Chapter 9

CHAPTER NINE

After checking in with the guard positioned at the gate to Nathan's complex, they finally located Nathan's unit.

"There it is," River said suddenly, pointing toward a row of numbered residences. It was a nice complex with attractive townhomes.

Tony pulled up in front of Nathan's place, then he looked around. "Pretty fancy," he said. "Guess he was telling the truth about having money."

"At least if we take this case, we should get paid."

"Well, my dad did send us a nice check," Tony said.

"Which we returned. We can't accept money from your father. We helped him because he's family."

"You know I feel the same way, but he wasn't too happy about it." Tony laughed. "You watch. He'll find some way to give the money back to us. He's pretty sneaky."

"Well, we're pretty cagey ourselves."

"Yes, we are. Hopefully, we're cagey enough to find out what happened to April Bailey."

River sighed.

Tony frowned at her. "You think this case is a dead end?"

"Interesting choice of words," she said. "I just hate thinking that if we find April, it will be too late. Nathan will be devastated."

Tony had been thinking the same thing. Nathan seemed to really care about April. Confirming that she was dead would be incredibly difficult. That was part of the job they'd never had to deal with when working at the BAU. However, the photo with the warning scribbled at the bottom of the paper irritated him. Even before going through April's things, he'd already decided he wanted to follow this through to the end. No matter what.

"Let's see what we can find out from her stuff," Tony said. He smiled at her. "I know we're both leaning toward taking this case. I just think we need to be sure."

"Are we going to tell him about the picture?"

"I believe we have to," Tony said. "The threat was leveled at us, but the picture is of him. I don't want to make him paranoid, but this person knows about April. Now, they seem to be focused on Nathan. They must be following him for some reason."

"If he'd been warned to drop it, he would have told us, I guess."

Tony nodded. "I think so." He shook his head. "I have a feeling about this case..."

"I'm glad you said that. I feel the same way. As if we're looking at the surface, but there's a lot more going on that we can't see."

Tony had been a Christian long enough to know that listening to those odd feelings was important. Besides that, their training had kicked in more than once, making them look more closely at something that might otherwise have seemed inconsequential. He just prayed that his concern for River wasn't messing with his ability to see what was important when it came to Nathan's case.

"Maybe after reading April's notes and seeing what's on her laptop we'll be able to figure out what's really going on here," he said.

"If she's not alive, why would someone send Nathan that note? And make sure we saw the photo?"

Tony shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe they killed her, and they don't want us to find them. But that leads to another question. Why is someone following Nathan? And how would they know he was coming to this building to see us? And that it was about April?"

"Good question," River said. "He didn't mention telling anyone that he was planning to talk to us, but we should probably ask him about that."

"Good point. We might be able to use that to narrow our search." He grinned at her. "Ready?"

"Come on, Watson. The game is afoot."

"Hey, wait a minute. Why are you Sherlock?"

River tossed her hair and laughed. He not only enjoyed the sound of her laughter, he loved it when she did that with her hair.

"I'm Sherlock because I thought of it first. Besides, you have the dog named Watson. That settles it."

Tony sighed dramatically. "That doesn't make any sense."

"Sorry. Suck it up, my friend."

They got out of the car and together they walked up to Nathan's front door. River rang the doorbell and, a few seconds later, the door swung open. Nathan motioned them inside.

If Tony had been impressed by the outside of Nathan's townhome, he was even more amazed by the inside. Tony had expected a casual, messy dorm-room type of vibe, but Nathan's apartment was stunning. Clean and modern with real wood floors and an open-concept living room that led to a gleaming white kitchen with hanging lights and modern appliances. It confirmed Nathan's claim that he could afford to pay them. Not that they were doing it just for the money, but Tony was relieved that if they decided to take the case, it wouldn't be pro bono. They really needed to bring in some income if they wanted to keep their agency afloat.

"Have a seat," Nathan said. "Can I get you something? Cup of coffee? Iced tea?"

Tony looked at River, who shook her head. "We're good, but thanks. We have a lot of work to do tonight, so we'll take what we came for and get going."

"Sure." Nathan walked over to a coffee table and picked up a tote bag with a Hot Coffee and Cold Cases logo. "Everything's here. Remember, though, I really will need my phone and my laptop in the morning."

"Don't worry. We promised we'd bring it back to you," Tony said, taking the bag. "I need to reiterate that if we find you've deleted anything, we can't help you."

"I understand," Nathan said. "Most of what you'll find on my laptop is from work. I've backed it up, but please be careful."

"We will," River said. She looked over at Tony, who nodded.

"April's notebook is pretty big," Nathan said. "It might take a while to go through it. You don't need to return any of her things until you're finished with them. I don't have any use for them." He hesitated a moment. "I added something else that might not have anything to do with her disappearance, but ... I don't know. It's rather disturbing."

"What is it?" River asked.

"Ever since April was young, she's been plagued by something. She had nightmares as a child and when she got older, she began drawing pictures of ... of what she saw in those dreams. I didn't think to mention this when we talked earlier, but April's mother was murdered when she was young. I think she was projecting her mother's murder into these drawings, yet they don't match the facts of the crime. Her mother was found in a parking lot, not far from their house. She'd been robbed and shot in the chest. April's drawings are of a woman who was stabbed and left under a tree. The figures don't have a face, but the hair is dark like her mother's."

"I read about her mother when I looked over her site," River said. "Is it possible April saw someone else's body under a tree when she was young?"

Nathan shrugged. "I doubt it. Her father surely would have known about it. He told her that what she saw in those dreams never happened. He thinks it's her way of processing her mother's death. She never saw her mother after she died. Maybe she saw something on TV or just imagined the image."

"She didn't see her mother at the funeral?"

Nathan shook his head. "Her father didn't think it was good for her to be there. He especially didn't want her to view Katherine's body. He was afraid it would traumatize her."

"How old was she when her mother died?"

"Nine."

River sighed. "So, her mother just disappears and never comes back? No wonder she was obsessed with cold cases. She was trying to make sense of something she never had closure from."

"Look, Nathan, this showed up at our office today," Tony said. "It's a warning directed at us, but someone's taken your picture. They may be following you. We feel you need to know."

Tony handed him the copy they'd made of the photo.

When Nathan looked at it, his face turned pale. "I don't understand. Why would anyone do this?" He looked back and forth between them. "Doesn't this mean that April may still be alive? I mean, why would anyone care enough to do this unless they were trying to protect a secret? What else could it be except that they don't want her found?"

"It could also mean that someone doesn't want us to identify them and find out that ... that they hurt her," Tony said.

"Maybe," Nathan said, "but I won't give up. I just can't."

"We hope this will turn out the way you want," River said gently. "If we decide to move forward, we'll do our very best to find out what happened to April."

"You thought I'd want to give up because of this picture?" Nathan asked. "I live in a gated community, and I work from home. You don't have to worry about me."

"Do us a favor," Tony said. "Don't leave here. Have your food delivered. Can delivery drivers leave your food at the gate?"

"Yeah, as long as I've paid for it ahead of time."

"Are you stocked up on other things?" River asked.

Nathan nodded, "Just went to the store a couple of days ago." He frowned at them. "Do you really think I'm in danger? I mean, if someone's trying to tell you to back off, maybe you're the ones who need to be careful."

"We were both trained by the FBI," Tony said. "We're not worried. We know how to take care of ourselves." Tony sounded confident, but with the Strangler's apprentice still out there, another threat made him wonder if they were biting off more than they could chew right now.

"Should ... should I get a gun?"

"Not at this point," River said. "You seem to be pretty well protected here. Arming yourself should be a decision you make under normal circumstances. Not under duress. Besides, you should never buy a gun without learning how to use it first."

"Okay," Tony said. "That's it for now. We'll be back in the morning. Don't forget to give the guard our information."

"I'll remember."

Tony gazed into Nathan's eyes. "I want to ask you just once more before we leave. You're absolutely sure you want to move forward with an investigation if we decide to take your case?"

"Yes." Nathan's body language and expression made it clear that he was determined to see this through. "I have to know what happened to April. Like I said, this... picture hasn't changed my mind."

"All right," Tony said. "We'll let you know our decision in the morning."

"I'll have a check ready for you."

Tony and River said goodbye and walked out to their car. Once they were inside, River said, "I hope we find something that will give us direction in those seven cold cases April has on her site. If we don't, this could take a while."

"You're trying to find a nice way to tell me we don't have time to get pizza."

River didn't say anything, just smiled at him.

Tony shook his head. "Fine, but if the police call you in the morning and tell you they've discovered my emaciated body lying on the floor of my apartment, I want you to remember that you could have saved me."

"I'll try hard to get over it," River said, laughing. "Besides, you pass that great hamburger place you like on the way home. I think you can pick up something and eat while you work."

"You're a slave driver, but I guess that would work. I'd better get you home so we can get started," Tony said. "Call me if you find anything."

"When are you going to stop driving me around?"

"When the Strangler's accomplice is behind bars or underground. Until then, you have a chauffeur. Get used to it."

River sighed. "Why do I get the feeling he's laughing at us? I still wonder if his only plan was to stir up trouble and make us worry."

"Frankly, that would be great, but my gut's not telling me that—and neither is yours."

River was quiet as Tony drove to her mother's house. He was getting tired of worrying about the threats from the Strangler's friend, and he knew River was too. But if they lowered their guard, they would put themselves squarely in his sights, and they couldn't afford that.