She got out her cell phone and quickly got Jilly on the line.
“Hey, Mom. Are you on your way home yet?”
Riley was surprised at the question.
She said, “Um, no. Why do you ask?”
“Well, April and Gabriela and I saw on the news that you have asuspect in custody. We figured you’d wrap things up and drive straight back.”
Riley stifled down a sigh. With luck, she might get hometomorrow. But tonight was really out of the question.
“Jilly, I’m afraid—”
Jilly interrupted good-naturedly, “Don’t tell me. Things arecomplicated.”
Riley smiled. Her daughter was definitely catching on to the waythings went in her line of work.
“Yeah, like always,” she said. “I’m hoping for a break tonight,though.”
Jilly said, “Good luck, Mom. April and Gabriela and I pulling foryou.”
“Thanks,” Riley said. “Are you and your sister ready to gotrick-or-treating?”
“Yeah, we’re just now heading out. I’m already in my zombiecostume. You ought to see it, Mom. It would scare even you.”
Riley chuckled. “It just might. So what did you decide aboutApril wearing a costume?”
“Huh?” Jilly said, as if she didn’t understand the question.
Riley said, “Well, yesterday the two of you were fighting aboutwhether she should wear a costume or not.”
Riley heard Jilly scoff.
“Well, that would be dumb, wouldn’t it?” Jilly said. “She’s sixteenyears old, Mom. She’d look pretty silly wearing a costume.”
Riley was momentarily dumbstruck. It seemed as if Jillyremembered nothing of yesterday’s altercation. In fact, she was fullysympathetic with April on the matter.
Kids, Riley thought.
They were utterly unpredictable, probably even to themselves.Nothing about raising them seemed simple or straightforward. Sometimes shethought it was easier to make sense of serial killers than ordinary teenagers.
“You two have fun,” Riley said to Jilly. “But be careful.Halloween can be dangerous, you know.”
“Yeah, we know,” Jilly said. “But April and I can take care ofourselves. We had a good teacher.”
Riley smiled at the compliment and said goodbye. As she ended thecall, she fought down a pang of worry. She’d meant it when she’d said thatHalloween could be dangerous. And right now, that seemed truer even than usual.She thought she’d feel better if her daughters simply skipped trick-or-treatingaltogether this year, and perhaps for good. At least she was glad that theywere in Fredericksburg, Virginia. That should be well out of reach of theso-called “Goatman” here in Maryland.
Riley looked at her watch. She had time to take one last passthrough some of these records on the desk. She opened up the folder for YvonneSwenson. As she glanced through it, a detail stood out to her that so far hadn’tseemed very meaningful. It was a fact that Sheriff Wightman had mentioned.
She was a widow.
Riley felt an odd tingle. She wasn’t sure just why. From what shewas reading, it appeared that Yvonne’s husband, Russell Swenson, had died threeyears before her disappearance. But why did that matter? What could thatpossibly have to do with what had eventually happened to Yvonne?
Riley didn’t know. But she got on Sheriff Wightman’s computer andsearched for the man’s obituary. She saw that he’d died rather young in amotorcycle accident. The obituary included a few innocuous details about hislife, and also information about the upcoming funeral and memorial service.
But what struck Riley most was his birthdate.
He was born on October 31.
He was born on Halloween!
It seemed like a weird detail. Riley wondered if it had anysignificance.
The obituary also gave the date and time for his burial, whichwas to take place in Gracefield Cemetery.
Gracefield Cemetery …
The name rang a bell with Riley.
She unfolded a map of Winneway and Aurora Groves and quicklyfound Gracefield Cemetery. It was in Aurora Groves, and it adjoined an areacalled Garfield Park.
Riley felt a surge of interest as she recognized the location ofGarfield Park.
It was the park she had explored the night before last. GarfieldPark was where she’d gotten her strongest sense of the killer’s presence—and ofhow he’d ambushed and killed Allison Hillis.
Riley put her finger down on the spot where she’d entered thepark. Then she traced her way along a trail that led through the park. Thecemetery was at the end of that trail, less than a mile away from where Rileyhad been when she got that sense of the killer.
She quickly got back on the sheriff’s computer and searched for amap of the cemetery. She used it to locate Russell Swenson’s grave, which wasright at the edge of the cemetery bordering on Garfield Park.
A jumble of thoughts began to come together in Riley’s mind.
Yvonne’s husband was born on Halloween.
His grave is only a short distance away from where AllisonHillis was killed.
Riley felt a shiver of excitement.
She wasn’t yet sure what this discovery might signify. But atleast she knew where she could go next. Maybe she could use these odd clues topick up more about the killer.
She looked at her watch again. Sheriff Wightman’s curfew was nowin effect.
She got up from Wightman’s desk and headed out of his office. Herhopes began to rise as she continued down the hallway and out of the building.
If she was lucky—very lucky—she just might find her way to thekiller.
CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN
Sheriff Wightman slowed his car when he spotted the groupclustered under a streetlight. Officer Tyrone Baldry seemed to be in heatedconversation with three teenaged boys. Like the other cops involved in thedragnet, Baldry was in plainclothes, but he was showing the boys his badge.
Wightman pulled to a stop along the curb and rolled down hiswindow in order to hear what Baldry and the boys were arguing about.
Baldry’s voice was rising as he warned them, “And I’m telling youfor the last time—”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” one of the youths replied with a sneer. “There’sa curfew. We’re not supposed to be out. We get it.”
“Good. Now go home.”
A second boy added, “It’s Halloween, Officer. This is a holiday.A once-a-year kind of party.”
Another argued, “What’s the point of the curfew, anyway? You’vecaught the killer, right?”
“We’ve just got a suspect,” Baldry said.
