by D. K. Hood
“Take a few more.” Mrs. Wright slipped a few into a paper bag and handed it to him. “You need to eat in this weather.”
Still overwhelmed by the generosity of the people of Black Rock Falls, Kane smiled at her. “That’s very kind of you, ma’am.” But his mind was not on cookies as he headed for the mudroom to collect his coat.
He made his way to his truck and climbed inside, then offered a cookie to Duke. He pulled out his cellphone and called Jenna to update her. “I’m on my way back to the office now.”
“Okay. I could send Rowley out to speak to Ty Aitken about Knox this afternoon. His driver’s license will be on file. It will be interesting to see if he is the same build as the Axman.” She paused a beat as if thinking. “I’ll call Wolfe and see if his FBI friends have discovered anything interesting about Doctor Weaver and if he has any blood test results for Ella.” He could hear her fingers tapping on the desk. “I don’t like this, Kane. She is involved in something, I just know it.”
Thirty-Nine
Due to the road closures throughout the state, Jenna expected a long delay for a new furnace. She made a call to Mayor Petersham to approve the purchase of heaters, even though disturbing him on a Saturday was not in her best interests. After all, she had an office to run and staff to keep warm. He authorized the purchase without complaint and Rowley had gotten all the local store had in stock. The comforting heat on her legs made her drowsy but she shot to full attention when Kane backed into the office surrounded by the aroma of fresh coffee and carrying bags of takeout with Rowley close behind.
“I figured you’d want to work through lunch before heading out to speak to Ella Tate?” Kane dropped the bags onto the desk. “I brought Rowley up to date with my interview with the postman this morning. Did Wolfe have anything interesting?”
Jenna leaned forward in her seat to peer into the bags. “Not really. He’s still waiting on Ella’s drug test but if she had date rape drugs in her system, Wolfe figures by now she will remember most of what happened, so we’re good to go. The test will just confirm his suspicions and clear her of any involvement.” She selected a bagel with cream cheese, her favorite. “What concerns me is our lack of solid evidence. These cases don’t follow the usual MO of a kidnapping.”
“Yeah, no ransom or demands.” Kane sighed. “And we have three people missing without a trace. Our only witness should be the prime suspect at this point and we both know she wasn’t involved.”
“We might have another witness. Just before, I found an interesting report out of Blackwater on an attack on a motorist.” Rowley held the door open with his foot to allow Duke to lumber inside then flop down in front of the heater. “The incident occurred on Thursday night.” He pushed a tray of to-go cups onto the desk then sat down. “I’ve added the details to the case file.”
Jenna took a coffee with her name written on the side and had a sip. “Just give me a rundown. Why is it relevant to the Axman case?”
“I figure the report is close enough to what happened to Ella Tate to be the same person.” Rowley reached for a packet of sandwiches. “Levi Holt passed through town on his way to spend his vacation with his folks in Blackwater and came across a pickup, hood up, flashers on. When he stopped to help, a guy climbed out the car and attacked him. Holt escaped and reported the incident to the Blackwater Sheriff’s Department on Friday morning. I called Blackwater and spoke to the deputy who took down the complaint. He said he went for a drive-by in the area. He found a few bits of broken glass but the snowplow had been through and cleaned up everything. When I asked him why he hadn’t sent us the file as the incident occurred in our county, he closed down. I felt like he was stonewalling me.”
“Really? I wonder why. They usually cooperate with us.” Jenna accessed the file and scanned the report. “There’s no description of the attacker or his vehicle apart from a ‘guy in a pickup wearing a scarf.’” She exchanged a look with Kane. “The name on the report is their new rookie, Bates. We need to have a word with Levi Holt and get the whole story.”
“His report could back up Ella Tate’s statement for the night Sky Paul vanished.” Kane leaned back in his seat, sandwich poised in mid-air. “We need to know if the man attacked Holt with a hatchet, for a start.”
Jenna glanced at the file again and sighed at the incompetence of the deputy’s report. She turned her attention back to Rowley. “Okay, as you’re heading out to Blackwater to chase down Ty Aitken about Knox, I want you to drop by and interview Holt then speak to the proprietor of the Blackwater Motel and see if they recall Knox having a woman in his room. I’ll call in Webber to ride along with you. Don’t go near Knox. From the details on his driver’s license, he fits the general description of the Axman. I want to run a background check before speaking to him. If Holt’s recollection is the same as Ella’s, Knox might be our man.” She thought for a moment. “Go see Holt first and see if his account backs up Ella’s. I’ll be interviewing people all afternoon, so message me straight away if it does and take down a fresh statement from him.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Rowley reached for his coffee. “Will you clear it with the Blackwater sheriff before we leave? I don’t want to be stepping on anyone’s toes.”
“Sure.” Jenna reached for the phone. “Maggie, can you call in Webber for me please. No, he’s not at the ME’s office, he’ll be at home. Tell him I need him for the afternoon.” She disconnected, then contacted the Blackwater Sheriff’s Department.
Jenna pulled up her hoodie against the bitter cold and slid into Kane’s truck. She glanced at him. “I didn’t mention it in front of Rowley but I have some good news. The FBI didn’t find a connection between Doctor Weaver and the cartel or the reason she ordered a DNA test on me. He’s still waiting for the info on what tests she’s been doing on the townsfolk.”
“That’s a relief but I figure she’s involved in something illegal.” Kane turned in his seat to look at her. “Where to?”
Jenna buckled her seatbelt. “I hope Rowley sends confirmation on Holt’s attack before I speak to Ella again. I figure she’d be more forthcoming if she knew the Axman attacked another person. I want to pay Doc Weaver a visit and find out why she was heading out to the industrial area when everything around there is shut down for the holidays.”
“She lives over her clinic, so unless she is out on a call, we should find her there.” Kane swung the SUV out onto the blacktop and drove through town, took a left turn then pulled up in front of a store with Dr. Weaver’s shingle hanging outside. “The lights are on, she must work today.”
Jenna zipped up her coat and wrapped a scarf around her face then climbed from the truck. Underfoot, the slippery sidewalk was an accident waiting to happen. As she stepped cautiously toward the door, her insides twisted remembering the scare Weaver had given her at the ranch. She edged her way to the front door, glad when her feet hit the mat. The door chimed as they entered. She scanned the small waiting room; it was empty and no secretary sat behind the front counter. Unlike the usual white, sterile doctors’ offices, dark brown walls that made the straight-back wooden chairs appear to blend into obscurity greeted her and from the light hung an ancient strip of flypaper. She walked to the counter and pressed the bell with the sign, “If unattended please ring bell.”
A few moments passed before footsteps sounded and Dr. Weaver came through a door. She look over the top of her spectacles at Jenna then shifted her gaze to Kane.
“Sheriff, Deputy Kane, sorry to keep you waiting, my secretary doesn’t work today. What brings you out in this weather?”
Unsure why the woman unsettled her so much, Jenna offered her a smile. “We’re chasing down people who were in the vicinity of the industrial area out on the highway late Friday afternoon.” She caught her startled expression. “I gather you often travel between Blackwater and here on Tuesdays as well. As we’ve had a few incidents in that area over the last week we are collecting information.”
“I visit out-of-town patients on T
uesdays.” Weaver frowned. “I can’t give you names, I’m sure you’re aware of doctor–patient privilege. On Friday, I treated an accident victim out at the meat processing plant.”
“Why didn’t they call 911?” Kane frowned. “Any industrial accident is required to be written up.”
“Not if it’s the owner.” Dr. Weaver gave him a satisfied smile. “It was minor and he didn’t want any fuss.”
Jenna pulled out her notebook. “I’ll need his name.”
“Sorry, I can’t give you his name, I’ve divulged enough already.” Dr. Weaver gave her a sickly smile. “Is there anything else?”
Jenna pounced. “Yeah, why did you do a DNA test on me?”
“I did no such thing.” Dr. Weaver took a step back in surprise. “Let me see, I did a normal screening and an HLA test.”
“That’s a DNA test for tissue typing.” Kane moved a step closer and his lips flattened to a thin line. “Why was that necessary?”
“Oh, I see you’re angry.” Dr. Weaver glanced from one to the other. “I’m building a local tissue-typing database. I’ve been testing all viable patients. So many children die because they need a kidney and so many healthy people live in Black Rock Falls. I wanted to offer them the option of saving a life, is all.”
Jenna huffed out a breath, not believing what this woman was saying. “Without consent? That’s against the law and there’s already a worldwide database.”
“Well then I’m sorry.” Dr. Weaver peered over her glasses at Jenna. “I guess you’d better arrest me. But I meant no harm.”
Jenna looked down at her feet. The doctor did make a habit of treating uninsured people and taking her out of the community would cause hardship for some. The threat of this woman was melting like the snow on her boots. “I won’t arrest you this time but I’m confiscating the database, and all blood tests go via the ME’s office to be checked from now on.” She narrowed her gaze. “I could have you fired for this, you know.”
“Very well.” Dr. Weaver looked crushed.
“Show me the file.” Kane waved a hand toward the computer on the front desk. “Is it on there?”
“No, it’s in my office.” Weaver led the way. “I have a separate computer for the database.”
Jenna took a sheet of paper from the desk and wrote a declaration stating the doctor had given permission for them to confiscate the computer. “Sign this statement.”
The doctor complied and Jenna followed Kane out to his truck. As he dumped the laptop into the back seat, she picked up an unsettling vibe from him. “What’s up?”
“It’s not my place to say, ma’am.” Kane slid behind the wheel and started the engine.
Ma’am? Jenna climbed in beside him and turned to look at him. “Spit it out.”
“She broke the law and I would have arrested her.” He shrugged. “It was your call.”
“I have two reasons to leave her be for now.” Jenna leaned back in her seat. “She does help people and lives on practically nothing. You can see that too, right?”
“Nope.” Kane flicked her a glance. “I see a very dangerous scheming woman, a bottomless pit of contradictions. She uses the kindly doctor façade to fool people. I’m sure of it. So what’s your second reason?”
“I still have a bad feeling about her too and want to keep an eye on her.” Jenna noted the stubborn set to his jaw. “I want to know the real reason she heads out to Blackwater every Tuesday and see if she was really at the meat processing plant. I figure if I give her enough rope she’ll hang herself.”
“Hmm, maybe.” Kane pulled his hat down over his ears. “Where to now?”
Jenna scrolled through the files on her cellphone. “I think we’ll pay a visit to the proprietor of the meat processing plant. I have his details here. Wyatt Sawyer. He lives on Maple Drive and we can go via Stanton Road. If the plant is in shutdown, he could be at home.” She punched the address into the GPS.
“Wyatt Sawyer? Didn’t the guy at the junkyard have the same last name?” Kane swung the car around and headed back through town.
“Yeah, and he mentioned his cousin Wyatt holds a set of his keys.” She leaned back in the seat. “I guess it would be a stretch of the imagination to believe this guy is involved?”
“As the junkyard came up clean, we have no hard evidence against Bill Sawyer or any reason to suspect his cousin. If we start believing everyone is involved we’ll just be spinning our wheels.” Kane shrugged. “We’ll have to keep digging.”
“I’m thinking outside the box and considering every angle. Wyatt Sawyer works in the area and will be at the plant during the shutdown on the day they process cattle before Christmas. I’ll ask him how often he visits his place of business. He might have seen something.” Jenna pulled out her notebook and scanned the pages. “We’ve no bodies and Sky’s car has vanished. I figure the Axman has somewhere close to town to take his victims. It’d be risky moving them too far.” She shut the notebook. “We’ll interview Knox tomorrow and discover his whereabouts on the nights of the crimes. I know it’s like grabbing at smoke at the moment but the Axman will make a mistake soon enough, they all do. Until he does we’re all stuck with time-consuming grunt work.”
“An isolated place close to town?” Kane made a snort of what could have been amusement. “It would take us years to check all of them. He could have a survival shelter buried under his house or in his yard.” He took his eyes off the road for a second to look at her, and frowned. “We could be dealing with a man who keeps his victims alive then sells them as slaves, or someone who likes corpses as friends.”
Jenna rubbed both hands down her face in exasperation. She had never been so frustrated about a case before. Nothing seemed to make sense. “The complete lack of evidence is driving me crazy.”
“Something will show up. I look at crimes like the shredded pages of a story and we have to find all the pieces and stick them back together to find out what happened.” Kane slowed the truck to allow a couple of kids to cross the road to the park with their parents. “The hard part is finding the pieces.”
“Really, just figured that out, huh?” Jenna laughed. “How about, ‘Confucius says, “Life is like a riddle and we all play a part.” You’d agree with that, right?”
“Yeah. Seems our part is catching killers.” Kane grimaced, then turned into Stanton Road.
Forty
The beeps coming from the hospital machines roused Olivia from a deep sleep. She gasped and shook herself awake. Had she had a dream to escape the terrible reality of her situation? She swallowed hard, refusing to believe she had imagined walking through the dim corridors and finding nothing but a couple of rooms. Think. It felt so real, it must have happened. The last thing she remembered was being in a room with Doug then seeing Jim come through a door and pushing a gurney into Doug but after that, her memory was blank. A wall of fear closed in around her and she fought against the restraints holding her wrists tight against the bars alongside her bed. Pain seared through her as she tore the flesh and blood spotted the white sheets. She let out a scream that vibrated off the walls. “I want to get out of here!”
Tears streamed down her cheeks, tasting salty in her mouth. She sobbed and screamed again. “You have to let me out of here! I can’t stand this any longer.”
Apart from the beeps and hiss of the machines, it was so quiet. Could she be the only person in the building? She turned and stared at the curtains surrounding her bed. “Doug, are you here? Doug, please answer me.”
Silence.
The distinct sound of footsteps, not loud but the soft squeak of rubber-soled shoes on tile, came from the hallway. She turned her head, expecting Jim to walk through the door. Hate rolled over her for the man who treated her as if she was less than human. Heart pounding, she grit her teeth, expecting the worst. The door to the room swished open and the curtains opened. It was not Jim who stood there but the nurse. He looked down at her and shook his head and she glared at him. “Why are you keeping me here?
There’s nothing wrong with me.”
“I’m not the one keeping you here.” The man’s eyes met hers. “I just work here.”
Olivia kicked her feet, spilling the blankets off the bed. “Then let me go.”
“Can’t do that, sorry.” He shrugged. “The boss isn’t happy with you trying to leave. He hasn’t hurt you, has he?” He picked up the blanket and laid it over her. “You should be grateful.”
“Grateful?” A shiver of disgust rolled over her. “Have you lost your ever loving mind? He threatened me with a scalpel. I thought he would take out my eye.”
“It’s what he does to all of them. He has a morbid sense of humor.” The nurse examined her wrists and frowned. “He won’t be happy you tried to leave and no doubt he’ll blame me.”
“I don’t really care if he blames you. You just stand by and allow him to scare people to death.” She glanced over toward the curtains. “Where’s Doug?”
“He’s right here.” The nurse moved around her bed and threw back the curtains. “He’s sedated and will remain so.”
She raised herself up in the bed and stared at Doug’s ashen face. “Dear Lord, what happened to him?”
“He bust a few stitches is all.” The nurse turned back and busied himself opening drawers and laying bandages on a tray. “I need to clean up your wrists. The boss will be in later to see you and you must look your best.”
Trembling with anger and disgust, Olivia stared at Doug. “Jim did this. He rammed him with a gurney.”
“Well, that’s none of my concern.” The nurse pressed the needle of a syringe into Olivia’s drip and his eyebrows rose. “I do know the boss gets angry when people try to leave before they’re ready.”
A wave of dizziness surged through Olivia. Her mouth went dry. He had drugged her again. Her limbs became heavy and she worked the saliva in her mouth. She needed answers. “How long have I got to put up with this?”