“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.
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.”
