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He climbed into the Beast and drove it to the front of the house. There was no need for Jenna and Tauri to get wet this morning. His mind went to his little boy. The kindergarten was a safe place, but so was his ranch and the cartel had gotten to them. He had no idea how many more of them were out there planning on taking him out. He’d speak to Nanny Raya. Maybe she needed to stay with Tauri at the kindergarten, just to be safe. He climbed out of the Beast and headed to the front porch. He used the retinal scanner to gain entrance and removed his boots before padding softly back to the bedroom. As he undressed and headed for the bathroom, Jenna’s voice came from behind him.
“Why didn’t you wake me?” Jenna stared at his bruised and battered body, and her eyes widened. “Look at you. You should be resting up today. Is your head, okay? The helmet has a huge dent in it.”
Nodding, Kane stood motionless as she examined the bruises and scrapes. “I’ll be fine. These are more of a nuisance than anything else. A straight cut can be stitched and then forgotten. Large areas of grazes from the blacktop have two problems: they’re part scrape and part burn, plus they have dirt in them. I’d rather leave them open to dry, but Wolfe insisted I cover them with a dressing after my shower and use ointment to prevent infection.” He rubbed his hip. “He gave me a shot before he left last night and that hurts more than the grazes.” He bent to kiss her. “I stink of horse. Give me five minutes. The coffee is ready.” He headed for the shower. “Then we can discuss the case before Tauri wakes up.”
“That sounds like a plan.” Jenna yawned explosively. “I hope the guys made progress in my absence.”
Kane smiled at her. “So do I.”
THIRTY-ONE
MONDAY
Being an early riser, with chores to do on his ranch, Rowley called Rio early and they decided to get to the office at seven. They wanted to go and speak to Dallas Strauss at the Diamond Bar Ranch before he disappeared again. The previous afternoon they’d driven to the ranch only to find he’d left earlier to move cattle down from the high country to the winter feed pastures before the snow came. He’d been due back later that evening, but waiting hours in the cold was a waste of valuable time. They’d returned to the office to finish up loose ends and then headed on home.
When the call came from Jenna at five after seven, Rowley put the phone on speaker and they both looked at each other as she spoke.
“Dave and Tauri are okay, a few scrapes and bruises but nothing serious.” Jenna breathed a sigh of relief. “We’ll be in once we’ve taken Tauri to the kindergarten. Any breakthroughs in the case?”
Swallowing hard, Rowley glanced at Rio and he just shrugged. He was no help at all. “Yeah, first up, we’ve had another murder, same MO. I’ve uploaded all the files to the server. The young woman’s name was Johanna Worth out of Craggy Rock. She worked at the pizzeria and her boss, Brian Rhoads, called it in when she didn’t show for work. We did a welfare check and found her.”
“Why didn’t you call me?” Jenna’s annoyance came through the speaker. “I need to be in the loop at all times, Jake.”
Groaning, Rowley glared at Rio. “We handled the situation. You had enough on your plate with Kane and Tauri missing. We followed procedure, and Norrell and Emily did the forensics, but we did notice a similarity between the victims.” He told her about the carved wood figurines and the interview the previous afternoon with Chase Holden.
“Okay, I’ll read your reports.” Jenna paused a beat. “What was your take on Chase Holden?”
Nodding, Rowley stared at his phone. “Relaxed, very informative. He wasn’t worried about speaking to us at all. He admitted knowing all the murder victims and about his time in jail.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “He was asking questions about the cause of death. He made like he was upset about them dying, but I figure it was just a show for us.” He took a deep breath. “We’re heading out now to speak to Dallas Strauss. He’s a ranch hand out at the Diamond Bar Ranch.”
“Where is that?” Jenna tapped on a keyboard. “I have it. It’s halfway between Blackwater and Black Rock Falls. Okay, talk to him but be careful. If this is our man, we know what he is capable of doing and a stun gun is very easy to conceal in a pocket. Don’t trust anyone we consider a possible suspect in this case.”
Raising his eyebrows at Rio, Rowley breathed a sigh of relief. “We’ll take all necessary precautions as usual. I’ll call you when we leave the Diamond Bar Ranch.”
“Before you go, did you find anything of interest on the phones or laptops? Have you checked out their call logs?”
“This is Rio.” Rio leaned toward the phone. “I checked them all out and found nothing of interest. Calls to their employment, takeout, calls to family. No one outside the usual framework we’d see for most people. We know Jennifer Kriss contacted Brian Lock a few times. He’s the carpenter who called in when she wouldn’t answer the door when he arrived to do some work. That’s all. Nothing of interest on social media.”
“We still need positive ID on the victims.” Jenna covered the mouthpiece and spoke to someone. “I’m guessing Wolfe is on that, but he’s been with me, so no progress there, I guess.”
Rowley shrugged. “Emily didn’t mention anything and we uploaded all the information we discovered onto the server. I doubt much progress has been made with the murders coming along so fast.”
“Okay. I’ll hunt down the next of kin and get the identifications rolling.” Jenna sucked in a breath. “Get at it and we’ll see you at the office later. Thanks for working yesterday and starting early this morning. Don’t forget to put in for overtime.” She disconnected.
“She sounds a little overprotective toward us today.” Rio left a message for Maggie, the receptionist on the front desk, to let her know where they were heading. “Is this the mothering instinct?”
Pushing on his hat and collecting a fresh statement pad and a couple of pens from behind the front counter, Rowley looked up and nodded. “Yeah, Sandy has been the same since the twins arrived.” He straightened and smiled. “I kinda like the attention. When the twins were newborns, I felt like a third thumb. Sandy had her mom and dad staying at the ranch to help out. It was a bad winter, if you recall, but the crime rate didn’t slow any. I was glad of the help around the ranch, but I didn’t get much time to get to know my kids.”
“That must have been difficult.” Rio frowned and buttoned his coat and then pulled on gloves. “You and Sandy must have needed the help. I recall when my brother and sister were born my mom was up all hours with them. My dad worked and I helped when I could, but you know how cranky moms get when they don’t get enough sleep.”
Laughing, Rowley headed for the door. “Tell me about it. By the time the melt came and her folks moved back home, I’d become more confident with the twins. You know, they were so little I was frightened of hurting them every time I picked them up. Now I’m worried they’ll hurt me.” He chuckled. “They hurled themselves at me when I got home the other night and almost knocked me flying.”
“Wait until they’re teenagers, then the fun begins.” Rio shook his head. “I became a surrogate father to teenagers at twenty-one. This is why I ended up here. Cade and Piper were out of control. Anyway, it’s all good now.” Rio followed him to the truck. “Let’s hope we can find and speak to Dallas Strauss.”
Rowley headed along Main and then onto the highway that led to Blackwater. It was a cold, crisp morning and mist still swirled across the blacktop, moving in great waves as traffic pushed it this way and that. The rain had cleared overnight but the lowlands glistened in the lingering wet sheen. He spotted a herd of bison wandering through the thick wheatgrass, their backs darkened with patches of soaked fur. The beasts moved slowly, spreading out in an arrow formation, yellow teeth snatching at anything edible as they went. Under the protective eye of a proud bull, whose massive head swung back and forth, its nose sniffing the air for any male intruder, the cows moved easily, unafraid of predators. It wasn’t mating season, but he’d seen the bulls fight, charging each other at high speed and butting heads. He’d often wondered if that’s where the expression butting heads came from.
Rowley had lived in Black Rock Falls all his life and had no hankering to leave. He owned his ranch, ran a few beef cattle, had chickens, and kept a cow to supply more milk than they needed. His wife, Sandy, was born and raised on a ranch, had been making cheese and butter with her mom and aunts since she was five. Nothing went to waste.
“You’re miles away.” Rio turned up the radio and listened to the dispatches from Blackwater. “Nothing is happening in Blackwater. They have it easy over there. I can never figure out why all the serial killers come to our town.”
