I'm assuming that upon first getting home after his son was missing, AS would take a look around the house & garage. He'd look for what Gannon might have taken with him. Even though TS initially said Gannon left to walk to a friend's house, I'm thinking AS would've noticed pretty darn fast if Gannon's bike was missing. As a parent, that would be one of the first things I would think to check if my kid "ran away." JMO
Nope, the whole bike story was just smoke & mirrors. It did meet some criteria & purpose for TS though:
-She needed an explanation for taking the truck beside the BS about mileage on her SUV.
Enter the bike story & hauling used sports equipment to Play It Again Sports! She may have
taken a bat or some "used" items in the bed of the truck, but not to go to PIAS!
-Image/Public Perception= Aren't I the best most thoughtful wife to be out buying a
Valentine gift (bike) for my husband?
MOO
Your post made me think about the previous evening (Monday). I believe TS and AS were in frequent contact via messenger or text while he was gone. AS was the one "in charge" of whether Gannon went to a friend's house and it was customary for TS to share all information about Gannon's whereabouts with AS.
TS calls AS about Gannon's disappearance sometime around 6 pm on Monday (I'm guessing). We know she called 911 around 6:55, but I believe she had had intense conversations with AS before that.
If as AS says, Gannon followed the "street light rule," then he should have come home around 5:30 pm. I guess they were accustomed to letting Gannon play on his street without much supervision, counting on him to come back at a sensible time. AS would have been told by TS that Gannon left home around 3:15 for a "friend's house." AS has to have freaked out that Gannon isn't home at dusk. And that TS has no clue where he went. I don't think she'd made up the story about a mysterious stranger or companion at that point.
That's when AS must have gotten a big chill of panic.
How can it be that TS has no clue which friend's house? Has TS gone to every house nearby (surely she knows which houses have kids close by? If not, what is possibly the explanation for that?)? AS says he begins to text every friend of Gannon's that he knows about, but wouldn't AS be incredibly upset that TS did not, herself, organize an early search?
HH and TS could have gone up and down the street, calling for Gannon and door knocking. I don't think they did that. At any rate, if TS wanted to bolster a story of her own innocence,
she would have described all her heroic actions to find Gannon on Monday night - and she never does. She evades the entire topic.
MSM reports that some in the neighborhood searched for Gannon on Monday night. There is an active Nextdoor community in the neighborhood, etc. But TS never mentions searching, despite all her attempts to come out of this smelling like a rose.
AS immediately makes arrangements to come back to CS. That must have been a really difficult 12 hour period for him. Why did TS wait until around 6:30 to call him? How does she not know exactly where Gannon went? It's a school night, he was supposed to be home sick. Why is he out playing?
TS tells AS that Gannon's phone contained a recent search about "can my parents track me on my phone." This is her "proof" that Gannon is a runaway. So TS probably tells AS that when she didn't see Gannon outside and he hadn't come home, that she called him on his phone, but learned he had left his phone at home. He appears to have run away. So the two of them decide that TS should call 911 and report him as a runaway, but AS is already suspicious. Why would Gannon run away? AS knows nothing about the events of Sunday (that are gradually leaking out, with a kind of media black hole around the events of late Sunday evening). But AS has to suspect that Gannon must have had a reason to rise up off his sick bed and run away. Without his phone. Why was Gannon feeling so desperate?
Next morning, AS arrives to find that TS has inexplicably rented a car (when they have three available at the house). Does she leave his truck at the airport (so that he can't tell that she used it)? He must have been quite suspicious. If his truck was still at the house, then he probably wondered why she was driving it and why things in the back were rearranged, compared to when he left on Saturday.
AS arrives home and sees that Gannon's bike is missing. Some of his electronics are missing (but apparently, not his backpack?) Gannon rode off on his bike, holding a Switch? Without his phone? Unlikely. Gannon probably didn't ride his bike when he was just going a few houses down. AS checks again with all of Gannon's friends and finds that no one saw him on Monday. Neither HH or Laina remembers seeing Gannon on Monday, either (moo).
Laina is probably acting strangely and may be reluctant to give up all information she has (which is plenty). I think TS left the family home right after AS arrived and certainly by the time LH arrives later in the day. She may have slept in that rental car. AS and LH talk to the police and TS is a main topic. TS seems strangely unconcerned about Gannon's disappearance and everything she says lacks convincing detail. Neighbors talk to AS with their suspicions. Some of them saw strange activity around the house on Sunday night and some were aware of various goings-on, on Monday morning.
We now know that LE considered TS a suspect as early as Tuesday. Before RD's video is known. I believe LE asked her not to leave the area (and at some point, processed her as a POI, taking her cheek swab and her fingerprints, and eventually, her passport, impounding all vehicles involved, and
telling her not to leave the area). IMO.