"Are we all set over there? Confirm with two knocks," he said aloud.

Two knocks sounded on the wall.

The FBI had equipped the room with a tiny powerful microphone in the overhead lighting system and a hidden camera lens near a wall poster of the park.

Only Zander, Bowman, Sydowski and Thornton would be present for interviews with the Bakers. The others would observe from the second adjoining room. Before she left, Nora Lam had taken Zander just outside of microphone range and cautioned him.

"You know you cannot use anything unless you Mirandize her?"

"And you know I won't get anything if I do."

"You drop the ball here, Agent Zander, and you have no case."

"Ms. Lam, if I do not talk to her, we have no way of knowing if we have a case."

"I'm just letting you know you're on thin ice here."

"All part of my job."

They saw Bowman approaching with Emily, who had emerged with her hair pulled back in a tight ponytail. She had scrubbed her face in an attempt to freshen up, but her reddened eyes and sniffles betrayed her anguish as she was directed to a chair at the table.

"Emily, you've met everyone here, except Walt Sydowski, with the San Francisco Police."

"Hello, Mrs. Baker," Sydowski extended his big hand. Emily took it and nodded. Zander sat across from her, Bowman to her left, with Sydowski sitting a non-threatening distance away at one end of the table and Thornton at the other. All had notebooks and file folders, the contents of which Emily could not see.

"We have juice, muffins, tea, coffee, fruit?" Bowman offered.

"No thanks."

All of them wore dead serious faces. Sydowksi looked very familiar to her, but she could not place him. Why was someone here from the San Francisco Police Department? She was so confused, so tired.

"Emily, as you know, everything is being done to find Paige," Zander said.

She nodded.

"And as we told you, we're part of a team whose job is to make sure we've not only searched everywhere but looked at all the possibilities that could help us find her."

Emily nodded.

"We'd just like to get a clear a picture of how she became lost, maybe we missed something. Will you help us with all you remember?"

"Of course." Her voice was weak.

"Tell us what happened that morning."

"We were going to stay at the campsite. I decided I would go off by myself to the ridge, ahead on the trail. Paige was picking flowers near the campsite. Doug was gathering firewood and was going to read, I think."

"What were you going to do on the ridge?"

"Just meditate, take pictures."

"So you went alone?"

"Yes."

"Down the ridge, about one hundred yards from your camp?"

She nodded.

"Could you see or hear your campsite from there? See or hear Doug and Paige talking? Hear the dog if it barked?"

"No, it was too far and wooded."

"How long were you gone?"

"A couple of hours. Three, maybe four."

"In that time, did you see anyone, any other hikers, anyone?"

Emily shook her head.

"What was Paige's state of mind when you left?"

Emily looked at her empty hands on the table in front of her. "She might have been scared," Emily sniffed. "Oh God."

Bowman put a hand on her should. "It's OK."

"Doug and I quarreled along the trail the day before. Just stupid husband-and-wife stuff about how long we should hike in the park. We were all tired and stressed from the flight and rushing from San Francisco to get here. But Emily thought the quarrel was serious. She thought we were getting a divorce."

"Are you?"

"No." Emily sniffed; Bowman passed her tissue.

Zander surveyed the others with glances.

"If Paige were upset, why would you leave her?"

Tears rolled down her face. "I was upset too. I wanted to be alone. I was upset with Doug." Then weakly she added, "Myself."

"Was there stress in your family before and during the trip?"

Emily nodded.

"Tell us about it."

"Like I said, just normal suburban-living crap. Doug's job, my job. We could not decide where to go on vacation. Doug wanted Paris. I wanted the mountains, you know, get away from everything, take pictures, recharge. Paige wanted Paris, too. She had never hiked before. I thought it would be good for her to get away from all cities, know that there is more to life than the mall and the Internet. We decided on the Mountains at the last minute. Sort of rushed out here. But the trip became a disaster with us arguing. Just stupid family arguing and we hurt Paige with it."

"What do you mean?"

Emily put her crumpled fists to her mouth and closed her eyes tight.

"I think she got mad at us. Ran off on purpose to be alone too, not knowing the danger. Then got lost. Got really lost. Oh God. It's my fault. It's all my fault!" Emily covered her face with her hands.

"It's OK." Bowman comforted her as a helicopter rattled overhead.

Zander noticed Thornton and Sydowski touching up their notes. When the noise outside subsided, Zander continued.

"You work as a photographer?"

"Yes I have my own studio. I freelance. I've been busy."

"And Doug, he's a teacher?"

"Beecher Lowe High School. He teaches English and coaches football."

"What was Doug's state of mind when you left alone to meditate?"

"He was upset too, at me and everything."

"Just arguing and stuff?"

Emily nodded.

"And you think it forced Paige to run away?"

"Yes."

"Has she ever run away before?"

"No."

"Would you say there was additional stress in your family prior to the trip?"

Emily thought for a long time. Zander repeated the question.

She shook her head.

"No career problems, money problems, marital problems?"

She shook her head.

"Are you or Doug under a doctor's care, taking any medication?"

"No," Emily's tone signaled that she was becoming offended by some of Zander's questions.

"No psychiatric care?"

"No, I usually talk to my friends about personal problems."

"Emily, did you meet anyone in the park who seemed unusually friendly to Paige, or your family?"

"No."

"Paige was familiar with the Internet?"

"Yes. She chatted with friends about clothes, movies, music."

"Is it conceivable Paige could have arranged a secret meeting here with a friend she met on the Internet?"

"I don't know, we monitor her fairly closely. We have filters."

"Since arriving, do you recall any incidents along the way, any altercations, or anyone that may have followed you here to settle a score?"

She shook her head.

"Is there anyone in San Francisco who might want to harm your family or hurt Paige, anyone who has upset her?"

"No. Nothing like that. Not that we know I--you think it is possible she was abducted from us? Do you know something? Oh God--" Emily sniffed.

"We don't know anything like that. We have no evidence of anything, nothing to indicate that anyone has harmed Paige. Emily, we're just trying to learn everything, every aspect of the circumstances before she got lost."

"I am so scared. I am so confused. It is all my fault, don't you see?"

Zander was silent.

"What kind of mother let's her child run off into the mountains?" Emily asked.

Zander let her self-recrimination sit in the air for a moment.

"Emily what did Doug tell you about Paige's state of mind before she got lost?"

She stared at the table, collecting her thoughts.

"He thought she had gone down the trail to be with me, to join me."

"Why did he think that?"

"Because she was upset."

"Upset? How?"

"From our argument; then he hurt his hand chopping wood."

"Did you see him hurt his hand?"

"No. When I left Paige was picking flowers or playing with Kobee in her tent. I am not sure. I was upset."

"Did Doug have a hurt hand while you were there? Did you see him injure himself?"