Once Gone (a Riley Paige Mystery--Book #1)

by Blake Pierce

  Chapter 33

  The next morning Riley drove April to school, and as she dropped her off, that gut feeling was still nagging at her. It had bothered her all night, not letting her sleep.

  Is he the guy? she kept asking herself.

  Before April got out of the car, she turned to her with an expression of genuine concern.

  “Mom, what’s wrong?” she asked.

  Riley was a little taken aback by the question. She and her daughter seemed to have entered into a whole new phase of their relationship—a much better one than they’d had before. Still, Riley wasn’t used to having April worry about her feelings. It felt good, but strange.

  “It shows, huh?” Riley said.

  “It sure does,” April said. She gently held her mother’s hand. “Come on. Tell me.”

  Riley thought for a moment. That feeling of hers still wasn’t easy to put into words.

  “I…” she began, then trailed off, unsure what to say. “I’m not sure I arrested the right man.”

  April’s eyes widened.

  “I’m…not sure what to do,” Riley added.

  April took a long breath.

  “Don’t doubt yourself, Mom,” April replied. “You do it a lot. And you always wish you hadn’t. Isn’t that what you always tell me, too?”

  April smiled, and Riley smiled back.

  “I’ll be late if I don’t get to class,” April said. “We can talk about this later.”

  April kissed Riley on the cheek, got out of the car, and dashed toward school.

  Riley sat there, thinking. She didn’t drive away immediately. Instead, she called Bill.

  “Anything?” she asked when she got him on the line.

  She heard Bill heave a long sigh.

  “Cosgrove is a strange character,” he said. “Right now he’s a real mess—exhausted and depressed, and crying a lot. I think he’ll probably crack soon. But …”

  Bill paused. Riley sensed that he, too, was struggling with doubt.

  “But what?” Riley asked.

  “I don’t know, Riley. He seems so disoriented, and I’m not sure even knows what’s going on. He slips in and out of reality. Sometimes he doesn’t seem to understand that he’s been arrested. Maybe all those meds he’s taking are messing him up. Or maybe it’s just plain old psychosis.”

  Riley’s own doubts kicked in again.

  “What is he telling you?” she asked.

  “Mostly, he just keeps asking for his dolls,” Bill said. “He’s worried about them, like they’re children or pets that he shouldn’t leave at home alone. He keeps saying they can’t do without him. He’s completely docile, not the least bit belligerent. But he’s not giving us any information. He’s not saying anything about the women, or whether he’s holding one right now.”

  Riley turned Bill’s words over in her mind for a moment.

  “So what do you think?” she finally asked. “Is he the one?”

  Riley detected growing frustration in Bill’s voice.

  “How could he not be? I mean, everything points to him and nobody else. The dolls, the criminal record, everything. He was in the store the same time as her. What more could you ask for? How could we have got it wrong?”

  Riley said nothing. She couldn’t argue. But she could tell that Bill was struggling with his own instincts.

  Then she asked: “Did somebody run a search on Madeline’s past employees?”

  “Yeah,” Bill said. “But that didn’t lead anywhere. Madeline always hires high school girls to work the register. She’s been doing it pretty much since she’s been in business.”

  Riley groaned with discouragement. When were they going to get a break in this case?

  “Anyway,” Bill said, “a bureau psychologist will interview Cosgrove today. Maybe he can get some insights, tell us where we stand.”

  “Okay,” Riley said. “Keep me in the loop.”

  She ended the phone call. Her car engine was running, but she still hadn’t driven away from the school. Where was she going to go? If Newbrough really was trying to get her reinstated, he hadn’t gotten it done yet. She still didn’t have a badge—or a job.

  I might as well go home, she thought.

  But as soon as she started driving, her father’s words came rushing back again.

  You just keep following that gut of yours.

  Right now, her gut was telling her loud and clear that she needed to get back to Shellysford. She didn’t know exactly why, but she just had to.