Page 57 of Cold Threat

River folded her hands in her lap, then she stared at the far wall, not really looking at anything.

“What?” he asked.

“Let’s playwhat if.”

Tony smiled at her.What ifwas a game they used to play when they were stuck with a problematic profile at the BAU. Although most of the time it drifted into some rather ridiculous scenarios that made the analysts laugh and helped to relieve tension, a couple of times they’d actually come up with something helpful.

“Okay, go,” he said.

River leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes. “Okay, what if he’s a child who was abused in some way by an adult. Let’s even say it was Edward and Vera Wilson since they’re the first victims. So, they abuse him ... and someone else ... let’s say there’s a sibling, or a mother who is injured in some kind of catastrophic way, and the kid is traumatized.”

“Let’s say it’s a sister, and she dies,” Tony said, allowing his imagination to create a story that could match the circumstances in the case.

“All right. A sister who dies. Maybe Edward Wilson had something to do with it.”

Tony nodded. “Okay. So, the brother waits until he’s an adult and kills the Wilsons as an act of revenge for the death of his sister.”

“But why kill Sheila Jackson? What does she have to do with anything?” River asked.

“What if...” Tony paused. “She had something to do with his sister’s death.”

“But there wasn’t any connection between the Wilsons and Sheila. Nothing.”

Tony looked at her. “Okay, what if Sheila Jackson knew about the abuse and didn’t help the killer’s sister.”

River stared at him for a moment. “Okay, but that’s pretty weak.”

“I know.” Tony sighed loudly. “Even mywhat ifs aren’t helpful.”

“Don’t give up. We believe the Snowman is exacting revenge for someone else,” River said. “The victims are sacrifices to this ... person. Now, we know that most serial killers have some kind of abuse in their past. So, what if the Snowman and his sibling ... we’ll go with sister ... were abused as children? Since the only person we don’t know everything about is Edward Wilson, what if he did it? Sheila Jackson was somehow involved. ... Wait a minute.” She reached for the file on the desk and pulled it closer. After shuffling through the pages for a moment, she said, “Hey, Sheila Jackson used to be a foster parent when she was young. She and her husband took kids in.”

“Were Edward and Vera foster parents?”

Again, River shuffled through the pages. “No,” she said, disappointment in her voice. “No record of it.”

Tony sighed again.

“If you keep that up, you could pass out, and you’re bigger than I am. I’m not sure I can pick you up off the floor.”

Tony laughed. “I’m sorry. My brain is really tired. I feel like we’re close, but it’s still a few inches out of our grasp.”

“Yeah, me too. Let’s put a pin in it and try again tomorrow.”

“Now that we’re not going to Sandra’s house, I’m gonna call my sister to see if we can meet for breakfast instead of lunch. I know she wants some time with me, but I’d like to keep our time tomorrow as uninterrupted as possible. If Aimee and I have breakfast, you and I could hit this again when I get back. We’d have the rest of the day.”

“I think that makes sense.”

Tony stood to his feet and stretched. He really was tired. Mind and body. Maybe a good night’s rest would get him back on track.

River got up too. They were both headed toward the door when it suddenly burst open. Ray stood there with a smile on his face.

“I think I’ve found something,” he said. “Something that could lead us to the Snowman.”

CHAPTER

THIRTY-THREE

River and Tony quietly waited for Ray to tell them what he’d discovered. Tony hadn’t seen his father this excited for a while. Would this new information really lead to the Snowman?

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