She sat beside me while Detective Ramirez explained that the first forty-eight hours mattered enormously.
And she said nothing.
The patrol cars arrived.
Then Ramirez.
He got out fast.
“Claire.”
I pointed toward Diane.
“She says Evan took Noah.”
Ramirez looked at her.
“Inside.”
The next several hours became the first real break in the investigation.
Diane gave police everything she had.
Or at least everything she finally admitted she had.
Evan had driven a dark gray Subaru he bought for cash two weeks before Noah disappeared.
Not his usual vehicle.
He had used a prepaid phone.
He told Diane he was “going north.”
He had withdrawn money from an old savings account.
And three days after Noah vanished, he called her from an unknown number.
“He said Noah was safe.”
Diane told detectives.
“What else?”
Ramirez asked.
“He said Claire had forced him to do this.”
I stared.
Ramirez continued.
