RIGHT AFTER BREAKFAST, Woody set up an appointment with Josh Federer. Luke and Abby settled in to review all of the recorded television news footage from when Ciara went missing and then fifteen years later when her remains were found. There was a lot of footage, but it was important to review. Sometimes news camerapeople recorded important things accidentally.

The twenty-year-old news footage showed a younger Mrs. Considine in all her glory. She gave several interviews extolling her son’s virtues, telling everyone that Chaz and Ciara were in love; he never would have done anything to hurt her. She strenuously refused to let him be interviewed unless there was hard evidence against him.

“She sure was intimidating back then,” Luke said. “Even on a small screen.”

“But her actions make everything circle back to Chaz.” Abby chewed on her bottom lip, frustrated and wishing she’d been in on this case since the beginning. Because Mrs. Considine shut down all the attempts to interview Chaz by himself and then stopped the one interview in which she did sit down with him at the station, there was nothing much to play with regarding his statement. Their conversation at breakfast last week hadn’t really added anything workable.

Winnen was another matter. He’d given two taped interviews and had called the police with tips at least twice. The first time was what the retired cop had told them about, the one not officially recorded, but the second time was recorded. In the second call he talked about all the women he knew who complained about Harkin and promised to give the cops names. And because Abby believed the two men were in some way connected, she was certain that if they got to Winnen, they would get to Chaz, or vice versa.

One point Luke found interesting was the timing of Winnen’s calls. First the tip that Axelson had told them about, the call about Harkin. Then, after the PD had begun to focus on the pool maintenance man, Winnen called in to give the names of two coeds who claimed Harkin had disturbed them by the way he looked at them. The coeds were two people the team had not been able to reconnect with. Was the anonymous caller one of them?

“Did he know about Harkin’s past? Is that why he called in the tip?” Abby wondered out loud. “And did he line up the girls to pile on to Harkin, keep the cops going down that trail?”

“Wouldn’t be the first time guilty people tried to misdirect the police,” Luke said.

“In the first taped interview, he says that he didn’t see Chaz and Ciara leave the party but remembers that they were already gone when he left,” Abby noted.

“Yes, and in the second interview, he says he did see them leave and gave a time of 12:15.” Luke sifted through the transcripts. “When he’s asked about the discrepancy, he claims that he just forgot, that he had a brief conversation with the pair and saw that they weren’t fighting or anything.”

“They pressed him on that, and he stuck to his second story. But I’d still be curious about the change,” Abby said.

“Maybe they were curious at the time, but the next day they had Harkin to look at.”

“Could be, and they obviously got tunnel vision when it came to Harkin. It happens.”

“I can agree with that,” Luke said. “Like you said, it was truly an impediment to the investigation not being able to interview Considine. My money is on him knowing a lot more than he ever said.”

“Well, then let’s pray that our ruse works and we scare him to open up.” She closed the files on Ciara and moved to the Napier case.

“Victoria Napier’s formula for finding her husband is so complex it makes my head spin,” she said after reading through some of the paperwork. “But the story is compelling. What a monster this Stuart Napier is. And to disappear so completely.” She shook her head.

“She’s something in person,” Luke said. “So intense. She’s convinced that she will find him and she plans to keep looking until she does.”

“She does appear to be a mite focused. After the work she’s put into locating the guy by herself, I hope that he is eventually found. I can’t imagine driving all over the country, walking into vineyards, looking for her killer husband. Just think, suppose she’d found him? Came face-to-face with the killer of her children? It would have been ugly.”

For lunch, they decided to take a drive. Woody left to meet the reporter Federer, so it was just Abby and Luke. They drove to Paso Robles and stopped at a deli near a park across from city hall. They picked up sandwiches and drinks and located a free table in the park.

To Abby, Luke seemed to want light conversation, but she drew him back to the Napier file, the images still fresh in her mind. The case had touched her; she understood why Orson wanted to help.

“I can’t help but put myself in that position, if I were the investigator called out to that horrible scene.”

“Would you have done anything different?”

“No, I guess I wouldn’t have. I mean, there wasn’t much to do but study the death and destruction, hoping for any clues to catch the killer. He certainly disappeared in a masterful way.”

“I agree. He had to have planned it.”

“Either that, or he’s dead.”

“Victoria is convinced he’s alive.”

“She seems pretty courageous. She almost died three times.”

Luke chewed a bite of sandwich and considered that. “Courageous, maybe,” he said after he swallowed. “Obsessed certainly. To be honest, she made me a little uncomfortable.”

“I understand her, I think. Those were beautiful little boys. And the damage to her physically is horrendous.”

“Yeah, maybe, but there has to be a point in any investigation where the victim must step back. This search has consumed her whole life. That’s not healthy.”

Abby looked away and felt a pinch in her soul, as if Luke were talking to her and not referring to Victoria. And Pastor Terry’s words still rang in her mind.

“The hurt has become a part of them and it’s scary to let go.”

“She lost so much,” she said after a minute. “I see why she is so determined to find the man who took it all away.” She toyed with her lunch. If Luke was referring to her, she would ignore it and bring up what else was on her mind. “Which brings me to the elephant in the room. This morning, when . . . well, when —”

“When you and I . . . ?”

“When we hugged. What was that? I mean, are we taking a serious step in our relationship?”

His clear hazel eyes held hers and Abby felt her heart jump in her chest.

“I hope so. For a long time I’ve been attracted to you. But I wasn’t certain if you were over Ethan. I —”

“I am, Luke, and I’d love to take a serious step with you . . . once we’re done with this case and home again.” She reached across the table with her hand.

He grasped it. “That makes me very happy, Abby. And I —”

Luke’s phone buzzed and the spell was broken. “It’s a text from Woody. The reporter will help us out. They were already going to run an in-depth story about the squad, so they’ll add the DNA test.”

Abby wanted to know what he was going to say and felt irritated by the interruption. But shelving her angst and the question for another time, she gave him a thumbs-up. “Outstanding. We’ll put this case to bed —I know it.”

She wanted the moment back but could be patient for the time being.