After the police arrived, the park was quickly divided up to be questioned. Teddy sat in the driver's seat of her car, clutching Charlie's jacket and crying. She'd given her statement to an officer and had called Bob and Amy, who were on their way. A female officer was rubbing Teddy's back, trying to comfort her, but it was of no use.
"She's gone," Teddy sobbed. "Charlie is gone!"
Through her tears, she heard someone call, "Nunez!" It must have been the woman with Teddy, because she murmured, "I'll be right back."
Teddy watched her walk to another officer a few yards away, but not far enough away that Teddy couldn't hear their conversation.
"A woman stated that she saw the suspect matching Ms. Duncan's description carrying a small blonde girl to a silver Honda minivan before getting in and heading south, while another woman says she saw the suspect speaking with Ms. Duncan at the monkey bars. A third testified that the suspect did not come in to the park with a child, but assumed the suspect was the nanny or a relative of the victim."
Suspect. Victim.
"Oh my God," Teddy whispered. "This is really happening."
The sound of tires screeching grabbed everyone's attention and 43-year-old Amy Duncan came flying out of her car, barely remembering to put the thing in park.
"Teddy? Teddy!"
Mother and daughter met in a hug and Teddy sobbed, "It's all my fault. Charlie's gone and it's all my fault!"
"Shh," Amy soothed, "no it isn't." She so desperately wanted to cry like Teddy, but knew she had to stay strong for her daughter.
"Yes it is! I gave her to that woman," Teddy insisted.
"No." Amy spoke firmly. She wiped the tears from Teddy's cheeks. "No. You didn't know. You had no idea."
"What if they don't find her, Mom?"
Pulling Teddy in for another hug, Amy promised, "They'll find her."
(Later)
By the end of the day, all the Duncans were home, save for PJ and Charlie. Bob had driven up to get Gabe from camp, and PJ had wanted to come home after hearing the news, but Bob and Amy convinced him to stay at school until the weekend. It was an unspoken hope that Charlie would be found by then.
The house was quiet again, but a different kind of quiet. Gabe sat on his bed, staring at his video games, but finding no desire to play them. Teddy had burrowed beneath her covers and cried herself to sleep. Meanwhile, Bob and Amy were glued to the TV, cells in hand, just in case the police called.
But evening turned into night, turned into five AM, when Bob's phone finally rang.
"Hello?" he asked groggily. "Yes, this is he….You did?" Bob shot up from the couch like an arrow. Police had just found the minivan abandoned on the outskirts of town. "Was Charlie inside? Were there any signs of her?"
Bob listened, then sighed. "Okay. Thank you for letting me know…You, too."
"Who was that?" Amy murmured, stretching.
"The police," Bob replied. "They found the minivan. The license plates matched that of a rental stolen in Denver last week. It was completely empty, with no sign of Charlie ever having been there."
"Oh, God, Bob!" Amy began to cry profusely for the first time since the incident over 12 hours ago.
As Bob held his wife, he, too, began to cry.