Chapter 30

CHAPTER THIRTY

The motel room was pretty basic, but at least it seemed clean. Audrey had wrapped her wrist, so it was feeling better. The pills she took weren't strong, but they helped. She'd slept for quite a while. When she woke up, Audrey smiled at her.

"I picked up some food while you were sleeping. Are you hungry?"

She nodded. She still felt a little groggy, but she knew she needed to eat. Audrey put some food on a paper plate and stuck it into the microwave in the small kitchen. Then she opened the refrigerator and took out a bottle of water, which she put on the nightstand next to the bed.

"Drink something," Audrey said.

She sat up in the bed and swung her legs over the side. Then she reached over, took the cap off the bottle, and put it to her lips, which were dry and cracked. The cold water tasted so good. The water at the hospital was always lukewarm. She hated lukewarm water. She drank almost the entire bottle before Audrey gently took it from her.

"Slow down, honey. I don't want you to make yourself sick." She put the bottle down and went over to the microwave when it dinged. "I warmed this up for you. Just a hamburger and fries, but I think you'll like it. It's pretty good."

"Could anyone know we're here?" she asked.

"I don't think so." Audrey sighed. "We'll only be able to stay here for a short time."

She unwrapped the cheeseburger and took a small bite. This was the first cheeseburger she'd had in a long, long time. It was so good. For some reason she wanted to cry. It wasn't because of the burger, it was because her world was beginning to feel normal again. As if someone had opened the door to her cage and allowed her to finally come out. The truth was, she really had been a prisoner. Trapped and unable to escape. Until today. She'd just taken a second bite when there was a loud knock on the door. She dropped the burger onto her lap, and it fell to the floor. Audrey got up and went to the window, pulling the curtain back a bit. She looked out and then turned around, a look of horror on her face.

"I don't recognize these men," she whispered. "Don't say anything. We have to be quiet. Don't let them know we're here."

She started to cry. Surely this couldn't be happening. She noticed a notepad and a pen on the nightstand. She grabbed it and started writing out a message. Before she could finish it, the pen ran out of ink. She quickly looked for another one, but there weren't any. She tore the top piece of paper off and put it under her pillow, out of sight. Suddenly, the knocking stopped. Audrey looked out the window again.

"They're gone," she said. "We need to leave, right now." Audrey grabbed her tote bag and put the food in it. Then she grabbed some bottles of water and shoved them in as well. "Get up," she said, her voice high and shaky. "Can you walk?"

Before she could say yes, someone began yelling outside the door. Audrey turned toward her and smiled sadly. "They must have followed us. I'm sorry. Whatever happens, I want you to promise me that you won't give up. I sent a letter to Nathan letting him know you're alive. I couldn't risk telling him where you were. If the authorities started snooping around before I could get you to safety, we would both be in danger. But you need to know that someone is looking for you, okay?"

As the tears ran down her face, she nodded. "Thank you. Thank you so much," she said. Her voice was hoarse from not talking for so long. Could Audrey understand her?

Someone hit the door hard, and it broke open. Two men walked into the room and smiled at her. She tried to scream but she couldn't. One of them walked over to her, reached into his pocket, and took out a syringe.

She yelled, "No!" as loudly as she could, but it was nothing more than a quiet croak. Even if there were people outside, they couldn't possibly have heard her.

She felt the needle in her neck and almost immediately the room began to grow dark. She looked for Audrey, but the other man had her and was leading her from the room.

Then the familiar darkness overcame her.

WHILE TONY WAS PICKING UP LUNCH, River decided to do some research on Jeffrey Bailey. He was clearly a devoted father, but they didn't know much else about him. Besides checking out his job as an investment banker, she also pulled up articles about April's mother. What she discovered surprised her. By the time Tony got back, she was waiting for him.

"Hey, I found something. Maybe it doesn't mean anything, but we need to talk about it."

"Sure, but let me put this down first," he replied. Tony put one sack on his desk and handed the second one to River. "What do you want to drink?"

"Water's fine."

Tony grabbed two bottles of water from the mini-fridge and handed one to River. Then he sat down. As River was reaching into her bag, she looked down to see Watson staring up at her. He looked like he was smiling.

"Tell him to lay down," Tony said firmly.

"Oh, Tony. I can't do that. Can't he have a couple of french fries?"

Tony shook his head. "You're spoiling him, but I guess it's okay."

"Good. Thanks." She took out one of her fries and handed it to the happy little dog. His tail thumped loudly against the floor.

River reached into her bag and pulled out her BBQ sandwich. It smelled so good. She smiled at Tony. "Once the Strangler's partner is behind bars, I think I'm going to miss this. You picking up my lunch and bringing it to me."

"I doubt that," Tony said. "My guess is that you'll feel much better not having me hanging around all the time."

"No," River said. "I'll be happy to get out more, but I enjoy spending time with you."

Tony smiled at her. "I like spending time with you too. Now, what is it you couldn't wait to tell me?"

River had to stop and think for a moment. What was it? "Oh, yeah. I was doing some research on Jeffrey Bailey. We both know that most murders are committed by friends or family members of the victims."

After eating a couple of fries, Tony nodded. "Sure. Didn't get that kind of vibe from Jeffrey though, did you?"

"When did we start going by vibes?"

"Okay, okay," Tony said. "I stand corrected."

"What with Kevin's murder, worrying about Nathan, and my dad coming to visit tomorrow, it's like my brain has been going several different directions at once. We should have talked about him sooner."

"He didn't have to approach us," Tony said. "If he had anything to do with April's disappearance, why would he come here?"

"To make us suspicious of Nathan?"

Tony frowned. "What did you find that brought this up?"

"Did you know that Jeffrey isn't April's biological father? He adopted her after he married her mother. She was seven."

"That doesn't mean he doesn't love her."

"Of course, you're right," River said. "But let's look at this logically, without emotion."

Tony laughed. "Isn't that what we always do?"

River felt Watson nudge her leg. She slipped him another fry.

"Not in this case, and I wonder if we should have. I feel like we've been looking at all these different cases, wondering if it could be the one that leads us to April. It's like we're trying to juggle a bunch of balls—keep them all in the air. But we may have missed what was right in front of us. I mean, Jeffrey isn't her biological father. Her mother was murdered, and now April's disappeared. April has a trust fund, which I think was left to her by her mother. My research revealed that Katherine Bailey came from a wealthy family. Jeffrey didn't. Now he's the trustee of all this money. With April gone..."

"If she's declared deceased, the money will probably be his," Tony said. "In fact, he'll most likely inherit everything."

"You're right." River shook her head. "We've been so busy going through these cases and looking at serial killers..."

"Hey, hold on a minute. We spent years in the FBI writing profiles. Trying to think like psychopaths. Out-of-the-box thinking has become our go to. It might take a while for us to learn how to pay attention to the obvious."

"Yeah, maybe so." River leaned forward in her chair. "So, what do we do now? How do we investigate Jeffrey Bailey?"

Tony shrugged. "I don't know, but if her stepfather is involved, does that mean it's more likely she's alive? I mean, because he cares about her?"

"Maybe, although her mother dying makes me uncomfortable."

Tony frowned. "Supposedly, he was cleared."

"Maybe he hired someone to do it. He had access to his wife's money."

"True, but I'm sure the police investigated this possibility," Tony said. "I don't think we can assume Jeffrey killed his wife. And because he has money, isn't it possible that he found a way to get April out of the picture instead of killing her?"

"I understand what you mean, but if he has her hidden away somewhere, just how long can that go on?"

Tony grunted. "You mean how long until he finally gives up and decides it's too risky to keep her alive?"