Page 58 of Cold Threat

Ray sat down at his desk while Tony and River pulled their chairs closer to him. “First of all, I still can’t tell you why he’s killing, but I’ve uncovered something rather interesting. It looks like a dead end, but if we—”

“Dad, you’re not really selling this,” Tony said with a smile.

“I know.” He flipped open the notebook he had with him. “Edward Wilson was married before Vera. His first wife died. He had two children, Michael and Stacy.”

“Thatisinteresting,” River said. “You need to talk to them. Maybe they can...”

“That’s going to be difficult.” Ray sighed and rubbed his eyes.

His dad’s excitement was mixed with weariness. Tony worried that this might be too much for him. He’d had a mild heart attack five years ago. He was doing well now, but Tony didn’t want him to push himself too hard.

“Why is that?” Tony asked.

“They’ve disappeared. Seems that, for some reason, Edwardgave them up. Maybe his wife’s death was too much for him, I have no idea. I can trace Michael until he’s sixteen, but he doesn’t show up anywhere after that. Stacy went missing even earlier. No trace anywhere.”

River stood up. “Wait a minute,” she said, her eyes wide. “Where were they before they disappeared?”

Tony felt his heart rate increase. He knew where this was going. Before his dad had a chance to answer, he said, “Foster care?”

Ray looked surprised. “Yes...”

“That’s it,” River said. She hurried over to the pictures. “Foster care. Sheila Jackson used to have foster children.”

Ray grabbed the file on his desk. “Mac and Angela Craig were foster parents, but it was years ago. I have no idea about Sandra Cooper.”

“Let’s think about this for a minute,” River said slowly. “So, Edward Wilson walks away from his kids. They go into foster care. He and his new wife are murdered. Then Sheila Jackson is killed by the Snowman. She used to have foster kids.”

“I don’t see the connection,” Ray said. “Michael went to two different foster families. Sheila Jackson wasn’t one of them. Stacy’s records are a little confusing. As far as I can tell, she was only with one foster family before she disappeared. And it wasn’t Sheila Jackson.”

“You need to talk to that foster family,” Tony said. “Find out what happened.”

“Good idea,” Ray said with a smile. “I already did that. The Gordons are very nice people. They tried to help Stacy, but she had some real problems that they weren’t equipped to cope with. She tried to hurt some of the other children. The foster care advocate they talked to said they had a better place for her. They tried to check on Stacy after she left, but the advocate left the agency not long after Stacy was moved. No one else seemed to know what happened to her. The Gordons called the agency’s administrator,who assured them everything was okay. That was the last thing they heard. I couldn’t call the agency because it went out of business several years ago. Tomorrow, I’ll do some further checking with the state to see what information they have.”

“This sounds a little weird,” Tony said. “I’ve heard of kids lost in the system, but this is the first time I’ve actually seen it happen.”

“We can’t assume anything,” Ray said. “I may be able to track Stacy tomorrow when the state offices are open.”

“Can you visit Sandra Cooper again? Ask her if she was ever a foster parent?”

Ray nodded. “I will.”

“I read something once about overloaded foster care agencies dumping children off with people who weren’t licensed,” River said. “In some cases, the children were abused.”

“Could that be what happened here?” Tony said. He met River’s eyes. “Follow me here. Let’s do anotherwhat if.”

“What if what?” Ray asked.

“It’s just a mental exercise, Dad,” Tony said. “We try to come up with scenarios that might fit the situation.”

Ray laughed. “Detectives do that more than you might guess. Go for it.”

“Okay,” Tony said. “Edward Wilson’s wife dies.” He glanced over at his father. “How did she die, Dad?”

“Sadly, she committed suicide. Hung herself.”

“Do you know who found her?” River asked.

Ray shook his head. “No idea. All I have is a death certificate.”

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