“I should’ve seen it sooner,” I say.
I’m back at the Florida House.
Keith, Christopher, and I are once again sitting at their kitchen table in their residence, while Sarah Samuelson, Brooke Wakefield, and Wren Melody hang Christmas decorations in the main hallway and parlor and Derinda cleans upstairs.
On my way over I called Merrill, Anna, and Roderick, and asked for their help.
“In both cases this was about mothers doing what they thought was best for their children,” I say. “Charis stole Magdalene out of a misguided sense of motherhood and Derinda stole Taylor for that same reason.”
I carefully watch and weigh their reactions.
Keith begins shaking his head immediately, his shock obvious, but behind his instant denial there is definite doubt in his hard, squinting eyes.
Christopher’s mouth drops open and he looks surprised but not stunned.
Their responses seem authentic.
“She has been watching how heartbroken you guys are for so long,” I say, “and she just wanted to help, to soothe the ache in your soul, to ease your pain even if only a little by replacing Magdalene with Taylor. Taylor is about the age Magdalene would have been if she had lived. Derinda’s the only one who could’ve done it besides you two and that’s part of why I’m here—to find out if you had anything to do with it.”
Christopher says, “We could never . . . never do to someone else what was done to us.”
“I’m not convinced she did it,” Keith says, “but if she did, we’re not involved in any way.”
“Has she told you what she did?” I ask. “Has she tried to give Taylor to you yet or is she still waiting for all the attention to die down?”
“I don’t believe she could do something like that,” Keith says. “I really don’t.”
“I bet she didn’t either,” I say, “right up until she did it.”
“I know you were right about Charis,” he says, “but I think you’re way off on this.”
“How?” Christopher asks. “How’d she do it?”
“She cleans the house for you,” I say. “She knows it intimately. She used the secret passageway in order to get from back here in your residence to our room. She snuck in through the fireplace, took Taylor and brought her back down here to your residence. She took quite a chance, but got lucky that Anna was sick and she and Taylor are deep sleepers. Or, who knows, maybe she found a way to slip them something earlier in the evening. While she was cleaning earlier, she unlocked the fireplace so she could get in. After she had taken her, she gave Taylor something to make sure she stayed asleep and hid her little body in the cleaning cart beneath the sheets and towels. She did this as I was talking to Charis on the landing. She went to the parlor and sat with everyone for a while. And at some point, probably while everyone was focused on Raphael, she slipped behind the desk and disabled the cameras. She then she walked out the front door with Henrique, creating the perfect alibi. Maybe she even drove off a short distance, but as soon as she saw that Henrique had gone inside his house, she circled back, went in through the back door, removed Taylor from the cleaning cart, and snuck her out. When she had finished cleaning earlier, she put the cart in the storage closet, but when we were searching for Taylor later, the cleaning cart was out in the hallway. I think that was from when she rushed in and grabbed Taylor out of it. Remember, Keith, you actually put it back in the closet after we searched it. She was able to get Taylor out of the area and back to her house and hidden before the roadblocks were in place. When you called her she came right back to further establish her alibi and act as if she had nothing to do with it. We’ve been searching Sandcastle and she’s even helped us because it didn’t matter. Taylor was long gone—outside of Sandcastle before we ever started looking for her here. What I want to know is did you know?”
“No,” Keith says.
“Did you have anything to do with it?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Has she told you about it? About doing it?”
Keith shakes his head.
Christopher says, “Now that I’m thinking about it . . . she may have hinted at it. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but . . . I don’t know . . . She may have hinted to me about us getting another daughter at some point.”
“I’m going to talk to her before I do anything else,” I say. “Do you guys want to be present for that? And if you are, will you help and not hinder?”
“If she did do it,” Keith says, “what are you going to do to her?”
“I’m not going to do anything,” I say. “I only care about getting Taylor back. If she’s helpful with that it will go a long way for her with whatever the Walton County Sheriff’s Department decides to do.”