Page 28 of Bring Them Home

“No. And if they did, Paul knew he could always come to us,” Bruce said.

Again, Amanda found herself curious what his career had been. “What did you do before retiring? I assume you’re retired.”

Bruce nodded. “I was a defense attorney.”

“He’s being humble. He owned his own firm. Sold it for a mint.”

Bruce blushed at his wife’s praise.

Amanda might consider ransom as the kidnappers’ motive if they hadn’t killed their strongest leverage. They did still have the granddaughter though. “You never received any calls, ransom demands?”

“No. Do you think this might be about money?” Bruce asked.

“It’s unlikely, but if you do receive a call, reach out to me immediately.” She stood and handed her business card to Bruce.

“We will,” he told her while Deborah sobbed.

“Again, we’re very sorry for your loss and will keep you posted,” Amanda said, and she and Trent saw themselves out.

“What are the chances that two siblings meet with such horrid luck?” Trent asked as he unlocked the car.

“It seems unfathomable, even if it’s been eight years since Abigail’s disappearance.” As she said this, a sinking sensation swirled in her gut. What if the passing time meant nothing? Did Abigail’s vanishing have something to do with what was happening now?

FIFTEEN

On the way back to Woodbridge, Amanda and Trent discussed what they had waiting for them at Central. Trent also received a call from the K-9 unit, and nothing hit for the dogs. Wherever Valerie and Brooke were, it wasn’t on the property belonging to the Mannings.

“How do you want to play things with Daily? Do we go at him hot or reel him in?” Trent asked her.

“Reeling works so much better. There’s less chance of him getting his back up. But then we’re dealing with a time-sensitive situation. I’ll play it in the moment.”

“I’ve been thinking about Daily since we found Paul. We need to talk to him, but let’s say he was obsessed with Valerie and wanted an instant family, why not just take her and the girl? Why take Paul and kill him?”

Something we touched on before… “Who knows what could have been going on in his head? He could have wanted to make it clear that it was him and no one else.”

Trent nodded. “A play for control.”

She shrugged. “Just one idea.”

“All right, I get that. Daily could have even been the one who called Valerie seven times from the pay phone, for that matter. A breakup could have happened in person.”

“True enough.”

“But what’s been niggling at me is, who puts their neck out for a friend like this?”

“Sometimes people go back a long ways. Loyalty runs deep.”

Trent smiled. “You have a reply for everything.”

Her phone bleeped with a text, and she pulled it out to read the message. “It’s Malone. Guess Daily is at Central and losing his temper from being pulled in from work.”

“Too bad for him. He hooked up with a married woman. He deserves some misfortune.”

Misfortune… If he was behind this, he deserved more than that.

For the rest of the drive, Amanda replayed the crime scene in her head. It was torturous recalling how badly violated Paul Archer’s body had been—even thinking about what its condition was before the vultures got to it. But she forced herself to recall the vivid imagery. Doing so would keep her sharp, vigilant, and motivated. After all, the person who did this to Paul presumably still had his wife and teenage daughter.

Amanda’s phone rang as she was walking into Central, and she stepped to the side and answered on speaker.