Page 69 of Cold Threat

“Yes, but we’re not licensed in Iowa,” Tony said. “We work out of Missouri.”

“Ray also said you used to work for the FBI and you’re helping him with a case. I understand you’re looking for a couple of children who were in foster care but seem to have disappeared?”

“Yes,” River said. “Michael and Stacy Wilson. Their biological father died almost twenty-four years ago. We think Michael may have had something to do with it, but we can’t find him or his sister. Ray tracked a few years of their whereabouts, but he couldn’t locate either one of them now.”

“Let me see what I can do.” Donnie pulled two files off one of the stacks and put them in front of him. “I can tell you that Michael was in a good foster home for a while, but when the husband died and the wife couldn’t keep him any longer, he was transferred to another home. I can’t find any records that prove he actually showed up there. I know he went somewhere, I just don’t know where.” He closed the file. “It sounds terrible, but there are quite a few children who went missing once they were put into foster care. Sometimes foster parents actually give the kids to someone else and split the money they were paid to take care of them. Things have improved quite a bit during the last several years, but we still have more cases than we can handle the way we’d like to.”

“And what about Stacy?” Tony asked.

Donnie pulled another file off the pile on his desk. “This oneis even stranger. After being surrendered, she was placed in a different foster home than her brother. I believe in keeping siblings together if at all possible. Maybe the case worker wasn’t able to do that. I’d ask him but he retired ten years ago, moved to Florida, and then died not long after that.”

“We keep losing leads because of people who have passed away,” River said. “It’s frustrating. Foster parents dead. Now this guy.”

“I certainly understand your frustration.” His dark eyes narrowed. “I looked up the names Ray gave me of some foster parents. There’s Sheila Jackson. She is deceased, I understand?”

“Yes, she passed away in a fire two years after Edward Wilson, Michael and Stacy’s father, died,” Tony said.

Donnie frowned. “A fire? Isn’t that the way Mr. Wilson and his wife died?”

Not being able to go into specifics, Tony just nodded. Although he wanted to tell Donnie everything, at this point in the investigation, it was best to keep things close to the vest. Obviously, he didn’t know that the victims were murdered before the fire.

“That seems odd.” Donnie studied them for a moment, but then shrugged and went back to the file in front of him. “I can tell you that Sheila Jackson is the name of the woman who took Stacy Wilson in after the Gordons.”

Tony felt as if someone had hit him in the stomach. They’d suspected that Sheila was connected to Michael and Stacy somehow, but this confirmation was still surprising. He looked at River, who seemed just as startled as he was.

“And after Sheila?”

“That’s where we lose her. Sheila told the case worker that Stacy had been put in another home, but we can’t find anything that proves that.”

“Donnie, do you have any record of foster parents named Greer? Terrance and Vanessa?”

It was Donnie’s turn to look surprised. “How do you know those names?”

“They lived here in Burlington. They died about four years ago.”

“Goodness, the bodies are piling up, aren’t they?”

It was clear that Donnie was suspicious, but Tony kept his mouth shut.

“So, you know about them?” River asked.

“Yes. They’re the people Sheila claimed took Stacy in. But when the foster care worker checked with them, they said they didn’t know anything about her. After that, the trail goes completely cold.”

“What about Mac and Angela Craig?” Tony asked.

Donnie frowned. “They were great foster parents who died tragically a couple of years ago. Some people suspect it was a murder/suicide.”

“Why?” Tony asked.

“There was a child who died in their care. It wasn’t their fault. The girl climbed a tree in their backyard and stepped on a branch that broke. I did the same thing when I was a kid.” He touched a scar on his cheek that Tony wouldn’t have noticed if he hadn’t pointed it out. “Thankfully, I just got cut and scraped. The girl in their care broke her neck. I tried to talk to them. Let them know that it had happened to me, and that I had perfect parents, but it didn’t help. They were devastated and stopped fostering.” He sighed. “You see, they couldn’t have their own children. Fostering was their way to have the family they wanted so badly. We all tried to help them, but they just couldn’t accept what happened, I guess.”

Tony was surprised by his statement. Obviously, the police hadn’t informed Donnie of the circumstances behind the Craigs’ deaths. There was no way they’d committed suicide. No one binds their hands and feet, kills themselves, and then sets their houseon fire. The police were keeping the details quiet. Maybe they weren’t certain the Snowman had returned, but they knew the Craigs were murdered.

“I’m afraid there’s nothing more I can tell you,” Donnie said.

“Let us toss one more name at you,” River said. “Do you know Sandra Cooper?”

“Yes. She was one of our foster parents.”

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