Once Lured

I might turn into one of these, she thought.

“What about becoming a private investigator?” Blaine asked.

“I don’t think so,” Riley said. “Digging up dirty secrets about divorcing couples doesn’t appeal to me.”

“That’s not all that PIs do,” Blaine said. “What about investigating insurance fraud? Hey, I’ve got this cook who’s collecting disability, says he’s got a bad back. I’m sure he’s faking it, but I can’t prove it. You could start with him.”

Riley laughed. Blaine was joking, of course.

“Or you could look for missing people,” Crystal said. “Or missing pets.”

Riley laughed again. “Now that would make me feel like I was doing some real good in the world!”

April had dropped out of the conversation. Riley saw that she was texting and giggling. Crystal leaned across the table toward Riley.

“April’s got a new boyfriend,” Crystal said. Then she silently mouthed, “I don’t like him.”

Riley was annoyed that her daughter was ignoring everybody else at the table.

“Stop doing that,” she told April. “It’s rude.”

“What’s rude about it?” April said.

“We’ve talked about this,” Riley said.

April ignored her and typed a message.

“Put that away,” Riley said.

“In a minute, Mom.”

Riley stifled a groan. She’d long since learned that “in a minute” was teen talk for “never.”

Just then her own phone buzzed. She felt angry with herself for not turning it off before leaving the house. She looked at the phone and saw that it was a message from her FBI partner, Bill. She thought about leaving it unread, but she couldn’t make herself do that.

As she brought up the message, she glanced up and saw April grinning at her. Her daughter was enjoying the irony. Silently seething, Riley read Bill’s text message.

Meredith has a new case. He wants to discuss it with us ASAP.

Special Agent in Charge Brent Meredith was Riley’s boss, and Bill’s too. She felt tremendous loyalty to him. Not only was he a good and fair boss, he’d gone to bat for Riley many times when she was in trouble with the bureau. Even so, Riley was determined not to let herself get drawn in, at least for the time being.

I can’t go traveling right now, she texted back.

Bill replied, It’s right here in the area.

Riley shook her head with discouragement. Standing her ground wasn’t going to be easy.

She texted back to him, I’ll get back to you.

No reply came, and Riley put the phone back in her bag.

“I thought you said that was rude, Mom,” April said in a quiet, sullen voice.

April was still texting.

“I’m through with mine,” she said, trying not to sound as annoyed as she felt.

April ignored her. Riley’s own phone buzzed again. She cursed silently. She saw that the text was from Meredith himself.

Be at BAU meeting tomorrow 9 AM.

Riley was trying to think of a way to excuse herself when another text followed.

That’s an order.

CHAPTER TWO

Riley’s spirits sank as she looked at the two images looming on screens above the BAU conference room table. One was a photo of a carefree girl with bright eyes and a winning smile. The other was her corpse, horribly emaciated and lying with her arms pointed in odd directions. Since she had been ordered to attend this meeting, Riley knew there must be other victims like this one.

Sam Flores, a savvy lab technician with black-rimmed glasses, was running the multimedia display for the four other agents seated around the table.

“These pictures are of Metta Lunoe, seventeen years old,” Flores said. “Her family lives in Collierville, New Jersey. Her parents reported her missing in March – a runaway.”

He added a huge map of Delaware to the display, indicating a location with a pointer.

He said, “Her body turned up in a field outside of Mowbray, Delaware, on May sixteenth. Her neck had been broken.”

Flores brought up another pair of images – one showing another vibrant young girl, the other showing her almost unrecognizably withered, her arms stretched out in a similar way.

“These pictures are of Valerie Bruner, also seventeen, a reported runaway from Norbury, Virginia. She disappeared in April.”

Flores pointed to another location on the map.

“Her body was found stretched out in a dirt road near Redditch, Delaware, on June twelfth. Obviously the same MO as the earlier killing. Agent Jeffreys was brought in to investigate.”

Riley was startled. How could Bill have worked on a case that hadn’t involved her? Then she remembered. In June, she had been hospitalized, recovering from her horrible ordeal in Peterson’s cage. Even so, Bill had visited her frequently in the hospital. He’d never mentioned that he was also working this case.

She turned toward Bill.

“Why didn’t you tell me about this?” she asked.

Bill’s face looked grim.

“It wasn’t a good time,” he said. “You had troubles of your own.”

“Who was your partner?” Riley asked.

“Agent Remsen.”