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SIX
The sky had darkened and Jenna checked her watch. It was a little after four and clouds had blocked the watery sunlight filtering in her office window. Winter in Black Rock Falls could be as spectacular as it was dangerous and this year the snow was late. By November they usually had a few feet, but this year sleet, rain, and high winds had made life uncomfortable. She had spent the afternoon, along with her deputies, searching for local men who fit the description of the man seen in the general store speaking with Dakota. They hadn’t been able to contact Carter. When he said he was going dark, he meant pitch-black. Jenna had hunted down as much information about Dakota as possible, after thinking through Kane’s ideas about possible others wanting her inheritance, or any information she might possibly have on someone. She hadn’t found anything of interest at all. The visit to Sam Cross, the lawyer, didn’t add any intrigue to the investigation. Dakota’s inheritance had gone through unopposed. There was, to his knowledge, no one else entitled to inherit.
From what she discovered, Dakota had always been a homebody. She went to church, helped out in various charities, but apart from that, didn’t seem to have a whole lot of friends of her age. She mixed more with the elderly, and Jenna figured after living with her grandma for so long, she must have preferred their company. Maybe it was safer. Although she hadn’t discovered any mention of any love affairs, she guessed she’d need to question some of her school friends, if she had any, to find out that information.
She leaned back in her office chair and looked at Kane. “Find anyone fitting the description?”
“Most guys in town have dark hair or red hair. Not many are coming up on the databases that have blond hair. I’m running a search for men between five-ten and six-two and see what it spits out.” Kane yawned explosively and rolled his shoulders. “I miss having Bobby Kalo on hand. I’m getting used to having an FBI computer whiz kid on the end of the phone to do this work. He loves it but I find it as boring as watching paint dry.”
Standing, Jenna went to the counter and refilled the coffee machine. “They’ll be back soon. It’s a five-day trip to Disneyland, so probably a week away with traveling. Jo deserves time with her daughter, and Jaime was so excited to be going. Kalo was as well. He’s still a kid at heart.” She leaned against the counter. “Do you want cookies with your coffee?”
“You have to ask?” Kane grinned at her. “Did you find anything interesting?”
Jenna took down two cups and the cookie jar. “Nothing. She was a very quiet woman. I can’t see any reason for someone to kill her. The method of murder seems so strange too.”
“How so?” Kane stood and went to the counter. He opened the cookie jar and poured cookies onto a plate.
“It was what Wolfe said.” Jenna bent to take the creamer from the refrigerator. “How it was a clean kill. Sure, we know women usually use poison but this one has me thinking. Male killers usually like to mess women up. Where is the thrill in electrocution? It looked like he or she sneaked up behind her and zapped her.”
“I see what you mean.” Kane nibbled on a cookie, his gaze on the coffee dripping into the pot “If it was a thrill kill, where is the thrill? Although, it is a brutal way to die—visually, I mean. There’s no blood, but the murder would be graphic in nature. The smell of burning flesh and hair, the body would jerk… and you saw her eyes. This might be the thrill for the killer. For him, it’s clean. He can walk away without any trace evidence on him but the brutality is there.”
Everything that Wolfe had said filtered through Jenna’s mind. She filled the coffee cups and added the fixings. “I know I’m not allowed to ask you about your missions, but can you tell me a little about your training?” She noticed the nerve ticking in his cheek but ignored it. “I’m guessing you would’ve been trained similar to the SEALs.”
“What are you getting at, Jenna?” Kane took a cup of coffee and sat in front of her desk. “Specifically.”
Leaning back on the counter, Jenna looked at him. “Would Carter be capable of changing the amperage on a stun gun?”
“Probably. We were both trained in skills to get the job done.” He lifted one shoulder in a half shrug. “It’s not all about shooting and muscle. A good deal of planning goes into it as well. Meeting unusual situations head-on and acting accordingly to survive is essential. Many skills are involved.” He shook his head slowly. “I can see your mind working. You think Carter is involved, don’t you?”
Taking her coffee and sitting at the desk, Jenna stared at him. “I’ve never believed that Carter is unstable. The thing is that many people have been fooled by psychopaths, and we know that Carter was alone in the forest for a long time.”
“Ah, come on, Jenna.” Kane barked a laugh. “Do you have any idea how many tests he would have endured to get back into the FBI? In all the time I’ve known him, I’ve never seen him slip up once. In my opinion, he is as solid as a rock.”
Sipping her coffee slowly, she eyed him over the rim of the cup. “Do you ever recall reading accounts of the crimes of Ted Bundy? The notorious serial killer? He was out there, killing people for years, and still managed a relationship with a woman who would refuse to believe he was a murderer. Then we have the Iceman. He was married with children, a loving father, and his wife never suspected he was a vicious serial killer.” She sighed. “The problem is the people closest to them don’t recognize them for who they are. We shouldn’t discount him as a possible suspect until we know for sure he’s innocent.”
“The problem with that conclusion, Jenna, is that we’ve known Carter for years and he hasn’t killed anyone. He cares about people.” Kane turned his coffee cup around with the tips of his fingers. “If he was a serial killer, as you are assuming, wouldn’t he have fallen off the rails by now?”
Placing her coffee cup on the table, Jenna smiled. “This is where I rely on your profiling skills, Dave.” She pushed a strand of hair behind one ear. “I watched an interview with a serial killer who was married with kids, and the one thing he said he regretted the most was losing his family. So they might not show empathy for their victims, but they are capable of caring. This is what makes catching them so difficult.”
“We know they hide behind a mask, but that idea is flawed too.” Kane looked at her. “I don’t figure it’s just psychopaths that do that. Many people who move around us on a regular basis are living two lives. We are and we’re not serial killers.”
Stumped, Jenna pushed both hands through her hair. “So where do we go from here?”
“I believe you’re on the right track.” Kane gave her a long look. “We do need to be looking for someone with the skills to change the stun gun into a killing machine. Once the results come through, we’ll do background checks on the possible suspects and see if any of them are capable. It will take a long time. It could be tomorrow before the search comes up with anything. I’ll just leave it running overnight and see what it has found in the morning.”
After closing down her computer, Jenna stood, collected the cups, and washed them in the sink. “There’s nothing left for us to do here today. I’ll check in with Rio and Rowley and see if they’ve found anything.” She collected her things from the desk and grabbed her coat on the way out the door.
Downstairs, she went to speak to her deputies. “Do you have anything for me?”
“Nope.” Rio leaned back in his chair. “We’ve hunted down friends, and discovered she doesn’t have any, apart from a few elderly women she knows from church. She goes to a quilting circle with them, but that’s just about all we could find about her social life.”
“I called Father Derry.” Rowley raised both eyebrows. “He wasn’t too happy about being asked questions about his parishioners, but when I explained, he said Dakota was always there for any fundraisers but was a solitary person who liked her own company.”
Confused at why anyone wanted to murder Dakota, Jenna blew out a long sigh. “It’s after five. Head on home. We have an autopsy tomorrow at eleven. If you could tend the office in the morning and we don’t get a break in the case, you can take the rest of the weekend. We’ll call you in if we discover anything of interest. Right now, we’ve got no suspects and no motive. Someone killed her, but it could have been any one of a dozen blond men in town. All we can do is wait for results to come in and then act.”
She headed for the counter and smiled at Maggie. “We’re all heading home. Lock up and we’ll see you in the morning.”
“I’ll switch the 911 calls to my phone.” Maggie looked from one to the other. “You go and spend some quality time with your boy.”
