by D. K. Hood
Sixteen
Bear Peak
Returning to a crime scene was listed as one of the dumbest things a killer could do, but his fascination with death compelled him to admire his work in the cave before resealing the high-voltage barrier. The black cocoon hanging from inside of the cave, with its purplish, swollen, blood-filled face and bulging eyes, captivated him. The images he’d shared with likeminded friends didn’t come close to the real deal. He’d watched videos but in truth the tantalizing smells of a hunt came in stages. Fear had a scent, and mixed with the sweat of a young woman, made him hungry to kill her. The first drop of blood, warm and intoxicating, was an experience he’d never gotten from a video, and now the luring odor of death called to him. He took one last look and stepped outside. The smell would cling to him, and although many hunters walking from the forest had the stench of an animal kill on their person, he chose to use a pine-scented body spray all over his clothes. It was an idea he’d come across on the internet to cover the odor of death. He chuckled—that or a mentholated spray seemed to work just fine. He climbed to the top of the boulder that concealed his cave, the snowberry bushes acted as a fine cover and he took care not to damage them.
A horse snickering caught his attention. Sound carried in the forest, especially alongside the mountain. The echoes of people’s voices as they traveled sounded like ghostly whispers coming from all directions. He took out his binoculars and stared in disbelief at the group gathered in the clearing. The sheriff was hard to miss with her rank emblazoned across her jacket front and back. He grunted in disgust; the warning he’d given her hadn’t slowed her down and now she had found his kill. He watched for some moments until the deputy and another man had moved into the forest behind two bloodhounds. He snorted. They’d find nothing. He’d hunted down his prey and herded her to the river. It was knee deep at this time of the year, fast flowing and wide, but it hadn’t taken too much convincing to make the woman cross to the other side. In fact, she’d run some ways down the river before staggering up the rocks and heading straight for his cave. He’d enjoyed his time with her and removed the silken hair from his pocket and stroked it. “I’d like to stay here all day but I have to go.”
He checked the soil around the cave for footprints but found nothing. The thick coating of pine needles had covered any trace of him. He glanced at his watch and, with reluctance, pushed the hair back into his pocket. After taking one lingering look at the cave, he headed along the animal trail bordering the foot of the mountain. In ten minutes’ he’d be climbing the track to the Bear Peak parking lot. He stared into the tall pines. It was so good to be back hunting in the forest again.
Seventeen
Kane pulled Wolfe to one side as Emily collected samples from around the body. The animals had made a mess of the victim and Em took it all in her stride. Nothing seemed to faze her. Although he’d tried unsuccessfully to calm Jenna’s worries, the same thoughts filtered through his mind. He met Wolfe’s gray eyes over his facemask and caught his lifted eyebrow. “You think Stone is involved too, don’t you?”
“You know darn well I don’t make conclusions on the fly. You shouldn’t either, because we have no proof he’s involved.” Wolfe waved a hand toward the corpse. “There are similarities with the Stone murders but also significant differences.” He inclined his head. “I’m guessing you’ll need absolute proof to calm Jenna’s nerves after what’s happened, but even if I make that decision, she’ll make up her own mind and you know as well as I do she is difficult to convince otherwise.”
“On some things, maybe, but she’s no fool.” Kane sucked in a breath, suddenly glad of the mentholated balm under his nose. “This has Stone written all over it and I’m sure you have the same suspicions. How he orchestrated the kill and attack on Jenna is the mystery. Jo contacted the jail and has absolute proof that Stone has no contact with the outside world. How could he possibly be convincing likeminded killers to copycat his kills?”
“Here lies the problem with that conclusion.” Wolfe opened his hands and spread them wide. “There are a ton of differences if you look closely but as we only have one victim, I can’t make a valid comparison. One on one, Stone’s murders were a little different to each other, and why? Because he had different accomplices at each scene.”
Kane rubbed his chin and stared at the victim, now lying on an unzipped body bag. “The obvious comparisons I see are the crossbow bolt and the gasoline. They are a signature of Stone’s MO and those particular details were never released to the media. So, what makes you believe this might be a coincidence? What am I missing?”
“Many things.” Wolfe bent and rolled the body onto its side. “The only obvious injury the killer inflicted on this man is the head wound. Everything else you see, at first inspection, I believe are from animal origin. In all Stone’s cases he used a hunting knife or other methods to sever the spinal cord. His intent not to kill but to paralyze the victim. He was then propped up against a tree, secured with a rope around the chest, and forced to watch Stone torture the female victim. The bolt in the head was the death blow. He used the gasoline to prevent wildlife consuming the body but it didn’t stop something tearing off part of one leg.”
Kane nodded. “Would that be the body part Atohi recovered?”
“Yeah.” Wolfe’s mouth turned down. “It looks as if the remaining half of a tattoo on his leg is a match to the body part I have on ice.”
“He wanted us to find the victim and what was left of the female after he and his client had had their fun torturing her.” Jenna had walked up behind them. “He didn’t use gas on the female because he wanted her devoured by animals. She was an embodiment of the hate he had for me.” She turned her attention to Kane. “Jo just emailed her workup on Stone. She figures by making the male victim watch, Stone was displaying his power over the female. She believes in his mind, each male was you, Dave, and he was showing you he could do whatever he wanted and you’d be powerless to stop him. He almost succeeded, didn’t he?”
Kane took her by the shoulders and stared into her troubled eyes. “But he didn’t. You took him down and now he’s in jail.” He shook his head. “If by some remote chance Stone is messing with your mind, you’re allowing him to win. I’m not going to let anyone hurt you, Jenna.”
“He knows you’ve been injured.” A shiver went through Jenna. “That was in the newspaper, so he knows you’re not at full strength.” She chewed on her bottom lip. “But how did he know you’d be away at the weekend? Only our team knew.”
Dropping his hands, Kane stared into the distance. The idea of Stone noticing him in the newspaper was so remote he hadn’t told her. He looked at her and shrugged. “There was a picture of me with Jo at the conference in the newspaper on Friday.” He sighed. “You have to remember Jo is a big name in her field. I honestly didn’t know they’d taken a photograph of me until Bobby Kalo checked the newspapers.”
“You knew?” Jenna’s eyes narrowed. “You broke security protocol and didn’t think it was relevant to inform me? I’d have taken precautions if I’d known.”
Kane rolled his eyes. “Really, Jenna? Don’t you figure I’d have called you the moment I found out if I’d known? Kalo only just told me. I spoke to him just before we left the ranch. I’d never risk putting you in danger, Jenna.” He cupped her cheek. “When I left home, everything was sweet. We had no cases, there was no perceivable threat. You had the team behind you and the security on the ranch should have been enough. I’m not clairvoyant. I had no idea any of this would happen.”
“Why didn’t you tell me in the truck on the way here?” Jenna stared up at him, the anger in her eyes palpable. “It’s relevant information and I needed to know.”
Kane blew out a long sigh. “It’s only relevant now we’ve seen the body and have a possible link to Stone. The intruder’s only connection to Stone was the fact he used a crossbow. You said he dressed like an old-time gunslinger, long coat, hat, and Stone wore a mask and camouflage gear.�
�� He could feel Jenna tense under his palm. “Say I’d known about the newspaper article and called you before all this happened? You would have told me to stop being overprotective and that you could take care of yourself.” He dropped his hand with some reluctance. “I can’t win either way, can I?”
“I guess.” Jenna rubbed her temples. “Okay, let’s get at it. There’s a woman out there with an ear missing.” She pulled out her phone. “Now we have her ID, I’ll call Rowley. He can hunt her down at the ER and local doctors. I’ll ask Rio to put out a media release and a BOLO on her. We might have some information by the time we get back to the office.”
Relieved that Jenna had dropped back into her professional mode, Kane nodded. “They must have arrived here in a vehicle. I’ll call Kalo. Once we have the plate number, make, and model we can add that to the BOLO.”
“Yeah, we’ll need help to chase her down. She could be lying injured and need help. I want every man and his dog out looking for her within the hour.” Jenna walked toward the horses. “I’ll grab my satellite phone. The reception isn’t so good this close to the mountain.”
Kane took the satellite sleeve from his pocket and slid it onto his phone. He made the calls, and after his phone had chimed the receipt of a text with the information, he chatted to Kalo about his latest online game scores.
“When y’all have finished playing with your phones. I’ve a corpse to get on ice.” Wolfe walked up behind Kane. “My team has bagged and tagged all the evidence. If you could assist in packing everything onto the horse, I’d appreciate it. I’ve a long day ahead of me and I want to get off the mountain.”
Kane turned to look at him. “Sure, I’ll get out a BOLO for June Harris and the vehicle and get right at it.” He made the call.
After they’d packed the horses, they headed down the mountain, but even with the body sealed in a body bag the scent of death lingered. It would cling to his clothes and he couldn’t wait to get in the shower. Kane moved his mount closer to Jenna. “Are you still riled with me?”
“No, not after you explained.” She turned in her saddle to look at him. Her raven hair had dropped over one eye and she dragged it back behind one ear. “I don’t care what proof everyone thinks they have about Stone’s lack of communication. I know it’s him. Something, an early warning system inside me, whatever, is screaming his name at me. He’s involved, I’m sure of it.”
Kane shrugged. “I often go with my gut feeling.” He scanned the area, peering into the deep shadows, ever moving like a living entity as the wind rustled through the trees. “Believe it or not, I figure we’re being watched. It can’t be Stone unless he died and his ghost is haunting the forest, and although that might be an option for you, even after listening to Atohi’s stories, I don’t believe in ghosts. Trust me: if people could come back, they’d sure as hell be haunting me.”
“Then it’s someone we know.” Jenna moved her mare away as Kane’s stallion’s teeth snapped an inch from her toes. “What do we really know about Rio? Let’s face facts here, Dave. If we are living a lie, he could be too. They put killers in witness protection too if they roll over on their crime boss.”
Kane shook his head. “No way. Wolfe checked him out with his people. Rio is clean.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I hope the woman shows and she’s not out there somewhere being tortured. This murder was well planned. Who brings gas with them hunting? I figure what happened to Payton Harris isn’t this killer’s first dance and it won’t be his last.”
Eighteen
The temperature had dropped considerably by the time Jenna returned to the Beast. Exhausted from lack of sleep and an adrenalin high that had lasted six hours or so, the cold wind was the only thing keeping her awake. She rubbed her arms with frozen fingers. Latex gloves did nothing to prevent the bitter cold of the northern regions of Stanton Forest. Getting the body and the mound of evidence Wolfe had collected into his van had been a long task. She had been grateful when Blackhawk had gathered up the reins of the horses and led them back to the res. Suffering a headache straight from hell and a backache that went from her backside down both legs, she tried unsuccessfully to climb into the Beast and just leaned against the door gathering her strength.
“Are you ill?” Kane closed the distance between them in two strides. “Headache?”
Jenna peered at him from under her lashes. Darn, even blinking hurt. “Yeah, and my back has seized up. The headache is a mystery, but the back must have been from sitting on a cold floor all night.”
“Just stay there for a second, don’t move.” Kane hurried away and moments later came back with Wolfe.
“I’m fine, Shane.” Jenna blinked at Wolfe. “I’m tired is all.”
“Where does it hurt?” Wolfe prodded at her back. “Hmm, muscle spasms. I can give you something for that.” He bent to go through his field medical kit.
The fact that as a medical doctor Wolfe preferred to examine the dead didn’t bother Jenna. He’d flown a medevac chopper during his tour of duty, treated many wounded troops, and saved Kane’s life on more than one occasion. She trusted him implicitly. “Thanks. I need to have my wits about me, no morphine.”
“Sure, show me your hip.” Wolfe prepared a needle, swabbed her skin, and jabbed it in. “There you go. You’ll be fine after a good night’s sleep.” He looked at her. “Go home. You need to rest. You can work from the cottage if needs be. I’ll be performing the autopsy on the victim in the morning at eleven.”
“Thanks.” She turned to Kane. “Can you help me climb in? My back is frozen.” Then she remembered. “Oh, no, I’ll ask Wolfe. I forgot about your injury.”
The next moment Jenna landed softly in the passenger seat, the harness was strapped around her, and Kane had tucked a blanket around her.
“I’m fine.” Kane narrowed his gaze. “It’s been a month and I can start back on my regular exercises next week. I can do warm-ups now. The scan came back fine. There’s no permanent damage, the doctor was just being cautious.”
“That’s good to know.” Jenna smiled at him and leaned back in the seat with a sigh. The heat was running and the drug was working already. “Now if I had coffee, it would be perfect.”
“Your wish is my command.” Kane smiled at her. “I have coffee and sandwiches for the ride home.” He closed her door gently. “I’ll get Duke settled and we’ll be on our way.”
Stifling a yawn, Jenna nodded. “You’re a lifesaver. I’d have dropped by the office but I don’t think I’d make it up the steps right now.”
“I hope you’ll rest when you get home.” Kane looked at her. “We need you at full strength, and you’re tuckered out. You’ve given Rowley and Rio their orders. The autopsy isn’t until tomorrow, we have a BOLO out on the missing woman. I can handle anything that comes up.” He sighed. “If I promise to wake you if we have a breakthrough, will you please go and get some sleep?”
Forcing to keep her eyes open, she took the cup he offered her. “Okay.”
Nineteen
Tuesday
It was dark when Jenna woke, and she peered at the bedside clock. The digital readout told her it was a little after five. She didn’t recall getting home, let alone climbing into bed. Stretching tentatively, she sighed with relief. The pain in her back had gone. She’d slept through. Staggering to the bathroom, she showered and returned to the bedroom to hunt down her bag of clean clothes. With a smile, she stared at the chair by the door at the clothes she’d worn to the mountain with the smell of death clinging to them washed and in a neat pile. This was typical Kane. The military in him couldn’t stand seeing an unmade bed, or a stack of dirty washing. His cottage was as neat as a pin and, like him, immaculate.
She dressed quickly and headed to the kitchen. The smell of coffee drifted down the hallway and a laptop sat open on the table, with pictures of Duke on a screensaver that ran in a loop. She peered into the family room, but Kane and Duke were missing. Duke slept in a basket by the fireplace and it was unusual for him no
t to greet her. She walked down the hallway. Kane’s bedroom door was wide open, his bed made. Had he gone to tend the horses already? She poured a cup of coffee and added the fixings. Taking the cup to the window, she stared outside. Men moved around, going in and out of what looked like a mess tent erected in her paddock. The house had a new front door. It looked different from before. The windows on either side of the door had gone, replaced by ornate wood that suited the old ranch-style home very well. The windows now had security blinds. They looked strange, but after what she’d been through the idea of having a way to secure the windows was a relief.
After finishing her coffee, she pulled on a coat and woolen hat and headed for the barn. As she moved into the warm interior, she could hear Kane humming a tune. The smell of horses and the sharp odor of urine seemed welcoming after such a terrible weekend. “Morning. You’re up early.” At the sound of her voice Duke bounded out of an empty stall and nuzzled her hand. “What do you want me to do?” She rubbed the dog’s silken head.
“I’m done here as soon as I’ve emptied the wheelbarrow.” Kane closed the gate to a stall. “I’m leaving the horses inside the barn today as another storm is forecast.” He took both handles of a full wheelbarrow and headed out the back door of the barn.
Jenna followed behind him. “Anything happen overnight in the case I should know about?”
“Nope. No sighting of the missing woman, nothing to report.” Kane emptied the barrow and turned back to her. “Jo called last night to ask after you, and the new phones arrived this morning via a security team. I took the liberty of ordering a new rug for the family room. It’s the same as the one you had and it will be here sometime today. Everything will be back to normal soon, although the paint smell may linger for a few days. The men Wolfe had sent here have been working around the clock.”