Chapter 27

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

While Tony tried to find Shelly Evans's family and a number for Ted Piper's mother, River's phone rang. Mrs. Weyland.

"Hello?" she said after accepting the call.

"Hi, honey. I'm sorry to bother you at work, but I thought you'd want to know."

"Know what?"

The elderly caregiver hesitated a moment. "Your brother called. Instead of just comin' by, they asked if they could have dinner here tomorrow night. I told them it was okay with me, but I'd have to see how you felt about it."

"That's fine. Eating supper might actually help to ease some of the awkwardness," River said. "Are you sure this is all right with you? I can help with dinner."

"I don't mind cookin', honey. I just wish I could be certain how your mother is going to take this. She's ... she's a little flustered today."

"What do you mean by flustered ?"

"Confused. When I told her your father was comin' tomorrow she got quite upset. Angry. It was as if he'd just left. I finally got her calmed down, but now I'm a little worried."

River took a deep breath to calm herself. "You said that in the natural course of things, she won't get better, Mrs. Weyland. I agree that this may be the only chance she'll have to get things straightened out with my father. I think forgiveness could be very healing ... for all of us."

"All right, honey. I'm gonna call 'em back and tell 'em to come. We're gonna need some things from the store. If you'll watch your mama in the mornin', I'll fetch what we need."

"Sounds good. Let's just pray that dinner will go well. All we can do is give it to God."

"You're right. Thanks. And sorry to bother you. I know you're probably busy. We'll see you tonight."

River said goodbye and hung up. She truly hoped her father and mother would finally find some peace, but the truth was, she really wasn't that concerned about how her father would react if her mother was antagonistic toward him. He should have been here. He was the one who should be taking care of his wife. Not River. And not Mrs. Weyland. River's only real concern was Rose. She planned to do everything she could to help her mother through this. She didn't want to see her upset or humiliated. Since it appeared that all the details were worked out, River decided not to call her brother. There wasn't really much point. When she saw Dan, she'd do her best to let him know she wasn't angry with him. Hopefully, they'd also find a way to move on and mend the past.

River forced her thoughts back to the case she and Tony were working. The woman she'd spoken to at the police department had said that the Cheryl Armitage case had always bothered Detective Porter. The chance that Cheryl's death was related to Shelly's and Ted's murders was a long shot. River certainly didn't want Detective Porter to get his hopes up, but if there was any chance that all three were killed by the same person, she and Tony had to follow up.

The phone rang and River answered.

A man with a gruff voice asked for her.

"This is she. It this Detective Porter?"

"Yes, but I'm really not Detective Porter anymore," he said. "Most people just call me Vincent. Maureen from the station said you have information about a case from a few years back."

"Yes, sir," River said. "I'm a private investigator in St. Louis. My partner and I were hired to find someone. A woman with a cold case podcast."

"April Bailey?" he said. "Yeah, she contacted me a while back. Wanted to see if she could help us find the person who ran down and killed a woman. I haven't heard from her for quite some time, though. I don't believe she was ever able to uncover anything we hadn't already investigated."

"Unfortunately, she's missing, sir."

"Vincent, please. And that's terrible. She was a sweet gal. If I can do anything to help you, I'm happy to do it."

"Thank you, Vincent," River said. "We're just going through her cold cases, trying to find out if anyone connected to one of them might have had something to do with her disappearance."

"You mean, maybe she got a little too close to the truth?"

"Yes. I was told this case she was working on is important to you. I know it's been a long time, but do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"

"I'm sorry, but I don't know you, ma'am. If you'd like to meet me for a cup of coffee, I'd be happy to talk to you in person. I worked for the police department for a long time. I can tell a lot about people when we're face-to-face. A lot less so on the phone."

Since Tony wouldn't let her out of his sight, River only had one option. "Would you be willing to come to our office?"

"I can do that. Give me your address."

Once River had given him their location, he told her he'd be there shortly. She hung up and waited for Tony to get off the phone. When he finally hung up, she told him that the retired detective was on his way to see them.

"I just got off the phone with Ted's mother. She invited me to visit her. She doesn't get out much. I think she's disabled. I'll tell her I can't come today. I'll wait until we can go together."

River sighed. "Tony, I'll be fine. I'll keep the office locked except when I'm with Detective Porter."

Tony hesitated a moment before saying, "I guess that would be all right. Mrs. Piper lives near Imperial, so I won't be gone long."

"Sounds good. I hope we learn something helpful from these people."

Tony stood up and grabbed his coat. "Call me if you need me." He smiled at her. "And by the way, I'm asking the security guard to check on you every thirty minutes."

She frowned at him. "I told you I'll be all right."

"I know. But I'm overprotective. Just deal with it."

River shook her head. "You're a dork."

"I know."

After he left, River made additional notes about April's various cases, trying to find something that made sense to her. Many times, writing things out helped her to think. She was so focused that she didn't notice anyone had opened the office door until she heard someone call her name. She realized she'd forgotten to lock the door. Standing in the office was an older man, tall with salt and pepper hair in what used to be called a butch cut. He had steel gray eyes that showed intelligence. He wasn't what she was expecting.

"You're Vincent?" she asked.

"Yes, ma'am."

"If I'm going to call you Vincent, you need to call me River," she said.

Vincent grinned. "You gotta deal. Mind if I sit?"

River nodded, and Vincent took a seat in one of the chairs in front of her desk.

"Coffee?" River asked.

"Thanks, but no. My blood pressure is a little high. Caffeine doesn't help." He leaned back in the chair. "So, Miss Bailey is missing? I hated to hear that. I couldn't help her, but I appreciated her commitment to finding out what happened to Cheryl Armitage. That was a terrible situation. I sure didn't like retiring before we found out who killed her."

"You think she was hit on purpose?" River asked.

"I don't know. It could have been an accident, but even if it were, the person who hit her should have fessed up. And she certainly shouldn't have been left alone in the road to die. If someone had called 911, she might have lived." He sighed. "I really don't know any more than I did back then. We looked everywhere for the car that hit her. Found some with damage, but none of them were the right one. Either the driver had an alibi, or the blood didn't match hers. Unfortunately, most of the cars around here with blood and hair come from cars that ran into deer. I even hit one that night, on the way to the scene. It's a sad fact in Missouri. A lot of wildlife and too many vehicles."

"So, you never got a tip that made you wonder?" River asked.

"Well, there was one. A woman phoned the station about six months ago—I was already retired—but they called me about it. Said she believed Cheryl's ex-husband was the one who killed her. He was dating this woman when the accident happened, and he came home with damage to his front end. She also said he got it fixed right away and then paid someone to give him an alibi."

"My partner and I were wondering about the ex-husband, but according to my notes, he had an alibi."

"Yeah, he did," Vincent said. "But he was the only one with any motive. And his alibi was only backed up by one person."

"Can you tell me how to find him?"

"I could, but you'd have to go to the cemetery. He died about ten months ago. Cancer."

Well, so much for that idea . "So do you believe he did it?"

"That's just the thing. I don't know. I'd love to see this case solved, but I could never prove that his alibi was false. Or that the second wife, the woman who called, wasn't saying what she did because she was angry with him. Seems their marriage was breaking up too. But even after Tom died, his boss stuck to his claim that he was working out of town at the time Cheryl was killed."

"Where did he work?" River asked.

"He worked for a building maintenance company. Cleaned offices at night."

"Kind of hard to be certain he was at work then, right?"

"True," Vincent said. "Most of the buildings he cleaned had security systems. It's not impossible to leave a building if the alarm is turned off and come back in later, but here's the reason we couldn't make a case. Why would he leave work, drive twenty miles away, run down his ex-wife who he had no way of knowing would be drunk and out on the road that night, and then hightail it back to work and enter a building, just hoping no one would see him? And then keep his messed-up truck with him until he drove home the next morning ... in daylight when everyone could see the damage? It's not entirely impossible, but the idea has too many holes in it. We just couldn't prove anything."

"I understand."

"I wish I could help you," Vincent said, "but Tom couldn't have taken April. He was dead when she went missing. I'm not saying he didn't kill Cheryl, but unless you find new evidence, this case is pretty much a dead end."

"Just two more quick questions?"

"Sure," Vincent said. "Like I said, I'm retired. I have all the time in the world."

"I read that before she died, Cheryl whispered the phrase three little piggies to the EMT who was with her. Do you have any idea why she would say that?"

"No, we couldn't connect that to anything. In the end, we decided she was probably hallucinating. She had three times the legal limit of alcohol in her system."

"This may sound really odd, but does the dogwood flower have anything to do with this case? I ask because it might be connected to two other deaths, both victims found near the side of the road."

Vincent frowned. "No, I'm sorry. Nothing like that ever came up. No flowers were found on Ms. Armitage." He shrugged. "I'm afraid this is a case that will never be solved. I really wanted to close it before I die. It's a sad thing."

"Yes, it is. I appreciate your time."

Vincent stood. "Listen, if you run across anything that might shine a light on this case, will you contact me again?"

"I absolutely will. It may not seem like you've helped us, but you have. We obviously need to move on to something else. Thank you, Vincent."

"You're very welcome, River. And I hope you find April. I'd like to know about that too, if you don't mind."

"I'll make sure to call you if that happens. Thank you again." She held out her hand and he shook it.

After he left, she locked the door. Then she wrote down the details of their conversation. She was disappointed. Talking to Vincent hadn't helped at all. She wondered how Tony was doing. So far, they didn't seem to be making much progress.

The doorknob rattled. River looked up and saw the security guard. She got up and opened the door. "Just making sure you're okay," he said.

River smiled at him. "I'm fine. Sorry to put you out."

"This is probably the most interesting thing that's happened today," he said. "Mr. St. Clair must care a lot about you."

"Maybe a little too much."

"Not sure anyone can care about you too much." He nodded at her. "I'll be back in a while."

After he left, she locked the door again and went back to her notes. But the guard's words echoed in her mind. Not sure anyone can care about you too much. Was that true? Because she wasn't sure anyone could possibly care more about Tony than she did right now. Her feelings for him were so strong that sometimes she felt as if she could barely breathe.