly. There is a boy, he’s sixteen, who hangs around her and my sons a lot. He has an intense interest of her… but I don’t think he’d do anything to hurt her. He’s a nice kid. He comes from a good family.”
“What’s his name?”
“Cole Piedmonte.”
Joe’s kid.
“We’ll be checking all leads. This Kendricks guy… why do you think he might have taken her?”
“Kendricks was obsessed with my wife. He was actually one of the suspects in her case. Well, my daughter looks just like her….”
"If you don't mind, I would like to have a look around before I start questioning the other family members."
Jack nodded as if he had a choice. He knew that the police would scan every inch of the property. His only small blessing was that there was a new sergeant in town, and Amos and Earl were nowhere to be found. Maybe this time, the job would get done right. He just hoped they would leave the third floor alone.
Jenna departed from the dining room, and began to make a tour of the house while Rutledge continued asking questions and getting important details from Frank and Adam. Jenna scanned the house carefully; they needed to get a handle on what it is that they are dealing with. Was this a simple runaway, mad at her father for withholding a hard truth? Or was there something more sinister at work? Jenna had a feeling that many answers may lay within Catherine's case file. At the very least, we can learn a bit more about the family than Jack was telling. And there was definitely something that he wasn’t telling her. It all seemed a bit too cookie-cutter.