“There’s a detective on the Aberdeen PD who worked closely with the family,” he said finally. “His name’s in the case file. Call him and let him tell them the news. But let’s keep it out of the media for now. Our guy’s kept him alive this long. We don’t want him panicking.” He held out the evidence bag Robbins had given him.

“What’s this?” Heil asked, taking it.

“Get it to the crime lab,” Archie said. “My guess is they’ll find Patrick Lifton’s prints on it, too.”

However the boy was wrapped up in all this, it was only getting more complicated.

“Hey,” Susan said from under the bridge. Something had attracted her attention in the river. “Look at that whitewater,” she said, pointing to a thick beige froth that snaked along the riverbank, lapping at the water’s edge.

Mingo was closest to her. “It’s pollution,” Archie heard him say. “A stew of sewage, chemical runoff, and bacteria. Terrible for marine life. I wouldn’t go in that river if my life depended on it.”

Archie coughed, trying not to think of the water that had ended up in his lungs the night before.

Chapter 33

CHAPTER

33

Archie pulled as close as he could to the task force offices to let Susan and Anne out. The rain was really coming down now. The sky looked lower and darker. He had the windshield wipers on their highest setting and their insistent back-and-forth swoop seemed frantic.

Heil had stayed behind to supervise the crime scene investigation around where the corpse had been found. Archie didn’t envy him. Nothing like tiptoeing around a flooding riverbank in the rain looking for tiny clues among the floating trash and muck.

Mingo had gone back to wherever he’d come from.

Susan slid across the backseat, opened the car door, and sprinted for the building with her notebook under her arm.

Anne didn’t move.

The windshield wipers went back and forth.

The engine wheezed.

“Are you going to get out of the car?” Archie asked.

Anne lowered her chin and turned to look at him. “How long have you had that cough?” she asked.

“Not long.”

“Since you went in the river?”

“I don’t know.”

“Talked to your doctor?” Anne asked.

“Not yet.”

Anne made a clucking sound. “Your immune system isn’t what it used to be,” she said.

“I’ve been filled in about that,” Archie said, staring straight ahead.