Her Shallow Grave (Detectives Kane and Alton)

“Copy that.” Kane stared at his hands. “I didn’t want to add to the caseload. It seems such a stupid thing to be worrying you about.”

“Not really. It’s just another day in the office, Dave.” Jenna pushed a hand through her hair. “No different from the drug bust, chasing down Jones’s missing bull, and the wreck on the highway. We deal with multiple cases at the same time. We’re a small team, that’s life.”

She wanted to push Kim Strickland from her mind because right now, she had more important things to do. “Put her out of your mind for now and concentrate on the murders. Call Rowley back in. I want to hear what he’s found on Grady. That guy at the shelter is up to something and I need to know if he’s involved.”

When Rowley came in with a half-eaten sandwich in one hand, coffee in the other, and an iPad tucked under one arm, Jenna waved him to a seat. “To bring you both up to date, I struck out speaking with the Foxx trucking company. They won’t give us anything without a search warrant. Okay, Rowley what did you find on Grady?”

“No priors, he has a clean driving record but he does have a sealed juvenile jacket.” Rowley sipped his coffee. “I hunted down the other man in your report as well, Josiah Brock. Now this guy did time upstate for animal cruelty some years back. Since then he comes up squeaky clean.” He placed his cup on the desk. “Both men are long-haul truckers and active on social media. In fact, Grady posts selfies from most of the places he’s traveled.”

Jenna swallowed a mouthful of turkey on rye. “What about Brock?”

“I didn’t speak to anyone at Blackwater Trucking but I found the company’s web page and it gives a list of all the places they go to and when. If we can link any of these journeys to murders, we’d have enough probable cause for a search warrant to view the company’s logs.” Rowley looked at her with a satisfied expression.

Inspired by Rowley’s enthusiasm, Jenna looked at Kane. “Anything of use from the hotline?”

“I followed up a few leads and found nothing.” Kane hadn’t touched his food. “I’ve been sending copies of the tattoo images to as many tattoo artists I can find, and there are thousands, maybe millions in the country. I’ve been concentrating on Montana but we’ll need to cover as many states as possible, at least all major cities. As Grady mentioned a body in a frozen lake out of Colorado, I’ve requested information on that case and the email has gone out to all law enforcement offices in the state.”

“So we have a wait and see situation right now.” Jenna stared at the whiteboard. “We need Wolfe’s results and information on the death in Colorado. It will be interesting to see if the cases are similar.”

“I doubt it; from what I found out about the case, the body wasn’t dismembered. Unless the killer was using the pond to freeze the corpse and someone found her before he had time to collect her.” Kane lifted his coffee and eyed her over the rim. “The only similarities I can see here are the basic descriptions of The Sculptor’s victims. One of our victims could be a match—and as we don’t have that crucial part of victim two’s body, we can’t assume the cases are connected and it’s going to take more evidence to convince me our guy is The Sculptor.”

Twenty-Four

“Sheriff.” Maggie knocked on Jenna’s office door and clung to the frame for support, her eyes wide.

Jenna shot to her feet at Maggie’s alarmed expression. “What’s happened?”

“It’s the rest of the body of that poor girl—they found her.” Maggie pressed a hand to her heart. “Mayor Petersham thought it might be a prank but his wife insists it’s real.”

“Sit down.” Kane pushed to his feet and offered her his chair. “Now take a few deep breaths and tell us what happened.”

“Oh, it’s terrible. I can’t bear to speak about it.” Maggie’s hand trembled as she pressed it to her mouth.

Jenna moved around

the desk and patted her on the shoulder. “I need to know what the mayor said to you, Maggie.”

“His wife dropped by their cabin in Stanton Forest and found a body stuck in his chimney—she’d been… oh Lord, I can’t say.” Maggie dragged in a long breath and looked at Jenna. “I’ve been here a long time and thought I’d become hardened to the awful things people do to each other, but this madman is involving everyone in his crimes.” She took a shuddering breath. “Poor Mrs. Petersham. She was so distraught the mayor had to call in Doc Brown.”

It was obvious they wouldn’t be getting more information from Maggie. Jenna leaned against her desk to look at her. “Why didn’t you let me speak to the mayor?”

“He said he had to go and tend to his wife and to tell you.” Maggie pressed both hands on the desk and stood. “You’d better hightail it out there.”

Jenna nodded. She had no idea the mayor even owned a cabin in Stanton Forest. “Okay. Do you want to take the rest of the day?”

“No. I’ll be fine in a minute or two.” Maggie gave her a small smile. “You’ll be needing me here.” She stood shakily and headed out the door, using the wall for support.

“I’ve never seen her react like that before.” Kane stared after her.

“Me either, it must be bad.” Jenna considered what she needed and walked back around her desk. “Okay, I’ll need both of you so grab your gear. Call Wolfe for me, Kane.” As Kane headed to the main office, she picked up the phone to call the mayor for more details and then changed her mind. She looked at Rowley; as a local, he was her go-to person for information. “Do you happen to know where the mayor has his cabin?”

“Yeah. He’s had that old cabin since before he became mayor. My pa and him used to go hunting up there.” Rowley stood and gathered his things. “It’s past the ski resort and set right snug against the mountain. I’ll get the coordinates.”

“Thanks.” Jenna glanced at the snow piling outside the window in drifts. “It will be snowed in for sure.”

“The road must be clear for Mrs. Petersham to have driven there but it’s not a place I’d visit in winter.” Rowley scratched his cheek as if thinking. “Maybe the mayor had the snowplow do a special run.”

“Hmm.” Jenna pulled on her coat. “There’s been extensive upgrading of the roads in that area for the resort, maybe the mayor extended them to his property as well.” She thought for a moment. “Follow us in your truck and go tell Kane about the road. Wolfe will need to use his truck today. If it’s as bad as you say, he won’t get the van up there in this weather.”