She had one viable print. She didn’t know the age or gender of the subject, information that helps narrow results in database searches. She scanned and entered the print into the system, but there was no match.
With the processing of the Explorer complete, it was released to the Raneys. Nancy had never dealt with a stolen vehicle and didn’t know what to expect. “I remember looking inside and thinking, ‘Boy, this is clean!’ My daughter had a spotless house, but not so much her car.” It didn’t cross her mind that there could be a sinister reason for the car’s pristine appearance. She assumed it was standard procedure for county employees to clean recovered vehicles before returning them. She found it odd, however, that the car was empty. “There was absolutely nothing in it. There were no papers, no insurance, no registration, nothing in there.”
Now that Cari wasn’t driving it, the Explorer would be used by Max who was taking Driver’s Ed and would turn sixteen this year. His mother had been so excited about fixing up the sporty Volkswagen for him. The 1984 Rabbit GTI now sat abandoned at Hyatt Tire, still far from roadworthy, but with unpaid bills for the work done.
It’s always a shock to realize that life goes on when someone we love dies, that the Earth keeps spinning as it always has and always will. Those who grieved for Cari had no choice but to get up in the morning and face agonizing days, fraught with anxiety and uncertainty. They still had to go to work or school. They still had to be polite and smile at people and try to behave as if nothing had changed. They still had to pay bills, do housework or homework and then get up the next day and do it all again. Even Cari’s responsibilities had to be seen to. Nancy applied for and was awarded conservatorship over her daughter’s affairs. She took over her bills, managed her Rolling Hills Bank account, and filed her taxes.
Nancy saw that West Corp had deposited Cari’s last paycheck into her checking account, bringing her balance up to about $10,000. There had been no withdrawals, though someone from the bank had left a message about two transactions deemed suspicious because they strayed from Cari’s normal habits. Her debit card had been used twice in mid-November, once at Walmart and once at a dollar store, both in Omaha. When Cari didn’t respond to the alert, the bank froze her card. Nancy passed the information on to police.
It was painful for Cari’s family to go to her house, so empty and cold and quiet. Nancy threw out the spoiled food in the refrigerator, and Maxwell packed up the rest of his clothes. They had the power shut off and made sure that the little house was buttoned up tight against the weather.
* * *
Dave continued to be bombarded by texts and emails, and the troublemaker continued to be fixated on Liz. On the twenty-eighth of January, he opened the nut’s latest email and read: You tell Liz to stay away from you, or I will come after her again . . . I don’t want to find out you two had sex. I better not find out you two are texting or calling each other, either, or I will go after her. If I find out someone else is around, I will go after them also. I am mainly after Liz. She ruined everything.
Dave was not about to let the bully tell him what to do. If Liz was brave enough to keep seeing him, she was welcome to come around. The lady had guts, he realized. Twice in the month of February, she filed police reports about vandalism to her vehicle. The vandal struck again on the first of April—April Fool’s Day—and apparently used a key to scratch the words “Whore, stop seeing Dave” into the side of her car. Despite the constant threats and damage to her car, Liz didn’t abandon him. As promised, he gave Liz her day. He saw his kids on the weekends and on every Tuesday and Thursday. Monday and Friday were Dave’s days to do what he pleased after work. Wednesday night belong to Liz.
No matter the day of the week, Dave never had a single day off from the abuse. The threats and weird rantings were endless. There were so many messages that he wondered when the stalker had time to sleep. Sometimes he avoided