Page 47 of Once Vanished

Mike stared down at his hands, spread flat against the table’s metal surface.“All those sessions, Riley.Everything you told me about your fears, your traumas.Everything Bill shared about his struggles after the Pope shooting.”He looked up, his eyes haunted.“I’ve been the unwitting conduit for Leo’s manipulation.I might as well have handed him the blueprints to your psyches.”

Riley studied the forensic psychiatrist across from her.In all the years she’d known him, she’d never seen Mike Nevins rattled like this.His customary fastidiousness had given way to something almost disheveled—not just the loosened tie, but a fundamental unraveling of his professional composure.

“He’d be pleased to see you this way,” she said quietly.

Mike’s eyes snapped to hers.“What?”

“Leo.He’d be pleased to see your distress.”Riley leaned forward slightly.“That’s part of his game—to spread the damage as widely as possible.To make everyone in my orbit suffer, not just me.”

Mike absorbed this, his expression shifting as professional training reasserted itself over personal anguish.“You’re right, of course.”He straightened his shoulders, made a small adjustment to his tie.“And I’m allowing myself to become another piece in his game.”

During the short silence that followed, Riley understood what was coming next.

“So,” she forced herself to ask the question directly.“What’s your assessment of my ability to function?Am I still on the case?”

“I have no choice but to recommend you be pulled, Riley.Agent Hogue will continue leading the investigation without you.”

Even though she’d expected it, his words were impossible to accept.“Mike, you can’t—”

“I’ve made the same recommendation regarding Bill,” he continued, cutting off her protest.“I’ve just finished his assessment.”

Riley pushed back from the table, desperate energy propelling her to her feet.“You can’t pull both of us.Leo is using information about me, about my family, from your files.No one knows his psychology better than Bill and I do.”

“Riley.”Mike’s voice sharpened.“Sit down.Please.”

The authority in his tone, so rare from the usually deferential psychiatrist, caught her off guard.She sank back into the chair.

“You haven’t slept in way too many hours,” Mike said.“You’ve just watched a woman die in front of you—a woman whose death was choreographed specifically to traumatize you.You’re physically exhausted and emotionally compromised.”His eyes held hers, unflinching.“And most significantly, your daughter’s life hangs in the balance.”

“Which is exactly why I need to stay on this case,” Riley insisted.“Jilly needs me—”

“Jilly needs you to be clearheaded,” Mike interrupted.“She needs you to understand that in your current state, you might actually make decisions that put her life more at risk than it already is.”

The words landed with devastating accuracy.Riley felt herself deflate, the fight draining out of her as quickly as it had come.

“Leo wants you running on fumes,” Mike continued more gently.“He wants you making decisions from a place of exhaustion and desperation.That’s when you’ll be most predictable to him, when he can anticipate your every move.”

Riley stared at him, the truth of his words sinking in despite her resistance.How many times in her career had she seen it—investigators too close to a case, too emotionally invested, making catastrophic errors in judgment?

“I can’t just do nothing,” she said, her voice small.

“Going home and getting some rest isn’t ‘nothing,’ “ Mike replied, filling out a prescription.“It’s strategically sound.It’s preparation for what comes next.Because this isn’t over, Riley.You and I both know that.Leo will make contact again, and when he does, you’ll need to be at your best.”

Riley closed her eyes briefly, defeat settling over her shoulders.“How long?”

“Twenty-four hours, minimum,” Mike said.“After that, we’ll reassess.”

A day.A lifetime.Both, when your child was missing.

“Hogue is good,” Mike added, as if reading her thoughts.“One of the best.And he has full access to everything you know about Leo.The investigation won’t stop just because you’re not physically present.”

Riley nodded slowly, reluctant acceptance replacing the fight in her posture.

“You and Bill can both go home now,” Mike said, gathering his notes.“Get some actual sleep.Eat something that didn’t come in a paper bag.”

“Hogue will call if there’s any development?”

“Immediately,” Mike confirmed.