Kane pushed to his feet. “I’ll contact Wolfe, you get ready for work.”
“Okay then go to the motel straight away; don’t wait for me.” She gave him a wistful look. “Why do people seem to die on my day off?”
“Dumb luck.” He headed for the door then stopped and glanced back at her. “Would you like me to handle this case?”
“The second death in one week? No way, I need to be at ground zero.” Jenna shook her head, sending her raven hair spilling in all directions. “I hope it’s not another homicide. I’m worried Black Rock Falls is becoming murder central.”
Within half an hour, Kane pulled his black SUV into the motel parking lot beside Wolfe’s vehicle with the Black Rock Falls’ Coroner insignia on the side. When Rowley walked out of the office to meet him, his face pale and expression grim, Kane took him to one side. “What do we have?”
“Homicide.” Rowley’s brown eyes narrowed. “There is a guy in one of the rooms around back tied to the bed with stockings and with blood running out of his ear. Wolfe is there now. He said to send you down when you arrive.” He glanced over Kane’s shoulder. “Ah, there’s Sheriff Alton now.”
“Have you taken statements from Mr. Ricker and Rosa? I assume she found the body when she went to clean the room?”
“Yeah, the room was booked yesterday. Ricker thought it was for a romantic evening. Most people take this side of the motel if they don’t want to be seen. The SUV parked outside belongs to Ely Dorsey.”
Kane made a note in his book. “I see. Any other customers staying on this side of the motel?”
“Nope, and Ricker said apart from Dorsey’s vehicle, he hadn’t seen any other vehicles parked here but Rosa was on her way home and noticed a white late-model sedan parked on the road some ways back. She said it was unusual to see a car there because the trees drop berries all over the paintwork.” Rowley lifted his chin. “She said the car was gone this morning when she arrived to clean the rooms.”
“Did she say what time she noticed the car?”
“Around seven last night.” Rowley cleared his throat. “She works two shifts: early morning and six until nine at night.”
Kane scratched his cheek, thinking. “Do you know what time the victim arrived?”
“He picked up the key before lunch and paid for the night. I used the mapping app on my phone and located his cabin in the mountains. It is about a mile away from the last victim’s residence. It’s possible they knew each other but folks up in the mountains keep to themselves.” Rowley removed his hat and scraped a hand through his unruly hair. “Ricker said Dorsey did say he was in town for the Fall Festival.”
“I wonder if the two dead men knew each other.” Kane rubbed his chin. “Hang on a minute, Ely Dorsey. Holy shit, I’m sure I saw that name on the list of employees at Party Time. He might have worked with our last victim.” He glanced at Jenna as she joined them.
“What have we got?” Jenna moved to his side.
“Another homicide, ma’am. He booked in here under the name of Ely Dorsey. I’m wondering if he is the same man who works for Party Time.”
“That’s pretty simple to find out. I’ll check online.” The sheriff gave them both an exasperated look, pulled out her cellphone, and located the webpage for Party Time. “Yeah, there is a clown here of the same name. That’s him alright; his photo matches his driver’s license.” She snorted. “Maybe someone is doing us a favor.”
Kane regarded her closely. She appeared agitated to the max. “What do you mean?”
“Oh, come on, Kane.” She glared at him. “Zoe said four men visited her. If Ely Dorsey was one of them, then someone is doing our job for us.” Her eyes flashed with anger. “Trust me, angry people take the law into their own hands. Someone who suffered abuse could have discovered these men hurting children and they would not want to put a kid through a trial. Ask any brutalized woman—she would
rather see the perpetrator dead so they never harm anyone again. When the men who attacked me died I felt nothing, absolutely nothing—nothing but relief.”
“I’m sure most women would agree with you; most men too.” Kane huffed out a long sigh.
Jenna pressed long fingers to both temples. “If someone knows the names of the molesters, they could be taking revenge against them. It would be impossible for Zoe to identify Ely because the men wore masks. I suggest we target his associates anyway and find out if they are involved.”
“If we can find them before they’re murdered.” Rowley’s brown gaze dropped to the ground. “The mountain men are a pretty tight bunch. They won’t rat on each other.”
“Maybe things will change when they discover Ely was murdered as well. They’ll be running scared.” Jenna lifted her chin and a determined look crossed her face. “Pedophiles like them young, but the killer probably isn’t a kid, so we could be chasing down a close relative hell-bent on vengeance. If a pedophile ring is operating in our town, we need to close it down. It looks like I’ll need to make another call to the FBI.”
“They had nothing on Price.” Kane shrugged. “I’ve checked and he wasn’t on any sex offenders list or had any priors statewide.”
“Now he is dead they have no case to pursue but I’ll keep them informed.” Jenna gave an exasperated sigh. “They do have ongoing investigations statewide at the moment, and with any luck the other men in the pedophile ring will drop into their net.”
Kane shook his head. “With the internet, it could be operating anywhere in the country. Finding who is involved will take a heck of a long time.”
“Then we walk all over their friends until one of them talks; someone must know something about these men. People gossip, although I gather predators often keep their predilections secret.” Jenna shot him an angry look. “They worked together. There has to be another link… someone knows both of them. Find them.”
Kane wanted to sooth her agitation and lowered his voice. “We are all working around the clock on this, Jenna.”