The man nodded and left, closing the door softly behind him.

“I really don’t want to get thrown out of here,” River said.

“I’m sorry. It’s just that after what you went through . . .”

“I know, I know,” River said softly. “But he didn’t mean anything by it. He was trying to help us.”

“Maybe.” Tony took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I guess I shouldn’t have reacted like that.” He pointed at the picture. “So, what do you make of this?”

“We need to take it to the police and have them check for fingerprints.”

“I can . . .”

River held up her hand. “Let’s let them do it this time. I don’t want to push it.”

“Okay, okay. If you really think it might jeopardize evidence, we’ll do it your way.”

River frowned. “You’re believing Arnie will investigate April’s disappearance—even though her father didn’t file a report?”

Tony nodded. “I’m sure he’ll look into it. Maybe we’re not family, but with our background, he’ll take our concerns seriously.”

“Good,” River said. “I think we need to check with the office supply place. Then we could run by the police department. You can give the letter and the photo to Arnie and let him know what’s going on. After that, we’ll go to Nathan’s and then get you some pizza—if you can survive that long.” She could tell that Tony was already invested in Nathan’s case, even though they hadn’t gone through the phones, laptop, and notebook yet. The photo made it clear to them both that there was something suspicious about what happened to April. She didn’t say anything to him about it, though. They’d decided to wait until tomorrow to tell Nathan if they wanted to pursue the case, so she felt compelled to follow through.

“I guess I’ll have to. If I faint from hunger, just open my mouth and shove something in, okay?”

River laughed. “I can do that. I think I have an old granola bar in my desk. . . .”

“Uh, never mind.” He grimaced and shook his head. “But before we go, I’d like to take just a second and talk about what’s written on the picture.”

River sighed. “I guess we should. I think I’m getting used to being threatened.”

“Yeah, I know. Didn’t happen this much when we were with the FBI.”

“It never happened when we worked for the FBI. Well, except that once . . .”

He grinned. “You mean when the crazed serial killer tried to murder us?”

River nodded. “Yeah, this seems much milder than that.”

“Thankfully. As you know, most killers don’t warn their victims first. The Salt River Strangler’s protégé likes to mess with his victims. He’s a narcissist. He gets some of his jollies by causing fear before he strikes. But this is . . . nothing. I don’t think this is someone who really intends to hurt us. Why would he warn us first? Unless he thinks we’re wimps and we’re going to back off because of something like this.”

“Then he doesn’t know us very well, does he?”

“No, he doesn’t,” Tony said.

River stood up. “The thing that bothers me is that he obviously followed Nathan and took a picture. That shows some commitment.”

“True.” Tony was quiet for a moment before meeting her gaze. “I’m not sure what to think. Why was he following Nathan? And why warn us?”

“Good questions. I don’t know the answers.” She sighed. “Let’s get going.”

She grabbed her purse and coat and waited for Tony to join her. Once he shrugged on his coat, they walked out of the office and locked the door behind them.

When they got downstairs and stepped out of the building, the cold January air hit them like a punch in the face. River pulled up her coat collar and put her head down. The wind fought against them as they made their way to the car.

Their trip to the office supply company yielded nothing. No one saw anything, and as Dustin had said, there weren’t any cameras outside the store.

Next, they went by the police station to drop off Nathan’s letter and the photo they’d received. For once, Tony didn’t kick up a fuss about River waiting in the car for him. No one was dumb enough to come after her in the department’s parking lot. She watched Tony walk to the door. Once he got inside, she took out her phone and pulled up April’s Facebook pages. Tony had seen them, but she wanted to look at them herself. She’d been going through them for several minutes when the driver’s side door opened, causing her to jump.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you,” Tony said as he got into the car.

“You’re fine. I was concentrating.”

“I realize that takes a lot out of you,” Tony said with a grin.

“You’re a laugh a minute. What did Arnie say?”

“He was in a meeting. I left the envelope with a brief message and said I’d explain about it later.”

As Tony drove out of the parking lot, River sent up a silent prayer for help. For some reason she felt a sense of urgency. If, by some miracle, April was still alive, and if the person who had her knew that Nathan had come to them for help, it could mean that keeping April alive was becoming too risky for them.

CHAPTER

NINE

After checking in with the guard positioned at the gate to Nathan’s complex, they finally located Nathan’s unit.

“There it is,” River said suddenly, pointing toward a row of numbered residences. It was a nice complex with attractive townhomes.

Tony pulled up in front of Nathan’s place, then he looked around. “Pretty fancy,” he said. “Guess he was telling the truth about having money.”

“At least if we take this case, we should get paid.”

“Well, my dad did send us a nice check,” Tony said.

“Which we returned. We can’t accept money from your father. We helped him because he’s family.”

“You know I feel the same way, but he wasn’t too happy about it.” Tony laughed. “You watch. He’ll find some way to give the money back to us. He’s pretty sneaky.”

“Well, we’re pretty cagey ourselves.”

“Yes, we are. Hopefully, we’re cagey enough to find out what happened to April Bailey.”

River sighed.

Tony frowned at her. “You think this case is a dead end?”

“Interesting choice of words,” she said. “I just hate thinking that if we find April, it will be too late. Nathan will be devastated.”