CHAPTER THREE

As Riley parked her own modest vehicle behind the BMW, she realized that things were likely to get very unpleasant in her house. When she turned off the engine, April picked up the box with the gun in it and started to get out of the car.

“Better leave that here for now,” Riley said.

She certainly didn’t want to explain the weapon to the unwelcome visitor.

“I guess you’re right,” April replied, shoving the box under the front seat.

“And don’t forget – don’t tell Jilly about this,” Riley said.

“I won’t,” April said. “But she’s probably figured out already that you got something for me, and she’ll wonder all about it. Oh, well, on Sunday you’ll be giving her a present of her own and she’ll forget all about this.”

Present of her own? Riley wondered.

Then she remembered – Sunday was Jilly’s birthday.

Riley felt her face flush with alarm.

She’d almost forgotten that Gabriela had planned a family party for Sunday evening.

And she still hadn’t bought Jilly a present.

Don’t forget! she told herself sternly.

Riley and April locked up the car and walked on into the house. Sure enough, the owner of the luxury car – Riley’s ex-husband – was sitting there in the living room.

Jilly was in a chair across from him, her stony expression showing that she wasn’t the least bit happy to have him there.

“Ryan, what are you doing here?” Riley asked.

Ryan turned toward her with that charming smile that had too many times weakened her resolve to shut him out completely.

He’s still handsome, damn it, she thought.

She knew that he went to a lot of trouble to look that way and spent many hours at the gym.

Ryan said, “Hey, is that any way to greet family? I am still family, aren’t I?”

Nobody spoke for a moment.

The tension was palpable and Ryan’s expression turned to one of disappointment.

Riley wondered – what kind of greeting had he expected?

He hadn’t even been to see them in about three months. Before that, they had made an attempt at reconciling. He’d spent a couple of months more or less living here, but he’d never completely moved in. He’d kept the comfortable house he had once shared with Riley and April before the separation and divorce.

The girls had been happy to have him around – until he lost interest and wandered off again.

The girls had been crushed by that.

And now, here he was again, out of the blue and without warning.

The silence continued to hang in the air. Then Jilly crossed her arms and scowled.

Turning to Riley and April, she asked, “Where did the two of you take off to, anyway?”

Riley gulped.

She hated to lie to Jilly, but this would surely be a bad time to tell her about April’s gun.

Fortunately, April said, “We just had an errand to run.”

Ryan looked up at April.

“Hey, sweetie,” he said. “Don’t I get a hug or something?”

April didn’t make eye contact with him. She just stood there shuffling her feet for a moment.

Finally she said in a sullen voice, “Hi, Daddy.”

Looking like she was about to burst into tears, April turned around and trotted up the stairs to her room.

Ryan’s mouth dropped open.

“What was that all about?” he said.

Riley sat down alone on the couch, trying to figure out how best to handle the situation.

She asked again, “What are you doing here, Ryan?”

Ryan shrugged.

“Jilly and I are talking about her schoolwork – or at least I’m trying to get her to talk about her schoolwork. Have her grades been slipping? Is that what she doesn’t want to tell me?”

“My grades are fine,” Jilly said.

“So tell me all about school, why don’t you?” Ryan asked.

“School’s fine – Mr. Paige,” Jilly said.

Riley cringed, and Ryan looked wounded.

Jilly had started calling Ryan “Dad” just before he had left.

Before that, she had called him “Ryan.” Riley was sure that Jilly had never called him Mr. Paige before. The girl was expressing her attitude very clearly.

Jilly got up from her chair and said, “If it’s OK with everybody, I’ve got some homework to do.”

“Do you want any help?” Ryan asked.

Jilly ignored the question and trotted up the stairs.

Ryan looked at Riley with a stricken expression.

“What’s going on here?” he said. “Why are the girls so mad at me?”

Riley sighed bitterly. Sometimes her ex was just as immature as they’d both been when they married so young.

“Ryan, what on earth did you expect?” she asked, as patiently as she could manage. “When you moved in, the girls were just thrilled to have you around. Especially Jilly. Ryan, that poor girl’s father was an abusive drunk. She almost became a prostitute to get away from him – and she’s just thirteen years old! It meant so much to her to have a father figure like you in her life. Don’t you understand how crushed she was when you took off?”

Ryan just stared at her with a puzzled expression, as if he had no idea what she was talking about.

But Riley remembered all too well what Ryan had told her on the phone.

“I need some space. This whole family thing – I thought I was ready for it, but I wasn’t.”

And he hadn’t shown a lot of concern about Jilly at the time.

“Riley, Jilly was your decision. I admire you for it. But I never signed up for it. Somebody else’s troubled teenager is too much for me. It’s not fair.”

And now here he was, acting hurt because Jilly didn’t want to call him “Dad” anymore.

It really was infuriating.

Riley found it small wonder that the two girls had stormed off just now. She more than half wanted to do the same thing. Unfortunately, somebody had to be an adult in this situation. And since Ryan seemed to be incapable of that, Riley was stuck with the job.

Before she could think of what to say next, Ryan got up from his chair and sat down beside her. He reached toward her.

Riley pushed him away.

“Ryan, what are you doing?”

“What do you think I’m doing?”

Ryan’s voice sounded amorous now.

Riley’s fury was mounting by the second.

“Don’t even think about it,” she said. “How many girlfriends have you been through since you’ve been gone?”

“Girlfriends?” Ryan asked, obviously trying to sound baffled by the very question.

“You heard me. Or did you forget? One of them mistakenly called here while you were still around. She sounded drunk. You said her name was Lina. But I don’t guess Lina was the last. How many more have there been? Do you even know? Do you even remember all their names?”

Ryan didn’t reply. He looked guilty now.

Everything was starting to make sense to Riley. This whole thing had happened before, and she felt stupid for not having expected it.

Ryan was between girlfriends, and he figured Riley would do under the circumstances.

He didn’t really care about the girls at all – not even his own daughter. They were just a pretext for getting together with Riley.

Riley clenched her teeth and said, “I think you’d better leave.”

“Why? What’s the matter? You’re not seeing anyone, are you?”

“As a matter of fact, I am.”

Now Ryan looked genuinely perplexed, as if he couldn’t imagine why Riley would take an interest in any other man.

Then he said, “Oh my God. It’s not that cook again, is it?”

Riley let out a growl of anger.

She said, “You know very well that Blaine is a master chef. You also know that he owns a nice restaurant, and April and his daughter are best friends. He’s terrific with the girls – everything you’re not. And yes, I am seeing him, and it’s getting pretty serious. So I really, really want you to get out of here.”

Ryan stared at her for a moment.

Finally he said in a bitter voice, “We were good together.”

She didn’t reply.

Ryan got up from the couch and headed for the door.

“Let me know if you change your mind,” he said as he left the house.

Riley was tempted to say …

“Don’t hold your breath.”

… but she managed to not say it. She just sat still until she heard the sound of Ryan’s car pulling away. Then she breathed a little easier.

Riley sat there in silence for a little while, thinking about what had happened.

Jilly called him “Mr. Paige.”

That had been cruel, but she couldn’t deny that Ryan had deserved it.

Even so, she worried – what should she say to Jilly about that kind of cruelty?

This motherhood thing is tough, she thought.

She was about to call Jilly down from her room to talk about it when her phone buzzed. The call was from Jenn Roston, a young agent she’d worked with on recent cases.

When Riley took the call, she could hear the stress in Jenn’s voice.

“Hey, Riley. I just thought I’d call and …”

A silence fell. Riley wondered what was on Jenn’s mind.

Then Jenn said, “Listen, I just want to thank you and Bill for … you know … when I …”

Riley was on the verge of telling her …

“Don’t say it. Not over the phone.”

Fortunately, Jenn’s voice faded without finishing her thought.

Even so, Riley knew what Jenn was thanking her for.

During the case they’d just finished, Jenn had gone AWOL for most of a day. Riley had persuaded Bill that they should cover for her. After all, Jenn had covered for Riley in a somewhat similar situation.

But Jenn’s delinquency from her job had been due to the demands of a woman who had once been her foster mother, but who was also a master criminal. Jenn had stepped outside of legal boundaries to take care of a problem for “Aunt Cora.”

Riley didn’t know exactly what it had been. She hadn’t asked.

She heard Jenn make a slight choking sound.

“Riley, I’ve been thinking. Maybe I should just turn in my badge. What happened before might happen again. And it might be worse next time. Anyway, I don’t think it’s over.”

Riley sensed that Jenn wasn’t telling her the real truth.

Aunt Cora is pressuring her again, Riley thought.

It was hardly surprising. If Aunt Cora’s hold was strong enough, Jenn could serve as a real resource from inside the FBI.

Riley briefly wondered …

Should Jenn resign?

But she quickly told herself …

No.

After all, Riley had had a similar relationship with a master criminal – the brilliant escaped convict Shane Hatcher. It had ended after Blaine had shot Hatcher, almost fatally, and Riley had captured him. Hatcher was back in Sing Sing now, and he hadn’t spoken a word to anybody ever since.

Jenn knew more about Riley’s relationship with Hatcher than anybody except Hatcher himself. Jenn could have destroyed Riley’s career with the knowledge she had. But she had kept quiet out of loyalty to Riley. Now it was time for Riley to show the same loyalty to Jenn.

Riley said, “Jenn, remember what I said to you when you first talked to me about this?”

Jenn was silent.

Riley said, “I told you we’d deal with this. You and me, together. You can’t quit. You’ve got too much talent. Do you hear me?”

Jenn still said nothing.

Instead, Riley heard the beep of her call-waiting service telling her that she had another caller.

Ignore it, she told herself.

But the beep came again. Riley’s gut told her that the other call was something important. She sighed.

She said to Jenn, “Look, I’ve got to take another call. Stay on the line, OK? I’ll try to make it quick.”

“OK,” Jenn said.

Riley switched to the incoming call and heard the gruff voice of her team chief at the BAU, Brent Meredith.

“Agent Paige, we’ve got a case. It’s a serial killer in the Midwest. I need to see you in my office.”

“When?” Riley asked.

“Already,” Meredith grumbled. “Sooner if possible.”

Riley could tell by his tone that this really was an urgent matter.

“I’ll leave right now,” Riley said. “Who else are you putting on the team?”

“That’s up to you,” Meredith said. “You and Agents Jeffreys and Roston did good work together on the Sandman case. Take both of them if it suits you. And all of you get your asses right over here.”

Without another word, Meredith ended the call.

Riley got back on the line with Jenn.

She said, “Jenn, turning in your badge isn’t an option. Not right now. I need you on a case. Meet me at Brent Meredith’s office. And hurry.”

Without waiting for an answer, Riley ended the call. As she dialed the number of her partner, Bill Jeffreys, she thought …

Maybe another case is just what Jenn needs right now.

Riley hoped so.

Meanwhile, she felt a familiar heightening of her own alertness as she hurried to find out what the new case might be.