River couldn’t help but gasp at Tony’s revelation. When she saw the look on his face, she realized her reaction only made him feel worse.
She came over, pulled a chair up next to his, and put her hand on his arm. “Tony, what she did wasn’t your fault. She made that decision on her own.”
“But if I’d defended her, she wouldn’t have been so devastated.” He turned tear-filled eyes toward her. She was shocked by the pain she saw reflected there.
“Did you plan to spend the rest of your life taking care of her?” River asked gently. “Don’t you realize that the day would come when you wouldn’t be there? When she would have to deal with other people? With cruelty?” She squeezed his arm. “You can’t be completely responsible for another person, Tony. None of us can.”
“Breedlove said she forgave me. If she didn’t blame me in the first place . . .”
“I thought you said you didn’t believe in psychics.”
“I don’t.”
“Then why are you taking what he said seriously?” River asked. “That doesn’t make sense, does it?”
Tony was silent.
“Look, you know I’m not into God . . . or religion. But I was brought up in church. I remember some things, believe it or not. Isn’t the devil supposed to be the accuser of the brethren? If what Breedlove said makes you feel like this . . . Well, it can’t be from God, can it?”
“No, and I know that.”
“Then why care about what he said? Your guilt made you latch on to his supposed message from Audrey.”
“Again, you’re right. So how can you believe anything he said about Chris?”
River stood up and moved the chair back to its place in front of Tony’s desk. “Look, I don’t know who Breedlove is, but what if his information is real? We should at least check it out.” She shook her head. “We’re not going to contact him or have anything to do with him. Especially since he caused you so much pain. But I’m still curious about what he said.” She picked up a pen and wrote down Breedlove’s supposed message from the other side.
“It’s a waste of time.”
“You’re probably right. We’ll stay with our real leads. I’m just keeping this . . . in case.”
Tony just shrugged.
River went back to her desk, ready to change the subject. “I’m not having any luck tracking Mark Loomis. And I’m hungry. Do you want me to pick up some lunch?”
“That would be great,” he said. “What are you hungry for?”
“How about a cheeseburger and fries from that place down the street?”
“Sounds good. You know what I like.”
River smiled. “Yeah, grilled onions, mustard, pickles, cheese . . . and no ketchup.”
“Thanks.”
“But ketchup for your fries.”
Tony nodded. “It’s the only right way to eat a cheeseburger and fries.”
“Yeah, I know.” She got up. “I’ll be right back.”
“Okay.”
WHEN THE DOOR CLOSED BEHIND HER, Tony picked up the phone and called their friend at the FBI. Scott answered on the second ring. Tony quickly told him what he needed and why. “I don’t want to put you on the spot, though.”
“You’re not,” Scott said. “Look, send the pictures to my personal email. I’ll work on them at home. I have some great equipment there.”
“That makes me feel better,” Tony said. “We didn’t want to cause problems.”
“You won’t. How are you guys doing? We heard about Baker’s accomplice.”
“It’s a shock, but I’m not worried. Our guess is that whoever worked with Baker isn’t brave enough to go out on his own. He’s most probably holed up someplace, trying to find a way to stay off the radar.”
“I heard that the press may have the story.”
Tony sighed. “Great. That will only drive him further underground. Safer for the public but harder to find.”
“It may also put attention on you,” Scott said.
Of course, that was true. Something River didn’t need. Nor did her mother. “Let’s hope not,” Tony said.
“How is River doing?” Scott asked.
“Brave front. You know how it goes.”
Tony felt uncomfortable talking about River when she wasn’t around, but Scott understood trauma. Scott had been forced to take lots of grisly photos that were passed on to field agents looking for some of the most evil people on the planet. Of course, like cockroaches, when one was smashed, there were always others waiting to take its place.
“I’ll work on this tonight when I get home,” Scott said. “It may take me a couple of nights, though.”
“Not a problem,” Tony said. “This missing boy’s mother has been waiting for four years. A couple of days won’t change anything. She knows her son is dead. She just wants to give him a decent burial. Know where he is, you know.”
“I understand.”
“I hope the instructions I sent make sense,” Tony said. “If not, call me. I don’t need individual shots of everyone in the crowd. Just the ones I indicated.”
“If I have any questions, I’ll contact you. And if I notice anything suspicious in the crowd that you missed, I’ll separate that too.”
“Great. I’m grateful to have someone like you to work on this. People not in law enforcement wouldn’t understand what we’re looking for.”
“Talk to you soon,” Scott said.
“Thanks.”
Tony hung up and stared at the door to the office. Maybe they would get a break. Find someone in the crowd who would provide them with a good lead. With facial recognition, they could identify anyone in the system. If they had a criminal record of any kind, Tony and River could locate them. If they’d been in the military or worked for an employer that required a background check, they could be found. Usually, someone who was responsible for something as major as killing a young person like Chris had faced a run-in with law enforcement before. Killing was rarely their first crime.
Tony felt like it was time to turn Chris’s info about the teachers at his school over to the police. What other proof could they find that they were dealing drugs? The police were trained to investigate that situation. River and Tony needed to focus on Chris. Unless they discovered a link between Chris’s disappearance and the teachers, there wasn’t any reason for them to spend any more time on the drug angle. Chris may have been suspicious, but it didn’t look as if he’d had time to act on it. There didn’t seem to be any reason that any of the teachers would want to harm Chris.
Tony had downloaded everything from Jason’s phone and felt he needed to turn it over to the police as well. The identity of Jason’s drug dealer was evident. In the past, evidence on cell phones was iffy. There had to be clear evidence of a crime, but lately the courts had begun to catch up to technology. It was possible a prosecutor could use what was on a cell phone to send a drug dealer to prison.
As soon as River returned, he’d talk to her about handing the phone over to the SLMPD.
HE WATCHED HER LEAVE THE BUILDING and walk down the street to the fast-food place. He was learning a lot about her. Sick mother. Close with her partner. Was St. Clair his way in? She’d been lured to the Salt River because she thought she was seeing a friend. Maybe using her partner was the way to finish the job he had to do.
He’d promised himself that he would see this through no matter what it took from him.
Even his life.