by Blake Pierce
He wagged his finger at her and added, “And that’s the last free psychiatric advice you’re getting from me. You need to see a shrink when you get back to Quantico. I mean it.”
Riley smiled as she followed him out the door to the car. Her senior partner might not think of himself as a therapist, but Riley doubted that any real shrink could have Crivaro’s insights into the life and psyche of a BAU agent.
Still, she wished they’d had time to talk about one more thing.
She was still troubled by last night’s dream, and the delight she’d taken in gunning down Larry Mullins.
Might she really wind up like that someday? Eager to kill?
Crivaro was a tough guy, but he’d managed to hold on to his humanity.
What about me? Riley thought.
Could she keep hunting monsters without becoming one herself?
CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
It was just a few blocks from Bobby’s Bait House to the law office, and Riley thought they might as well have walked. The day was sunny and bright, and she could actually glimpse the Mississippi that flowed past the edge of town. But this was no time for admiring the scenery. If another woman really was missing, she knew they might not have a minute to spare.
We just can’t lose a fourth victim, she thought.
Crivaro parked on Main Street in front of an old brick building with a false front. The main floor was occupied by a real estate office with images in a window picturing a more elegant lifestyle than Riley had seen any signs of here so far.
Hanging outside a second doorway was a sign that read:
Colville & Bean
River Work Injury and Family Law
“What do you suppose ‘river work injury’ means exactly?” Riley asked Crivaro as they got out of the car and walked toward the building.
Crivaro said, “A lot of the work along the Mississippi can be pretty hazardous. Guys who work on docks and riverboats and barges get hurt pretty regularly in accidents of one kind or another. Somebody needs to stand up for those workers against their employers. That’s where lawyers come in.”
With a slight scoff, Crivaro added, “Of course, in a town like this these days, ‘family law’ might be a more thriving business than river accidents.”
Riley nodded and muttered, “I’ll bet they get divorce and custody and child support cases left and right.”
The street door opened onto a wooden staircase, so Riley and Crivaro climbed the steps to a landing at the top. The single door there again announced Colville & Bean. When they opened the law office door, a woman was waiting for them, pacing anxiously in a reception area.
“Oh, thank God,” she said, wringing her hands. “You must be the FBI agents the sheriff said were on their way. I’m worried sick. You’ve got to do something.”
Agent Crivaro said a few calming words to the woman and asked her to sit down and give them all the details. As the woman guided them to a sofa and chairs there in the reception area, Riley observed that the lawyers’ offices were in the back. Their names were posted on the frosted glass panels in two separate doors. Off to one side of the reception area, an old-fashioned wooden swinging gate set apart another office space.
They all sat down in the reception area, and the woman introduced herself as Penny Mack, the receptionist. Penny was a hearty-looking woman in her late thirties, with cheerfully dyed hair and wearing a colorful dress.
Crivaro looked around at the quiet office.
“Where’s everybody else?” he asked.
“There’s just me right now,” Penny said. “Devon and Josh—our two lawyers—are over in Rimrock having a long lunch meeting. I told Larissa this would be a good time for her to…”
She paused, and then said with a gasp of despair, “Oh, I’m afraid I’ve done something awful.”
“Please explain,” Riley said in a gentle voice. “Who is Larissa? What do you think might have happened to her?”
“Larissa is our paralegal,” Penny said. Pointing past the wooden gate, she added, “She works at that desk over there.”
“Where did she go?” Crivaro asked.
“I wish I knew exactly,” Penny said in a choked voice. “On a date, anyway. Larissa is a workaholic, and she’s awfully shy and withdrawn. So I encouraged her—kind of pushed her, really—to meet somebody.” She hesitated, then said, “Just wait a minute, I’ll show you.”
Penny got up and went through the swinging gate to the desk where Larissa worked. She found what she was looking for and brought it back to Crivaro and Riley.
Riley could see that it was some sort of newsletter. Penny was showing them the back, calling their attention to a small paragraph circled in ink.
Riley read the paragraph aloud.
32 year-old attractive female, lives in Boneau, KY
Unattached since, well, forever.
Hoping to change all that with an attractive, intelligent, gentle, considerate male who respects boundaries.
“A personal ad,” Crivaro commented. “She ran a personal ad?”
Penny explained, “It’s hard to find good single men around here. She didn’t know any guys who might be available. So I suggested that she put out a personal ad, maybe contact somebody in another town. That’s what she did. And she got an email response pretty much right away.”
“Who from?” Crivaro asked.
“I don’t know,” Penny said. “Larissa felt so weird about it, she wouldn’t tell me his name. But she said they’d communicated, and he was nice, and he lived in a town nearby. I suggested that she set up a date for today, since Devon and Josh are out for a while and wouldn’t notice she was gone. So that’s what she did.”
“How long has she been gone?” Crivaro asked.
“Since shortly before noon,” Penny said. “She didn’t tell me where she was going to meet the guy for lunch.”
Crivaro looked at his watch and said, “She’s only been gone two and a half hours. Are you sure—?”
Penny interrupted, “She said she’d be back at least an hour ago. And when Larissa says she’ll be somewhere at a particular time, she really means it. You could set a clock by how she stays on schedule.”
“Maybe this is the exception,” Crivaro said. “Maybe the lunch date turned out really well. How do you know she didn’t just decide to spend more time with this guy?”
“I tried to phone her,” Penny said. “To find out if she was having a good time, and then again to find out when she was coming back. I didn’t get any answer.” Penny swallowed hard
Riley could see that there were tears in the receptionist’s eyes as she continued, “Larissa is a wonderful person, she would never just run off. I’ve known her for years, and she’s like a sister to me even though she’s got an education and a good job and I never got much education at all. She doesn’t have any actual family here. She worked hard for what she has.”
Penny wrung her hands again and said, “I should have known better. I shouldn’t have suggested it. We’d been hearing about these murders lately, and there was that warning a couple of days ago about going out at night alone. But I figured nothing bad would happen to her in the middle of the day.”
Struggling not to burst into tears, Penny added, “What if I was wrong?”
Riley could see a trace of skepticism in Crivaro’s eyes.
I can understand why, she thought.
Larissa had only been missing for an hour and a half—hardly any time at all under normal circumstances.
But Riley had a gut feeling that Penny’s fears might be well-founded.
Crivaro kept talking to Penny, trying to get her to think of other reasons for her friend’s disappearance, and why there might be no cause for alarm. Meanwhile, Riley picked up the newsletter, which was titled Wholesome Ways.
Something religious? Riley wondered.
Skimming through its pages, it appeared to be pretty nondenominational. But the content was definitely conservative, culturally speaking, and it promoted distinctly
old-fashioned gender roles.
One column offered mothers advice on how to teach their daughters to cook, and another gave fathers advice on rugged sports activities they could share with their sons. Another article gave tips for how wives could keep their husbands from getting bored with them, and another suggested ways for husbands to surprise their wives with special treats.
The whole thing gave Riley the creeps. She found herself wondering what Ryan might think of it.
Is this the sort of life he’s got in mind for us?
But she reminded herself to stay focused on the case. The newsletter definitely raised some peculiar questions. For example, why had Larissa chosen to put her personal ad in this particular publication?
Then Riley remembered what she’d told Crivaro yesterday—that she thought the killings were somehow about religion. The Dent family was all devoted churchgoers, and Hannah Booker had said that her daughter was religious…
And our latest victim is a nun.
Does that mean…?
Riley gently interrupted the questions Crivaro was asking.
“Penny, is your friend religious?”
“Oh, no,” Penny said. “She isn’t religious at all. I’m not either, and I know she’s not because we’ve talked about it. It’s not that we’ve got anything against religion, it’s just that…” She shrugged. “Well, it’s just not our thing, I guess.”
Riley felt a bit deflated
So much for my religion theory.
Penny squinted at her and said, “Why do you ask?”
Pointing to the newsletter, “Well, this publication strikes me as something somebody religious might read.”
“Oh,” Penny said.
She looked away from Riley.
There’s something she’s not telling me, Riley thought.
Riley said, “Penny, why would she choose this particular newsletter for her personal ad?”
Penny forced a smile.
“Oh, I don’t know,” she said. “I thought it was a silly idea. But…” Penny glanced at Crivaro and added, “I shouldn’t say anything. I’m sure it doesn’t matter.”
She doesn’t want to talk about it in front of Crivaro, Riley thought.
Riley exchanged a meaningful look with her partner. He nodded, clearly getting the message that Riley needed to talk with Penny alone. He quietly slipped out the front door onto the stair landing.
Riley pointed to the ad.
She said to Penny, “I wonder if you could help me understand the wording of this ad. ‘Unattached since forever,’ she says. But she also says she’s ‘hoping to change all that’ with a ‘considerate male.’ It’s almost as if…”
Riley’s voiced faded as she thought again about the victims—the two religious teenagers and the nun.
She felt the tingle of an approaching hunch.
She said, “Penny, is Larissa… sexually active?”
Penny shook her head.
Riley said, “Has she ever been sexually active?”
Blushing, Penny shook her head again.
Riley’s tingle turned into a surge of realization.
Virgins, she thought. He’s killing virgins.
CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN
Riley knew that she had to convince Crivaro that her idea made sense. She hurried to the front door of the law office and called him back inside.
“I think he’s killing virgins,” she told him.
Crivaro crinkled his brow in thought as he listened to Riley explain her hunch.
Then he said, “You could be right. Sister Sandra would certainly have fit into that scenario. But we don’t know about the two high school girls. I don’t see what we can do with this theory without knowing for sure.”
Riley stifled a discouraged moan.
How were they going to find out whether Natalie and Kimberly had ever had sex?
Meanwhile, Penny had been listening to everything they’d been saying.
“I want to help,” Penny said. “Please tell me what I can do.”
Riley thought quickly. If Larissa had really been abducted, then this was different from his other attacks. She was older and not a student or even connected with a school. He had apparently chosen her from a personal ad.
In spite of those changes, Riley still had the awful feeling that this was the same killer, striking again. And if he was changing his MO, how long would he wait before killing his new victim? Although he had kept the others alive for a day, they couldn’t count on that now.
With all those unknowns, they didn’t have time to go to the local police station and set to work there. They might not have a minute to lose. They needed to make this office their base of operations.
“We’ll need your desk,” Riley said to Penny.
The three of them sat around the desk to brainstorm about a course of action.
Riley said to Crivaro, “Do you remember when we paid a visit to Hannah Booker, Natalie’s mother? What Hannah said about her daughter’s murder?”
Crivaro scratched his chin.
“He said that God took Natalie away while she was ‘still good.’”
Riley said, “It sure sounds like Hannah thought Natalie was a virgin.”
Crivaro shrugged and said, “Yeah, but we can’t exactly take Hannah’s word for it. The woman’s a basket case; she’s got the emotions of a child. She probably had no idea whether her daughter was having sex or not. And anyway, we can’t contact Hannah right now, since she doesn’t have a phone.”
Riley drummed her fingers on the desk.
“Maybe we can find out about Kimberly,” she said.
“What, by calling her parents?” Crivaro said. “I wouldn’t count on getting the truth from them either.”
Riley said, “No, but we might be able to find out from Kimberly’s best friend.”
Crivaro looked at his watch.
“Goldie Dowling must still be in school,” he said. “Maybe we can reach her when she gets home.”
“We can’t wait,” Riley said. We’ve got to try to reach her at school.”
Crivaro said to Penny, “We need the phone number for the high school in Dalhart.”
Penny set right to work and found the number in less than a minute. A moment later, Riley, Crivaro, and Penny were all on speakerphone with the school principal. The principal sounded skeptical when Crivaro and Riley introduced themselves as BAU agents.
He said, “You’re asking me to haul one of my students out of class. How can I even be sure you’re who you say you are?”
Riley rolled her eyes and said, “Look, we could give you our badge numbers and you could check them out with the FBI, but we just don’t have time for that.”
Crivaro added, “We’re investigating the recent murders in this area, including the murder of a student at your school. We’ve got good reason to believe the killer has abducted another victim. We think Goldie Dowling might be able to help us prevent another murder. But we’ve got to talk to her right now.”
A short silence fell.
Then the principal said, “I’ll go get her out of class.”
“Good,” Crivaro said. “We’ll need to talk to her privately.”
As Riley and her companions waited, Penny let out a quiet moan of despair.
She said, “This is my fault. I shouldn’t have encouraged her to—”
Riley interrupted, “It’s not your fault. You had no idea she might be in any danger.”
“I know, but I can’t help blaming myself,” Penny said.
I know just how you feel, Riley thought.
Penny added, “Oh, please, tell me Larissa is going to be okay.”
“We’ll do everything we can,” Crivaro said. “It helps that we found out so quickly that she’s missing. We have you to thank you for that.”
Then they heard Goldie’s voice as she picked up the phone. “Hello?”
Riley said to her, “Goldie, I’ve got to ask you kind of an awkward question.”
“Okay…” Gold
ie said uneasily.
“Do you know if Kimberly was ever sexually active?”
“What’s that got to do with anything?” Goldie asked.
“Maybe a lot—a whole lot,” Riley said. “Someone else’s life might be at stake right now. We really need for you to be honest with us.”
After a pause, Goldie said, “No, she wasn’t. Sexually active, I mean. She’d never had sex at all. Neither have I, in case it matters. But for Kimberly… well, it got to be kind of a big deal.”
“How do you mean?” Riley asked.
“Well, she signed this stupid pledge,” Goldie said. “You see, this counselor came around our school last semester, gave us this lecture about abstinence, tried to get us to sign a pledge to keep ourselves… ‘pure’ was what he called it. I didn’t do it. I thought it was stupid. Not many other kids did either. But Kimberly did. She seemed to think it would make her parents happy.”
“What happened after that?” Riley asked.
Goldie continued, “Kimberly kind of regretted it later on. It got to be an issue between her and Jay, her boyfriend. Things started to get kind of hot and heavy between them, and Jay really wanted to have sex. The truth is, I think Kimberly kind of wanted the same thing. I think maybe she was thinking about breaking that stupid pledge before Jay broke up with her.”
“Who was the guy?” Riley asked. “The one getting kids to sign the pledge?”
“I can’t remember his name… Goldie replied. “It was like some kind of a bird.”
“Hold on a minute,” Riley said. She picked up the newsletter and flipped through the pages. Where had she seen … ?
Then she found what she was looking for.
She asked Goldie, “Was it Herron?”
After a moment of hesitation, Goldie replied, “Yeah, that could be it. I’m not sure.”
Riley’s heart was pounding now.
Maybe we’re really on to something, she thought.
She thanked Goldie and ended the call.
Riley realized that Jake and Penny were looking at her expectantly. “The publisher of this newsletter is named Christopher Herron,” she told them. “That’s the name right here on the masthead. We need to find out if he has other activities as well.”
