“Yes, yes. You’re adorable.” River got up and grabbed her notebook. Then she brought it over to her desk. “We can go through my notes, and anything I didn’t get, we can see on my phone.”
“Before we do that, let me call the detective in charge of the case and tell him about the podcast.”
“I’m not sure what they can do,” River said. “Can they actually tell us who removed the episodes? Wouldn’t whoever did it have to have access to April’s login information?”
“Sure. That’s why the first person I’d look at is Nathan. Supposedly, April wasn’t close to her father, and she didn’t want him to know about the podcast. I’m pretty sure it couldn’t have been him.” Tony picked up his phone and made a call.
While he talked to the detective, River began looking through her notebook. She had a lot of notes from the Casanova case. She even found some scribbles she couldn’t decipher. It wasn’t the first time she hadn’t been able to read her own writing. She quickly pulled up the pictures she’d taken with her phone. She planned to send them to her laptop so they’d be easier to read, but she hadn’t done that yet. She also grabbed April’s notebook out of the tote bag and brought it over to her desk. As she looked through the pages, she saw something written in a margin that had to do with the Casanova case. This was the first time she’d noticed it. April had written the name Brent Wilkins. Who was that? Although she had no idea, something about the name struck a chord with her. As if she’d seen or heard the name before. Could it be someone who phoned in a tip? Had the name been mentioned somewhere else in April’s notebook? Or on her podcast? Of course, there were a lot of reasons it might seem familiar. Maybe River had known someone with a similar name. Hopefully, she’d remember at some point, but right now she couldn’t pull up any connection.
“Everything okay?” Tony asked. “You’re frowning.”
“Yeah. Just a name April wrote down here. I have no idea why she thought it was important. No explanation. Maybe I’ll find it somewhere else in her notes. So, what did the detective say about April’s site?”
“He said they’d noticed it was gone, and they’re already looking into it,” Tony said. “He also asked that you send him the pictures of the site. The good news is that most hosting companies keep copies of the podcast for at least ninety days. The police can request those copies, but they have no idea how long that could take. For now, they want the information we have.”
“I want to call Nathan,” River said. “I need to ask him a question.”
“Like whether or not he has the login information? After thinking about it, I realize it would be very difficult for him to do something like that with the police department watching him.”
“You’re right. I’ll bet they already checked that out themselves. They may not be looking for April, but I’m sure they’ve come to the conclusion that what happened to Kevin could be connected to her disappearance.”
River picked up her phone and called Nathan, not sure he’d actually answer. When he did, he sounded stressed. She couldn’t blame him.
“Nathan, April’s podcast is gone,” River said.
“I know. The police already checked my laptop and my phone to make certain I didn’t do it. To be honest, I don’t even remember her sign-in information. I have enough trouble remembering my own passwords.”
“Did she make a note of it somewhere?”
Nathan was silent for a moment before saying, “Yes. She kept a small planner with all of her account information. It had blue flowers on it. When I went through her apartment, I didn’t see it. To be honest, until you mentioned it, I’d forgotten all about it.”
“Could you have missed it? Could it still be there?”
“No, her father cleaned everything out and took what was left. He waited a couple of months before he did that. I think he was hoping she’d come home on her own. I couldn’t blame him.”
“Is there any way he’d delete her episodes?”
“No, he’s not good with the Internet, and like I told you, he didn’t know about April’s podcast.”
“Okay, thanks,” River said. “How are you doing?”
“Well, they’re letting me work, and at least I feel safe. Have you figured out what’s going on yet?”
“Not yet. It will take a little time, but we’re working on it. You just relax and stay positive. We’re going through all of April’s cases to see who might want to stop you from trying to find her—or who might be concerned about someone reopening her cases. When we have something solid, we’ll let you know.”
“Okay. I just . . . really want to go home.”
“I know. Hang in there,” River said, trying to sound positive. She felt bad for Nathan, but she and Tony were doing their best. “Hey, before we hang up, have you heard the name Brent Wilkins? April wrote it down in her notes. It sounds familiar to me.”
Nathan was silent for a moment. “Sounds familiar to me too, but right now I can’t place it. If I remember I’ll call you back.”
“Thanks, Nathan.”
When she hung up, she told Tony about their conversation.
“So, Nathan didn’t take the episodes down,” he said. “Not sure what happened to the planner. Maybe Nathan missed it.”
“Could the person who took April have also stolen the planner?”
“And left all her other belongings behind?” Tony asked. “Doesn’t make any sense. Maybe it was still in the apartment and her dad took it. It probably wouldn’t have meant much to him since he didn’t know about the podcast.”
River sighed. “It could be anywhere. Besides, if the person or persons who took April wanted her sign-in information, they could have gotten it from her.”
“If she’s still alive.”
“Did Armbruster give you an email address to send the photos?” River asked.
“Yeah.” Tony read it off while River wrote it down. “You know we need to tell them we have April’s laptop, notebook, and phone. They may want to see them.”
“I’m surprised they haven’t asked for them yet. Maybe Nathan didn’t tell them that he gave them to us. I know they’re concentrating on Kevin’s murder, but by now they’ve got to be looking at the connection between Kevin and April’s podcast.”
“I agree,” Tony said. “We need to tell them the truth. If they don’t want April’s things, fine. Either way it won’t impact our investigation since we have copies of almost everything.”
“I’ll send the photos to Armbruster and let him know about them. We’ll leave it to him.”
“Okay,” Tony said. “I think that’s the right move.”
“We have a lot of work to do.”
