Once Lured. Blake Pierce

evenings like this with friends, family, and a nice meal. The scenes her job presented were more often ugly and unsettling.

      In a few days she would testify at a parole hearing for a child-killer who hoped to get out of jail early. And she needed to make sure that he didn’t get away with that.

      Several weeks ago she’d closed a disturbing case in Phoenix. She and her partner, Bill Jeffreys, had caught a killer who murdered prostitutes. Riley was still having trouble feeling that she’d done much good in solving that case. Now she knew too much for her own comfort about a whole world of exploited women and girls.

      But she was determined to keep such thoughts out of her mind right now. She felt herself relaxing little by little. Eating out at a restaurant with a friend and both of their kids reminded her what it could be like to live a normal life. She was living in a nice home and growing closer to a nice neighbor.

      Blaine returned and sat down. Riley couldn’t help observing yet again that he was attractive. His receding hairline gave him a pleasantly mature look, and he was lean and fit.

      “Sorry,” Blaine said. “This place runs fine without me when I’m not here, but if I’m in view everybody decides they need my help.”

      “I know what that’s like,” Riley said. “I’m hoping that if I keep out of sight, BAU will forget me for a while.”

      April said, “No chance of that. They’ll call soon. You’ll be headed off to some other part of the country.”

      Riley sighed. “I could get used to not being on constant call.”

      Blaine finished a bite of his mahi-mahi.

      “Have you thought about changing careers?” he asked.

      Riley shrugged. “What else would I do? I’ve been an agent most of my adult life.”

      “Oh, I’m sure there are lots of things a woman of your talents could do,” Blaine said. “Most of them safer than being an FBI agent.”

      He thought for a moment. “I could picture you being a teacher,” he added.

      Riley chuckled. “Do you think that’s safer?” she asked.

      “Depends on where you do it,” Blaine said. “What about college?”

      “Hey, that’s an idea, Mom,” April said. “You wouldn’t have to travel all the time. And you’d still get to help people.”

      Riley said nothing as she mulled it over. Teaching at a college would surely be something like the teaching she’d done at the academy in Quantico. She’d enjoyed doing that. It always gave her a chance to recharge. But would she want to be a full-time teacher? Could she really spend all her days inside a building with no real activity?

      She poked at a mushroom with her fork.

      I might turn into one of these, she thought.

      “What about becoming a private investigator?” Blaine asked.

      “I don’t think so,” Riley said. “Digging up dirty secrets about divorcing couples doesn’t appeal to me.”

      “That’s not all that PIs do,” Blaine said. “What about investigating insurance fraud? Hey, I’ve got this cook who’s collecting disability, says he’s got a bad back. I’m sure he’s faking it, but I can’t prove it. You could start with him.”

      Riley laughed. Blaine was joking, of course.

      “Or you could look for missing people,” Crystal said. “Or missing pets.”

      Riley laughed again. “Now that would make me feel like I was doing some real good in the world!”

      April had dropped out of the conversation. Riley saw that she was texting and giggling. Crystal leaned across the table toward Riley.

      “April’s got a new boyfriend,” Crystal said. Then she silently mouthed, “I don’t like him.”

      Riley was annoyed that her daughter was ignoring everybody else at the table.

      “Stop doing that,” she told April. “It’s rude.”

      “What’s rude about it?” April said.

      “We’ve talked about this,” Riley said.

      April ignored her and typed a message.

      “Put that away,” Riley said.

      “In a minute, Mom.”

      Riley stifled a groan. She’d long since learned that “in a minute” was teen talk for “never.”

      Just then her own phone buzzed. She felt angry with herself for not turning it off before leaving the house. She looked at the phone and saw that it was a message from her FBI partner, Bill. She thought about leaving it unread, but she couldn’t make herself do that.

      As she brought up the message, she glanced up and saw April grinning at her. Her daughter was enjoying the irony. Silently seething, Riley read Bill’s text message.

      Meredith has a new case. He wants to discuss it with us ASAP.

      Special Agent in Charge Brent Meredith was Riley’s boss, and Bill’s too. She felt tremendous loyalty to him. Not only was he a good and fair boss, he’d gone to bat for Riley many times when she was in trouble with the bureau. Even so, Riley was determined not to let herself get drawn in, at least for the time being.

      I can’t go traveling right now, she texted back.

      Bill replied, It’s right here in the area.

      Riley shook her head with discouragement. Standing her ground wasn’t going to be easy.

      She texted back to him, I’ll get back to you.

      No reply came, and Riley put the phone back in her bag.

      “I thought you said that was rude, Mom,” April said in a quiet, sullen voice.

      April was still texting.

      “I’m through with mine,” she said, trying not to sound as annoyed as she felt.

      April ignored her. Riley’s own phone buzzed again. She cursed silently. She saw that the text was from Meredith himself.

      Be at BAU meeting tomorrow 9 AM.

      Riley was trying to think of a way to excuse herself when another text followed.

      That’s an order.

      CHAPTER TWO

      Riley’s spirits sank as she looked at the two images looming on screens above the BAU conference room table. One was a photo of a carefree girl with bright eyes and a winning smile. The other was her corpse, horribly emaciated and lying with her arms pointed in odd directions. Since she had been ordered to attend this meeting, Riley knew there must be other victims like this one.

      Sam Flores, a savvy lab technician with black-rimmed glasses, was running the multimedia display for the four other agents seated around the table.

      “These pictures are of Metta Lunoe, seventeen years old,” Flores said. “Her family lives in Collierville, New Jersey. Her parents reported her missing in March – a runaway.”

      He added a huge map of Delaware to the display, indicating a location with a pointer.

      He said, “Her body turned up in a field outside of Mowbray, Delaware, on May sixteenth. Her neck had been broken.”

      Flores brought up another pair of images – one showing another vibrant young girl, the other showing her almost unrecognizably withered, her arms stretched out in a similar way.

      “These pictures are of Valerie Bruner, also seventeen, a reported runaway from Norbury, Virginia. She disappeared in April.”

      Flores pointed to another location on the map.

      “Her body was found stretched out in a dirt road near Redditch, Delaware, on June twelfth. Obviously the same MO as the earlier killing. Agent Jeffreys was brought in to investigate.”

      Riley