Oh, I'll bet the female foster caregiver was doing the frantic thing.
The timeline of events is emerging.
Personally I think the male caregiver left twice. The second time he left IMO was because the household was a zoo. It wasn't about internet access, it was for QUIET.
While he was away, something happened. Impelling the female caregiver to take a clandestine drive, of which she told no one. Key, I believe she intentionally took no phone. It was indeed a hurried, harried, frantic drive. Arrived back home, saw the text from her husband, raced back out, all the while forming and reforming a story.
While we were waiting....
Waiting for what?
The police to arrive? No sense searching anymore if you've "decided" he's been taken...
Waiting for the male caregiver to return home? As a maje-believe starting point?
I fully believe she intended to gaslight the foster grandmother and Wm's sister, confident she could bend time with them. Wm roared. Daddy Tiger. Then Mommy Monster. [Gap in time.] Then rummaging through cabinets.
But the foster grandmother did note a passage of time, enough so that she got up to investigate.... 5 minutes? 20? How cold was her tea? How many times was tea made and served?
IMO the male caregiver was (purposefully) led to believe that Wm had just disappeared, hence his rushed response. Wm would've been very near, had he just wandered off. No one bothered to mention it had been a while. Long enough for a scenic drive....
The clues are there. Between the story-crafting on the one side and the male caregiver and foster grandmother's recollections and reactions on the other.
I think we're getting very close to piecing it together!
JMO