by D. K. Hood
“I’ll wait.” The doctor leaned against the wall and folded his arms across his chest.
Wolfe removed his gloves and coat then turned to Rowley. “I can take it from here. Has the sheriff called?”
“I spoke to Kane just before you arrived.” Rowley lowered his gaze. “I’m heading over to speak to Sky Paul’s parents, then heading back to the office. Kane is doing a background check on Ella Tate. He hasn’t found a listing for her family. Can you ask her for a next of kin contact?”
Wolfe nodded. “Sure. Keep me in the loop and I’ll make sure everyone gets a copy of my report.” He had a thought and stared at Rowley. “Did you Mirandize her?”
“Nope. I figured she’s a victim.” Rowley’s cheeks pinked. “Dang, she is in custody and you’re going to question her about a crime.”
“Yeah. It’s normal procedure. The last person to see a victim alive is the first suspect we look at.”
“I know that but she sounded so convincing.” Rowley shrugged. “I’ll go do it now.”
Wolfe sighed. “No, you have enough to do. I’ll do it. You’d better be on your way.”
“Yes, sir.” Rowley turned on his heel and headed for the elevator.
Wolfe turned to Emily. “I’ll be taking a statement from Miss Tate after the examination but I’ll need you to record our conversation from the moment we enter the room.” He opened his bag and handed her his voice recorder.
“Okay.” Emily took the device.
Once inside the examination room, Wolfe introduced himself and Emily. He pulled on a pair of latex gloves and donned a mask. “I’m going to take your statement but first, do you mind if I take a few photographs and some samples from your face and clothes?”
“No, do whatever you want if it helps to find Sky.”
Wolfe walked around her, taking in the scratches on her face and the blood spatter over her left side, her cheek and her left glove. If she was left-handed, she could be the killer. He pulled a candy bar out of his pocket and handed it to her. She took it with her left hand. “You must be hungry. I am in this weather.”
“Thanks.” Ella gave him a quizzical stare. “I was hoping the hospital would feed me soon.”
Wolfe smiled. “They will as soon as I’ve finished. Before we start I need to advise you of your rights under the law.” He read her her rights then pulled his camera out of his bag. “Do you understand your rights?”
“Yeah, but I’m not under arrest, am I?” Ella gaped at him, wide-eyed. “I didn’t do anything wrong and I don’t need a lawyer. Why read me my rights? I’m a victim. I don’t understand.”
“I’m an officer of the law and I’m detaining you until further notice. I’m going to be asking you questions about a crime. A girl is missing presumed murdered and as you’re the last person to see her alive, I wouldn’t want you to incriminate yourself.” Wolfe moved around her, taking photographs of the blood spatter. “Are you left-handed, Miss Tate?”
“Yeah. Why?” Ella peered at him from under the hood of her coat. “I’m warm now. Why can’t I remove my coat and gloves?”
Wolfe lifted Ella’s arm. “Hold out your arm and turn it from side to side.” He clicked away. “I’ll need to take a few swabs from your face, then I’ll be taking your clothes back to the lab. The hospital has provided you with hospital scrubs and a dressing gown until your family arrives.”
“Oh, wonderful. I saved for ages for that coat.” Ella’s eyes flashed in anger. “My boots were two hundred bucks.”
“Do you really want to wear them when they’re covered with your friend’s blood?” Emily moved closer. “Haven’t you realized you’re covered in blood?”
“N-no.” Ella peered at her arm. “Where?”
“All down your left side.” Emily frowned. “I think your clothes are ruined.”
Wolfe watched the girl’s reactions. “Do you have a number we can call to notify your family where you are?”
“Not right now.” Ella lifted her chin. “My brother was deployed a couple of weeks ago. That’s why I’m spending my vacation with Sky. Christmas in Black Rock Falls is supposed to be spectacular but it’s freezing.”
“It is very cold here.” Wolfe shrugged. “If necessary I’ll be able to get a message to your brother. I’m sure he is allowed to Skype you from time to time.”
“If he could I wouldn’t tell you.” Ella cast him a disapproving glance. “Please don’t ask me again.”
Fully aware of the security required around military deployment overseas, he nodded. “Sure, I understand.” He took a collection kit from his bag. “I’m going to take a few samples from your face and hands. It won’t hurt.”
“Okay.” Ella turned her face to give him access.
“I’ll be happy to lend you some of my things.” Emily smiled at her. “We look about the same size.”
“My bag is in Sky’s car. When you locate it, can you bring my things to the hospital?” Ella looked hopeful. “I have just about everything I own in her car. My cellphone should be in there as well. I threw it at the man and it bounced off him and fell on the floor. It’s pink and has my name in rhinestones on the cover.”
Wolfe moved around her, taking samples of blood from her face and neck. “You mentioned to my deputy that Sky’s car vanished overnight. It might be under a snowdrift. If you give me your cellphone number, I’ll pass it on to the deputies searching for the car. They might hear it ringing under the snow.”
“Sure.” Ella repeated it twice to Emily, who entered it into her contacts on her cellphone.
He turned to Emily. “Call Webber and pass on the number.”
“Okay.” Emily slipped outside into the passageway.
Wolfe bagged and labeled everything, then handed Ella some large plastic bags. “The bathroom is through there.” He pointed to a door. “When Emily comes back, I want you to place all your clothes into the plastic bags. You may keep your underwear on. I don’t think the blood soaked through everything.”
“It wouldn’t have gone through all of them. I have layers of clothes under my coat. Two sets of thermals. I couldn’t fit everything into my bags, so I wore the rest. If there’s no blood on them can I keep them too?”
That explains why she didn’t freeze to death. Wolfe rubbed his chin. “If you’re okay with Emily examining your clothes first to make a determination, then you can keep anything not bloodstained.”
“Sure.” Ella dropped her gaze to the floor, then lifted it slowly to look at his face. “Then can I take a shower?”
“Yeah, but before you go, let me see your hands.” Wolfe waited for her to remove her gloves then examined her hands for any sign of frostbite or blood. He found none. He met her gaze. “Okay, thanks. When you’re done, I’ll take your statement.”
When Emily returned, he waited for her to collect the clothes then leaving her inside to wait for Ella to shower walked into the hallway and called Jenna. “Rowley is on his way to chat to Sky Paul’s parents. I’m waiting to take Ella Tate’s statement.”
“What has the blood spatter told you?” Jenna cleared her throat. “Victim or suspect?”
Wolfe let out a long sigh. “I’m leaning toward suspect. The blood spatter is consistent with her inflicting the damage and her attitude is not what I would expect from someone who has suffered this type of trauma. She is hostile rather than devastated. In fact, she seems to care more about her bloodstained clothes than the fact someone murdered her friend in front of her. Something else. She isn’t exhibiting signs of frostbite considering she sheltered in a tree during a blizzard for six hours. Although she is wearing numerous layers of clothes, including two sets of thermals, socks, and had fur-lined boots.”
“If she was under a snow canopy she could keep warm.” Jenna coughed and wheezed. “Sorry. Where was I? Ah yes, I know small animals burrow under the snow to survive, it’s possible.”
He noticed Emily waving him toward the door. “I have to go, ma’am. I’ll call you when I have more information.
” He disconnected.
Six
Sky Paul tried to fight her way back to consciousness. Fleeting memories filtered into her mind, of a dark road at night and someone hitting her. Underneath her, warm bedding pressed against her back. Perhaps it was all a bad dream and she was at home and in her own bed. She tried to force open her eyes, but the dream tugged her back down and she dozed in that relaxing place between sleep and wakefulness. A memory nagged at her and she tried to grasp the truth of it. Somewhere in the deep recesses of her mind, a nightmare hovered. Had her mind conjured the man by the side of the road and the blinding headache? She remembered driving with Ella to Black Rock Falls, but not getting home. Some parts of the puzzle dangled just out of reach and she could not escape the daunting feeling of unease. I have to wake up.
She fell back into the deep chasm of sleep and woke some time later with a throbbing headache. So the memory of a head injury was real enough. Her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth and she couldn’t remember being so thirsty. She opened her eyes and the first thing she noticed was a bag of fluid hanging from a pole beside her bed and the beep of a machine. I’m in a hospital. With care, she turned her throbbing head to stare at the woman in the next bed hooked up to a number of machines. She was about her age with dark hair and one hand with bright pink nail polish rested on the turned down sheet.
She tried to touch her face but could not lift her arms. Fearing the head injury had paralyzed her, she wiggled her fingers and they worked fine. Glancing down, she gaped at the restraints securing both wrists to a bar along each side of the bed. She tried to wriggle free but the bands held her tight. Panic grabbed her. “Nurse, I need help.” Her voice came out in a dry squeak.
Footsteps, then a figure dressed in green scrubs, hat and mask came into view. Sky blinked at the man. “I need a drink—and what’s happened to me?” She wriggled on the bed. “Why am I restrained?”
“Calm down, Sky. Everything is going to be fine. You were in a car wreck and I can’t give you a drink just yet. The straps are for your own safety.” He took a syringe from a dish beside the bed and inserted it into the tube running into her arm. “Go back to sleep now.”
A warm glow spread through her and she closed her eyes, then the voice from her nightmare shocked her awake.
“I said to keep her in an induced coma and hook up the other machine.” Another man wearing the same green hospital scrubs hovered over her. The familiar raspy voice slammed into her, making every hair on her body stand to attention.
The man sounded impatient. “And before you go home today, leave the trash by the back door. I’ll dispose of it later.”
Confusion and terror shuddered through her. What was happening? No one had explained anything to her. Where was Ella? Sky fought to stay awake, but even her intense fear was no match for the drugs coursing through her veins. The pain slid away and darkness surrounded her.
Seven
He absorbed Trudy’s terrified expression and smiled as the drugs took hold. Kidnapping and murdering women empowered him to such a degree it had become an insatiable need. He hadn’t experienced a normal emotion in any form, not ever, and during his forty-five years had only gained three acquaintances he could trust.
He liked making his victims believe they were safe in a hospital ward, then watching the shock on their faces when the realization hit them that they were under his control. He would kill them and enjoy every slow moment. He wouldn’t give them a second thought once they’d died. Having no remorse was a gift he valued and one he’d inherited from his father.
As a cattleman’s son, he’d raised orphaned calves by hand but by the time he’d reached ten years old his father had forced him to slaughter them. Rather than upsetting him, it had excited him. His father’s words hummed in his ears. You are like me, son. We don’t give a shit.
He hadn’t cared when his father died either.
He attached his surgical mask then pulled the curtain surrounding the bed to one side. His attention lingered on Sky. Her disappearance would be all over the news by now. Finding her friend in the car had spoiled everything. He would have taken her as well if the stupid bitch hadn’t run away but Ella Tate had left him all the information he needed on her cellphone.
Young people posted their plans online telling everyone where they were going and what they were doing. By posing as a man in his early twenties, he had three thousand friends to choose from and it had been easy to discover when Sky would be leaving college to return home. The selfie posted from the Blackwater Roadhouse at 11.00 p.m. had given him plenty of time to drive to the highway and wait for her. Although, Sky had neglected to mention Ella would be traveling with her to Black Rock Falls.
He walked into the small office adjacent to the ward and scanned his computer. Within a few minutes, he found posts by Ella and friended her too. Soon she would be telling the world—and him—where she was and what she was doing. It had become part of the new culture. Hell, people even posted images of their dinner. He grinned. “Okay, Ella, I’ll just wait for you to come to me.” He disconnected and strolled out into the ward to look at his new prize. Life just gets better.
Eight
Jenna’s day was getting worse by the second. She had finished reading Ella Tate’s statement but Wolfe was not answering his cellphone. How could she conduct an investigation by virtual remote control without his first-hand input? She called his cellphone again and left a message. The only time Wolfe turned off his cellphone was during an autopsy and as no one had reported finding a body, she had no idea what was happening. With his constant worry about his daughters, he would divert his calls to Kane’s cellphone as backup and yet Kane’s phone had not rung.
She pushed her hair from her face and leaned back into the pillows. With no reports coming in from her deputies, she had no option but to wait. Hearing Kane’s footsteps coming along the hallway, she lifted her attention to the door. He had been a remarkably good patient and with the tables turned proved to be a very caring nurse. Although, since losing his memory, he had the same lost look as when he arrived in Black Rock Falls over a year ago. She assumed the memory of his wife’s death had hit him hard for a second time and she would try to support him the best way she could by being his friend. She understood grief, after losing everyone she loved in the world, and he would need time to recover in both mind and body. When he appeared at the door with two cups of steaming coffee, she smiled at him. “Thanks. Did you read the statement Wolfe sent through?”
“Yeah, and from the amount of blood on Tate, Sky Paul shouldn’t have survived the first attack. If there was a second, as Tate suggested, we’re searching for a body. If the man left her on the side of the highway, there’s no way she survived a blizzard.” Kane sighed. “I ran a background check on Tate.” He placed both cups on the bedside table and lowered himself carefully into the seat beside her bed. “Ella Tate was a troubled teenager, mixed with a bad crowd but when her parents died, she went to live with her brother and seems to have straightened out her life. Her brother is a Navy Seal and when deployed she is on her own, no other family. I gather he is away now and assume that’s why she planned to spend Christmas with Sky’s family. I’d like to interview her and see what’s going on in her head. Her story reads more like fiction than fact.”
Jenna sighed. “Wolfe is concerned. From the blood spatter on her clothes, she may have hurt her friend but apart from that, we have nothing.” She chewed on her bottom lip, thinking. “I’ve called him four times and he’s not picking up. That’s not like him and why haven’t his calls been diverted to your phone?”
“I guess because they’re being diverted to Webber’s.” Kane shrugged. “I’m not too sure why he isn’t getting back to you.”
Realization slammed into her. “I know why. Webber is out with Walters searching for the victim or her car. There’s no signal out that far from town and I guess Rowley has the satellite phone in his truck. I’ll try again later. Once they come around the bend and head
past the road leading to the meat processing plant, they’ll get reception.”
“I’ll use the radio in your truck to contact them. I doubt they are far from Walter’s cruiser.” Kane pushed to his feet. “Where are your keys?”
Jenna opened the drawer beside her and pulled out her key fob. “Here. Be careful on the steps.”
She waited patiently for him to pull on his coat and pull the hood over his woolen hat before venturing outside with Duke firmly at his heels. Kane was walking easier now but could not hide the serious headaches he suffered the moment he went outside in the cold. After five minutes he returned and she could hear him shaking the snow from his coat and removing his boots. She picked up her coffee and sipped. Moments later, he stepped into her room.
“They haven’t found a trace of the missing woman or vehicle. No sightings from the chopper. The chopper searched for miles in all directions and has now returned to base. The snowplow has cleared a few miles in both directions of the coordinates the truck driver gave Rowley.” Kane sat down and reached for his coffee. “The snowmobile guys located the woods and the old barn mentioned in the statement as well. They cleared a path to the trees along the fence line but found nothing stuck on the wire.”
Jenna sighed. “There should be fibers on the wire if her coat was stuck as she said, unless the snow washed it off.”
“Not likely the snow would make a difference. Webber checked it out and I doubt he’d miss evidence.” He sighed. “They’ve been out there for hours, I told them to call it a day and return to the office. The chopper will be out again at first light with the rest of the team to search but the chances of finding anything with it snowing will be impossible.”