“I guess waiting for our stalker to strike is making me antsy.”

Although it was the right thing to say, and it was exactly what he’d been wondering, for some reason her response struck a wrong chord in his gut.

“Surely you’re not thinking about what my sister said.”

When they were in Iowa, helping Tony’s father with a cold case, his sister, Aimee, had accused River of putting Tony in danger because of the Strangler. At one point, River had wondered if she should get far away from Tony until the man was caught. But in the end, everyone had agreed, even Aimee, that they were both safer together. That splitting up could make them easier targets. River had concurred—or at least she’d said she did.

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “I told you I wasn’t going anywhere. Why would you even bring that up?”

Even though her body language seemed to match her words, an alarm went off in Tony’s spirit. “Listen,” he said, getting up from his chair and walking over to her desk, “promise me that you won’t even think about leaving me. It’s the wrong decision, River. You might think you’re protecting me, but you’re not. Confronting us both is a lot more intimidating. Sacrificing yourself for me could kill us both.”

Her eyes widened at his declaration, and he felt sick inside. It confirmed his worst fear. She really had been thinking about taking off.

“Aimee made a good case . . .” she said, her voice faltering.

“No she didn’t.” He spoke more harshly than he meant to. He breathed in and out slowly, trying to control the rapid beating of his heart. “Aimee is my sister and she loves me, but she doesn’t have the training we do. She spoke out of a concern for me—not from any kind of knowledge or experience. Please tell me you understand that.” He pulled a chair up next to her desk and sat down. “We’ve got to trust the Lord . . . and each other, River. If you left . . .” His voice broke, and he was horrified to feel tears fill his eyes. What would she think? If she knew how he really felt, would that concern her? Make her rethink their friendship? They’d skated around their feelings for each other for a while now, but neither one of them had come out and said the three words that couldn’t be taken back.

Rather than looking repulsed, she reached out for his hand. After a brief hesitation, he put his hand in hers.

“If I ever did anything that put you in danger again, I couldn’t live with myself,” she said softly.

“But if you left and something happened to you, I couldn’t live with that.”

River sighed deeply. “You have a way of making things more complicated than they should be. But in the end, you always seem to be right. I . . . I guess we should stick this out together.”

He nodded and withdrew his hand. Then he went back to his desk, trying desperately to contain his emotions. With his head turned, he quickly wiped his eyes with his fingers and sat down. He was still trying to compose himself when the door to their office opened and a young man stepped inside. He was short but athletic looking with longish blond hair and wide blue eyes. He wore jeans and a Tommy Hilfiger quilted jacket. He seemed nervous and looked back and forth from River to Tony, as if unsure which one of them he should address.

“Can we help you?” Tony asked, hoping to ease his discomfort.

“Yeah. . . . I mean, I hope so,” he said. “I . . . I need help finding someone.” He blinked several times. “I thought she might be dead, but now I think it’s possible she could still be alive. Do you think you could help me?”

CHAPTER

TWO

River stood up and motioned to a chair near her desk. “Please, have a seat,” she said. “Can we get you a cup of coffee? Or a bottle of water?”

“No, thank you.” Before he sat down, he stuck out his hand. “I’m Nathan Hearne.”

“River Ryland, and this my partner, Tony St. Clair.”

“Nice to meet you.” After shaking hands with each of them, he slipped into the chair and rubbed both of his legs with his hands, a nervous habit people used when trying to soothe themselves. River could see that this meeting was incredibly important to him and that asking for help wasn’t easy. She could also see that he hadn’t slept much lately. There was a blue tinge to the skin under his eyes, which were slightly bloodshot. His clothes said he had money, but a couple of stains on his jeans made it clear he wasn’t taking very good care of himself.

“How did you hear about us, Nathan?” River asked.

“I’m friends with Hannah Baum. She used to work for you?”

Hannah had been her mother’s caregiver before she hired Mrs. Weyland. Hannah had quit when she found out she was pregnant.

“How is Hannah?” River asked.

“She’s doing very well. They just found out that they’re having a girl.”

“That’s wonderful.” River made a vow to call Hannah soon. Although Mrs. Weyland was a blessing, she missed Hannah.

“Tell us what we can do for you,” Tony said.

“It’s about my girlfriend,” he said. “April Bailey. She went missing almost seven months ago. I need you to find her for me.”

“Seven months ago?” River said. Nathan’s words didn’t fit the physical clues she was seeing. She looked at Tony, and he frowned at her. He’d obviously noticed the same things.

Nathan nodded.

“You don’t act like someone whose friend has been missing that long,” River said. “It’s clear something has recently happened that concerns you.”

Nathan looked surprised. “How could you tell . . .” He shook his head. “Never mind. I don’t care. I just want to find her.”

“Can you tell us more about it?” Tony asked.

Nathan reached into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out an envelope. “I was already certain she hadn’t left on her own, and I’d started to wonder if I’d ever see her again. I’d begun to believe she might be . . . dead. Then this came in the mail yesterday. I . . . I’m not sure what it means, but it frightens me.”

River looked over at Tony, who got up and took out two pairs of gloves from a drawer in the filing cabinet. Tony handed one pair of latex, powder-free nitrile gloves to River, along with a plastic bag. The gloves were the kind made especially for collecting crime-scene evidence. They wouldn’t contaminate the evidence, and they were thick enough so that they were harder to pierce in case crime-scene techs came in contact with blood or deadly substances.

She slid the gloves on. It was probably too late to find fingerprints from the envelope since it had been touched by so many people, but just in case Nathan was the only person who had handled the letter besides the author, it was smart to be careful. There wasn’t any return address, but the postmark was from St. Louis.

She cautiously pulled out the folded piece of paper and opened it. Someone had written, Don’t give up. She needs you. I’ll try to contact you with more information as soon as I can. The writing was in longhand, smudged and shaky, as if written hastily and under duress.

“How do you know this is about your girlfriend?” she asked Nathan.

“I don’t, but what else could it be? Why would anyone send a message like this if it isn’t about April?”

It was a good question, but if April had been missing for months and she hadn’t left on her own, then Nathan’s fears were justified. She was most likely dead. So why the note? River glanced at Tony again. He nodded slightly. He wanted to hear more and so did she.

After taking a picture of the note with her phone, she carefully put the envelope and the note into the bag. “So, tell us about April.”

Tony pulled his chair over to River’s desk and sat down next to Nathan, who took a deep breath. This was incredibly important to him. Everything she saw told her that he was absolutely sincere and very worried about his friend.

“First of all, explain why you brought this note to us instead of the police,” Tony said.

“I did talk to the police,” Nathan said. “They took my report, but I’m not family. If her family doesn’t think she’s actually missing, there’s not much they can do. I came to you because I need someone who will listen to me. Take me seriously. Besides, even if her father thought something was wrong, with the amount of crime happening in St. Louis now, I doubt April would be a priority with the police.”

Actually, Nathan had a point. Fifty years ago, ninety percent of murders were solved, but today, a third went unresolved, the murderers walking around, unimpeded. Most of it was because of increased crime, less law enforcement personnel, and gang activity that was out of control. The situation seemed almost unbelievable because law enforcement now had better tools to fight crime. DNA testing and databases like the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System, or IAFIS, and the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program, or ViCAP, should make criminal arrests more successful, but unfortunately, these tools weren’t being utilized the way they could be. When it came to most crimes, law enforcement had no choice but to prioritize cases based on solvability. This was determined by witness cooperation, DNA, behavioral profiles, known suspects, and physical evidence. In many cases, all investigators needed was for one witness to come forward, but many times, no one did. This was especially true in neighborhoods with violent gang activity. Residents were afraid of retaliation.

“We understand your frustration,” River said, “but why isn’t her family worried about her?”

“Her father thinks she ran away.”

“But you’re convinced she didn’t?” Tony asked.