Kayli Unknown

Chapter 37 - A Dresser Drawer in Niagara

Kat was pretty confident there was no one within a thousand miles of Amberg with the last name of "Walla." But add "ce" to that eight letter minimum log-in, and everything pointed to Lisa. Kat would find out fast enough. It was just a ten minute drive to Niagara. It took two minutes more to get through the unlocked front door and the ancient lock at the top of the stairs. One lock to go – the dresser drawer. Kat's pocket knife got her inside that.

Ropes and gags – some cloth, some leather. The drawer was full. But under that was a photo album. Kat pulled that out and moved to Lisa's kitchen table.

"K" was the inscription on the front of the album. Inside the front cover was a copy of a birth certificate. Menominee Hospital, Menominee, Michigan. July 2, 2007. Kevin Louis Wallace. Mother – Lisa Elaine Wallace. Father – blank. Baby pictures filled the next four pages. Cute baby. Lots of smiles. Sometimes asleep in bed, but mostly in his mother's arms. Lisa looked happy, and proud.

Toddler pictures took the next several pages. Bulging diapers as the baby crawled from the camera, a fist full of food sitting in a high chair, a wide look of surprise as the child stared at a single candle on a birthday cake. Then the child walking, arms upraised as she struggles for balance. Shorts and a shirt in several pictures, a bright yellow dress in another.

Dave Kekkonen walked through the door.

"Downstairs neighbor called in a B&E."

"I didn't break, but I did enter. I found Kayli's photo album." Kat motioned to a seat at the table, and turned the album so Dave could see.

"So Lisa's the mother?"

"Yes, but there's no sign Kayli ever lived here." Kat gestured around the room. There was little sign that Lisa lived in the apartment, much less a child.

"Lisa was from Iron River. Maybe that's where she kept her." Dave turned back the pages to read the birth certificate, then paged through the baby pictures.

"Maybe."

"It explains the bar." Dave paused there. He was thinking as he talked. "Kayli didn't go there to meet a logger. She was looking for her mother."

"Yes. Makes sense." Kat was impressed by how quickly Dave had made that connection. She immediately agreed. "She knows where her mother works. She somehow doesn't know her mother was not working that night."

"I'm assuming you don't know where Lisa is now?" Dave had stopped looking at the album, and was looking at Kat. This was now an interview.

"I haven't seen her since the memorial service."

"Well, now we know there was a family member at the service."

"Dave, I don't know that Lisa committed a crime. Granted, she could have told us she was Kayli's mother. So maybe, she is guilty of impeding an investigation. But, should we chase her down over that?"

"I'd like to know why Kayli was running to her mother, but no, I don't want to arrest Lisa. Given her mental condition, it was probably best she put the child in foster care or with some relative. I'll call a friend in the Iron River PD to see if they are missing a twelve year old girl – or boy – but I'll leave Lisa alone."

"I think girl." Kat quickly paged through the next pages. Kayli was dressed as a girl in all of them. "She seems pretty committed to that identity."

"Agreed." Dave stood and took a step back from the table. "There's a bar fight in Wausaukee I hope will be over by the time I get there. I assume you will put everything back when you are done here."