Whisper in the Night (Detectives Kane and Alton)

“Then let’s look at what you have on Charles Anderson.” Cross pointed at the whiteboard. “Sure, he’s gotten a knowledge of explosives from working in Colorado, but we’ve a mining industry right here in Black Rock Falls. Any one of a hundred men could’ve set the IED. Add up the facts – Anderson has no priors and he passed a substantial background check by Silent Alarms and the local council to work with kids in his art classes in town.” He raised both arms, and then dropped them to his waist in a display of frustration. “Why the hell is he here? You’ve nothing to hold him.”

Jenna bristled. “Why don’t you go and look at the interview tapes? All of them had the opportunity to do the crimes. They’re here for questioning until we prove otherwise.”

“I’ll see pigs fly first.” Cross straightened and glared at her. “The time to hold them for questioning is running out and unless you charge them, they’ll be walking out with me. The courts decide guilt or innocence, not POTUS or the sheriff of Black Rock Falls. The DA is arriving at nine to strike a deal with Mr. Miller. I’ll be speaking to my clients this morning and when I’m done, I’ll be asking the DA to take a long look at how you run this office. I can’t figure out why you found it necessary to detain my clients overnight.”

“I’m not arguing with you, Mr. Cross, I’m just doing my job.” It was like dealing with a yapping dog. No explanation Jenna offered would be good enough. She lifted her gaze to Kane. “Would you take Mr. Cross down to interview room one and go get Miller? I’ll escort the DA down when he arrives.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Kane opened the door and waved Cross through. “Through the office, take a right at the passageway, first door on the left.” He looked back at her and rolled his eyes to the ceiling. “Then do you want me to go and examine Wolfe’s autopsy findings?”

“Yeah.” Jenna leaned back in her seat. “I hope he finds one tiny shred of trace evidence to match a suspect. It would come in real useful right now.” She frowned. “Although with Cross as their lawyer, we’ll have no chance of collecting a DNA sample from them.”

“Yeah, we do.” Kane smiled at her. “They had breakfast delivered from Aunt Betty’s earlier and the garbage hasn’t been collected from the cells yet. I’ll bag and tag them all and take them to Wolfe.”

Jenna heaved a sigh of relief. “Trust you to have the answer.” She looked up at him. “Hurry back.”

She had a thousand things to do and needed to prioritize. The last thing she wanted was Cross making life difficult. She took out her notebook and flipped through the pages. There had to be something she’d missed and she’d never convince the DA until she’d made a solid case against one of them. To do this she’d need to eliminate them one by one. She needed a prime suspect and the more she considered the facts, the more she worried about allowing Mason Lancaster to walk. His married girlfriend had signed a statement confirming his whereabouts, and his bank statement had checked out, giving her no reason to suspect him – and yet the niggling feeling in her gut told her otherwise. The teenage girls’ magnetic attraction toward him worried her. The nice-guy psychopathic classification fit him like a glove. He’s the person no one would expect. If he moved around with the football team before his injury, he could’ve been killing all over – but why would he want to hurt me?

Her landline rang and Jenna lifted the receiver. “Sheriff Alton.”

“Hi Jenna, it’s Josh Martin. I’ve had a hit on the evidence found at the crime scenes. The panties from the Sara Nelson case belonged to a police officer, Clare Dumas, out of Helena. She was raped and beaten to death three years ago visiting Yellowstone National Park.”

Jenna stared at the whiteboard. “Any suspects?”

“None found and there was a report of a white truck in the area at the time with interstate plates, but from what state remains a mystery.” Martin sighed. “There are similarities in the MO between the three older victims. The killer covers his tracks as none of the women lived in the same county, no trace evidence left on scene. It has to be the Shadow Man, Jenna. How else could he have gotten the trophies from the murdered women?”

“Unless these freaks trade between themselves.” Jenna stabbed her pen into her notebook. “Problem is, our killer doesn’t appear to be collecting trophies.”

“That’s because he doesn’t consider them worthy of remembering.” Agent Martin cleared his throat. “If I find anything else on this case or the others I’ll let you know.”

“Thanks.” Jenna replaced the receiver in the cradle and leaned back in her chair, thinking through their conversation. If the Shadow Man didn’t consider Lindy and Amanda worthy enough to take a trophy but what about Sara?

She made a call to Wolfe and gave him the information she’d received from Agent Martin. “Go through every item taken from Sara’s body. See if he’s taken a trophy – as she was raped, I figure she meant something to him.”

Fifty-Four

Kane swallowed two antibiotic capsules with a mouthful of coffee and tossed the empty bottle into the trash outside the ME’s building. He’d been too busy to make a follow-up appointment with his doctor for the splinters received in the explosion, but like magic, a prescription had appeared on his desk with a curt note from Wolfe insisting he take them until finished. With the murders and attempts on Jenna’s life over the last few days, the last thing on his mind was a few splinters. The responsibility for Jenna looking like she’d gone ten rounds with a heavyweight boxer weighed heavy on his shoulders – heck, if he’d allowed the same thing to happen to POTUS he’d have been fired.

The moment he stepped into the cool, white outer office of the medical examiner’s office, the awful realization that he’d come to view the slaughtered remains of three young women pushed all other thoughts from his head. At the counter seeing the sunny smile of Julie, Wolfe’s middle daughter, surprised him. “What are you doing here? I figured you’d decided to join the sheriff’s department.”

“Don’t be silly.” Julie giggled and her cheeks pinked. “I’ll be heading to med school after I graduate.”

He smiled back. “A fine profession. And we need another doctor in town.”

“Oh, if I do decide on med school, I’d be interested in pediatrics. I like kids.” Julie beamed at him. “Dad says I should follow my dreams.”

“Yeah, never lose sight of that, will you?” Kane looked over her shoulder to see her sister Emily following a gurney pushed by Webber into a side room. “Busy day?”

“Car wreck. Deputy Rowley came by before and spoke to Dad. Em and Webber went out to process the scene and pick up the victims.” Julie shrugged. “That’s all I know. Hey, now Em is back, can I get a ride back to the sheriff’s department?”

“Sure.” The door to the morgue whooshed open and Wolfe strode out and beckoned him. Kane waited for Julie to buzz him through the door, and then walked down to meet him. “What have we got?” He took the sur

gical gloves and mask Wolfe handed him then put them on.

“Jenna called before. She figures Sara may hold some value to the killer as she was the only rape victim.” Wolfe walked over to a body draped in a white sheet. “I called her mom and she confirmed Sara was wearing a pair of small blue sapphire and gold earrings the day she disappeared. She never took them off.” He pulled back the sheet and frowned down at the face of Sara Nelson. “She’s not wearing her earrings.”

The air inside the room was like walking into a freezer and the young face was pale with a gray tinge, the lips had turned to lines of dark blue. Kane stopped the rush of emotional rage simmering beneath the surface and reached for his professional side. Viewing the bodies of murder victims had a purpose and if he wanted to arrest the person who killed them, he needed to listen to the story they’d tell him – and they all told a story. “They’re so small they could be concealed anywhere. When we searched the suspects’ homes and vehicles, our main priority was finding evidence of a missing girl or child porn.” Kane couldn’t take his eyes away from Sara’s face. He gently pushed the hair away from one ear and then the other. “He didn’t tear them from her ears.”

“Exactly, which means he didn’t want us to notice they’re missing.” Wolfe lifted the sheet to uncover the arms, showing utmost respect for the victim. “No defensive wounds, not even a broken nail.” He uncovered her legs. “No bruising on her thighs but there’s evidence of rape. This wasn’t consensual sex by any means but the killer was meticulous – he left nothing behind, no trace evidence, not one hair, which is difficult unless he’s removed his body hair. We have seen that before in rapists.” He covered her again, and then went back to her head. “At first, I believed this contusion on her temple came from the fall when Blackhawk cut her down, but after speaking with him, he insists she fell on the opposite side, in the same position as in the crime scene photographs. She wasn’t moved post-mortem.”