by D. K. Hood
“His sister?” Kane took out his notebook and pen. “No one mentioned he had a sister.”
“Yeah, she’s on the cheerleader squad. Her name is Verna, Verna Hughes.” Wyatt rubbed the back of his neck. “Cory has to clean up and lock the gym after the practice sessions but his sister doesn’t hang around, she grabs a ride or drives her ma’s vehicle.”
“Who else was there watching?” Kane made notes.
“The usual crowd, some of the football team, Cory of course, Stan Williams the photographer guy, and Dale Collins was running the kiosk as usual.” Wyatt dashed a hand through his hair. “Darn, I can’t remember everyone.”
The phone in the house rang and moments later, Mr. Cooper came into the hallway.
“Ah, excuse me, folks, but that was Vicky, she wants everyone who was at the gym last night to return at six.” Mr. Cooper’s eyebrows met in a frown. “Something about Laurie going missing. You’re to call any friends you can remember being there.”
“Sure thing, Dad.” Wyatt looked back at Kane. “I’d better go. You’ll be at the gym tonight?”
“Yeah.” Kane folded his notebook and pushed it into his pocket. “We’ll see you there.”
Jenna turned and headed out the door. As they reached the Beast, she peered at Kane over the hood. “Do you think he’s involved?”
“Hard to tell.” Kane opened the door and slid behind the wheel.
Jenna climbed in, rubbed Duke’s ears, and settled in her seat. “He seemed a little jumpy to me.”
“Yeah, well he obviously still has feelings for Laurie and being interviewed by law enforcement is upsetting for most people.” Kane started the engine. “He did seem concerned for her wellbeing, which is a plus but if we find her murdered then all bets are off.”
Jenna pulled out her phone. “I guess it’s time for a media release. She seems to have vanished without a trace.”
Six
The news about Laurie’s disappearance hit the media and although no calls came in about Laurie’s whereabouts, as usual the townsfolk stepped up to join the search parties. For now, the local search and rescue had taken charge until Jenna had the time to get her people organized. As daylight was fading, any treks into the forest would be postponed at nightfall and resumed at daybreak. Kane sat opposite Jenna in Aunt Betty’s Café as she organized a command center and called in deputies from surrounding counties to assist in a door-to-door search of the area from the school to Laurie’s home. She worked with confidence, as unfortunately organizing searches had become a fact of life in Black Rock Falls. Being part of a forest had its advantages: they could always rely on the forest wardens for assistance and of course, their close friend Native American Atohi Blackhawk had already called to offer his help.
Kane glanced at his watch. They had an hour before they had to head to the meeting at the school gym and he’d insisted on eating before a long night of investigating ahead of them. He’d noticed how Jenna skipped meals during a crisis, something that seemed trivial but with the pressure of work and long hours, grabbing a meal was as important as breathing. No one could concentrate or make important decisions without eating. This was why he appreciated Aunt Betty’s Café, it served great food, was open from six in the morning to way past eleven at night, and was rarely without a stream of customers but members of the sheriff’s department could dash in for takeout or a meal and be served without delay.
He took in Jenna’s strained expression as she made the calls. His fingers itched to reach across the table, squeeze her hand, and take her worries away. He smiled when she placed her phone on the table. “I don’t have to ask if everything is organized. You have this.”
“I’m just glad Webber is still a badge-holding deputy. He offered to man the command post this evening. Rowley will take over in the morning. We’ll be directing the boots on the ground first thing until the new shift of deputies arrive.” Jenna rubbed her temples. “Cory Hughes is going to be opening the gym tonight. If he has Laurie’s phone, I want it. He might have been the last person to have seen her alive.”
“Or have her holed up somewhere.” Kane sipped his coffee. “It was a great idea to get all the potential witnesses together in one place. It will save a ton of grunt work.”
“We need more deputies.” Jenna let out a long sigh. “I’m always calling in assistance from Blackwater.”
“It was lucky Webber was available.” Kane leaned back in his chair. “He usually goes fishing on Sundays.”
Colt Webber had interned for Wolfe at the ME’s office but had recently become his forensics assistant. He was still on the payroll as a deputy and stood in for them in times of need. Kane nodded. “Ah, the food is on its way.” He scanned her face. “Please eat something. I worry about you.”
The food arrived and they thanked the server and Kane caught Jenna giving him a puzzled look. “What?”
“Why are you coming over all protective again?” Jenna nibbled on one of her fries. “Part of me likes knowing you care but then I worry it will become a problem when we’re on the job—like when you first arrived.” She raised her gaze to him. “Or next thing, you’ll be calling me ma’am again.”
Trying hard not to react by grinning, Kane cut into the prime ribeye and sighed. “I’ll always have your back, Jenna. That won’t ever change.” He looked up at her. “Would I take a bullet for you? You betcha.” He chuckled. “That’s not being overprotective, that’s just doing my job.”
“Okay. You win.” Jenna sighed wearily. “Time is ticking by, let’s eat.”
After finishing their meal, Kane dropped a pile of bills on the table and then followed Jenna from the café. They would be at the gym early and it would give them time to get organized. They’d stopped by the office and collected a ton of business cards to hand out and had copies of Laurie’s image to show around. When they arrived at the school, the parking lot was surprisingly full and he parked outside the front of the gym. “It looks like we have a big turnout. I guess they watched the news.”
“Yeah.” Jenna gathered her things. “I hope someone has information or this is a complete waste of time.” She glanced around. “She could be out there somewhere alone and hurt.”
Kane turned to her. “You’ve had people searching for her from the moment we confirmed she was missing. There’s not much more we could have done. It would have helped if her father had notified us early this morning rather than waiting until three before calling. You know as well as I do, if someone has abducted her, the chances of finding her alive after so long are slim. It’s close to twenty-four hours now since anyone has seen her.”
“Yeah, every hour that goes by makes it less likely we’ll find her alive.” Jenna climbed out and collected a pile of notebooks from the back seat. “Although at sixteen, she could be holed up somewhere so there’s still hope.”
Kane slid out from behind the wheel and unclipped Duke’s harness. He made sure he always secured his dog in his vehicle. He often drove at speed and in an accident if a dog weighing one hundred pounds went flying through a windshield it could be lethal for both his loved pet and anyone unfortunate enough to collide with him. Clipping Duke’s harness into the seat restraint took no time at all. He hated seeing dogs standing unrestrained in the back of pickups, as if their owners had no care about their pets or others using the highways. He rubbed the dog’s ears. “I know it’s been a long day, but we’ll be heading home soon.”
“At least he can sleep when he wants to, we’re not so lucky.” Jenna handed him a pile of handouts. “We’ll need to get the names of everyone here tonight.”
“Sure.” Kane took the papers and they headed inside.
The brightly lit hall was filled with people all sitting on lines of plastic chairs as if waiting for a town meeting. The place had the usual school gym smell, slightly sour with a touch of eau de old socks, and books. He had expected a crowd milling around but to his surprise, Emily greeted him at the door and Shane Wolfe and his daughter Julie were close by.
“Hi, Emily, did you organize all this?”
“Me?” Emily chuckled. “I helped but it was Dad’s idea. He even convinced them to open the kiosk for refreshments when you’ve finished talking to them. As soon as people started arriving, he had them pulling out chairs from the storeroom and setting them out in lines. Julie helped me take down the details of everyone coming through the door. We thought it would save time?” She handed Jenna two notebooks. “I’ll wait by the door in case anyone else comes by.”
“I can’t thank you enough.” Jenna gave her a hug. “The place is crowded, surely not everyone here is from the cheerleader practice?”
“I’m afraid not.” Emily indicated to a news crew. “They did a live broadcast from outside the hall and showed Laurie’s red pickup. After that tons of people arrived. We’ve divided the ones who were here to the right of the hall, the sightseers to the left.” She shrugged. “That was Julie’s idea, so you could ask questions directly to them.”
Kane looked at Jenna and raised one eyebrow. “So, if everyone’s here, who is out searching?”
“I have it under control. Search and rescue have over one hundred volunteers out looking for her.” Jenna straightened. “This is where we’ll find the answer to what happened to her and be able to focus the search in the right direction.” She glanced at him. “I hate standing up in front of a crowd, it’s worse than during my last election.” She headed toward the podium.
Kane fell into step beside her. “These are your people. They’re waiting for instructions— you’ll be fine.”
Seven
After wrapping Laurie Turner in plastic, they’d heaved her into the back seat, and covered her with a blanket. She’d been heavier than he’d expected and sweat beaded on his brow and trickled down his back from the exertion. His girl had fashioned aprons from the plastic sheets and they’d wrapped them around their bodies. He’d seen enough cop shows to know about leaving evidence behind. All set, they’d driven through town far away from the search parties and headed out to the old mines. As long shadows crept in around them, he drove slowly to the place they’d chosen to dump Laurie’s body. The excitement he’d had when his girl had strangled her had ebbed. This part of the plan wasn’t thrilling at all. “We have to make it fast. Did you see the news? The sheriff expects everyone who was at the cheerleading practice to be at the gym by six.”
“I know. You look bored.” She curled a strand of hair around her finger and one hand rested on his thigh. “You figure once they’re dead they’re no fun anymore?”
He pulled up beside an old mine entrance and as he turned his vehicle around, the headlights picked up the cloud of dust they’d left in their wake. “Kinda.” He shrugged.
“Help me drag her out.” She climbed out, looking strange in the blue surgical gloves with a plastic sheet wrapped around her jeans.
An awful smell seeped out of the bundle as they dragged Laurie to the mine entrance. Inside, the passageway to the shaft was dark and foreboding. A “keep out” sign blocked the way. They dropped her on the ground and pulled at the plastic to unwrap her, spilling her naked body onto the barren soil. He swallowed hard. Laurie looked up at him with a blank expression, deathly white. Blue had replaced her once pink lips and her healthy glow had turned into a mask. He needed to get away.
“Look at her. She’s still staring at me.” His girl aimed a kick at the body. “Stop looking at me, Laurie. You can’t have him, he’s mine.”
“Hey.” He tried to comfort her. “She’s dead. Let’s go.”
Without warning, his girl pulled a screwdriver from her boot and threw herself on the body. He turned away unable to look at her. Seeing her kill had been exciting, thrilling but this made him sick to his stomach. What is wrong with me?
“Why isn’t she bleeding?” His girlfriend looked over her shoulder at him breathing heavily. “I want to see her bleed.”
He took her arm and eased her to her feet, unwrapped her fingers from the screwdriver, and tossed it down the mineshaft. “She’s dead. She can’t bleed when her heart’s not beating. Help me clean up here and we’ll head to the school before we’re missed. We’ll need to stop by the park and get washed up.”
After collecting the plastic and wrapping their aprons and gloves into a big ball, they carried it to the trunk. He’d burn everything later. He drove the vehicle fifty yards from the body and they ran back. They dragged dead branches over the ground to remove footprints and tire marks. By the time they reached their ride, his girl had calmed down some but she still had a sour expression.
As he drove back to town, he glanced at her. “What’s wrong? It felt good killing her, didn’t it? You taught her a lesson.”
“I don’t feel anything. It wasn’t good enough. The next one, I’m gonna mess up real bad.” She folded her arms across her chest. “You know I love you, right? So, maybe you can take her to a house I found in town, like a date and then ‘surprise’, I’ll be there waiting for her. I want her to know that I’m better than she is and that you chose me over her. I want her alive and suffering, so the last thing she sees is me with you. Strangling Laurie was too fast, it didn’t last long enough.”
The wild look in her eyes and the way she talked aroused him. His heart raced. Excitement tingled through him, he wet his lips. Watching her kill Laurie had turned his girl into a superhero. He worshiped her. She had said she loved him and it made him feel wanted. Not even his ma had done that. If it made his girl happy, he would walk through fire to see her kill again. He slid one arm over her shoulder and pulled her closer. She smelled like Laurie, slightly putrid, but the memory of her strangling her for him made him smile. “Yeah, make her suffer.” He rubbed his chin on her hair. “They all deserve to suffer.”
Eight
The hall fell silent as Jenna moved in front of the lectern. She noticed the media jump into action and suddenly felt exposed. Her life as DEA Agent Avril Parker was long gone, but the vulnerability that even plastic surgery couldn’t erase, surfaced the moment she stood in front of a camera. Two things she couldn’t change were her voice and her eyes, and the idea of being discovered hiding in plain sight in Black Rock Falls was never far from her mind. The Cartel she’d messed with, even though all had been reported dead, had fingers that stretched out in all directions.
It would be the same for Dave; although he was officially dead and had remained off the grid, his past life had come back to haunt him. It would seem no matter how hard they tried to remain hidden, the threat was a constant nagging ache. She glanced at him standing straight beside her, her rock, and then cleared her throat. “It’s good to see everyone here. First, I need to know if anything unusual happened to Laurie during practice. Did she argue with anyone?” No hands went up. “Okay, next I need to know who was with Laurie Turner in the parking lot after practice.”
A show of hands shot up. “Okay. I want you to stand against the wall. Deputy Kane will take statements from you but before you go—did any of you return to the gym with her after she dropped her phone?”
She waited but no one raised their hands. “Okay. Did anyone speak to Laurie when she returned to the hall?”
“Yeah.” A man wearing jeans and a faded T-shirt pushed to his feet. “I spoke to her.”
A buzz of conversation went around the hall. Jenna nodded. The man had to be Cory Hughes, the school maintenance man and cleaner who Vicky had mentioned earlier.
“Okay, I’ll need to speak to you as soon as I’ve finished here.” She looked back at the people in the hall. “Was there anyone hanging around or touching Laurie’s pickup when you left the parking lot?”
Not one person put up their hand but people had already started to stare suspiciously at Hughes. Jenna waited for people to stop talking and looked over the crowd. People were still filtering in the door and Emily was taking names. “Okay, did anyone see Laurie between nine and nine-thirty last night?’
“I did.” An elderly woman wearing spectacles gave Jenna a wave.
&nb
sp; Jenna smiled at her to encourage her. “Will you come and speak to me, please?” She looked around the room. “Anyone else see her or hear anything unusual in the vicinity of Stanton Road between the school and Ravens Hill?”
No one stepped forward. Disappointed, Jenna heaved a sigh. “Okay, I’m looking for volunteers for search parties starting at daybreak and going through until we find her. Please report to the command center outside the sheriff’s department. The search parties will need to be changed during the day, so we’ll be starting at staggered times, six and twelve. Anyone willing to help with getting out supplies to the volunteers during the day, coffee, water, sandwiches, and the like, it will be greatly appreciated.”
A group of young men waved at her and she pointed to one of them. “Yes?”
“We have trail bikes and can help get supplies out to the search parties.” He smiled. “I’m Levi Jones. Who do I see?”
“Come see me.” Susie Hartwig from Aunt Betty’s Café pushed to her feet. “I’ll see you get what you need.”
To Jenna’s surprise, Mayor Petersham stepped out from the back of the hall. He nodded to Jenna. “Evening, Sheriff. The town council will pick up the tab for supplies. Just send the bill to my office, Susie.”
“At cost then.” Susie frowned. “I’m not planning on making a profit over someone’s misfortune.”
“We all know how much Aunt Betty’s Café contributes to the community.” Mayor Petersham smiled broadly. “Don’t we, folks?”
After the applause had died down, Jenna nodded toward the kiosk. “The kiosk is now open for refreshments. Thank you for coming. I’ll see some of you at first light.”