Tony stared at her for a moment, then said, “River, you know the chance that we’ll find April alive isn’t good. Unless she purposely left her father and Nathan behind, she would have contacted one of them by now.”

“I know. We’re used to seeing the worst outcomes. But there’s a part of me that can’t stop hoping that someday we’ll get that fairy-tale ending, you know? It’s not impossible.”

“But . . .”

River held up her hand. “You don’t need to protect me. I understand the situation.”

Tony smiled. “You amaze me. You’ve survived a nightmare most people couldn’t. But here you are, holding out hope for this girl.”

“With God, nothing is impossible.”

He nodded. “You’re right. But the Bible also tells us to guard our hearts and minds.”

“Point taken.”

Tony took a sip of his coffee, then said, “So, what can you tell me about these cases? We don’t have much time. We need to leave around five-thirty so we can get to Nathan’s by six.”

“First of all, let’s divide the work. You want the laptop, the phone, or the notebook?”

Tony sighed. “I can download the laptop and go through the phone. Why don’t you take the notebook? Since you identify with her, you might get more out of it than I would.”

“Exactly what I was going to suggest.”

“Great minds think alike,” Tony said with a grin.

River took a sip of her coffee and then picked up her own notebook. Like April, she liked to write her thoughts down on paper. It was what she was used to. Besides, writing something down helped her remember it.

“I guess we should wait before going through the cases in detail. We just don’t have time now. I can at least tell you what she called them. Like I said, there are seven different cases. Okay, first up, we have what April called the case of the Missing Mother. After that, there’s the case of the Railroad Rage, followed by the case of the Convenience Store Carnage.”

“They all have titles like this?”

“Yes,” River said. “I guess she needed to call them something.”

“Not sure I’m a fan of cutesy titles for crimes where people lost their lives.”

For some reason, River felt a little defensive. She realized that she needed to disconnect herself from April. Seeing the truth in situations where murders had been committed needed a certain detachment—the ability to see things clearly and without emotion. Her bond to April could cause her a problem she didn’t need.

“After that, we have the case of the Hit-and-Run Hitchhiker, the case of the Virtuous Volunteer, the case of the Disappeared Diabetic, and finally, the case of the Castlewood Casanova.”

“Are these in any particular order?”

River shook her head. “I thought maybe she’d list the older cases first, but I don’t see any rhyme or reason when it comes to how they’re listed. I do want to say that even if you don’t like the titles, I’m very impressed with her ability to detail each one. What’s on her podcast is for the public. I’m interested in what she’s done regarding background research and any tips she may have received. There are some updates following some of the original podcasts. We’ll need to listen to all of them at some point—if we take this case.”

“Sound good,” Tony said. “Hey, I’ve got nothing in my fridge. I’d like to get something to eat before we go over to Nathan’s.”

“How can you be hungry?” River asked, a look of bewilderment on her face.

“I just have a faster metabolism than you do.”

River shook her head. “You should weigh four times more than you do. I don’t get it.”

He looked at the clock. “We could run by that pizza place you like so much.”

“I thought you didn’t like it because they serve froufrou pizza.”

Tony shrugged. “Pizza should have red sauce and lots of pepperoni and sausage. White sauce with eggplant and chicken?” He shivered dramatically. “No thanks.”

“They do have red sauce and fatty meats. You’ll be fine.”

“I guess so. I’ll just pretend it’s the only thing they serve.”

River laughed. “You really are fragile, aren’t you?”

“No one should mess with pizza.”

River was about to make a snarky comment when the door to their office opened. It was the building manager, Dustin. “I’m sorry to bother you folks, but something was delivered to my office that I think you should see.”

He walked over and handed a large manila envelope to River, whose desk was closest to the door. She took it and thanked him. Instead of leaving, he stood there, looking distinctly uncomfortable. What was going on? River looked at the front of the envelope. There was nothing written on it.

“You opened it?” she asked him.

He nodded. “Someone slid it under the back door of my personal office. My security guard saw it when he was making his rounds and brought it to me. Whoever left this found the one exterior door in the building that doesn’t have a security camera covering it.”

River looked over at Tony and frowned. He got up, grabbed a pair of gloves, and brought them to her. After putting them on, she reached into the envelope and pulled out what was inside. It was a rather fuzzy photo printed onto paper, but it was clearly a picture of Nathan Hearne walking out of the building. Written across the bottom were the words Stay away from April Bailey, or you’ll be sorry!

CHAPTER

EIGHT

Tony grabbed a glove and took the picture from River. After looking it over, he addressed Dustin, who was still standing there.

“There’s nothing else you can tell us?”

“No, like I said, there isn’t a security camera back there. Across the street, there’s a small parking lot for the office supply company’s employees. They don’t have a camera there either, but you might wanna ask them if anyone who works there saw anything.”

“Thanks,” Tony said. “We appreciate you bringing this to us.”

Instead of leaving, he stood there, shifting his weight from foot to foot.

“Is there something else?” River said.

“Look,” he said slowly. “I’m not tryin’ to make trouble, but the landlord isn’t gonna like this. After what happened a couple of months ago . . .”

“You mean when my partner was attacked in this office . . . by the man you hired to clean the building?” Tony knew he sounded angry, but for this guy to be threatening them right now made his blood boil. They’d spent their own money to put the cameras up, and now he was upset because someone was trying to intimidate them?

The man held his hand up. “I’m not gonna tell the landlord . . . this time. But I’m jes tellin’ you that he’s kicked people out for less. I like you people, and I don’t wanna see that happen.”

“We appreciate that,” River said quickly. Tony knew she was trying to keep him from another angry retort.