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“Well, the other murder scenes are the same as the one you just left.” Kalo stood and walked across the tile, his shoes making squeaky sounds. “Everything as if he was just repeating the crime, like it was his fantasy or something.”
Carter swung his truck around and headed back to his cabin in the forest. “Maybe that’s the clue. The sneaking into a house and killing a woman is his fantasy. I’m heading to my cabin. It’s wet and cold and I need to get a fire going or I’ll be a popsicle by morning. Catch you later.”
“I’ll call if anything else comes up.” Kalo disconnected.
As Carter turned into the fire road that led to his secluded cabin. He glanced at Zorro in the rearview mirror. “Let’s just hope while I’ve been MIA again no one else has been murdered.”
FORTY-ONE
Despondent, Jenna walked back to the office, avoiding the puddles deepening by the second. The gray skies didn’t lighten her mood. She’d given the judge a list of reasons why she required a search warrant and had been refused in a few seconds. The proof they needed to stop a killer could be right under their noses and they couldn’t reach it. Hauling the suspects in for questioning wouldn’t get them anywhere. They’d already been cooperative and explained their whereabouts at the time of the murders. If she kept pushing as Kane suggested, without more evidence against them, they’d be making complaints about harassment. As if he knew she needed support, Duke walked beside her. Rain splattered his coat, but he held his head high and his thick tail swung back and forth. She looked down at him and smiled. “At least you’re happy. Did the judge’s receptionist give you a cookie?”
She couldn’t resist Duke’s wide doggy smile and innocent brown eyes and bent to rub his ears. “Dave will dry you when we get back to the office, although I’m not sure why you insisted on coming with me today. Not that I’m complaining.” She headed up the office steps and waved to Maggie at the counter. She moved through the office and along to Rio’s and Rowley’s desks. “Come on upstairs. I had no luck obtaining a search warrant and we need to discuss what we’ve found today and the next steps.” She looked at Rio. “Thank Cade and Piper for dropping by to help yesterday. I really appreciate it, but shouldn’t they be studying for the December examinations?”
“Yeah, but they can’t study all the time and they’re good.” Rio smiled. “They already know the work. I’ve quizzed them on everything I can think of and they’re doing fine. They want to come by tomorrow as well. It will give Maggie a break. I’m sure she’d like a couple of hours to organize the food for Thanksgiving.”
Nodding, Jenna smiled at him. “She would indeed and with the hotline open, although we aren’t getting a ton of calls, it does take up Maggie’s time. I could make them interns, so they can use the work experience on their resumes.”
“I’ll ask them.” Rio smiled. “That sounds like a great idea. Piper is completing a social work degree. She has always been interested in the work done by the Her Broken Wings Foundation. She believes working to help people in bad situations is her calling.”
Thrilled, Jenna’s heart lifted. She had watched Piper grow from a troubled teen to a strong and reliable woman. Her twin brother, Cade, was also making great strides toward a law degree. Rio had raised them after his parents were killed. It was his only choice after the kids ran away from their grandma’s house and were constantly in trouble. “I know how difficult it’s been for you raising them, but you’ve turned their lives around.”
“Yeah, and now maybe it’s time for me to have a life.” Rio chuckled. “Those early teenage years were something I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.”
Happy, Jenna turned to the stairs and reality hit her the moment she walked inside. Kane had already dried Duke and had made a pot of coffee. When he gave her an expectant look, she shook her head. “The judge denied the search warrant. He said it was a blatant invasion of privacy, fueled by speculation and hearsay.” She removed her coat, shook off the rain, and hung it behind the door. With a sigh, she dropped into her office chair. “I felt like a kid in the principal’s office. I’m surprised he didn’t give me detention.”
As Rio and Rowley filed into the office, Kane stood to make coffee. Jenna smiled at him as he walked past. “I did my best.”
“It was an outside chance we’d get the search warrant.” Kane bent and, to Jenna’s surprise, ignored the deputies and cupped her cheek and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “Don’t worry, we’ll find other ways to catch this killer.”
A warm glow rose from the tips of her toes right through her, and her cheeks heated. For Kane, public showing of affection wasn’t in his wheelhouse. She moved her attention back to Rowley and Rio, who grinned at her like demented baboons, and cleared her throat. “Did you discover anything interesting in the backgrounds of our two suspects?”
“Not mechanical engineering, no, but both have considerable talent in various fields of IT.” Rio leaned back in his seat. “I’ve uploaded everything we found into the current files. Although, I’m not sure how this is going to help the investigation.”
Jenna lifted the cup Kane set beside her, blew over the contents, and sipped the rich aromatic brew. “We figured bringing in the two men for questioning might shake a few incriminating answers from one of them, but after speaking to the judge, we need to tread carefully. We don’t have a solid reason to pull them in.”
“As there’s no forced entry, we know they entered the houses without any difficulty, but if they’d met and spoken to the victims beforehand, it’s possible they were invited inside—or they had a weapon.” Kane handed the cups around and then sat down. “I ran checks via the companies who made the security systems on the victims’ homes. Both were different and installed by different companies. The systems would send out an alert if someone tampered with them, so unless the killer has the codes, the victims opened the doors.”
Jenna’s phone rang. She listened to Maggie and her heart sank to her boots. She swallowed hard. “Okay, thanks, tell them we’re on our way. Get all the information you can and ask them to remain on scene. I’ll need you to call Wolfe and give him the details.” She placed the phone back onto the receiver and lifted her gaze to her team. “There’s a body in the Triple Z Roadhouse parking lot. The caller said the victim has no eyes. The body has been there for only around two hours. The truck driver was at a stopover. He went to his truck around three and didn’t see the pickup parked beside him.”
“We’ll need to know the whereabouts of the suspects over the last two hours.” Kane glanced at Jenna. “I’ll call Carter. He has a tracker on his phone now by his insistence.” He stood and went outside to make the call.
Standing, Jenna looked at her deputies. “You already know the suspects. Hunt them down and find out where they’ve been these last two hours. Check out their stories. We’ll go and secure the crime scene.” She moved to the door to retrieve her damp coat and looked at Duke. “Maybe you should stay here.” She took down a container of dog food and filled his bowl. “You have plenty of water and we won’t be long.”
“Good idea.” Kane walked back inside. “Stay, Duke.” He looked at her and raised both eyebrows. “Carter is at his cabin, and his locator confirms it. He was in town earlier at Aunt Betty’s for lunch and grabbed takeout. I didn’t tell him about the body at the Triple Z Roadhouse.”
Relieved Carter was away from town, she handed Kane his coat. “I hope this isn’t the Casanova Killer. If he’s changing his MO, it’s going to make a difficult case impossible.”
FORTY-TWO
The wind rushing down from the mountains drove the rain at an angle, lifting the hood of Jenna’s slicker and wetting her face as she walked toward the eighteen-wheeler parked beside a pickup at the Triple Z Roadhouse. Kane had parked some ways away, to allow Wolfe access to the victim. She glanced at Kane beside her. “If this is the same killer as before, this won’t be nice.”
Taking a deep breath, she walked slowly toward the pickup and peered inside. Although she’d been prepared for the horrific sight, the blackened eye sockets shocked her to her core. She laid one hand on Kane’s arm and looked at him. “Wolfe is two minutes away. I don’t think we should touch anything. It’s obvious the victim is deceased.”
“That must be the guy who found her.” Kane indicated with his chin toward the man observing them through the window of his truck. “We’ll get his statement before Wolfe arrives.”
Nodding, Jenna waved the man down from the truck. The man nodded and pulled up the hood of his slicker. As he climbed down, Jenna accessed the record function on her phone. “Do you mind if we record your statement? Paperwork is impossible in this weather.”
“I’m good.” The man turned his back into the wind.
