Bishop’s eyes bored into the carpet at his feet. “Well … shit.”

“What, Daddy? What!”

“This morning, we had breakfast at the Herndon Café, Sheri and me. We were pretty much alone in the place, pretty much had it to ourselves. Except there was somebody else, sitting nearby, his back to us. Tall fellow, black hair. Couldn’t see him. He coulda overheard me talking to Suellyn and calling Ritchie, giving him the information. I doubt it but coulda happened.”

“What time?” Dance asked.

“I don’t know. Nine-thirty, ten.”

Dance reflected: Edwin was at the movie theater about eleven. The timing could work.

Sheri Towne stepped up to Kayleigh and touched her shoulder tentatively. Dance noticed the singer’s lips tighten. Sheri stepped back.

“But how would he know Ritchie?” Kayleigh asked. “To get his number and call him?”

“Could he be connected to you on your site or in the press?” Dance asked.

“Maybe. He’s listed on the last albums, he was one of my assistants and drivers. In the acknowledgments.”

Dance said, “With all the research Edwin does, sure, he could’ve found out.”

Kayleigh began to cry. “What’re we going to do?”

Dance called Harutyun and told him their concern. He said he was going to check something.

As she waited her eyes were on Bishop. He was fuming; Sheri kept a bit of distance. Dance wondered who the anger was directed at. She guessed it would be Ritchie. Bishop seemed the sort to blame everyone but himself for the problems in life.

Harutyun came back on after an interminable five minutes. “Video at the airport. A woman in her thirties and little girl got into Edwin’s Buick. About thirty minutes after the flight from Portland landed.”

Dance looked at the expectant faces. She told them what the deputy had said.

“No!” Kayleigh screamed. “No!”

“And. Agent Dance … Kathryn,” Harutyun was saying on the line. “Just heard from the fire team. There’s only one body inside.” He hesitated. “Not too big. Could be a teenager—boy or girl—or a woman. Can’t tell; body’s burned down to the bone. At least, if it is the sister, the little girl’s still alive. But that also means he’s got her. And that, I don’t even want to think about.”

Chapter 27

KAYLEIGH PLACED YET another frantic call.

“Answer, answer, answer,” she whispered. She grimaced. “Suellyn, it’s me. Call me right away. I mean immediately. There’s a problem.” She looked at the screen. “How do I mark it urgent?” Her voice broke. “I don’t know how! How do I mark it urgent?”

Dance took her phone, examined the screen and hit a button.

And Dance had given her opinion that stalkers tended not to target family members.

What was going on in Edwin’s mind, if he had in fact kidnapped the two? Had he been so incensed about the arrest that he’d snapped? Had he started stalking Bishop that morning to learn what he could and found out about the arrival of Kayleigh’s sister and niece? In the car maybe he’d confessed his love for Kayleigh and enlisted Suellyn’s aid to win her over. When the woman refused, he’d killed her and taken the girl. Maybe he intended to raise her, treating her like a young Kayleigh of his own. Dance was a tough policewoman, yes, but she was a mother too and she simply didn’t want to face that scenario.