Page 44 of Riding Danger

Even though it was later than I usually worked, eight o clock was still early for the kind of trouble that usually warranted a night shift in most small towns. When we arrived at the station, there were only two uniformed officers around.

Agent Newton led us to the room we were told to use. There was no murder board, since we had just arrived and wouldn’tbe staying long. Besides, small towns rarely had use for a board filled with murder victims and gruesome evidence. Yet, small towns all across Southern California had seen a fair amount of trouble over the years.

Once Agent Newton had laid out his copy of all the photographs and reports we had, we tried to create a timeline. “We have the body in Marina De Ferrier. Then we found one on the outskirts of the city. That guy was from Walker Lake. And now this one. Not mentioning the three before that.”

I looked over at the trinkets and toys. “Did the victim's family recognize the toys?”

“No.” Lilly answered, narrowing her eyes at me. “We asked, remember?”

“We asked about the toys found by their loved one. Not the others.”

Agent Newton shook his head. “What does it matter? From what we could gather those toys were brand new. Hell, one of them still had a price tag on it.”

My frown deepened as I looked over all the information we had. “That building we were at? Walker and Partners, that’s the law firm who handled Grace’s adoption.”

Lilly nodded. “Oliver and Nick are friends with the Walker brothers.”

Agent Newton spoke up. “I know him, his brother-in-law was the one who had been held captive. Your firm rescued his special forces team a few months back.”

“Yes. Adam had practically raised him?—”

“Wait. What?” Something occurred to me. “Adam’s office was a dumpsite, the same as Harry’s diner?”

Agent Newton nodded. I bit my lip not wanting to sound like a fool. I was probably wrong, so it didn’t matter anyway.

“Spit it out Bauman.” His voice was harsh and impatient. “We’re brainstorming here. I don’t care if you sound stupid.”

I took a deep breath. “Both men took on children who were not their responsibility.”

“It could be something.” Agent Newton nodded slowly. “I’ll make sure someone looks deeper into the owners of the buildings around the other dump sites.”

Lilly’s eyes narrowed, obviously piggy backing off our discussion. “What about the victims? They were all in relationships, right?”

“Not quite.” Agent Newton pointed to the third set of photographs. “He had an ex, but he was single. No partner, no kids.”

I looked at the report we had on the third victim. “How do you know he had no kids? The ex has a kid.” I checked the time of the relationship. “A kid who was born seven months after they broke up.”

“Mother said it wasn’t his kid.”

“And until a month ago, I refused to acknowledge that the cliché playboy rockstar is the father of my child. Because I thought that was best. Mothers are not above hiding a father who could be toxic.”

Lilly took a closer look and pointed to each victim in turn. “Divorced, deployed, absent, and ignorant. The killer thinks these are all deadbeat dads.”

“But they’re not.” Agent Newton shook his head. “This one may be divorced but according to his ex-wife, he was a presence in his child's life.”

“Maybe.” My mind racing as a thread of unexplained panic raced up my spine. “But all it would take is a derogatory word from a frustrated mom at the wrong time and suddenly a dad needing to work late is the villain.”

Fear coiled in my belly. I was in love with a man who hadn’t known his kid. And while there were mitigating circumstances, it didn’t look like the killer cared much about that.

20

RYDER

It took me about an hour to get Ethan packed up and over to Tess and Harry’s place. Originally, I thought we’d be sharing a drink at his home. Then, when I didn’t see Jason’s car outside, I thought I was being ambushed.

Turned out none of those things were true. As soon as I walked through the door, Ethan ran up to Harry and double high fived him. “Grandpa!”

“How’s my favorite singing grandson?” He crouched down to put himself at his grandson’s eye level. “Heard you’ve been spending a lot of time at the studio.”

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