“No, ma’am. He, um, he didn’t really want to talk about his mother that day.” Joe glanced at Ginny.

Ginny said, “Ricky heard his mom on the phone talking to someone, like a friend, saying that she didn’t want to leave but didn’t have a choice.”

Joe frowned, and Lucy wondered if Ricky had shared that information with only Ginny.

“Anything else?”

Ginny shook her head and looked back down. “I miss him a lot.”

“Me too,” Joe said. “We were supposed to meet up that weekend to go over to the Garcias’ and look at their new puppies. Ricky’s dog died that summer and his parents said maybe they’d get another, so he wanted to see the puppies and talk them into it.” Joe glanced at Ginny. “Well, he was going to take one and bring it home because he figured if his parents saw the dog they wouldn’t send it back.”

Cute and manipulative, Lucy thought. “He didn’t call and say he wasn’t coming.”

“No,” Joe said.

Ginny said, “Can I ask a question?”

“Anything,” Lucy said.

“Do you know who killed Ricky’s parents and sisters? Like who or even why? When the police came here three years ago they weren’t nice, and they said that Mrs. Albright stole a bunch of money and disappeared, then they said Joe was lying, and my brother doesn’t lie. They were mean and I don’t think they cared about what really happened to Ricky.”

“I’m sorry the detectives treated you like that,” Lucy said. She wasn’t surprised that Ginny sounded angry, she certainly had the same protective personality as her father. “I can’t share everything about this investigation, but I can tell you that the FBI is now in charge. Usually, the FBI doesn’t investigate homicides, but there are special circumstances here.” She didn’t need to go into the details with the kids. “I want to believe that Ricky is alive, but we honestly don’t know. What I can promise is that Agent Dunning and I will follow the evidence wherever it goes. We want the truth as much as you do. That’s why anything you know about Ricky can help us.”

JJ said, “I’m a big supporter of law enforcement, but I’m not going to talk to those two detectives again. They were rude and disrespected my family. Chavez and Douglas, I’ll never forget them.”

“This is our case, sir,” Nate said. “You won’t have to speak with them, though we may have additional questions later.”

Lucy thought of something and asked, “If Ricky was in trouble—if he was scared or worried—where might he go?”

“Here,” Joe said immediately. “He’s my best friend, he would come here.”

“Did he have any other friends?”

“Rafi,” Ginny said.

“Rafi moved to Austin,” Joe said.

“But they were still friends,” Ginny said.