J.R.
Riley immediately knew what the initials “A.C.” stood for.
Aunt Cora.
Riley felt a lump of emotion rise in her throat as she rereadanother sentence.
YOU WILL NEVER FIND ME.
Her eyes stinging with tears, Riley climbed into bed.
“It’s over,” she murmured aloud, wiping her eyes with a tissue. “I’llnever see Jenn again.”
But just as she started to fall asleep, another sentence echoedthrough her head.
THANKS TO YOU, I FEEL THAT I CAN START LIFE ALL OVER AGAIN.
“She’s going to be OK,” Riley whispered aloud, then fell asleep.
CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT
The next morning, Riley felt a strange mix of emotions as sheparked in front of her townhouse in Fredericksburg. For a few moments, she justsat in her car staring at her house, thinking about a lot of things. She wasglad to be home, of course. But her home life was very different from her lifeas a BAU agent, and it always required some readjustment. Was she ready tostart being a mother again right here and now, when just yesterday she’d shot amadman three times?
She’d had no time to unwind—and no real time to herself—since thekiller had been caught. The drive back from Winneway had seemed much longerthan it really was, and she’d been grateful to finally drop Ann Marie off ather apartment in Quantico. Her junior partner had obviously gotten a betternight’s sleep than Riley had, and this morning she’d been her usual perky,talkative self. She’d chattered away about an indiscriminate range of subjects,including the case they’d just solved, crime fighting techniques, the latestfashions, celebrity gossip, and popular music.
Again Riley had found herself wondering whether she could reallykeep working with this young woman. She had to admit that the girl had doneexcellent work on the case—better than Riley’s own efforts in some ways. Atleast Ann Marie hadn’t made any huge mistakes, like risking the public’s safetyby misleading them about having the killer in custody. In fact, Ann Marie hadrightly called Riley out on that tactic.
All the same, Riley wondered whether she and Ann Marie could everfeel the chemistry she’d had with Bill, or with her two other young protégés,Lucy Vargas and Jenn Roston …
With a sudden surge of emotion, Riley spoke the two names aloud.
“Lucy and Jenn.”
She’d shared a lot with them, had been proud of their work andtheir promising talents, and had developed deep nearly-parental feelings forthem …
And now they’re both gone.
What might become of Ann Marie if Riley kept working with her?
All Riley knew right now was that she missed working with Billterribly. But was that partnership even going to be possible now that theirrelationship was evolving into—what, exactly?
Riley also found herself brooding about her pointless vigil inthe cemetery. She felt embarrassed about that mistake—embarrassed and worried.
Were her well-known instincts, her keenly honed gut feelings,starting to fail from age and overuse?
Maybe it’s time to do something different, she thought.
She finally got out of her car and walked up to her front door.When she reached her front stoop, the door flew open.
Riley felt a wild rush of horror.
The figure in front of her appeared to be a walking corpse, itsface falling apart from decay, and naked ribs showing through its tatteredjacket.
For several seconds, Riley believed she was caught in one of herawful nightmares.
Then the corpse spoke in a familiar voice.
“Cool costume, isn’t it, Mom?”
The mask came off, and Riley saw Jilly’s happy face.
Jilly said, “It’s what I wore last night trick-or-treating. I putit back on this morning, just for you. It was April’s idea. She thought you’dget a kick out of seeing it.”
Riley felt a burst of relief.
“Yeah, it’s … uh …cool,” she stammered. “I’m—I’m reallyimpressed.”
“Come on inside,” Jilly said. “April has breakfast all ready.”
“April?” Riley asked. “Is Gabriela all right?”
“Sure,” Jilly replied with a giggle. “But April wanted to do it.”
The delicious smell of bacon wafted through the house, and Rileyrealized that she actually was hungry. As she followed Jilly into the kitchen,Riley thought about how she’d reacted at the sight of her daughter’s costumejust now. Her moment of shock had been silly, but she knew it was partly theresult of having seen two corpses in much the same condition during the lastfew days. But surely she wouldn’t have let herself be startled this way backwhen she’d been at the peak of her abilities.
An odd sort of silence fell as Riley and her family—Jilly, April,and Gabriela—sat down together and started eating.
Finally, April said cautiously, “Mom, I think there’s somethingyou should know.”
Riley’s heart beat faster with apprehension.
Then April confessed that she’d tried to go the party Riley hadforbidden her to attend. Worse, she had taken Jilly with her. Before they’dgotten to the party, they’d been threatened by a couple of bullies.
“But you should have seen Jilly, Mom,” April added. “She reallybeat the crap out of one of the guys. They both ran away, scared out theirminds.”
Riley couldn’t help but smile at the image of her small daughterin a zombie suit fending off a couple of obnoxious guys.
She said to Jilly, “It sounds like you handled it well.”
Then she added to April, “And I’m glad you told me what happened.Telling me was the right thing to do. It was a brave thing to do.”
April smiled broadly.
“Does this mean I’m not grounded anymore?”
Riley mulled that over. April had been honest but she had brokenthe rules, or been about to. She was about to say “still grounded for a littlewhile” when her phone buzzed. Seeing that the call was from Brent Meredith, sheleft the kitchen before answering.
Meredith said sharply, “Agent Paige, you need to get over hereright now.”
“What’s the matter?” Riley asked.
“Walder’s what’s the matter,” Meredith said. “He’s furious withyou about something. He wants to see you
