The Case of Eden Capiella (A Prezly/Paladino Investigation) / A Prezly/Paladino Investigation (ePub)

Eden Capiella, a young painter of abstract art, is being stalked by a homeless man; he tells her that her younger brother Lennie, a heroin addict, is dead then two weeks later accosts her again to tell her he is alive and if she pays him, he will tell her where Lennie is.

She contacts Elvyra Prezly and Charles "Chuck" Paladino, the private investigators she met at the Organ Mountains Dripping Springs Trail. The Prezly-Paladinos had been behind her on the trail with their five-month old fraternal twins. Chuck alerted the rangers that she had fallen over the safety barrier at the trail's end. Eden claims the stalker threw her over it. They are able to identify the stalker from a sketch Eden made: Patrick Rukowski, a mentally ill homeless man, with a long arrest record of assault and petty theft.

Eden asks Chuck and Elvyra to search for Lennie. Juggling family responsibilities with their profession obligations, they scour Las Cruces' drug rehab facilities, homeless camps, a free clinic and a hospital, but encounter hurdles because of the privacy laws. Chuck goes undercover at the hospital and finds Lennie near death in the acute care unit; Elvyra contacts Eden and her parents so they can visit him before it's too late.

Their investigation of Rukowski continues; they quickly determine he was not the perpetrator but a foil for someone else's ambitions-Elgin Feldsparr, a formerly blackballed photographer/reporter, obsessed with getting scoops by stealing his colleagues' assignments, or creating situations he can use to his advantage. In his devious manipulation of Rukowski, Eden and Lennie become prey to further his schemes.

Elvyra and Chuck piece together his actions and ask Eden file a complaint with the police. An arrest warrant is issued but Feldsparr gets wind of it and takes Eden hostage in her studio, but his stand-off with the police fails. Months later, at trial, he tries to escape during a lull in the proceedings and grabs Eden as she waits in the hallway to testify against him. Elvyra confronts him, using a clever technique to divert his attention. Will Feldsparr fall for it and release Eden? Or will he harm Eden and possibly Elvyra when the police make their move to take him down?