she’d correct them.” The sloppy texts were practically proof that someone had commandeered her daughter’s phone.
Though it was very late, Nancy didn’t hesitate to call the Pottawattamie Sheriff’s Office again. Deputy Karl Rhyster was working the graveyard shift and arrived quickly. He appeared unmoved when she showed him the odd texts. He didn’t seem concerned when Nancy stressed that her daughter’s grammar was impeccable and that she’d never send such sloppy texts.
While he was courteous, it was obvious he doubted missing commas and misspelled words warranted immediate action. Considering the limited information available to him, his response was appropriate. Deputy Rhyster took down the information and asked Nancy to forward the image of the check so investigators could look into it.
At some point in her exchanges with police, Nancy mentioned that Cari suffered from anxiety and had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, a mental illness marked by extreme mood swings, formerly known as manic depression. While some suffering from the disorder display outrageous behavior, that had never been the case with Cari. Nancy wasn’t so sure the doctor had gotten it right.
As of this writing, there are no definitive physical tests to diagnosis bipolar disorder. Cari’s diagnosis was based upon symptoms she’d described to her doctor, not on the results of blood tests or brain scans. Cari had seen more than one doctor, and none of the others had labeled her bipolar.
As for Cari’s anxiety, Nancy remembers times when Cari suffered terribly. According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA), over forty million Americans over the age of eighteen are affected by anxiety. Cari’s bouts were severe but not unusual, considering that about one in five people struggle with the disorder. But when police learned about Cari’s bipolar diagnosis, they latched onto it, certain they understood what had transpired. They were very familiar with the scenario, they told Nancy. Her daughter had flipped out. They saw it all the time, especially when someone with a mental illness stopped taking their meds.
Could they be right? Had Cari lost her marbles? It was hard for Nancy to picture, because Cari had never before behaved in an irrational fashion, but she had left her medication behind. The bottle of pills still sat on a shelf in Cari’s bathroom medicine cabinet. The term “mental illness” technically covers a wide range of issues, including depression and anxiety, but it seemed too extreme of a label to attach to somebody as reasonable as her daughter.
Though she realized that chemical imbalances resulting in mental illness are nothing to be ashamed of, Nancy doubted her daughter had had a breakdown. But if she had, then at least there was hope. It meant she was still alive. She could recover and come home. The idea of a mental breakdown was easier to accept than the grimmer alternatives. The possibilities swirled around, making Nancy dizzy with confusion. Each scenario was devastating, yet some were worse than others. What if someone was holding Cari against her will, forcing her to send the odd texts? If that was the case, was she deliberately making grammar and spelling errors to signal something was wrong? Had Cari been abducted by human traffickers? Nancy shuddered and tried not to imagine it. The moment the worried mother dismissed one frightening idea, another horrendous possibility took its place.
Had Alec, the unstable ex from Cari’s past, kidnapped her? That didn’t seem likely, because he hadn’t been around for years—not since 2008 when Cari suspected he’d broken into her garage. He had settled down after being served with a restraining order. Nancy doubted that Alec had anything to do with what was going on now, but it was not out of the realm of possibilities. If Alec or anyone else were holding her hostage, were they feeding her? Seeing to her basic needs? Were they hurting her?
She also wondered about the guy Cari had been staying with in Omaha. Dave. Could he be behind her disappearance? Nancy didn’t know that he, too, was troubled by hostile text messages sent from Cari’s phone. While aware of each other’s existence, neither Nancy nor Dave knew each other’s last name or phone numbers. Nancy would have been shocked to learn that he believed her kind and gentle daughter had sent threatening texts and vandalized property. And Dave was not about to track down Cari’s mother to tattle on her as if she were a child who had misbehaved. He expected Omaha police to handle the criminal complaints, though Liz’s report