“I’m sorry I couldn’t pin them down.” Rowley pushed his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. “I figure checking the CCTV footage at Aunt Betty’s might give us at least one point of reference.”
Jenna sealed the cups and turned to him. “Get at it. Rio can hold the fort, we’re going to search Dr. Turner’s office and then his home, if Shane is available.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Rowley turned and headed down the hallway.
After handing Kane the cups, Jenna collected a copy of the search warrant and feeling something was missing, looked around the office. “Where’s Duke?”
“Maggie took him out back to stretch his legs.” Kane slid off the desk. “He doesn’t know we’re back yet.”
“We don’t need him on this search.” Jenna folded the document and slid it into her pocket. “Maybe we could slip out without him?”
“Not a chance.” Kane placed the cups on the desk at the sound of claws on the tiled floor. He turned as Duke bounded into the room. “Hey there?” He rubbed the dog’s ears. “Ready to go search an office?”
Jenna rolled her eyes at Duke’s bark of consent. “Maybe I should give him a badge.” She led the way out of the office. “Now wouldn’t that stick in Carter’s craw?”
The entry into Dr. Turner’s office went as smooth as silk, although the nosy woman on the front counter insisted on standing sentry to ensure they didn’t breach patient-doctor confidentiality. To Jenna’s surprise, the woman turned out to be a font of information. The students who came to see Turner were all issued with a number. This number was used to identify the students and was for the doctor’s eyes only along with the students’ case files. The filing cabinet being out of bounds, Jenna went straight for the appointment journal on the desk. The hairs on the back of her neck prickled as she flipped through the pages and found Turner took students’ appointments at school and in his home. She’d assumed by the “private” sessions he’d mentioned previously as an alibi, it was part of his regular practice and was not included in the free service offered by the school. She made a mental note to ask the receptionist. Her attention moved to the night of Jeanette Turner’s murder. From the notes, he was with a patient the night his wife died. So that’s how he plans to get away with murder.
Biting her tongue to prevent speaking her thoughts to Kane, she looked at the woman watching them intently. “Is it usual for Dr. Turner to take student appointments at his home?”
“I’m not involved with any arrangement he might make outside of school hours or with the students’ parents but it would be unusual. Most patients want to be anonymous and the last people they want involved is their parents, I’m sorry to say.” She bristled. “Dr. Turner does have a private practice but I’m sure he deals with all the problems that arise here during class.” She cast her beady eyes over Jenna like a buzzard contemplating its next meal. “He is board certified. We are lucky to have him.”
“I don’t understand the number system for his patients. It’s not as if they would be required to discuss their problems outside this office before seeing Dr. Turner. Usually, people give their names to attend any doctor and they are seen in confidence. I can’t see the reason behind this idea.” Kane looked up from searching the trash basket. “Can you explain?”
“I can, yes.” The woman lifted her nose. “Dr. Turner implemented the number system because students didn’t trust him or anyone on the front counter not to make fun of them for asking him for assistance. So, the number system was introduced. I don’t know the names of the students who come by and neither does anyone apart from the doctor.”
How c
onvenient. Jenna looked up from the diary. “What about their parents? Someone must be paying for the sessions at his home.”
“I’m sure I don’t know.” The woman looked anxious. “It’s not something I can comment on, I’m afraid.”
After searching the office for any clue, note, or anything of value to the investigation, Jenna placed a notepad, the appointment book, and a few scraps of paper from the trash into an evidence bag and looked at Kane. “I’m good to go.” She looked at the woman. “Thank you for your assistance.” She led the way out the door.
Once back at his truck, she turned to Kane and wiggled the book. “According to this, at the time of Jeanette Turner’s death, he was having a session with patient 124.” She pulled out the book and flipped through the pages. “Same person when the other two murders occurred.”
“No wonder he’s so confident.” The nerve in Kane’s jaw twitched. “The law protects his patients’ names and with Sam Cross as his attorney, he’ll find reasons for every part of our evidence. If the DA will charge him, Cross will make sure he gets bail and he’ll likely walk altogether. Unless we can find evidence to prove otherwise.” He gave her a long look. “He’s outsmarted us, Jenna.” He opened the door for Duke and helped him into the truck and secured his harness.
Jenna shook her head. “No way.” She snorted. “I never thought I’d see the day when you didn’t come up with another angle to solve a problem. This mystery patient might be the key to solving this case.” She slid into the passenger seat.
“That’s what I’m worrying about. I’m convinced Turner needed help carrying Jeanette down the apartment stairs.” Kane climbed behind the wheel and backed out the truck. “It gets back to good old grunt work. We’ll be able to discover the name of patient 124 by a process of elimination.”
Staring out the window but not registering anything, Jenna hugged her stomach, it was as if it had filled with acid. “If our mystery suspect is patient 124, why would he risk going to seek help from Laurie’s father unless he knew how Turner mistreated his womenfolk and figured he didn’t care?” She thought for a beat. “How would he get Turner on his side?”
“The first contact he had with Turner was more likely after Becky’s murder.” Kane stared straight ahead hands gripped to the wheel. “Laurie’s murder was clean, as in strangulation from behind. I’m not discounting the post-mortem wounds but let’s just think about the actual murder. Patient 124 might have witnessed the murder and assisted with the disposal of the body. His accomplice lost it and took out their rage on the corpse, but then number 124 becomes involved in Becky’s murder and Sandy’s assault. We know two people were involved in Becky’s murder, someone tried to strangle her and I’d bet my last dime, number 124 killed her with a blunt object. A flashlight, from Wolfe’s findings, the same object that hit Sandy but maybe not the same flashlight.”
As the scene unfolded in Jenna’s mind, she nodded. “You don’t believe number 124 killed Laurie, do you?”
“Nope, and that’s why he felt secure going to see Turner, heck, he could likely pass a lie detector test if he only watched the murder. He’s a follower, a subordinate who takes orders from someone he admires.” Kane glanced at her. “It’s a woman for sure and she couldn’t finish Becky off and ordered him to kill her. He wouldn’t have been able to refuse her. Now he feels sick to his stomach, guilty, and needs help. He knows Turner can’t rat on him and likely played the, ‘I overheard some guys talking and I’m scared for my life’ ploy to make himself look innocent.”
Excited, Jenna turned in her seat to look at him. “But Turner would see right through him. He’d know the person responsible for killing Becky was sitting right in front of him and he was bound by patient-doctor confidentiality.”
“Then maybe it could have gone either way.” Kane’s mouth curled into a smile. “Turner might have threatened to expose him or maybe pretended to believe him and then offered him protection by giving 124 an alibi. He would have asked for some details of the murders to prove 124 wasn’t lying and then Turner murders his wife in a copycat killing and calls in a favor. He asks number 124 to help him dispose of the body of his wife. How can he refuse?” He pulled into the curb. “Go back through the appointment book and look for first contact entries, especially when he gave his patients their numbers. Did he use the same pen for every entry? I noticed a few in a glass on his desk.”
Excited, Jenna flipped through the book. “No, he used different ones.” She chewed on her bottom lip as she went back through the book to the dates of the murders. Her hands trembled as she gazed up at Kane. “It looks like he used the same black pen for the appointments made at his home at the times of the murders. The notation made on the appointment at the school after Becky’s murder, was when he assigned a number to his patient and is in blue ink. There is an appointment with patient 124 at the time of Laurie’s murder. If this is correct how come the notes and patient number are written in a different pen and on a different day? I figure the day after Becky’s murder was the first day he spoke to patient 124, and he filled in the other appointments later to cover his ass and his accomplice.”
“It makes perfect sense to me.” Kane pulled back out onto the road. “Now all we have to do is discover the name of patient 124 before another cheerleader is slaughtered.”
Fifty