by D. K. Hood
“I’ll ask her if she has any sore spots.” Jenna chewed on her ice-cold bottom lip. “If she agrees to a blood test now, do you have your medical kit with you?”
“I never leave home without it.” Wolfe turned back to his van. “I’ll grab what I need and you can talk her into giving me a sample of her blood.”
Jenna made her way over the slippery blacktop to Kane’s truck and opened the door. “Emily, would you mind waiting with Webber? I need to speak to Ella.”
“Sure. Thanks for allowing me to sit in.” Emily wrapped a scarf around her face and dropped from the front seat, then skated precariously toward her father’s van.
Jenna exchanged a meaningful look with Kane and turned in her seat. “Ella, I’m concerned your memory loss might be due to a drug.”
“I don’t take drugs.” Ella gave her an indignant look. “Neither does Doug.”
“I didn’t say you did but the memory loss you’re describing is consistent with a date rape drug.” Jenna met the young woman’s bewildered gaze. “Do you remember anyone sticking you with a needle or do you have a sore spot anywhere?”
“I don’t remember but I do have a sore neck, right here.” Ella pointed to her neck.
Jenna leaned over the back seat and peered at the small mark right at the jugular. “That could be a needle mark. If we take blood we can discover if someone drugged you.”
“Okay, if it makes you believe me.” Ella sighed. “How much longer do I have to sit here?”
“Five more minutes.” Jenna looked at Kane. “Get a photo of that needle mark. Wolfe is heading over to take her blood.” She smiled at Ella. “You’ll be riding back to town with the ME. I’d like to have the paramedics check you over then you can go stay at the Pauls’ house.”
“No hospital.” Ella glared at her. “I’m not hurt, I’m just cold and I need a pee.”
“Okay, as long as you stay home until we discover what happened to your friends.” Jenna watched Kane take a few images of the needle mark, then looked back at Ella. “Agreed?”
“Sure.” Ella shrugged. “I don’t know anyone else in Black Rock Falls to visit anyway.”
After Wolfe took the blood and Ella accompanied him back to his van, Jenna leaned back in the seat and sighed. “Wolfe figures someone, possibly injured, was carried from the wreck to a waiting vehicle.”
“It looks that way but from the variety of car tracks on the highway it’s impossible to confirm another vehicle was involved.” Kane waved a hand toward the road. “I found chain marks all along the ice opposite the wreck, but at this time of the year this road is often busy with people coming home for the holidays. Someone could have stopped here anytime between the first snow and the freeze but there’s no conclusive evidence to suggest a vehicle stopped there last night.” He stared out the windshield as if thinking over their impossible situation. “There is no evidence to suggest a kidnapping, no vehicles, or blood evidence apart from the small spot on the airbag, which could easily be blood spatter from Mrs. Palmer. We have zip.” He sighed. “I doubt we’ll find anything wrong with Doug Paul’s truck either and he would be aware of the weather conditions and had a perfectly good vehicle to shelter inside until help came. Only a fool would set out on foot and where would they head? There’s nothing for miles out here. I figure it’s pointless calling out search and rescue again in the hope they find two people walking in the snow. If they’d kept to the highway like any sensible person, we would have seen them and at the speed I was driving I wouldn’t have missed them.”
Jenna nodded. “I’ll give the media an update and put out another BOLO in case someone gave them a ride, and get search and rescue out again. It’s all we can do for now. Ella recalls the time she spoke to Doug last night being around eleven. The road sign would have already been erected or soon after. I’ll find out the exact time they erected the sign.” She met his gaze. “This would mean if anyone picked up Doug and Olivia they would have been traveling from Blackwater to Black Rock Falls before eleven when the truck blocked the highway. There is only one way they could have traveled and that’s into Black Rock Falls or beyond.” She looked at him. “We need to be looking for them closer to town or in town.”
“Another thing to consider. From all accounts Doug is a sensible guy.” Kane’s eyebrows bunched together in concentration. “If he’d found Olivia alive, he would have driven her straight to the hospital and called us to attend the wreck. So, something else happened here and it’s obvious to me Ella isn’t involved. I figure she’s a patsy.” His wide shoulders lifted in a shrug. “There is only one conclusion. This isn’t a coincidence and whoever kidnapped them took Sky as well. I’m with you; in this weather, they have to be close to Black Rock Falls. It’s the only logical conclusion.”
Jenna poured more coffee from the Thermos and sipped, warming her hands on the cup. “Yeah, and if we hadn’t found Ella alone in Doug’s truck, we would have written this up as a nasty accident.”
“Maybe not.” Kane sipped his coffee. “You would have checked the trunk and found the bags belonging to Olivia. One of them had a Montana State tag on it as well, so we’d assume her mother collected her from the airport, which is what Maggie suggested.”
Jenna frowned. “I’ll tell Rowley to call the airport and find out when she arrived. We know it was before eleven last night because the overturned truck has blocked the highway since then.” She finished her coffee and turned to Kane. “We’ll head back to the office.”
“I’m getting low on gas, so we’ll have to stop in town.” Kane turned his truck around and headed back down the highway. “What bothers me is why kidnap Doug? If this is some weirdo on a killing spree, they usually stick to the same gender. What is the motive?”
“Both sexes, young, good-looking, says sex slaves to me.” Jenna wrinkled her nose in disgust. “They get them hooked on drugs then use the addiction to control them. I’ve seen young men, women and kids sold overseas. It’s a growing problem and something we need to consider.”
“You look as if you have a plan.” Kane raised one eyebrow.
Jenna nodded. “I’m considering potential suspects. Maybe our suspect is a truck driver who passes through on a regular haul. He could have made it through earlier, seen the women alone in their car and nudged them off the road. It happened to me easily enough, remember.”
“Scared her off the highway maybe.” Kane stared straight ahead, his brow wrinkled in concentration. “I checked the vehicle all over and found no scrapes or paint transfer from another vehicle.”
Jenna shook her head. “That doesn’t mean a thing. A fourteen wheeler bearing down on a driver, especially on a bend in these conditions, could make anyone panic and right now it’s all I have to go on.” She sighed. “I’ll contact the local business council and get a list of the factories in the area open for short periods during the shutdown for deliveries.” She shrugged. “I figure it’s a place to start because I’m running out of ideas.” She glanced at him. “One thing for certain, if this kidnapper is an opportunist, he is the luckiest man I know.”
Thirty
Thursday
He walked into her office and, shutting the door behind him, clicked the lock. His visits thrilled her, especially knowing there were people outside and they risked discovery. When she stood to greet him with a hungry look on her face, he dutifully moved around the desk to embrace her, as any lover would do. “I’ve missed you. I should come by more often.”
Oh yeah, he could play the part. Hell, he’d been playacting his entire life. It amused him that people actually believed him. Not that he cared about anyone’s opinion of him, but he often wondered what caring for someone would actually feel like. Perhaps it came close to what he expected to receive from someone.
As his pa had taught him, value was what a person expected to receive. He smiled at his girlfriend and noticed the way her eyes changed when she gazed up at him. Many women looked at him that way and he figured he could have any of them. Most wh
o wanted him had outstanding beauty, wealth and likely figured him husband material, but no woman would hog-tie him into marriage.
His girlfriend was not pretty, in fact, she was somewhat plain, but to him she was a commodity. Her use to him was twofold. He needed her expertise and loyalty. Making her believe he cared for her had been easy but his genius had prevailed when he convinced her to go along with his plans. He smiled down at her; he had her wrapped around his little finger. In fact, if everything went to hell, he wouldn’t need to kill her to guarantee her silence: she would willingly protect him and pay the price.
No one could implicate him in any wrongdoing because he had outsmarted everyone, with the exception of Sheriff Alton. She hadn’t taken the bait and had allowed Ella Tate to walk, so now he would throw her another curveball and kill someone at random. He would go out for a drive later and cave in the head of the first unsuspecting gullible fool who stopped to help him, then leave the blood-soaked body on the side of the road. The sheriff would be scratching her head, wondering how many killers she had lurking along the same stretch of highway. He bit back a chuckle. Oh, yeah, just the thought of hearing a skull crushing and watching blood seep across the snow would soothe his urge to kill for long enough to act the part of a devoted boyfriend.
Thirty-One
At her desk, Jenna allowed the previous day’s events to percolate in her mind. Frantic for the safety of the missing people, she had ordered search and rescue out at dawn again. They had been searching the highway south of the wreck and truck-spill for stranded motorists but a sweeping yet thorough search had again yielded nothing. At least now she had a timeframe; the Department of Transport had blocked the highway and erected the road closure signs at midnight in both Black Rock Falls and Blackwater. This would put the time of the car wreck and the abduction of Doug and Olivia between eleven and midnight. She had updated the media release, and hoped someone would call in with a lead. After working through the day making calls and gathering information, she stared at the notes. Somewhere in the pile of information had to be a clue to where someone had taken the missing people.
A few of the factories opened during the shutdown on a limited basis, as she had surmised. The local meat processing plant opened up one day the week prior to Christmas to ensure fresh meat was available before the holidays. It ran a skeleton staff, processed no more than ten steers and had been in shutdown for two weeks. The local recyclers remained open on various times depending on the need to crush or shred waste. Kane and Rowley had checked them out and not found a trace of Sky’s vehicle.
Jenna stared at her notes then back to Rowley’s case files. As meticulous as usual, Rowley had run down a list of anyone who regularly visited Black Rock Falls. The list included truck drivers bringing supplies from other towns or interstate, real estate brokers and the mail delivery trucks, including FedEx and UPS. She added a reminder to speak to the snowplow drivers; they moved up and down the highway more frequently than most, but she figured kidnapping two people in a snowplow would be near impossible. But they might have seen something I can use.
There was a knock on her door and she dragged her attention away from her computer screen and looked up to see Kane. “Come in. Have you found anything useful?”
“Yeah, I have a list of the drivers who regularly come through town on the days the people went missing. But that’s not why I’m here.” Kane took a step forward, then stopped. “It’s way past seven and Maggie is anxious to get home to her family.” He cleared his throat and his expression was serious. “Rowley’s stomach is growling so loud it’s making Duke jumpy. Can we make tracks for home soon?”
Jenna glanced out the window into inky blackness. The day had slipped by in what seemed like a couple of hours. “Oh Lord, I didn’t notice how late it had gotten. I’m sorry, this case is time-consuming. I’ve worked all afternoon and have next to no leads at all.” She leaned back in her chair. “Please give Maggie my apologies and send her on home. What is Rowley doing, is he staying in the cottage tonight?”
“Nope, he moved all his things out this morning.” Kane smiled. “He’s happy to be back in his own home.”
Jenna stretched and smiled. “I guess you’d better send him home too and we’ll head down to Aunt Betty’s for a meal, my treat.” She pushed her hair from her face. “While we’re eating we can work out what to do next. Do you mind if we both go in your truck? I don’t really want to drive home alone tonight.”
“Me either. I’ve fed Duke and he’ll sleep in my truck while we’re eating. He’ll be cozy enough wearing his coat and covered with a thick blanket for half an hour.” Kane placed the folder on the desk and smiled. “I’ll tell everyone the good news.”
They dashed into Aunt Betty’s Café to avoid the flurry of snow soaking their clothes combined with a cruel wind. Warmth and the wonderful aromas of cooking and strong fresh coffee surrounded Jenna the moment she stepped inside the door. She loved the atmosphere of this place; it was like stepping into a warm hug. It surprised her that a café in a relatively small town stayed open until eleven and later each night. The place was never empty and during the day people lined up to be served. One thing for sure, here nobody ever walked away disappointed.
She smiled at Rowley as he turned away from the counter hugging a large takeout bag. “Have you tried the pumpkin soup?”
“Yeah, I’ve picked up enough for lunch tomorrow as well in case we’re busy.” Rowley tipped his hat. “Goodnight, ma’am.” He headed for the door.
“Night.” She took a quick glance at the daily specials board and her stomach growled in appreciation. Then she made her way through the tables to one against the wall at the back.
The management had a permanent “Reserved for the sheriff’s department” card displayed beside the menu. With her deputies dashing in for quick meals, they didn’t have time to line up and the staff at Aunt Betty’s gave them priority. They all appreciated the kind gesture. Jenna removed her coat and gloves then took her seat. Opposite her, Kane draped his coat over the back of the chair and sat with his back to the wall as usual, his eagle eyes scanning the customers for any strangers in town.
They ordered and within minutes Jenna was humming with contentment over a large bowl of pumpkin soup. She had ordered steak with all the trimmings as well and Kane followed suit. “Oh, this is so good.”
“I’m glad to see you have your appetite back.” Kane looked at her, spoon hovering over the plate. “While you were working this afternoon, I checked out the database for similar cases. Six people have vanished over the last few months, and all reportedly traveled on the highway from Blackwater to here and were heading for local towns in both directions.”
Jenna swallowed a mouthful of soup and sighed. “Why didn’t we receive a BOLO or missing person notification?”
“We did.” Kane leaned back in his chair as the waitress cleared the plates and replaced them with their main meals. “They were logged and handled by Rowley and Walters.”
Surprised Rowley hadn’t brought the incidents to her attention, Jenna frowned. “Rowley never fails to update me and Walters is the same.”
“Yeah but you had a few things on your mind at the time.” Kane cut into his steak. “The first few were reported when you were in Washington DC visiting me in the hospital, the others during the week you took off work to care for me, and the last one came through when you were too ill to speak to anyone. Rowley was in charge and he dealt with it.” He lifted his fork and paused it at his mouth. “All the paperwork is in order. The last person to go missing was Trudy Simmons, twenty years old, out of Glass Ridge. She was heading from Blackwater to a school reunion in her hometown. All the reports came from different counties. Rowley checked with the hospital, hotel and gas station in town and found no trace of her. He followed protocol and convinced Wolfe to use his new facial recognition software on the CCTV footage he collected from town, and came up with a big fat zero. Rowley handled all the cases in the same way, did the usual check
s and found no trace of them. It’s just like Sky and Doug Paul. They seem to have vanished without a trace.”
Jenna sipped her coffee and eyed him over the rim of her cup. “So Rowley filed the reports, sent copies to the relevant counties and didn’t bother me with them. I can see why in the circumstances—they didn’t concern our department.” She frowned. “But he should have brought them to my attention now.”
“He chased them down again today and you have all the details in your files.” Kane smiled. “As you spent the entire afternoon locked in your office on the phone, he informed me.”
Intrigued, Jenna considered the information. “What about the ages? There has to be something that ties these cases together.”
“All are between nineteen and twenty-two.” Kane went back to his meal and they sat in silence for a few minutes.
In an effort to come up with a suspect, Jenna allowed the information she had gathered earlier to percolate through her mind. She finished her meal and waited for the waitress to refill her coffee cup. “I’ve been going over a list of possible suspects.” She leaned back in her chair. “It has to be someone who uses that highway regularly and I have a list of people. Delivery drivers mostly, but I can’t help thinking the postal service van would be up and down that road daily. Mail comes into the post office, is sorted and then the local mailman delivers it, right?”
“Uh-huh.” Kane nodded and chewed slowly, then swallowed. “We would have to find out what time the usual delivery arrives. It could be overnight.”