Serena nodded. Emily's lips pursed in concern. She pulled the door open farther, inviting them in.
"Dayton is in the living room. I'm sorry you weren't able to reach us last night. We got your message, but we got home very late. Our flight into the Cities was delayed by two hours, and then we still had to drive north."
"Were you on vacation?" Serena asked.
"Partly, and partly work for Dayton. There was a national church convention in San Antonio, down by the River Walk. We added on a few extra days to make a week out of it."
She guided them into the living room. Dayton Tenby was seated on the sofa, and he immediately got up and extended his hand to both of them. Dayton's hair was now completely gray, although there was little of it left, except around the crown of his narrow skull. He had put on a few pounds, enough to make him look less gaunt than he had when Stride first met him. He wore gray dress pants, a starched white shirt, and a black acrylic vest.
Emily and Dayton sat down next to each other on a love seat and held hands. Stride and Serena sat opposite them on the sofa. Stride could see that marriage had agreed with both of them. Despite more than ten years' difference in age between them, they seemed to be happy.
"I want you to know, Lieutenant, that I still don't regret what I did," Emily said. "I don't mind paying my debt to society, but if I had it to do over again, I would do the same thing."
Stride hesitated. "I understand."
Dayton looked at them. "We don't expect that this is a social call. You must have some news for us."
"Yes, we do," Stride said. "I want you to understand that this could be very upsetting."
"You found her," Emily said.
"Yes, we did. But not in the circumstances you might expect. Earlier this week, Ms. Dial was called to a location in the desert just outside of Las Vegas. A young girl's body was found there. I'm afraid it was Rachel." He paused and went on. "She had only been dead for a short time. Just a few days. It appears that Rachel was actually alive these past three years."
"Alive?" Emily whispered, her eyes widening. "All this timer?"
He saw Emily squeeze Dayton's hand tightly. She closed her eyes and leaned her head slowly against his shoulder.
"How did she die?" Dayton asked.
"I'm sorry," Serena told them softly. "She was murdered."
Dayton shook his head. "Oh, no."
Emily straightened up, rubbing her eyes. She pulled a tissue from a box on the coffee table and sniffled into it. She blinked and tried to compose herself. "You're telling me that Graeme didn't kill my daughter?"
"That's right," Stride said.
"Oh my God." She turned to Dayton. "I killed him. And he didn't do it! She was alive!"
"He may not have killed her, but that doesn't mean he was innocent," Dayton told her.
"I know, I know. But she must have been laughing wherever she was. She tricked me into killing him!"
"Do you have any idea what happened?" Dayton asked Serena. "Who killed her?"
"We're still investigating," Serena said. "I know this is a difficult time for you, but I do have to ask. Did you have any reason to believe that your daughter might still be alive? Did she ever try to contact you?"
Dayton and Emily looked at Stride.
"Just the postcard you showed us," Dayton said.
Stride explained to Serena about the postcard he had received shortly after the trial, with the Las Vegas postmark.
"Did you pursue it?" Serena asked.
"As far as we could. There were no prints on the card and no DNA on the stamp. I alerted the Vegas police and asked if they could scout around for me, but they didn't seem too keen on using their resources to hunt for an eighteen-year-old runaway who might or might not be dead and who might or might not be in Las Vegas."
"I'm not sure I would have done anything differently in their shoes," Serena admitted.
Stride nodded.
"I did investigate, Ms. Dial," Dayton announced.
Stride and Serena both looked at him in surprise. Dayton paused, asking permission from Emily with his eyes. She nodded at him.
"To me, the postcard-well, it seemed exactly like the kind of game Rachel would play. To taunt us. It convinced me she was alive. Emily was in prison, of course, and I didn't want the trail to grow cold, as it were. So I went to find her."
"You went to Las Vegas?" Stride asked.
"Yes, for a week. When you told me the police there weren't being helpful, I decided to look into it myself. For Emily. She deserved to know the truth."
"How did you go about it-the search, I mean?" Serena asked.
"Well, I know I sound like one of the Hardy Boys," Dayton said. "I took a photograph of Rachel with me. I just went to all the casinos and showed the photograph around at the security desks. You know, to see if anyone had seen her. They keep close tabs on people there, if you believe the television shows. I just assumed if she was there, she'd be working at a casino. It seems like everyone does. So I went up and down the Strip, and then downtown, and then to the outlying areas."
"And did you find her?" Stride asked.
Dayton shook his head sadly. "Not a trace. No one had seen her. After a week, I began to believe that it was all a mistake, that the postcard wasn't from Rachel."
"Have you been back to Vegas since then?" Serena asked.
"No, I haven't."
"Have you had any other reason since then to believe Rachel might be alive?" Stride asked, making eye contact with both of them. "Any other odd communications? Phone calls?"
"Nothing at all," Emily said. "Frankly, I never believed it, like Dayton did. I never thought she was alive."
"Oh? Why?" Serena asked.
An ironic smile flitted across Emily's lips. "I was in prison. If she were alive, I was sure Rachel would have found a way to throw that in my face."
Stride nodded. "We've taken up enough of your time," he said. He stood up, and Serena followed his lead.
"How do we arrange to have Rachel's body sent back?" Dayton asked.
"I'll have someone call you," Serena said. "We'll release her just as soon as we can. It's a criminal investigation, you understand. But one word of advice, if you don't mind. You may not want to view the body when it's returned. She was found in the desert, and, well, the desert isn't very kind to human remains."
Emily swallowed hard. "I understand."
They shook hands, and Dayton escorted them to the door. Serena offered the minister a small smile.
"Once again, I'm very sorry. I hope at least the two of you had a nice vacation before this."
Dayton hesitated. "Oh. Yes, we did. Thank you."
"I love the River Walk in San Antonio," Serena continued. "Where did you stay?"
"The convention was at the Hyatt."
"Did you get a chance to get out of the city?"
"Not really. We visited the Alamo, that kind of thing."
"Of course," Serena said.
Dayton touched her shoulder as they turned to leave. "May I ask you something?"
Serena nodded.
"I was wondering if you knew what Rachel was doing. Where she worked. I was just thinking, if I had searched a little bit harder-"
"She was working in a strip club," Serena told him without sugarcoating.
Dayton wet his lips with his tongue. "Ah. Well. I didn't look there."
40
"Do you believe him?" Stride asked as they headed back to the city. He glanced out his window and saw charcoal clouds massing in the southwest corner of the sky. A summer storm was bearing down.
"If he's lying, he's good at it," Serena said. "But I'm a cynic when it comes to men and teenage girls."