Follow Me Home (Detectives Kane and Alton)

The memory of her exhilaration the last time she drove his car drifted across his mind. He gave her a long look. “Do you want to drive?”

“What, me drive ‘the beast’?” Her lips twitched into an almost smile. “As much as I’d like the chance to put the pedal to the metal on an open road, I’m not sure if your nerves could handle it.” She eyeballed him in almost a challenge. “She is your baby, after all.”

He lifted his chin. “My nerves are fine.”

“I’d rather have your mind on the case than my driving.” She turned to go then stopped and looked back at him. “I’ll fix breakfast. Can you be ready to eat in fifteen minutes?”

The idea of a cooked breakfast made his stomach rumble; of late he had settled for cereal. He smiled at her. “Yeah.”

After breakfast, Kane drove to the office and Jenna was unusually quiet. He glanced at her to see her chewing on her lip, a habit she had when deep in thought. “Problem?”

“I’m just going over the cases. Jane dying is too coincidental. She managed to survive just fine chained to a damn wall, and the moment she is safe she dies in her sleep? I’m not buying it, not at all.” She glanced at him. “The problem is if foul play was involved, the crime scene would have been destroyed by now. There would have been nurses and doctors all over the room.”

“Not necessarily. Wolfe is very good at his job.”

“Yeah, I know, but it took a lot of convincing to persuade the doctor to leave the body in situ.” She flicked him a glance. “I insisted we regard any death involving a crime as suspicious, and he finally agreed to seal the room and wait for Wolfe to arrive. He’ll be there by now, so will have some answers by the time we get there.”

“He’ll know if it looks suspicious.”

“Another thing.” Jenna turned in her seat to look at him, filling the air with her honeysuckle fragrance. “I have a gut feeling this vigilante is involved in more than we give her credit for, and I’m sure it’s a woman. The blood on your doorstep, the phone call. The more I think about it, it just seems like the actions of a vengeful woman.”

Kane cleared his throat. “Yeah, I’m sure too the profile fits a woman. She wanted to give her motive for murder and send a warning to back off from interviewing the women. What else do you have?”

“I think she is playing us like a chess game.” Jenna leaned toward him with an excited edge to her voice. “Think about it. She is giving us clues and telling us these men are guilty of murder as well as being in a pedophile ring, but by doing this, she is directing our investigation. She must know that after we read those newspaper articles we’d be talking to any women who have been molested in the last ten years.” She threw both hands in the air. “We are heading out of town today—why? Because we need to follow up on Angelique Booval, who is a prime suspect. But what if Angelique had nothing to do with the murders and the vigilante is just getting us out of town so she can kill again?”

Kane shrugged; she did have some valid points. “Maybe, but assuming Jane died as a result of homicide, if the vigilante was watching the movements of the men concerned, why didn’t she stop Jane’s murder?”

“I don’t know, but if my theory is correct, both the other men on her list live in Black Rock Falls.”

“I think that’s a given.” He turned the vehicle onto Stanton Forest Road and headed toward the hospital. He glanced at the forest with the mountains towering in the distance and found it hard to believe such a beautiful vista could hide so many crimes. Since his arrival in Black Rock Falls, the seemingly harmless little town had revealed a bottomless pit of secrets, none of which so far had led to anything but death.

Kane dragged his thoughts back to the now. “It’s a nuisance that we have to go back into town to open the office; it will add more time on our trip to Blackwater and I said we’d be there before two.”

“I’m way ahead of you.” She flopped back in her seat and her attention moved away from him. “Rowley is in charge of the office today, I called him earlier.” She cleared her throat. “Have you noticed how big he is getting? He asked me if I could supply bigger shirts. Of course, I ordered them at once. He must be working out. Do you have the time to show him some of your unarmed combat moves?”

“No need.” He slowed the car to make a bend then glanced at her. “He works out at the gym in town and has joined a martial arts dojo.”

“Why the sudden need to build himself up? He is a very capable deputy.”

Kane bit back a grin. “He is seeing someone and women bring out the best in men.”

“Oh, I see.” Jenna’s cheeks pinked. “I guess he is still dating Alison Saunders?”

Kane drove through the hospital gates and parked in a reserved space out front beside Wolfe’s cruiser. He met her gaze. “My lips are sealed.”

35

The smell of the hospital surrounded Jenna as she walked with some trepidation toward Jane’s room. Outside in the hallway, her brother Adam sat on a chair with his face buried in his hands. She moved to his side and laid one hand on his shoulder. “Mr. Stickler, I’m sorry for your loss. Is there anyone I can call for you?”

He lifted his pale, tear-streaked face and looked at her then shook his head. His expression held so much pain, Jenna’s stomach cramped.

“I just want to see her.” Adam scrubbed at his eyes. “Why won’t they let me see her?”

Jenna gave Kane a nod to go ahead and speak to Wolfe. As the Black Rock Falls County Coroner, Wolfe would have to make the call to allow him to view her body. She sat down beside Adam and swallowed the lump in her throat. “It was so strange for her to die in

her sleep. I thought it best for our coroner to take a quick look just to make sure no one hurt her.”

“I have the awful feeling someone did.” He wiped his eyes with his sleeve. “She was just fine when I left her last night, really happy. She wanted to live here in town with me.” His bloodshot eyes blinked and his gaze moved over her face. “One of the men who kidnapped her has killed her. She told me they threatened her and said if she said a word to anyone they would kill everyone she loved.”