River felt some peace for the first time since hearing about her father’s visit. “Thank you. See you in the morning?”

“You bet. Good night.”

“Good night.”

River forced herself to gather her sweats and head to the bathroom for her shower. She continued thinking about the case so she could forget about her father for a while. But there was something else picking at her, trying to get her attention. It was as if it were just out of her grasp, yet she kept trying to reach it. Frankly, it was beginning to wear her down.

She’d just started shampooing her hair when it hit her. She quickly rinsed, got out of the shower, and hurried back to the bedroom, where she’d left her cellphone. As soon as Tony answered, she told him what she’d realized.

CHAPTER

TWENTY-FOUR

Although the place he’d picked was largely deserted, he waited until the last car was gone and no one had come by for quite some time. Then he drove to the spot he’d scouted out earlier. It was perfect. A group of trees close to the river. He’d searched for a while before he’d found it. Spruces don’t lose foliage during the winter, so pulling down some branches to cover the old chest wouldn’t look suspicious. The last time River had faced the Strangler, the chest had been taken from the trunk of a car. It had taken too long. She’d almost gotten her hands on a gun and ruined the fun. This time, her coffin would be on site. Ready to go.

He turned off his headlights and took the chest out of his trunk. After that, he carried it to a spot beneath the trees, broke off several branches, and covered it up. Then he gathered up lots of dead leaves and placed them in any bare spots. After a few minutes, he walked a few feet away from the trees and gazed at his work. Perfect. No one would suspect anything.

He laughed softly. The clock was ticking on River Ryland’s life and her coffin was ready. She would soon belong to him forever.

TONY PICKED RIVER UP EARLY, and they drove to the office. Watson was secured in the back seat by a special harness. The puggle seemed extremely happy to be going with them. River knew Tony didn’t want to take advantage of the landlord’s willingness to allow pets, but she wished she could spend more time around him. Watson was getting a little older and his once-blond snout was now flecked with gray. River didn’t like to think about Watson’s mortality. If anything happened to the small, friendly dog, Tony would be devastated—and so would she.

She’d tried to call Dan before she left, but she’d reached his voicemail. She almost left a message but at the last minute just hung up. She felt they needed to talk, and she didn’t want their contact to become a series of voicemail messages.

When they reached the office, she waited in the car while Tony took Watson for a brief walk. Once Watson had done his business, they came back to the car and the three of them went upstairs. In the elevator, River kept reaching down to pet his soft head. He looked up at her with affection. He’d captured her heart long ago, and she wondered if he knew how much she loved him.

Once inside the office, Watson settled down into the soft dog bed Tony brought from home. Tony made a phone call, and when he was done, they talked about the situation that had arisen last night. They weren’t completely in agreement on how to proceed, but River reminded Tony that no matter what else was going on, they had to concentrate on the cases left on April’s list. A man had died, and they needed to try to figure out how to stop the UNSUB before he hurt someone else.

“We’ve got to focus on what’s in front of us,” she told him. “We have a client to think about. We’ll work out the details of this other thing with Arnie. We’ve got the upper hand now. Remember that.”

Tony was silent for a moment. “You may be right, but I don’t like it. I think it’s too dangerous.”

“Duly noted. Now let me grab my notebook.”

Tony sighed loudly and shook his head. “Okay, I guess I’ll make coffee. But this discussion isn’t over.”

“Just black for me,” she said, ignoring him.

Tony stopped in his tracks and turned to look at her. “Excuse me?”

“I’m flashing back to the time our coffee was tampered with.”

“I don’t think you need to worry about that,” Tony said.

“I know. Just humor me.”

He shrugged. “Black it is.”

After he’d brewed both cups, he placed them on River’s desk and then grabbed a chair. “When I talked to Arnie, he told me they weren’t able to track down Lamont Cranston. His account is fake, and he used public computers when he posted. So that’s a dead end.”

“Exactly what Nathan said.”

Tony nodded. “So back to April’s cases.”

River looked through her notebook, flipping the pages. Finally, she found what she was looking for. “This one is called the case of the Hit-and-Run Hitchhiker. According to April, three years ago, a woman named Cheryl Armitage was on her way home after drinking at a bar on the outskirts of St. Louis, in a rather isolated area.” She looked up at Tony. “A case close to home.” Then she went back to her notes. “After the bar closed, her car wouldn’t start. Everyone had gone home except the bartender, who wouldn’t open the door when she knocked. According to him, he wasn’t allowed to reopen once he’d locked up.” River glanced up once again. “I don’t think he wanted to deal with her. He could have at least called someone to help her, even the police, yet he chose to ignore her.”

“Maybe he thought she was just trying to get another drink.”

“Possibly, but I’ll bet he wonders now if he should have done something.” River took a sip of her coffee then went back to her notes. “It seems she tried to phone her ex-husband, but he ignored her call because their divorce was rancorous. She then tried to contact her mother, but she was in bed and had turned her ringer down. She didn’t discover the call until the next morning after she got up. After that, it appears she attempted to hitchhike home. A few people reported seeing her on the side of the road trying to get a ride, but they didn’t stop to pick her up since she was so obviously inebriated. One person did phone the police, hoping they would help her, but before they could get there, Cheryl was struck by a car. The driver left her there in the road and drove away. Cheryl was taken to the hospital by ambulance, but the doctors in the ER couldn’t save her. The police were never able to locate the driver.” River sighed. “This is so sad. Would you have stopped for her?”

“That’s a tough question for a man by himself,” Tony said, “but if she was actually in the road? Yes, I’d have to. I couldn’t just leave her there.”

“That’s because you’re a good man,” River said.

“Thank you. I know you would have stopped too.”

“You’re right. If just one person would have waited with her until the police came . . .” River sighed. “It’s hard to believe that no one cared. I mean, sure, someone finally called the police, but they left her walking down a rather deserted road late at night.”

“So did April have any responses to her podcast?” Tony asked.

“Yes, according to her notes, a few people contacted April. She’d asked her listeners to look for anyone with damage to the front of their cars around the time of the accident. There were some leads, but none of them panned out. The police followed up on all of them, but either the reasons for the damage were explained, or the drivers had solid alibis. In the end, the police had to move on. April refers to a Detective Porter here and underlined his name. He was the detective in charge of the case.”

“This probably is a case of hit-and-run,” Tony said, “but I’d like to know more about the ex-husband. Maybe he didn’t answer his phone, but if she left him a message, he would have known where she was. Were there children? Any kind of custody battle? Could he have had a motive to kill his wife?”

River looked at her laptop where she had April’s notes. “I don’t think so. Not unless I missed something. And he had an alibi. He was out of town at the time.” She looked over at Tony. “Hey, I told you about the notes she’d torn off and stuffed in a pocket of her notebook?”

Tony nodded.

“I looked them over, but not as closely as I should have. I see something I missed before. April made some additional notes about this case . . . and the ex-husband. She confirms that he had an alibi. But then she scribbled something. . . . It’s hard to make out. I think it says that she spoke to an EMT who helped Cheryl at the scene and rode with her to the hospital. Before she died, she whispered something to him.”

“And that was?”

River looked at him with a puzzled expression. “April’s notes say that Cheryl said. ‘Three little piggies.’”

“Did you say three little piggies?” Tony asked.

River nodded. “I may not be reading this correctly. Like I said, this note looks like it was written in haste.”

“I would think someone’s dying declaration wouldn’t be part of a nursery rhyme.” Tony frowned at her. “I’d really like to know more about this, wouldn’t you?”

“Yeah. I guess we should talk to the police who investigated the accident.”

“It just feels like there is more to this than meets the eye.”

River stared at him for a moment before saying, “I’d have to agree.”

CHAPTE

R