Follow Me Home (Detectives Kane and Alton)

“Yeah.” Kane pulled out his cellphone then scrolled through the images. “Here.” He gave Wolfe the phone.

“Dammit, I missed it.” Wolfe held up the image of a bottle of pills with a printed white label on the front with Diazepam 5mg written in black. “See this bottle? This is a bulk bottle supplied to hospitals. When a doctor prescribes medication, there is a patient’s name, dosage, number of pills, and doctor’s name on the label.”

Jenna swallowed the bile in her throat. “So whoever killed Jane has access to the hospital pharmacy.”

“It’s something I’ll notify the FBI about when I contact them. We found drugs of the same type with both our other victims. It makes sense one of their group is supplying them.” Wolfe rubbed the back of his neck in an agitated manner. “Something else—when I was organizing for the removal of the body, the pathologist working in the morgue informed me that after eleven at night, access to the hospital is by a swipe card or via the emergency room.”

A rush of excitement hit her. “So they’ll have a record of anyone entering the hospital?”

“Yes and no.” Wolfe’s brow creased into a frown. “You’ll be able to get a printout of the people entering the hospital using a swipe card but not the names of patients in emergency because of confidentiality laws, but we do have the CCTV footage. All we need is a court order, but if Jane’s killer worked here, he would make sure he would avoid the camera or be in disguise. To go to this much trouble to kill her he would be taking every precaution.” He met her gaze. “I spoke to the office. They’ll email you a list of people who used their cards overnight and a list of employees.”

“Thanks.” She chewed on her bottom lip. “How long before you start the autopsy?”

“I’ll start as soon as the body arrives at my office. Although, I won’t have the toxicology screen results back for about three weeks. If she died of a drug overdose, which I suspect, it points to someone with knowledge of the administration of drugs. I mean, for instance, an overdose of insulin would kill. It doesn’t have to be a narcotic. We shouldn’t discount we could be looking at an underground drug supply in town.”

“I understand drug trafficking, Wolfe. Now you’re moving into my area of expertise.” Jenna nodded. “The FBI investigators will do a complete audit of the drugs. Make sure we are kept in the loop; I want to know if the drugs came from here.” She thought for a few minutes. “If that’s all, we’re heading over to Blackwater to interview the Booval girl.”

“Nothing more I can think of, ma’am.” Wolfe nodded.

“If you’re finished here, ma’am, we should be going.” Kane moved to her side. “It’s an hour’s drive at least and you mentioned wanting to speak to the local social worker as well. If we leave now, we’ll have time to grab some takeout on the way to interviewing Angelique Booval.”

She heard his stomach rumble and sighed. “I’m ready. I think you burn up calories faster than anyone I know.”

“Nah, I just like food.” Kane grinned.

“I’ll travel down with you in the elevator.” Wolfe pushed the paperwork under one arm then bent to pick up his bag. “I have to make arrangements with the hospital administrator to remove the body.”

As they walked into the confined space, Jenna turned to Kane. “You’re the profiler on my team. We have two killers running us around in circles. I need more information to catch them. What can you tell me?”

“The vigilante we know is a woman set on revenge and is not a danger to anyone else in the community. She has one goal and that is to wipe out the men who killed the girls in the newspapers.” The nerve in Kane’s cheek twitched. “The person who killed Jane has gone way past being a pedophile or a child killer. Child molesters who kill are not necessarily psychopaths. They often kill the kids out of fear they will identify them and then they feel remorse. The person who killed Jane must be the mean one the girls mentioned. He is a completely different killer and has definite psychopathic tendencies. He likes to frighten and intimidate his victims. He is a dangerous man and we need to stop him before he kills again because next time, it’s going to be nasty.”

37

She was having one of those days that never ended. It felt as if she had been driving for hours without a break. She had time for lunch before going home. The smell of freshly brewed coffee and donuts hit her with a blast of delicious aroma as she stepped inside the local café. She collapsed into a seat in the back corner and bit back a moan. Battered and bruised from Bobby-Joe’s assault, she had dressed in a long-sleeved blouse to cover the

injuries to her forearms. Her stomach ached and his punches had bruised her ribs but she offered the waitress a wide smile and ordered her meal.

“You look pale today. Are you feeling okay?” The waitress filled her cup with coffee.

“I’m just tired. I had a hot date last night.” She winked at her. “Can you leave the coffee pot? I’m still half asleep.”

“Lucky girl.” The waitress placed the coffee pot on the table. “I’ll be right back with your order.”

She smiled at her, glad Bobby-Joe had not marked her face. His blows had been swift and immobilizing before he’d caught and murdered Jane. The idiot must have believed she would be waiting around for him to kill her as well. Anger shook her hands and she clutched the coffee cup. Only a fool would rush out to get revenge with injuries, and she was no fool. She would deal with him soon enough. With the law crawling all over Black Rock Falls, she would have to bide her time a little longer and concentrate on eliminating an easier target.

She sipped her coffee, deciding the best way to activate the next step of her plan. The sheriff would likely leave the two new deputies and Rowley to run the office in her absence and distracting them would not be a problem but Deputies Kane and Wolfe would be another matter. One simple call will take care of the sheriff and her two faithful dogs.

It had taken some months to set up her different identities in the chat room to lure the monsters but Bobby-Joe had still not taken the bait. She did have another on the hook and spoke to him as often as possible online. The idea of watching him die filled her with a rush of excitement. A tingle went through her as she pictured him writhing in agony. There could be no better feeling than watching the terror in his eyes as his life leaked away. She stabbed the steak on her plate and lifted a rare piece to her lips. The smell of blood filled her nostrils and she smiled. She had to admit she enjoyed killing the monsters. Maybe too much. Her mind went to the hunting knife she had purchased at a yard sale. It was as sharp as a razor blade. It will do nicely.

38

Kane set the GPS in the car for the address of the social worker Jenna had called and headed toward Blackwater. They traveled for over an hour without speaking, Kane content to listen to the soft music on the radio and to take in the view. The long straight blacktop spread out for miles like a black snake slithering through the green countryside. Here the forest followed one side of the road with pine trees like giant fence posts guarding the way to the mountains. As they rounded a long sweeping bend, the majesty of the Rocky Mountains came into view, spread out in a line, jagged peaks stretching up to the blue sky. Along the other side of the road was flatter terrain. Wildflowers grew in abundance amidst the scrub and when caught in the wind appeared to move across the grasslands in waves of color.

He spotted a few ranch houses in the distance but this part of the county was isolated. He turned to Jenna, who had not taken her attention from her cellphone since they left. “The views are spectacular out here.”

“Yes, I know, but I wouldn’t travel out this way alone.” Jenna flicked him a faraway glance. “I can’t imagine how you drove all the way here from DC in the middle of winter, you must be crazy.”

He chuckled. “Even I’m not that crazy. Although it would have taken about three days in summer, I wasn’t going to risk it in winter. I was in Helena before I came here. I had things to arrange, and I needed to purchase a decent vehicle. I wanted to have it customized before I attempted to drive to Black Rock Falls.” He met her confused gaze with a smile. “For the record, you never asked me how long I’d been traveling. It took longer than I expected due to the recent snowfall. That’s why I arrived in town so late.”