by Robin Perini
Over the next few minutes, Riley and Thayne posted the photos of the abduction victims on the wall-size board, one after the other. The string of images melded together. Side by side, they resembled one another in an uncanny way.
The room went silent.
“It’s creepy how they all look alike,” Pendergrass said.
“And why you can’t identify the girl without DNA,” Underhill said.
Riley nodded.
“Damn,” Agent Nolan said. He passed Thayne another four photos. “These are the boys’ photos that SSA Hickok e-mailed. His unit has gone to interview Brian Anderson’s parents. They’ll head here after they finish.”
Riley faced the room of investigators. “One of Cheyenne Blackwood’s abductors—Brian Anderson—was kidnapped six years ago when he was ten years old. This boy was alive two days ago, which gives us hope we’ll find Cheyenne Blackwood, and maybe some of these other children alive as well.”
“Assuming the same perp kidnapped all of them, why is Brian still alive?” Pendergrass asked.
“Most predators who are attracted to children want to control those who are smaller and weaker than themselves,” Riley said. “Maybe he forced Brian to help lure the others, but now he’s getting too old. Whatever the reason, Brian has reached out to us by leaving that fingerprint. He may know his time is running out.”
Thayne grabbed Post-its, string, and markers. “OK, everybody, we’re putting up a timeline.”
An hour later, a fifteen-year time span emerged.
“Son of a bitch.” Thayne’s father walked over to the image of his first big case. Gina Wallace. He touched her photo. “She really was the first one?”
Riley set down her folder and faced the sheriff. “Agent Nolan searched back another decade from Gina’s abduction. No girls or boys matched the MO. Gina Wallace was from Singing River. Cheyenne’s abduction can’t be a coincidence.”
“Madison Lambert, Riley’s sister, was second,” Thayne said, “less than a month later.”
“I need a map of the United States,” Riley demanded. “To plot the abductions.”
While Deputy Pendergrass gathered the supplies, Thayne motioned to Riley. “I’m calling for a status report on the signs near the Riverton waterfall. Interested?”
“Absolutely.” They slipped out of the room and into the sheriff’s private office. Thayne dialed his brother’s satphone.
A crackling connection buzzed. “What’s up, bro?” Jackson asked.
“I called to ask you the same question. Where did the trail lead?”
“It didn’t. I found a few subtle signs, but all traces vanished within a mile. Whoever killed that girl knows these woods better than I do.” Jackson’s voice snapped with obvious frustration. “It’s almost dark now, but I can expand the search in the morning.”
Riley hadn’t expected a trail of bread crumbs, but she couldn’t deny being disappointed. A lot of criminal activity seemed to be centered at the Riverton waterfall.
Thayne met her gaze. “Do it,” they said at the same time.
Jackson chuckled. “Hi, Riley. Glad to see you’re in agreement with my brother. You may want to mark the date in the calendar.”
Thayne spent a few minutes bringing Jackson up to date on the latest news. All in all, a frustrating conversation for everyone. “Before you go, how’s Kade?” Thayne asked.
“Poor guy couldn’t take being inside. Said something about searching for Cheyenne because he owed her. He gave Hudson the slip and disappeared from Fannie’s B and B. I’m keeping an eye out for him, but no telling where he’s headed.”
“If he goes into flashback mode . . .” Thayne frowned. “The last thing we need during our search-and-rescue operations is an unpredictable army ranger in combat mode.”
“Believe me, I’m well aware. He almost turned me into Swiss cheese. I hope a bed opens up at the VA soon.”
“I’m sorry about your friend,” Riley said after Thayne hung up.
“Me, too. I just hope he doesn’t put himself in the middle of something worse. I have to wonder if we won’t end up back in those mountains searching for my sister.”
They left the office and crossed the main room of the sheriff’s department.
“Let me out of here!” Ed shouted through the open door leading to the jail cells. “I see Gina’s picture in there. I know you’ve found something!” He shook the bars, his eyes wild.
Riley paused, her gaze speculative. “Mr. Zalinsky.” She tugged out her notebook. “You knew Gina.”
“Yeah. So. I ain’t changing my story. You ain’t pinning that on me.”
“I understand.” Riley crossed to less than a foot from the bars. “I’ve been reading Gina’s file. You dated Carol around the time of the abduction? Isn’t that correct?”
He flushed. “I kept an eye on her . . . Carol was my girl, before that guy knocked her up.”
“You were stalking her. You have been since you were both in high school. Isn’t that right?”
Ed’s face had turned the color of cooked beets. She’d hit a nerve.
“Stalking implies she didn’t want it,” Ed sneered. “She did then. She still does.”
“She kicked you out. Stay away from her, Ed,” Thayne bit out.
“Ask her, Deputy. She’s coming over to bail me out. Should be here any minute.”
Riley grabbed Thayne’s arm. “Let me.” She moved closer to Ed’s cell. “What do you think happened to Carol’s daughter?”
“I bet that drifter who got Carol pregnant took her.”
Riley leaned in closer. “Carol told me last year she didn’t know the father’s identity.”
“Oh, she knew all right. Just didn’t want to say because he up and abandoned her. He met her in Casper, then dropped her off like the slut she is. But he came through town when she was about to pop the kid out. Came back a few years later, too. By then she was too drunk to remember. But I did. I saw him checking her out, checking his kid out. Drove a Cadillac, had real money. Talked to the brat, gave her a stuffed animal or something, then hightailed it out of here.”
“That was years before she was taken.”
“Maybe, but every so often, I’d see a brand-new Caddy drive by her place, hang out on the street.”
“How often would you say he visited?” Riley asked.
“Every year or so, around the girl’s birthday.”
“Did you notice the Cadillac again after Gina disappeared?” she asked, betting she knew the answer.
“After the girl was taken,” Ed said, leaning closer, his face framed by two iron bars, “no new Caddy. Not ever.”
He let out a long laugh, and the odor of alcohol nearly made Riley gag. She stepped back with a cough, but she had more than enough for a follow-up conversation with Carol.
“Can I bring you a toothbrush?” she asked with a false smile.
Thayne leaned in, took one whiff, and glared at Ed. “Where’d you get the booze?”
Ed just shrugged.
Crossing his arms, Thayne planted himself against the bars for the clear purpose of intimidating Ed. The man gulped so loudly Riley could hear it from across the room.
“I’m not leaving you alone until you give me a name,” Thayne promised.
“If I tell you, will you let me out?”
Thayne placed his hand on his utility belt, near his weapon. “If you don’t tell me, there’s no chance, and I’m searching your cell.”
Ed scowled at his nemesis, and Riley had to admire Thayne’s way with the guy. He really was good at his job.
“Some reporter traded me a full bottle for a few pieces of inside information.”
“Do you know what you’ve done?” Thayne’s voice went soft and cold and terrifying. He grabbed Ed by the collar. “If your addiction for the bottle costs my sister her life, you won’t find a hole deep enough to crawl into. I promise you that.”
He shoved Ed back into the cell.
Thayne didn’t say a word until they
were clear of the room. He slammed the door shut. “Damn him to hell. I should have sent him home the first day. He always gets off anyway.”
Riley grabbed his hands, wincing at Thayne’s tortured expression. “Don’t do this to yourself. You didn’t know.”
“Maybe not, but we should have kept the damn door closed. We would have, except I know from personal experience how claustrophobic that room gets. I gave the OK to leave it open. I gave Ed the opportunity. Because of that drunk, Brian Anderson could be dead right now and our chance of finding my sister may have died with him.”
The stars’ light pricked the midnight fabric of the sky. Riley pressed her face against the glass, peering into the darkened house.
Carol hadn’t shown up to work in two days. Riley rapped on the door again. She glanced over at Thayne. “Do you think she’s OK?”
Thayne pounded on the door, his fist causing the wood to groan. “Carol, it’s Thayne and Riley. We know you’re in there. Please. We need your help,” he shouted.
Agent Nolan was looking into the Cadillac. Riley knew one had been seen in the vicinity of at least two of the kidnappings she’d studied, but she hadn’t checked into the boys’ abductions. She still couldn’t get over the fact that she’d missed the connection. She’d analyzed those missing kids’ files since she’d been old enough to realize she could.
She’d committed the unpardonable sin of making an assumption. The very thing she fought so hard to prevent by avoiding any contamination of the investigation in progress.
The curtain fluttered.
“Carol,” Riley said, hitting the door. “Please, it’s important.”
Slowly, the doorknob turned. Carol’s pale face appeared. “What do you want?” she asked, her voice slurred, her eyes bloodshot.
“We need to ask you some questions about Gina’s father.” Riley slipped her foot in the door so Carol couldn’t close them out.
“Gina’s dead.” Carol tried to press the door closed, but Riley wouldn’t budge. “Everyone knows I killed my daughter.”
“That’s not true,” Thayne said.
“Just as good as did. I left her alone all the time because I passed out. I let men look at her. I deserved to lose her.”
She flung the door open and stumbled backward. An acrid odor washed over Riley. A nauseating combination of meth, alcohol, urine, and she didn’t really want to know what else.
Thayne shoved open a window to let in some fresh air.
Carol plopped down on the sofa and picked up a tall glass filled with ice. She twisted open a bottle and poured to the top.
Riley sat down across from the woman who could have the key to everything. “We think you can help us find Cheyenne.”
“I can’t help anyone. Not even myself.” She chuckled, her tone sour and defeated. “Was supposed to bail out Ed, but the money’s gone.”
It was easy to see where. A recently used meth pipe lay on the coffee table.
“Ed’s the only one I can count on,” Carol said. “And I screwed it all up with him. For good this time.”
Riley leaned forward and clasped Carol’s hands in hers. “Who was Gina’s father?”
Carol blinked. She looked over at Thayne and shook her head. “Not talking about it around him. Men don’t understand. Ed never did. You’re judging me right now. I can see it.” She stood up. “Damn you, Thayne Blackwood.” She pounded on his chest. “The Blackwoods. The perfect family. I was like you.” She fell into his arms, sobbing. “I was just like you.”
Thayne picked her up and carried her to the sofa. She collapsed, a limp body wasting away.
Riley shot to her feet and rested her hand on his arm. “I’ve got this. I think she’ll speak to me if you leave.”
Thayne nodded. “I’ll be right outside. I so much as hear a strange noise, I’m coming in.” Thayne walked out the front door, closing it softly behind him.
Carol rubbed her hands against her eyes. “I was like him.”
“I know,” Riley said, patting Carol’s hand. “No one understands, do they?”
Carol blinked at her, eyes wide and foggy. “Your sister got taken. I remember now.”
Riley nodded and pulled out a photo. “Her name was Madison. She was kidnapped soon after Gina.”
“You know they’re dead,” Carol whispered. “No one admits it, but they are. She’d be thirty now. Probably would’ve had a kid. Maybe two. I’d have been a grandma.”
“They’re gone,” Riley said, the words hurting her heart. “But I still want to bring my sister home. For my mother. Don’t you want Gina home with you?”
Tears rolled down Carol’s cheeks. “Will it help?”
“I don’t know.” Riley sighed. “I’m not sure if knowing the truth will be worse or not, but I have to try.” She rested her hands on her knees. “Can I tell you something, Carol? Sometimes I dream that Madison walks through my front door with a smile on her face. It’s so real.”
“Her ghost,” Carol said. “I see Gina all the time in the dead of night. She blames me for her life.”
“Then help me find them so we can do right by them. Who is Gina’s father?”
“One-night stand. He showed up at a bar right outside the rodeo in Casper. I was trying to get in, but I was underage. They’d kicked me out a couple of times already.” She frowned. “He was a college man from a real famous school in California. He spouted off words I’d never heard, but they sounded good.” Carol closed her eyes, her lips upturned in a small smile. “He had soft hands, not like Ed or the cowboys around this place.”
“He sounds nice.”
“He was. At first.” Carol’s forehead wrinkled with thought. “We couldn’t get into the club, so we went to his hotel room. He gave me some drinks. I don’t remember much, except he made me feel special. I fell asleep in his arms.”
Carol gulped down half the tall glass. “In the morning, he tugged on his pants and said good-bye. I asked him if I could go with him. He laughed at me. I wasn’t smart enough or pretty enough. He walked out the door. Never saw him again.”
Riley could just imagine a seventeen-year-old girl from a small town falling for a line. So easy for one choice to change a life. “Did you tell him you were pregnant?”
“I didn’t even know his last name.” Carol shrugged. “I thought I saw his car once. A Caddy. You know how much those things cost? But I was just dreaming.” Carol’s voice petered off. “Just dreaming.”
She fell over onto the sofa, completely passed out.
Riley stood up. She walked over to a photo on the fireplace. A girl with auburn hair smiled back, though her eyes weren’t exactly happy. Gina Wallace had lived a tough life from the beginning. What if Ed had been telling the truth? What if this drifter had come back? What if he’d taken Gina?
She was the first victim, and the first victim spoke the loudest.
A long shot? Yeah, but what else did they have?
She picked up her phone and dialed a familiar number.
“Hickok,” Tom answered.
“It’s Riley.”
“What do you want, Lambert?”
“I need a favor. We have Gina Wallace’s DNA on file, right?”
“Did you find a body?” he asked.
A good assumption, considering DNA, like fingerprints, could be used only as a comparison tool. It was valuable only if you had a match on file.
“Her father may be our perp. Can you run her DNA through the system, looking for a familial match?”
Tom let out a low whistle. “Do you know what you’re saying? Are you crazy?”
“Maybe. But I’m also desperate. If I don’t catch a break soon, Cheyenne Blackwood and Brian Anderson are as good as dead.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
The glare of the streetlight created a halo. Thayne propped himself against the doorjamb. So far he’d heard a few tears, a bit of crying, and finally the soft murmur of female voices.
He drummed his fingers on his leg. A sense of urgency boiled
within him. He had a feeling Riley and he were close to uncovering something big, but he could foresee nothing that pointed to saving Cheyenne, and he didn’t have a clue how to find her.
Right now they’d placed all their hopes on a sixteen-year-old kid. What kind of delusional faith was that?
A rustle sounded off to the left. Thayne drew his weapon and crouched, peering into the trees at the side of Carol’s home.
A loud meow pierced the night, and a cat streaked past him, hissing. Thayne didn’t relax. Something had triggered the animal to flee.
A shadow moved to his left just as the front door to Carol’s house opened.
“Stay inside,” he hissed to Riley. “Don’t leave until I come back.”
The door slammed shut, and the dead bolt clicked into place.
Confident Riley could take care of herself barricaded indoors, Thayne rushed in silence to the trees. Somewhere hidden, perhaps in an alley or even down the road, a car’s engine purred on the quiet street. Within seconds, the sound vanished.
No way he could track the getaway vehicle, so Thayne pulled a flashlight from his cargo pants and swept the ground. He sighted a pair of footprints impressed in the ground cover with a tread similar to the print he’d discovered not far from the Riverton waterfall and the unidentified girl’s body.
Thayne dialed his phone. “Pendergrass, meet me at Carol’s ASAP. Bring your forensics kit and someone who can watch over her house tonight.”
“Will do.”
With a tap, Thayne ended the call and gave the area one last look. Had he interrupted the sniper? A reporter? The kidnapper? The murderer?
Taking no chances, he walked the perimeter of the house until Pendergrass pulled up, lights flashing.
Finally, he knocked on Carol’s door.
Riley flung it open. “What happened?”
“Someone was watching.”
Thayne locked Carol inside and gave one of the additional DCI investigators the key. “Keep an eye on her.”
The man nodded. Thayne kept his gun drawn, his body on full alert, until he escorted Riley to the SUV.
Her footsteps were dragging. She had to be exhausted. This roller-coaster ride searching for Cheyenne sucked energy more than a three-mile run in the middle of insurgent territory.