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“No, ma’am, I don’t know her, but she is the acting sheriff.

” He had the sense to look apologetic. The FBI had a strict code of conduct that Jude usually didn’t give a shit about.

“I’m hearing Sheriff Clifton was really close to her father.

Didn’t make a move without him. Maybe her own feelings are clouding her judgment. ”

“Are you saying she’s not up for the job?”

“She’s been chief deputy for a while, but I gather from some of the locals that her father did all the heavy lifting.

She screwed up the Adam Huntsinger case.

Probably in over her head again.” He smoothed down his tie.

He was nervous, trying to redeem himself.

“Kind of strange her father’s dead and she’s still working like it didn’t happen. ”

“I find it commendable. It takes a lot of character to push aside your own grief and search for a missing child.”

“You’re right, ma’am.” Seth smoothed his tie again. “Don’t know what I’d do if my dad was murdered right in front of me.”

“I would hope that you would keep your head down and do your job.”

Jude opened the door to the interrogation room. There was a split second when she felt like she’d walked through a portal back in time. Jude was thirteen again, pacing the room as she played both good cop and bad cop to Henry’s master criminal.

Then she blinked and there was just an angry, middle-aged man about to yell at her.

“What the hell is going on here?” Elijah Walker had clearly been waiting to explode. He pushed his chair back from the table. His face was red with rage. “It’s the middle of the night. I should be with my wife right now. Who the hell are you?”

“I’m Dr. Jude Archer. I’m working in the capacity of a consultant with the FBI.” She tapped the password into his phone, showed him one of the many lewd photos from last year. “Is this your penis?”

The man went completely still. He wasn’t even breathing.

Jude repeated, “Is this your penis?”

“How did you—” Elijah tried to grab the phone away, but Jude pressed it to her chest. “Sit down, Mr. Walker.”

He looked like he wanted to hit her, but eventually, slowly, he sat down at the table. “How did you get into my phone?”

“The phone you unlocked and handed to the acting sheriff?”

“That stupid bitch had no right to look at anything other than my CashApp.”

Jude asked, “To whom were you sending penis photos?”

He shook his head. “I’m not—”

She showed him another photo, this one of a woman. “Whose vagina is this?”

Elijah stared at her with open hatred. “This is ludicrous. You’re wasting time.”

Jude pulled out the other chair. She sat across from him at the table.

Took a moment to look at him. Elijah’s hair was oily.

His skin was slick with sweat. He was pasty-white but for his face, which was so red against his neck that he resembled a cherry lollipop.

“Mr. Walker, I’ve asked you two simple questions. Are you refusing to answer?”

His teeth were clenched. She could see a vein pulsing under his eye. “I told you. That has nothing to do with Paisley.”

“Were you having an affair?”

He said nothing.

“Were you having multiple affairs?” Jude put on her glasses and scrolled through more of the photos. “Looks like the same vagina to me. That’s an interesting birthmark on the inside of her thigh.”

“Stop it!” Elijah banged his fist on the table. She could tell he was used to weaponizing his anger. It probably worked with the women in his life, but it wasn’t going to work with her.

“Mr. Walker, you absolutely have a right to remain silent.” Jude stood up. “We’re doing a press conference at seven thirty to ask the public for information on the whereabouts of your daughter. I can put the question about the woman’s identity to the public.”

“What the fuck?” Elijah’s voice raked up. “You can’t do that, you goddam bitch.”

“I can and I will.” She reached for the door handle.

“Wait.”

Jude leaned her back against the door. She studied his face again.

The color had drained, leaving a stark white.

His eyes shifted as he tried to figure a way out of this.

Emmy was right that Elijah Walker was someone who felt the need to control.

Jude had pulled the world out from under him by taking away his power.

Now, it was time to give him some of it back.

She looked at his hands. His left index finger was calloused at the bend of the first knuckle.

She asked, “Are you a fly fisherman?”

He was clearly thrown by the question. “What?”

“The callus on your finger looks like it’s from line burn. My brother used to get cut in the exact same spot when he was float fishing downriver on the Flint.” Again, Jude repeated herself. “Are you a fly fisherman?”

Elijah looked at his index finger as if he’d never seen it before. “Yes.”

“Then you know what it’s like to cast a hundred different times into a hundred different spots hoping to catch something.

” Jude crossed her arms. “That’s what we do when a child is abducted, Mr. Walker.

We cast hundreds of lines in hundreds of directions, and we hope we catch something.

These photos on your phone. They could be a fish or they could be some trash caught on the line.

You can either waste my time tracking it down or you can tell me the truth. ”

“They’re trash,” he said. “That’s all it is.”

“You’re having an affair.”

He shook his head. “It’s not an affair.”

“Is she a sex worker? Are you paying her?”

He leaned his head into his hand, his fingers shielding his eyes.

Jude silently waited for him either to give another excuse or give up a name.

Elijah dragged out the time. She listened to the muffled ringing of the phones in the squad room.

The clock on the wall was coming up on three-forty in the morning.

Jude knew the statistics on child abductions, the difference in odds of survival if a parent was involved versus a stranger.

This wasn’t the first time she’d been alone in a room with a possible predator, but it was one of those rare moments when her gut wasn’t giving her the answer.

She silently reviewed the facts of the case so far.

Jude’s instinct wasn’t clouded by being back in North Falls.

It had nothing to do with Tommy or Emmy or even her parents.

Adam Huntsinger’s release changed the equation.

The abandoned bike on the backroads. The bent rear tire.

Chain hanging off. Blood at the scene. Jude wasn’t one to believe that there were no coincidences in policing, but she knew damn well that there were no coincidences in North Falls.

Elijah drew in a sharp breath. “I haven’t seen her in months, okay? I stopped. The guilt was too much.”

“How did you meet her?”

“Online,” he said. “We were both on a dating site. I can’t remember the name of it.”

Jude nodded. “Okay.”

“I was clear up front that I was married. That I would never leave my wife.” He started to shake his head. “I thought she was interested in me, but then she started talking about money. Her first name is Trixie. I never got her last name. It was just a few times.”

“How did you arrange to meet?”

“She had me download WhatsApp. That’s how we communicated.

We sent pictures at first, then we met in person.

” He heaved out a breath, as if the admission was tearing him apart.

“I promise, it was only a few times. I stopped seeing her three or four months ago. It’s like I told you.

Like I told her. I would never leave my wife. I love Carol. I love my family.”

“Where did you meet to have sex?”

“A hotel in Clayville. The Dew Drop Inn.”

Jude knew the place from her misspent youth. Elijah Walker must’ve stood out like a Mormon missionary. “That’s a shifty part of town for someone like you to be in. Do you enjoy taking risks?”

“It wasn’t—” He wiped the sweat off his forehead. “Carol isn’t adventurous. We’ve been married a long time.”

“What was Trixie giving you? Are we talking kink? Bondage?”

“No, always vanilla.”

“How much did she charge?”

“Four-fifty for two hours, plus the cost of the room.”

Jude shifted tenses to the present. “Do you give the money to her directly, or is there an intermediary?”

“I leave cash on the dresser, then I take a shower, then when I come out of the bathroom, she starts the clock.” He sat up in his chair, straightening his shoulders. “The last time was months ago. I haven’t had any contact with her since.”

“Do you know what kind of car she drives?”

He shook his head. “I never noticed.”

“Did she mention hobbies or anything to do with her family?”

“I don’t know anything about her.” He kept shaking his head. “I wasn’t paying to hear her whine about her kids or her problems. I was there for me. Only for me.”

“What’s the password for your WhatsApp?”

“I don’t know. I told you, I haven’t logged into it in months. I only downloaded it because she told me to.”

“Mr. Walker, do you have any idea where Paisley is right now?”

“No. I promise on my life.” He finally looked at her. “Please, I’m begging you to let this go. It has nothing to do with Paisley.”

“Wait here.” Jude walked into the hallway and closed the door behind her. Seth was already coming out of the old storage closet. She could see the glow of monitors on a desk, two chairs crammed in front of them.

Seth said, “That detail about fly fishing was very impressive.”

“Sheriff Clifton’s read was accurate. He’s hiding something.

” Jude handed him the phone. “Tell Damien we need this cracked open pronto. I want you to send a team with Walker’s photo to the Dew Drop Inn to see if they remember him.

You need to bring in Walker’s secretary.

Knock on her door. Wake her up. She’s his alibi for yesterday morning.

I want to know if she’s sleeping with him.

If she’s not, I’m sure she has an inkling about who Walker has been stepping out with. ”

“You mean Trixie?”

“That’s not the name she gave him,” Jude said. “It’ll be something like Ashley or Katie. Four hundred and fifty bucks for two hours is a girlfriend experience. He spends ten minutes screwing her, then the rest of the time talking about how his life is hard and his wife doesn’t understand him.”

Seth looked more surprised than he should have.

“The escort will have an agency that screens all of her clients. They’re the ones Walker is paying.

We need to comb through his credit card receipts and all his payment apps.

There has to be a trail. He didn’t find this woman on a dating website.

Or the man, for that matter. That’s clearly not Elijah Walker’s penis. ”

Seth’s eyebrows shot up. “Ma’am?”

“Walker’s hands, neck and face are pale. Unless he’s going to a tanning booth and only sunning his genitals and stomach, that’s not his penis.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Seth took the phone. “You think Walker’s being blackmailed?”

Jude had seen Paisley’s photo on the bulletin back in San Francisco. “His daughter is an attractive young blonde.”

“Yeah.” Seth no longer looked surprised. He’d heard of child sex-trafficking, at least. “What you said about a press conference at seven thirty. I’m sorry, but I didn’t realize you’d already set that up. Are you going to make an appeal?”

“I was bluffing, but I want you to set it up anyway. Seven thirty will give the national media four hours to make it down from Atlanta. This will be your show.” Jude didn’t want to be the face of the investigation.

“Make sure you thank Sheriff Clifton and the local forces for their cooperation. Tell the media we’re following leads.

Ask for any witnesses to come forward. Give out the number for the tip line. ”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“I’m going to talk to the mother. Carol Walker might know what her husband’s been up to.” Jude started to leave, but then she thought of something. “I need you to print out two photos from Elijah’s collection. One of each, full size, in color.”

He looked shocked. “You’re going to show them to his wife?”

“Sweetheart, you need to understand that I’m not here to hold hands and tiptoe around feelings. I’m going to do whatever it takes to bring a fourteen-year-old girl home.”

“Yes, ma’am. I’ll get an agent to drive you to the Walker house.”

“No, I’ll catch a ride from the sheriff.”