Promises in the Dark (Detectives Kane and Alton)

“Yeah, it happens I did.” He smiled triumphantly sending a waft of fried onions in her direction. “I saw the blacksmith, Roger Suffolk, and John Cleaves. John is a fire chaser like me.”

“Do you own a drone, or have you ever owned a drone?” Jo raised her gaze.

“A drone?” Dexter barked a laugh. “I’d love to own a drone so I could get some footage of the fires from above but right now, I don’t have one.”

“Okay, that’s all for now.” Jenna folded her notebook and pushed it into her pocket. “Thank you for your time.”

The man’s eyes seemed to burn into her back as she headed down the pathway. When the porch light went out and plunged them into darkness, she pulled out her flashlight and turned to Jo. “Did you get anything from him?”

“He has no respect for women and by looking at the state of him and his house, he doesn’t care about himself either.” Jo sucked in a breath and let it out in a yawn. “Is he the bomber? I doubt he has the brains but we’ll keep him on the list of possible suspects.”

They walked back to the truck and climbed inside. Carter was missing and Jenna noticed him coming around the back of the house with Zorro. “What is he doing? I hope that’s not an illegal search.”

“Nah, just giving Zorro a run.” Kane pushed both hands through his hair and massaged his scalp. “He took off in that direction so I guess Carter followed.”

Jenna rolled her eyes. “Sure he did.”

“Nothing.” Carter secured Zorro in the back seat and slid in beside him. “The place is clean.”

“Cleaves next?” Kane examined her face. “Or do you want to speak to him in the morning?”

Determined to keep going, Jenna shook her head. “I know where Cleaves was tonight. Dexter just informed us that he was in Blackwater. They’re both fire chasers and use a police scanner for information.” She sighed. “I’d like to see if he knows anything about Pamela. We asked Dexter and he claims to not know she went missing and for an avid follower of a police scanner, and the media coverage, he should have known. This alone makes him suspicious.”

“Then Cleaves would be using the same device.” Kane pulled a woolen cap over his ears against the early morning chill. “One thing is for sure, either way he’s not going to admit knowing her, is he? I think we’d be wasting our time.” He looked at Jenna. “Unless you believe he might have Pamela holed up in his house?”

“I’m so tired I don’t know what to think.” Jenna pressed her knuckles against her sore eyes. “I don’t have probable cause to break down Cleaves’ door and search for her. We have no connection between them at all.”

“Then why?” Carter yawned explosively.

Jenna leaned back in the seat and sighed. “I’m worried Dexter and Cleaves could be working together and figured showing up on their doorsteps tonight might slow them down some.”

“I doubt it’s two men and we don’t know if Pamela going missing is a coincidence.” Kane looked at her. “We’ll need to search for a possible link between our suspects and Sheriff Stuart. Without that we have nothing.”

“We’ll also need evidence to connect the Blackwater bombing to the one at Louan.” Carter popped a toothpick between his lips. “Right now, all the evidence from the drone is in evidence bags inside Wolfe’s van and we haven’t examined the crime scene yet.”

Jenna nodded. “I know it’s too early to make conclusions but I’m worried about Pamela. What if he has killed her already?”

“It’s a possibility.” Jo chewed on her fingers. “From the reports, the Blackwater deputies have the search for her well organized. They are on top of it, Jenna. We need to concentrate on the bombings.”

Head fuzzy from lack of sleep, Jenna looked at Kane. “My gut tells me it’s the same person.”

“Yeah, I agree. Bombing is an unusual way to kill, and too much of a coincidence to be different people.” Kane started the engine. “One thing for sure is that this murdering SOB is following an escalation pattern. He’s getting worse.”

“I have to agree.” Jo clasped her hands together. “And we haven’t seen his best work yet.”

Forty-Six

Jenna stared at the clock beside her bed in disbelief, she’d slept through until ten. Why hadn’t anyone called her? She checked her phone, no missed calls, no messages. She climbed out of bed and the consequences of the explosion hit her like a ton of bricks. Her knee ached, her hip was stiff and the cut on her neck stung. She gave her black cat Pumpkin a stroke and watched her stretch and then curl up in a ball, before limping into the bathroom. She looked at her reflection in the mirror, and gasped. Apart from washing her hands and face and cleaning her teeth, she’d fallen into bed and dropped asleep in seconds. Her hair was a tangled mess and she had bruises all over. Sighing she turned on the shower and stepped inside. It was the continuation of a very long day and all she wanted to do was crawl into a ball like the cat and sleep until Christmas.

Sometime later, she found Carter at her kitchen table and Kane cooking breakfast. “Is Jo awake?”

“Yeah, she’s outside on the stoop talking to Jaime.” Carter looked up at her from his laptop. “We all overslept but it was time well spent. Updates have only just started to filter in.”

“Okay.?

?? Jenna poured a cup of coffee and leaned against the counter sipping the rich brew. She looked at Kane, hair wet from the shower, and in a world of his own stirring eggs. “Did you get any sleep?”

“Yeah.” He gave her an appraising look. “Before you ask, my head is fine. How are you?”