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He’d noticed a carving of a bear cub in Johanna’s family room and closed his eyes, filtering through information in his cluttered mind. His retentive memory was a curse as well as a blessing. Some things he’d rather forget, but in times like these it did come in handy. He did recall seeing a sculpture of an eagle in the home of Dakota Slade. This was one of the links Jenna had mentioned. Sometimes the simplest of things linked people to killers. He thought for a time but couldn’t recall any wood sculptures in the home of Jennifer Kriss, but perhaps they were expensive and he doubted any of them had spare cash for artwork. He turned to Rowley. “I’ve found a small link between Chase Holden, Dakota Slade, and the last victim.”
“If that’s the case, then you’ll need to take a look at the social media of Jennifer Kriss.” Rowley pulled into his spot outside the sheriff’s office. “If they’re all social media friends, we’ll need to grab the keys to Jennifer Kriss’ home and look for a wooden sculpture. I must admit, I’m usually looking for evidence and not appraising artwork.”
Nodding, Rio used the phone to hunt down Chase Holden’s social media followers. He entered the names of the victims one by one and found all three followed his page. “He has three thousand followers, but I found them.”
“Now what?” Rowley headed up the steps to the office. “If we find his sculpture in Jennifer’s home, do we go and confront him or hunt down the other suspect first?”
Considering the facts, Rio nodded. “We go and speak to him. He has a store in town. He works and lives in the back. His page says his store is open seven days most times, so even though it’s Sunday, we’ll find him there or at home.” He followed Rowley into the office. “I’ll get an update from Cade and Piper.”
“We’ve had three calls.” Piper handed him three sheets of paper. “I’ve entered the details into the daybook as instructed. These are copies.” She smiled. “Two people with dashcam footage have sent it in and the other was from the bank manager. The ATM has a camera and he went by to check it when he heard the news report. It picked up a cowboy fitting the description: blond untidy hair, brown Stetson, snakeskin boots, walking to a white truck, with an airport rental sticker on the back.”
Impressed, Rio smiled at them. “You have the pictures of the suspects. Can you make out who it is?”
“It could be any one of them and I’m not so sure this guy has blond hair. He’s kind of hunched up against the rain.” Cade raised both eyebrows. “It looks like Carter, right down to the snakeskin band around his hat.”
“Everyone has those around here, along with the boots and the Stetson.” Piper shook her head. “All the guys wear cowboy hats, ball caps, or hunting hats in this weather, so hair color is hard to distinguish.” She looked at Cade. “They need more evidence than that before they send a guy to jail for murder and I don’t believe it’s Carter. He wouldn’t kill women for fun. He loves women.”
“Maybe he loves them so much he doesn’t want to share them with anyone so he kills them.” Cade grinned at her. “They do that, psychopaths. I’m reading Jo Wells’ books on criminal behavior. That is one of the signs.”
“You’re impossible.” Piper turned her back on him and headed down to the kitchenette. “I’m taking a break.”
Rio watched her go. At twenty they were forging ahead with their own lives but he didn’t see them leaving home anytime soon. Neither had wanted to go off to college, both happy to attend the local one, although they’d gone through the usual application process and he’d been surprised at the number of colleges offering them scholarships. Both had decided on a career in law enforcement to various degrees. Piper wanted to be in the justice system, working in the courts, she’d wanted to work alongside a judge and listen to court cases. Cade, after a very bumpy adolescence, had made up his mind to become a law enforcement officer and was working toward the necessary qualifications. He’d even mentioned the FBI. He turned as Rowley came back from the evidence locker. “When we’ve searched the Kriss home, we’ll go to Aunt Betty’s and plan our next move. I want to see if there are any more links between the victims before we go and speak to Holden and have a list of questions in my mind rather than go in unprepared.”
“That works for me.” Rowley slid behind the wheel. “Do you figure we should call Jenna and bring her up to speed?”
Rio shook his head. “Nah, if she’s in the chopper, she won’t hear the phone. She’ll call us when she finds Kane. We can tell her then, if she’s in any fit state.” He gave him a long look. “If the cartel has him, his chances are one in a million to get out alive and now they have Tauri. I want a good outcome, but I’ve seen what they do to people. The best thing we can do to help right now is to take some of the burden from her shoulders by solving this case.”
“Kane is as tough as they come.” Rowley backed out of the parking space and headed along Main. “He was buried alive, struck by lightning, and survived. I don’t know many men who could take him down alone. My money is on him. He’ll make it out, he always does.”
Surprised by Rowley’s obvious hero worship, he cleared his throat. “He’s flesh and blood like all of us, Jake. If he hadn’t been unconscious, there would have been signs of a fight and Jenna found nothing. Blackhawk examined the scene as well and both concluded Kane must have been out cold when they took him. He must weigh at least two-fifty and they would have needed at least four strong men to lift him into a truck.” He frowned. “Put Kane out of your mind for a time until we know what’s happening. Keep your head in the game. We must be the professional team that Jenna needs right now.”
“Okay.” Rowley turned into Jennifer Kriss’ driveway and pulled up beside her old truck. “Let’s do this.” He pulled examination gloves from the console and tossed a pair to Rio. “This is still a crime scene and I’m betting it still stinks in there.” He grabbed two masks and handed him one.
Using the keys, they went inside, ducking under the crime scene tape. It did stink of death and they split up to look through the lower floor. They didn’t need to go far, the moment Rio walked into the family room, he spotted the small carved bear on a table in front of the window. “I found a carving, but this is way too small to have been carved using a chainsaw.” He picked it up and turned it over. “It has the initials CH carved into the bottom. It’s one of Holden’s. I’ll bag it and take it with us. We’ll enter it into evidence. I figure we go and get all three of the sculptures. They’re crucial evidence and prove that Holden came in contact with all of the victims.”
“I had a strange feeling you’d want to visit the other crime scenes today.” Rowley patted his pocket. “I have the other victim’s house keys with me.”
Rio smiled at him. “That’s what I call thinking outside the box.” He headed for the door.
TWENTY-FIVE
Running on adrenaline, Jenna bounded over the uneven ground toward the red-brick building. “Seek Dave, Duke. Seek Tauri.” The dog moved out in front of her, Bear running alongside him sniffing the air.
In the distance she’d spotted one man walking from the truck parked outside to what was left of an old barn. One section was intact, the other half damaged. Bars covered a boarded-up window, and a passageway inside was evident. Was this where they were holding Kane? Where was Tauri? The field ahead was covered in waist-high wheatgrass. Once inside, it would be difficult to see the building, but the grass offered them cover. Panting after the sprint led by Styles, Jenna pushed on, moving through the space in the wheatgrass cut by Styles. The wet blades soaked her jeans and the seed-covered tips stuck to her clothes or whipped against her face. Underfoot, the uneven ground made the way difficult. Behind her, Wolfe pounded along, his heavy medical bag swishing through the grass as he ran. Rain spots hit her hot cheeks and ran down her neck but as they broke out of the wheatgrass, the view ahead was clear and Styles slowed, held up a hand, and scanned the area. She went to his side. “Can you see anything?”
“There’s a chopper parked some ways from the building and two trucks close by. We don’t have any cover. If they come out and see us, hit the ground.” Styles moved forward. “Keep behind me, Jenna.”
One man appeared, lit a cigarette, and walked around to one side of the building. They all moved forward in a line, trying to cover the ground as fast as possible before the smoking man came back. The next moment, someone burst from the passageway, stopped and tossed something, and then ran yelling toward a chopper, sitting about thirty yards away from Jenna but a hundred yards from the men trying to reach it. Ahead of her, Styles stopped moving and drew his revolver. She ran to his side. “Don’t stop.”
“Grenade.” Styles pushed her down into the wheatgrass and Wolfe dropped beside them. “Bear, down.”
Jenna snagged an arm around Duke and grabbed his harness. “Down.” She tugged hard and the dog flopped, panting beside her.
Slapping hands over her ears as an almighty explosion shook the ground, Jenna rolled into a ball. Moments later she opened her eyes as dust climbed into the sky in a cloud of blood red. Bricks and debris flew into the air. Before she could react, a wall of heat rushed over them, sucking up the air around them. Gasping for breath, Jenna coughed. The smell of gunpowder and burning wood and flesh filled her nostrils and coated her tongue. Fragments of bricks and mortar fell from the sky, thumping into the ground all around them. She covered her head as flaming splinters of wood cartwheeled in all directions in a fireworks display of flaming embers that sizzled out in the soaked wheatgrass. Horrified and shaken to her core, Jenna crawled to her feet, oblivious of the falling debris. Where the old barn once stood was a blackened hole surrounded by broken walls and twisted metal. “Nooooo.”
Wolfe’s arms came around her waist and she struggled against him. He was saying something but the ringing in her ears obliterated his voice. She needed to get to Kane and Tauri. Styles took one arm and Wolfe the other and they hightailed it back into the long grass. The next second, automatic-weapons fire cut up the grass around them. She hit the ground hard and all the air rushed out of her lungs. Bullets pinged above them, slicing the tops from the long grass and sending up clouds of chaff. When silence fell, she tried to move but Wolfe was pinning her down. Beside her, Styles crawled forward, went to his knees, and poked his head up.
“FBI. Put down your weapons.” More gunshots peppered the ground around them, and Styles lifted his heavy revolver in both hands and took aim. “Stay down, this ain’t going to be pretty.”
