Her Shallow Grave (Detectives Kane and Alton)

As they headed toward the stairs, Kane came down the hallway and gave her a shake of his head. They followed Grady and inspected the bathroom and three bedrooms that led off the hallway. Two empty rooms with boxes and one messy bedroom with a double bed and a closet. Clothes littered the floor and the smell had gotten stronger. She glanced at Kane and screwed up her nose. When he pointed upward, Jenna examined the damp patch on the ceiling. She turned to Grady. “What’s in your loft?”

“Nothing much, just a few things I use for my hobby.” Grady folded his arms across his chest in a defensive manner. “You don’t want to go up there, Sheriff.”

Jenna smiled at him. “Oh, but I do. Show me.”

As Grady led the way back into the hall, Jenna felt a tug on her arm. She looked at Kane. “What?”

“If we go up there first, he’ll have an advantage. If we follow him up there, he will still have the drop on us.” Kane bent close and whispered in her ear. “His body language tells me he’s hiding something.”

“Okay.” Jenna nodded. “You go up and I’ll watch your back.”

“Watch him, not me.” Kane narrowed his gaze. “He might attack while your attention is elsewhere.”

Jenna lifted her chin. “It’s not my first rodeo, Kane.” She waved him into the hallway and waited for Grady to pull down the stairs to the loft. A waft of stink seemed to ooze out of the opening. Something dead lay in his attic and the killer could be an arm’s length away. She moved to turn Grady around and away from Kane. “Thanks. How long have you been living here?”

“All my life.” Grady smiled. “This house belonged to my parents. They passed last year.”

Behind Grady, Kane pulled on gloves and a face mask and moved up the steps in silence. Jenna kept Grady’s attention on her. “Oh, I’m sorry for your loss. Both at the same time?”

“Nope, within a few weeks.” Grady shrugged. “They got sick last winter and died.”

Above, Kane coughed and the creak of the steps told her he was on his way back down. She rested her hand on her weapon—one wrong move and she’d draw down on Grady. “Anything to report?”

“Yeah.” Kane pulled off his face mask. “He’s got a bison head up there.” He looked at Grady. “Going rotten and stinking the place out.”

“I’m going to mount it.” Grady looked crushed.

“Do you have a current taxidermist license?” Kane shook his head. “You should’ve prepared the head by now.”

“Yeah, I know.” Grady glared at Kane. “The head is mine. It was given to me and I have a license.”

“Then I want to see your records.” Kane stared at him. “Who was the owner?”

“I haven’t gotten time to fill in my book.” Grady looked at him, alarm filling his eyes. “It was Axel Reed. I went up and helped him field dress the beast and he gave me the head.”

“Small world.” Jenna looked from one to the other. “We spoke to him earlier and he didn’t mention you.”

“He gives me all my heads.” Grady looked at her. “I heard about him from Josiah.”

Jenna closed her notebook. “Okay. I want you to drop by my office in the morning and show your license and record book at the front counter.” She looked at Kane. “Let’s go.”

Fifty-Six

Hoping the cold night air would rid him of the stink permeating his clothes, Kane walked to his truck. Another possible suspect but again they’d found no sign of a girl or a freezer large enough to store a body and he’d searched every possible hiding place in Grady’s home. He headed to the crime scene and turned to Jenna. “I’m wondering if he has a cabin in the forest. Anyone could build one and unless it’s on one of the regular trails we’d never know.”

“Maybe. There’s something about Grady that disturbs me.” Jenna poured two cups of coffee and handed him one. “He has strange views on women. Like if they’re raped, they asked for it. I don’t trust him.”

When they hit the straightaway, Kane sipped his coffee, eyes front on the icy road. “His body language makes me think he’s hiding something. Maybe it was the bison head dripping through his ceiling.” He snorted. “I mean you don’t need to be Einstein to put a bucket under it, do you?”

“My first thought was how he got it up there.” Jenna glanced at him. “It would have been difficult on his own.”

Kane shook his head. “He has a pulley system in the roof. It’s electric and has a swinging arm, so he hauls it up and can set it down where he wants it.” He placed his cup in the console. “Grady must have had help getting it inside the house but that’s not our problem.” He turned onto the highway. “I figure we need to find out if he sneaks off to a cabin in the forest. Then there is Reed. Where is he? For all we know they could be taking shifts watching the missing girl.” He cut her a glance. “Maybe we should resort to something illegal before someone else is murdered.”

“And that is?” Jenna didn’t sound amused.

“A tracker on their vehicles.” Kane slowed to negotiate a pile of snow spilling from a drift at the side of the road. “It won’t hold up in court but it might save lives. We’re running out of options. It has to be one of our suspects and we need to pinpoint their whereabouts.” He glanced ahead at the wig-wag lights on Rowley’s SUV blinking out of unison with the blue and red perimeter flashers. Crime scene tape fluttered in his headlights. Inside the taped area, a circle of lamps illuminated the scene. Wolfe and Webber bent over body parts taking samples and Rowley was to one side spewing. “I’ll drive past and park behind Wolfe’s van.”

“Okay.” Jenna pulled on latex gloves and shivered. “I’ll think on the trackers. I don’t want anything compromising the evidence when we catch this guy. Surveillance would be the better option.”