Taken?

When he walked in the door he expected to see Katy in the kitchen and something started for supper, but the kitchen was deserted and looked the same as it had when he left in the morning. He called out, "Katy, I'm home," but there was no reply.

Rob walked through to Katy's room and rapped on the door. "Come on, Sunshine. Wake up in there. If you're tired, you can go to bed early tonight."

When he heard no answer he opened the door, and discovered that the room was empty. Katy's books were on her bed, along with the bag that she usually took with her. Rob picked up the bag and discovered that it was heavy. When he looked inside he discovered Katy's uneaten lunch. A puzzled look came over his face.

Rob retraced his steps into the kitchen, and looked around for any sign that Katy had been in the room. There was nothing to show she had been there since the morning. It was at that point that he noticed that the light was flashing on their answering machine, indicating that a message had been left for them. Rob stepped over to the machine and pressed the play button.

The message came over the speaker, "Hello, this is the East Division High School calling for Katy Walsh. Our records indicate you failed to attend an exam this morning. Please contact the office with an explanation as soon as possible."

The puzzled look that had been on Rob's face turned to a look of serious concern. Katy would never have missed an exam unless she was sick, and she hadn't called him to let him know there was a problem. Thinking that perhaps she had called 911 for an ambulance, he called both hospitals but neither one had admitted anyone today that could be Katy.

Rob began to look through the whole house for Katy, but didn't find her, and he was getting frantic now. He rushed through the rooms a second time looking for any sign of her, then went to her room and even checked the closet to see if she could possibly be there, but there was nothing.

When Rob went to recheck his bedroom, and opened the storage closet, he immediately saw that the remaining suitcase that had been there was gone. He staggered back as though he'd been struck, sat on the edge of his bed and said, "Oh God, this can't be happening again. This has to be a mistake."

He rushed back to her room and took another, closer look at her closet. There was a gap where several hangers were empty, but he wasn't knowledgeable enough about her clothing to be able to tell what might be missing. He pulled open the drawers of her dresser, and could see that it appeared her socks and underwear drawers were emptier than he expected. After looking around the room, and at the top of her small makeup table, Rob realized there were items missing that he would normally have expected to see there. He wasn't able to see her cell phone or wallet anywhere either.

Rob ran to the phone in the kitchen and dialed 911. When he got through to them he was close to incoherent, but finally made the operator realize that his 14 year old daughter was missing from their home. The 911 operator told him that a patrol car would respond immediately.

Once he was off the phone with the 911 operator Rob realized he hadn't tried to reach Katy on her cell phone, so he immediately called her number. After 2 rings he was told that the customer was 'either out of the service area or away from the phone'. He tried twice with the same result each time. Next Rob phoned two of Katy's best friends.

Neither one had spoken to her since yesterday, nor knew of anything that could explain where she was now. He asked both of them to phone her other friends and ask them if they knew where Katy might be. He had just hung up from the second call when there was a loud knock at the front door.

When he got to the door he discovered that it was officers Johnson and Aikman again, and said, "Thank God you're here. My daughter has gone missing and I can't find any sign of her."

The two officers followed him to his daughter's room where he showed them the lunch bag and the partially empty drawers. He told them of the missing suitcase, and of the fact that she had missed her morning exam. By the time he had finished his explanation Officer Johnson was on his two-way radio asking that Detective Maki be sent to the Walsh home. While they waited for him, the two officers searched the garage and rechecked the house.

Just before Detective Maki arrived both of the girls that Rob had called earlier made calls back to him to let him know that none of Katy's other friends knew where she might be. With that news Rob sat down at the kitchen table, his head between his hands. "My God, my God, what has happened to her," he said.

When Detective Maki came into the house he strode over to Rob, and with his hands on his hips he said, "What in hell is going on in this house? You're reporting that your daughter has gone missing in the same way that your wife disappeared three months ago?"

"That's exactly what has happened," Rob said. "I came home from work tonight and found out that Katy wasn't here, and not only that, she didn't go to school and write her exam as scheduled this morning. There is a suitcase missing, and I can see that it appears some of her clothing is also gone. Maybe I missed seeing them, but I didn't spot her cell phone or her wallet in the house either."

When Detective Maki finished listening to Rob, he turned to the two officers standing in the doorway to the kitchen and said, "You've checked all over the home have you? Any sign of violence anywhere in any of the rooms?"

Officer Johnson said, "There's no sign of the girl in the home. We haven't noticed any signs of a struggle or any indication that there was a violent encounter here."

Maki turned back to Rob and said, "You're either the most unlucky husband and father in all of the state, or there's more to this than meets the eye. When was the last time you saw or spoke to your daughter, Mr. Walsh?"

"I saw her at 7:30 this morning as I was leaving for work, and I phoned her on her cell phone at 8:30 to make sure she was ready for school. That's the last contact I had with her," said Rob.

"What about last night Mr. Walsh, was there any problem around here between you and your daughter? Did the two of you have an argument or disagreement about something last night?"

"Absolutely not," said Rob. "She was studying in her room for her math exam and somewhere around 11 o'clock last night she came out to say goodnight, and that was it for the evening."

"Well, I find it very strange that you've had the same thing happen twice in three months. First you phone us and report that your wife has disappeared, but that she took a suitcase and some of her things with her. You claim that she didn't leave on her own, that someone took her. Now you're claiming that the very same thing has happened to your daughter."

"That's exactly what I'm saying," said Rob. "Everything has happened exactly as I told you it did."

Detective Maki walked over to where the two uniformed officers were standing, and had a quiet conversation with them. Rob wasn't able to hear what was said but it appeared the three of them were in agreement about something because he saw all three of them nodding their heads at one point or another during the conversation. Detective Maki turned back to Rob, and said, "Just wait there for me. I'm going to have the officers show me around the house."

The three of them disappeared down the hallway, and Rob sat dutifully at the kitchen table. He was now holding his head with one hand on his forehead, struggling to keep himself under control, as he was worried sick about Katy. She was only 14 he kept saying to himself, and he wondered if she would be able to take care of herself if she had been abducted. He went over everything in his mind, trying now to make sense of Katy's disappearance. He was having no more luck than when he tried to figure out what had happened to his wife.

Almost five minutes had elapsed before Maki and the two patrol officers returned to the kitchen. Detective Maki said to Rob, "I'm getting the forensics people down here. I want them to check over the house and see if they can find anything to show evidence of a crime. While they're checking the house I want you to come back to the station with me. I'm sure we're going to have a lot more questions for you."

"Thank God you're taking this seriously this time. I told you when my wife disappeared that I wasn't crazy. I told you something happened to her and now it seems the same thing has happened to my daughter. I'll do whatever you want so long as it's going to help you find the two of them," said Rob.

"Grab your coat and come along with me now. These two officers are going to wait here for the forensics team to arrive. I'm going to need your car keys too, because I want them to check over the two vehicles as well as the house. If there is anything here, they will find it. Are you sure there's nothing else that you can think of, anything else you should tell me? Do you have any statement that you'd like to make," said Detective Maki.

"There's nothing I can think of at the moment," said Rob.

Rob went to the hall closet and grabbed his coat from the hanger. He was putting it on as he went out the door, following Detective Maki to his car. The two of them got in, Rob in the passenger seat, and then drove away. Officers Johnson and Aikman waited until the car was out of sight before they both sat down in the kitchen. Their caps were taken off in seconds, and both of them assumed a relaxed position while they waited for the forensics unit to arrive. They knew it would take at least a half an hour, so this break was welcome.

On the drive from his home to the Duluth police station Rob and Detective Maki exchanged very little in the way of conversation. Detective Maki was deep in thought about how he was going to approach the upcoming interrogation of Rob Walsh. Rob was lost in his own thoughts, unable to come up with anything that made any sense to explain what could have happened to his daughter Katy. Not only did nothing make sense, everything he thought of made him deeply concerned for Katy's safety.

The drive to the station only took about 10 minutes, and after they had taken the elevator up to the third floor, Detective Maki led Rob to a small room marked Interrogation Room Six. Rob assumed that the reason this room had been chosen was to give the two of them a quiet venue in which to discuss what could have happened at the Walsh home. He sat down and got comfortable while Detective Maki went out to get his file from Erin's disappearance. The Detective was gone for about five minutes and during that time Rob leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes and tried once again to make sense of what was happening. It was an impossible task for him.

When Detective Maki returned, his jacket was gone and his sleeves had been rolled up. Normally his demeanor displayed a calm and reflective state of mind. Rob didn't notice it at the moment that the Detective sat down, but he soon realized the Detective's attitude had changed to one of gruff determination. Rob also soon realized that he no longer enjoyed the status of victim with the Detective. That change came with the Detective's first question, as he said, "So, what's been going on at your home? A family fight got out of hand?"

"What do you mean a family fight? There has been no family fight in our home at all. We get along great. What are you trying to get at," said Rob.

"Well, it looks pretty much like something went on in your home. Did you and your wife have an argument three months ago? Did you do something to your wife? Did your daughter witness it and now she's decided to tell someone about it? You realize that the forensics team will find the smallest trace of blood or tissue, no matter how well you cleaned up the place," said Maki.

"Are you out of your mind? How can you even ask me a question like that? There is no blood or tissue or anything else like that in our home. I didn't do a thing to my wife or daughter. What happened is exactly what I told you. When my wife disappeared you didn't want to do anything about it, and now that my daughter has disappeared you want to try and blame me?" Rob slammed his hands down on the table in exasperation.

Maki looked up at Rob with an impassive face after Rob's frustrated reaction. For several moments he didn't say anything, but finally said softly, "You seem to get violent very easily. Do you have a short fuse? Is that what happened? Your wife burned your supper and you lost it?"

Rob forced himself to calm down. It was obvious that if he showed Maki how upset he was with the suggestions the Detective had been making that Maki would hold it against him. Rob said calmly, "I have done absolutely nothing to contribute to the disappearance of my wife or my daughter. Absolutely everything that I told you is true. All I want to do is to find them, so please ask me any questions that it will take to get you to believe me. I don't want any more time wasted from searching for them."

"Let me just run this by you, to see if I've got it straight. Three months ago you came home and your wife was gone. She never left for work, but instead packed a bag and disappeared. Not a word from her in three months. Now tonight you come home and your daughter is gone. She packed a bag and disappeared just like her mother. Both of them took a couple of changes of clothes, a few cosmetics and their purse or wallet. Nobody has seen anything. They are just gone, and you believe that I should just accept your word on how it all went down," Detective Maki said.

"That's exactly what happened. You've got the circumstances exactly right," Rob replied. "Now we have to decide what you're going to do to help find them."

Rob looked at his wristwatch and saw that it was only 6:30. All of this had only taken an hour and a half since he had arrived home from work. An hour and a half ago, as he walked up the sidewalk to his home, his life had been as normal as it could get, for someone with a missing wife. Now he was sitting in an interrogation room, with a Detective asking him what he had done to his wife and daughter. It hardly seemed possible for things to go that wrong that quickly.

Detective Maki was writing notes in his pocket notepad and in the file on Erin's disappearance. He spent almost 10 minutes doing this, and Rob was beginning to get impatient. The longer the time spent here, the longer it would take to get started on the search for Katy. Rob knew that the forensics team wasn't going to find anything like the incriminating gore that Detective Maki seemed to expect. He hoped that they might find something that would explain Katy's disappearance. Maybe some fingerprints or a scrap of evidence that he hadn't recognized when he checked around the house.

Rob pulled out his cell phone and dialed Katy's cell again. Detective Maki looked up at him as he did this, but remained silent. When Rob got the same discouraging message from the cell phone as he had received when he tried to reach her from home, he hung up the phone and stuck it back in his shirt pocket. Maki waited until the phone was put away to ask Rob, "Who is that you're trying to call, your legal counsel?"

"No," said Rob, "I was trying to reach Katy on her cell phone. It's turned off or else it is out of range."

Detective Maki looked at Rob with curiosity. He pursed as lips, and then said, "Give me that number and I can arrange to have it monitored. If the phone gets turned on we may be able to figure out where she is."

Rob gave him the number and he wrote it into his notepad. He looked through some of the papers in his file and then gathered everything up and left the room without comment. Rob looked at the door through which he had exited, and clenched his fists in frustration. It seemed that it was going to take forever to get something started in the search for Katy.

Rob was left alone in the interrogation room for almost half an hour this time, time that he spent going over the circumstances of Katy's disappearance. He was really beginning to feel that the police weren't going to do very much to find her, and got up and paced the room while he waited. Finally Detective Maki came back, this time with another man whom he introduced as Detective Black.

"Well, have you decided what to do to find Katy? I really think we need to be doing more than just talking about her. Shouldn't there be announcements on TV reporting her as missing? What about an Amber Alert? Can she be put on that at her age? I really think we need to do something like that," said Rob.

The two Detectives conferred with each other quietly, and Rob wasn't able to hear what they were saying. Finally Detective Maki asked Rob for Katy's date of birth, height, weight and if there were any identifying marks on her. Rob realized that he hadn't yet given the Detective the photographs of Katy, so he pulled them out of the envelope he had brought with him. One was her school picture from the previous fall and was a good likeness except it lacked the blond streak on the left side of her head. The second was one of her photos from Christmas. He gave them the vital statistics they needed along with the pictures.

Detective Maki gave the information to Detective Black and he left the room. When he was gone Detective Maki once again began to question Rob about any violent confrontations there had been in their home. Once again Rob insisted that nothing of that sort had ever occurred.

"You do realize of course, Mr. Walsh, that when we find evidence of an altercation in your home, all of this insistence of yours that nothing has ever happened like that is going to be out the window. It would go an awful lot easier for you if you just tell us what really happened. You may have convinced yourself that we're never going to figure out the real story, but let me assure you, we will," said Maki, in a voice low enough that Rob had to strain to hear him.

Rob got up and paced the floor again. When he had made two circuits from one side of the small room to the other, he sat down across from the Detective and said, "I am willing to answer any question you have, or do anything you want me to do, to get you to believe me when I say that what happened was exactly what I have described to you. Just tell me what I can do to make you believe me. If you use lie detectors or hypnosis, bring them on."

"Surely you realize why I find it difficult to believe you. Your story is very bizarre, but I do have to say that so far we have found nothing to contradict your version. I'm going to go out and get in touch with the forensics team to see how they're making out. I'll be back in a few minutes, and depending on what they have found we'll have another conversation," Detective Maki said, as he stood up and left the room again. This time Rob pounded the table with his fists in a futile expression of his growing frustration.

Rob was left alone for another 15 minutes. This time he simply leaned back and relaxed, knowing that he couldn't really accomplish anything by just thinking about what had happened. He had become so tense that the 15 minutes helped a lot in getting him calmed down. He felt a lot better when Detective Maki finally reentered the room.

"Well, the preliminary report from the forensics team is that there is no sign of any cleanup or any biological evidence. It could be that it has been cleaned up extremely well, but their detailed report and the analysis of the samples that were taken will probably clear that up. Since we can't at this time disprove any element of your story, you can leave for now. I'm going to be back in touch with you tomorrow, once that final report comes back in."

"So, this means that you now accept what I have told you? You're going to be getting Katy's face on TV and in the newspapers, and put out an Amber Alert for her? Thank God for that," Rob said.