Chapter 10

CHAPTER TEN

After checking on her mother and Mrs. Weyland, River took April's notebook to her bedroom and sat down at her desk. Tony was going to download the files from the laptops and manually go through both of the phones. River had offered to take one of them, but when she saw the size of April's notebook, she decided Tony was right. This was going to take a while. It had a soft leather-like cover and two hundred pages, with other notes and sheets of paper stuffed into a pocket in the back. Thanks to Nathan's willingness to let them keep April's things, she wouldn't have to go through all of it in one night.

She began by looking through the pages at the front of the notebook. First of all, there were notes about a couple of cases that had been solved by police work. Then were the two mentioned on April's podcast that had been closed through the tips and information that had been sent to her. River had seen them on April's site, but she hadn't listened to them yet. Right now, they were more interested in the cases that April had been working on when she disappeared. River was impressed by April's notes and the information she'd collected from people who either listened to her podcast or followed her on Facebook.

She chose the Castlewood Casanova case first. The information was the same as that on her podcast but there was also a list of people who had contacted April with supposed information pertaining to the murders of the teenage couple. April had crossed off most of their suspects' names. There were four names that she was investigating, according to her notes. One was marked credible. River wrote the information in her own notebook as a safety measure. No matter what happened, she and Tony would still have what they needed.

She'd planned to move on to the next case, but she wanted to do a little research on this one first. Nathan felt as if this was the case April was worried about. Was it really connected to her disappearance?

"Nathan could be wrong," she muttered to herself. "Keep an open mind. You need to look through everything." She sighed. "Of course, her disappearance might not have anything to do with any of this." She rubbed her eyes. She was tired and not in the best mindset to think too much about anything she read tonight. Sharing her findings with Tony would help. He often brought clarity to situations.

Going over April's notes about the Castlewood Casanova case, it was clear that April was interested in a man named Oscar Hemmings. He lived in the same apartment complex as the girl who had been killed. The apartment manager said that Hemmings had acted inappropriately toward her. April noted that the police had checked up on him but had ruled him out. River wondered why he'd been eliminated. Next to the notation about the police investigation, April had added a question mark.

"Interesting," River said softly.

April had noted that four years earlier two teenagers in a park in Illinois were killed in a similar manner. Brian Janko and Terri Gillespie. Both shot. One in the car, one outside on the ground. Murdered just like the other teenagers. Both crimes had occurred in the winter. Not many people around to witness the shootings. The parks were basically deserted. Two different guns, but for some reason, April seemed to think the killings were connected. River couldn't find anything to explain why she believed that, though. Seemed as if she was trying to pull them together without much proof. River wondered how she was able to find out what kind of gun was used. That's not something the police usually share with civilians. She began pulling up articles about the incident, but there was nothing that definitively connected the two killings. However, as she continued to read, she felt as if she were going over the same articles that had been written about the deaths in Castlewood Park. Clearly, she was getting tired. She needed to look over the information again once she'd had some rest.

River began quickly flipping through the other pages when some of the papers in the back fell out. She picked them up and began to sort through them. Most of them were just sheets with more notes, but there were also pictures and articles from different news sources that April had printed out. Somehow, she'd acquired a couple of photos from the crime scene in Castlewood Park. They were disturbing. The victims were both so young. They'd had their whole lives ahead of them, but on that night, someone malevolent, someone vile, had robbed them of their futures. River was grateful she could still feel anger and sorrow when seeing the aftermath of evil. So many in law enforcement had created, out of necessity, a hardened shell in an attempt to protect their hearts and minds. However, in many cases, those shells eventually cracked, and the lives of those sworn to defend the innocent died by their own hands.

She yawned several times and found herself blinking as she tried to clear her bleary eyes. It was time to stop. She was too tired to make sense of what she was looking at.

As she slid the papers and the photos into the pocket at the back of the notebook, she noticed a different newspaper clipping about the earlier murders. One she hadn't seen before. The photographer had captured pictures of the victims, probably without the police realizing it. The bodies echoed the scene at Castlewood Park. Out of the car, one lying in the snow, in the same pose. Her interest rekindled, she began a search on her laptop and started pulling up articles about that incident. Again, many similarities, but nothing that proved they definitely were connected. If this was a serial killer, where was his signature? Why wasn't he taking credit?

She had just closed both notebooks and her laptop when there was a knock on her door.

"Come in," she called out.

Her bedroom door swung open, and Mrs. Weyland stepped inside. "Am I bothering you?" she asked. The gray-haired woman was what some people called pleasantly plump. The wrinkles at the edge of her hazel eyes made it clear that she loved to smile. She exuded kindness. River was so thankful she'd come into their lives.

"Of course not," River said with a smile. "Is everything okay?"

Mrs. Weyland softly closed the door behind her. "Your father called today."

"I don't want him speaking to my mother when I'm not here. I'm afraid it will upset her."

"He didn't call for her. He called to talk to me. I guess you told your brother about me?"

River nodded. She'd emailed Dan, wanting to keep him up to date with what was going on with their mother. She felt obligated to do so.

"I ... I don't understand," River said. "Why did he call?"

The elderly caregiver walked over and sat down on the edge of River's bed. "Your father wants to visit, River. He wants to ask for forgiveness from your mother ... and from you."

River's brother, Dan, had already mentioned that their father wanted to make the trip to Missouri. The woman he'd left them for had taken off once her father's money ran out. Big surprise. Was her father's request connected to that? Did he want money? Or was she being too suspicious? River had learned a lot about forgiveness over the past couple of months. She'd come to realize that God had paid an unbelievable price for her sins. How could River not try to forgive the man who had destroyed their family? Yet even thinking about him made her feel nauseated.

"I need some time to think about it," she said. "I'm not sure how this would impact my mother." She frowned. "Does she know about it?"

Mrs. Weyland shook her head. "Your brother might have said somethin' about it a while back, but I don't believe Rose remembers."

"You spend more time with her than I do," River said. "What do you think?"

Mrs. Weyland took a deep, slow breath before saying, "I honestly don't know, honey. She's mellowed quite a bit over the last few weeks. She asks me to read the Bible to her every day. I think she's tryin' hard to find her way back to God. It's possible that your daddy askin' for forgiveness might mean the world to her. It's also possible..."

"It could cause her to flip out."

Mrs. Weyland nodded. "She's at the point where it's hard to know just what she'll do next." She paused for a moment and stared down at the floor. When she raised her head, River was surprised to see tears in her eyes.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"When I took this job, I told you I'd be honest with you."

"Yes, you did."

"This disease is cruel," Mrs. Weyland said slowly. "I wish I could keep it from hurtin' you, but that's not possible."

River felt her stomach tighten. "Just tell me."

"When you left the kitchen after supper, your mama..." She took a shaky breath. "Your mama asked me who you were."

Even though River had been mentally prepared for what she knew was probably coming, Mrs. Weyland's words felt like a punch in the stomach. She tried to respond, but she couldn't seem to catch her breath.

"Oh, honey, I truly didn't want to tell you about it, but I felt I had to. She's your mama, and my job is to take care of her and keep you updated on her progress."

"No, it's okay," River said, unable to keep her voice from quivering. "It just took me by surprise."

"If it matters, she's in her room now, watchin' TV, and she asked me to tell you to come and say good night before you go to sleep."

"So, she only forgot me for a little while..."

Mrs. Weyland nodded. "Yep, just for a couple of hours, but in most cases, if this disease takes it's natural course, it will happen more and more." She leaned forward and gazed at River intently. "The biggest mistake we can make is to forget about Jesus in all this. He's a healer, honey. I don't want to strip away your hope. Let's believe for the best, okay?"

"I will. Thank you. And let me think about this thing with my dad, all right? It sounds like a good thing, but I don't want to jump into it too quickly."

Mrs. Weyland rose to her feet. "I'll pray that God will give you wisdom about it. Good night, honey."

"Good night."

After Mrs. Weyland left the room, River just stared at the open notebook in front of her. She couldn't really make sense of the words scribbled on the pages. All she could think about was her mother ... and the father she'd once claimed she'd never forgive. What was more important here? Her mother's stability or her father's need for absolution?