they moved back to Macedonia, and life finally seemed to be going well for Cari in the months before she disappeared. Her position at West Corp had been a good fit, but some of her earlier choices had baffled her mother. Once, Cari had accepted a job doing office work for a construction company, and Nancy was certain she’d be bored. She was right, and Cari did not stay long there.
At one point, she studied to become a surgical nurse. She got through the classes “with flying colors.” Cari had a strong stomach and had never been one to get weak in the knees at the sight of blood. Her training required her to be present during surgeries, and she didn’t flinch when the surgeon’s scalpel cut into flesh. But there was a problem. Whenever the surgeon cauterized flesh, Cari fainted.
Nancy remembers Cari’s bewilderment as she confided, “Mom, I don’t know what’s wrong. I’m not squeamish. That smell just made me pass out. All of the sudden I was waking up on the floor.” It was not a one-time thing. Four times Cari fainted when she smelled burning flesh. The last time she woke up on the operating-room floor, she looked up into the worried face of her supervisor who was peering down at her. The woman gently suggested, “This might not be the right career for you.”
She was right, but Cari was annoyed. Her plans were thwarted by her own inexplicable and peculiar reaction. After she got past her irritation over the wasted hours studying for a profession that could never be, she found humor in the situation and poked fun at herself. Everyone who heard the story laughed along with her. It crossed no one’s mind that there was a dark reason for her reaction. Had Cari had a premonition—one she sensed on a visceral level? We’ll never know for certain, but considering what came to be, the fainting spells could have been a harbinger of the tragedy to come.
CHAPTER NINE
WHEN THEY RECEIVED A MESSAGE from the maniacal texter telling them the car was missing, the Raneys reported it stolen. The 2005 Ford Explorer was in their names, and they also paid for the insurance. “If it was in an accident, we’d be liable,” Nancy explains. That, of course, was the least of their concerns. The car could lead them to Cari. Maybe the police would find it, rolling along the highway with their daughter at the wheel. On Monday, December 3, 2012, they filed a stolen car report. Dave, too, was looking for the Explorer. From his perspective, it was his stalker’s car, and if he could find it, he could confront the crazy person who was making his life so miserable. He regularly cruised the neighborhood on the lookout for the black SUV but saw no sign of Cari or her car. If he’d known her better, he’d realize that it was completely out of character for her to turn her back on those she loved, especially at such a crucial time. Her father was nearing the end.
Nancy couldn’t bring herself to tell Denny that their daughter was missing. She knew she’d see the pain in her own eyes reflected back at her in his. How would a father, ravaged with cancer, deal with the news his daughter was missing? No one wanted to add another burden to the man’s thinning shoulders, but Cari’s absence was devastatingly apparent. Denny knew his daughter would never purposely abandon him when he was so ill. He would know something was wrong. He had to be told. Another family member broke the news to him as gently as they could.
On December 7, 2012, Dennis Farver slipped away. Three days later, Maxwell turned fifteen. His birthday passed with no word from his mom. With both his mother and his grandfather gone, it was a time of great loss for him. How could so much have changed in a year? Only twelve months earlier he had celebrated his fourteenth birthday. His family had been complete then—happy and healthy and excited about the holidays.
Services for Dennis were held on December 12 at the Lutheran Church in Newton, Iowa. Mourners gathered at 1 P.M. Many took their seats, only to find themselves glancing anxiously at the entryway, hopeful that Cari would appear. She did not. It was a horrendous December for Cari’s relatives. While most of the families around them were caught up in the spirit of the season, enjoying the holiday lights and