The Crying Season (Detectives Kane and Alton)

After taking a few sips of his coffee, Kane pushed through the ache radiating from the metal plate in his head and tried to think straight. “You have the equipment to hack into the dark web. Do you think you can track the people involved and see if the trail leads back here?”

“Not one chance in hell. They bounce the signal around the world. It would be impossible to locate them, but from the information the FBI gave me, I might be able to locate the site or a ghost copy of the page the organizer used. If I can find that, the FBI can take it from there. I’ll work from home as my equipment is not what you might call ‘standard issue’ and leave Webber in charge of the ME’s office for the day. He will process the backpacks you collected from the Blythes’ cabin and email a list of anything useful he finds. I’m not expecting the test results to arrive from the samples we took at the crime scenes for a day or so.”

Kane sighed. “Okay, let me know if you run down some leads.”

“Sure, and thanks again for coming to the play. You made my little girl very happy.”

“That’s what family is for.” Kane smiled as the line went dead.

“Whose family?” Jenna walked into the kitchen and stared at him with incredulity stamped all over her face. “Jesus, Kane, you didn’t break cover, did you?” She handed him the bottle of medication.

“Nah.” Kane opened the bottle, tipped out two pills, then swallowed them with coffee. “That was Wolfe thanking us for going to the play.” He leaned back in the kitchen chair and stared at her, willing his eyes to focus. “He had a call from the FBI.”

After explaining, he tossed the peas into the freezer. “He’ll let us know if he finds anything and Webber will email copies of any info he finds in the backpacks we picked up from the Blythes’ cabin. He will be going over them looking for trace evidence of foul play as well.”

“It sounds like Wolfe has everything under control his end, but I guess it will be just me, Bradford, and Rowley today.” She pushed to her feet. “Although, I don’t like leaving you alone with a head injury.” Her cool hand rested on his forehead. “Maybe I should stay home. I can run things from here.”

Kane snorted. “Once the pills kick in, the dizziness will subside and I’ll be good to go.” He smiled at her. “I’ve had bigger hits playing football. It’s not as if you knocked me out. This plate in my head obviously makes me more vulnerable than I realized.”

“I don’t think so. It was like hitting a brick wall; my heel is still sore and you didn’t move one inch.” Jenna wiggled her foot. “I went full force and thought you would duck out of the way as usual.” She sighed. “I should be able to take you down by now.”

“Not necessarily.” Kane sighed with relief as she came back into focus. “But you would be able to take down the majority of men my size.” He finished his beverage and looked up at her. “From the information Wolfe gave me, if this killer is using Bear Peak as his personal killing fields and streaming it to an audience online, we are dealing with a very complicated type of psychopathic behavior. Most are in a world of their own making. They act out a scene in their minds, or kill in a certain way to satisfy a need.” He twirled the medication bottle on the table and stared at it for some moments. “If this man is killing to entertain others as well as feeding his own need, we have a killer wearing a coat of many colors, unpredictable and deadly.”

42

Later that morning, Jenna called the deputies into her office and brought them up to date. She had been keeping a close eye on Kane. After she had kicked him in the temple, he had stood there and stared at her with his gaze slightly off center for some moments before reacting. It had frightened her more than she would ever admit. With a plate in his head, she was aware, he suffered headaches in winter and was not sure if his silent agony was a tough guy thing or he had the ability to ignore pain from his years of military training. His face was still pale when he took a seat in front of her desk. He had insisted on coming into the office but had at least taken the ride she had offered.

She waved at the copious amounts of notes she had added to the whiteboard. “Our suspect is Caucasian, between five ten and six feet tall, muscular build, strong. He disguised his voice, so we don’t have an accent.”

“I could step outside and haul in six men off the sidewalk who match that description.” Bradford wrinkled her nose. “My bet is the killer is Jim Canavar. He seems the most likely to be doing this, going on his history.”

Jenna welcomed discussion. She stood and went to the whiteboard. “Yes, he is on the suspect list. The husband is always a person of interest, and as his last girlfriend went missing and he seems to have vanished, he goes to the top of my list.”

“Don’t forget he is a player.” Rowley straightened in his chair. “Bailey’s friends didn’t hide the fact he likes to play the field.”

“Jim and Bailey seemed pretty devoted to each other.” Kane crossed his long legs at the ankles and looked at Jenna. “Although, I’m surprised he took Bailey back up the mounta

in after she found the skull. She seemed a little freaked out to me. Her money would be a motive for killing her—if he had planned to have her vanish like his girlfriend. Something could have gone wrong and animals did not have time to scatter his victims’ remains. It would be just dumb luck for someone to trip over the bodies in an area the size of Stanton Forest.” He lifted his chin. “I gather from the gossip he was involved with Bailey in the weeks before his ex-girlfriend went missing, which makes me wonder if the girlfriend was a trial run.”

“What if he killed the first couple as well?” Rowley’s eyebrows rose in question. “He could have taken his wife to the murder scene just to see how well the wildlife had scattered the remains.”

“That is a possibility. It might be an idea to look at his phone records and see where he was at the time.” Kane rubbed the darkening bruise on his temple. “They might not show us much if he makes a habit of ditching his cellphone and taking his women off the grid to kill them.”

Jenna nodded in agreement. “Yeah, but we’ll need to do a search of his movements going back a year. Rowley, call Detective Stokes at the Hollywood precinct and tell him what we need. They might be able to chase down some leads.”

“I’m sure he is the killer. I read his file and he is a typical sleaze ball.” Bradford gave Jenna an exasperated look. “I figure the Asian guy was his accomplice, but he killed him and used his vehicle to make his getaway.”

Deciding to explain rather than challenge Bradford’s assertions, Jenna folded her arms and leaned against the wall. “That could be true, and as we haven’t any clues to John Doe’s identity, I’m not ruling out he was involved in some way.”

“I disagree.” Kane shrugged. “We have no evidence to suggest John Doe was involved. The blood spatter evidence suggests he died after Bailey. He could have tried to assist her and the killer murdered him as well.”

“We’ve had an all-points bulletin out on Canavar since his wife’s body was discovered and his face has been splashed all over the news.” Jenna stared at the faces of her deputies. “Not one of the leads panned out even with the substantial reward Bailey’s parents have offered. He hasn’t accessed any of his bank accounts, so if he is still in the forest he is living off the grid.”

“Okay, but if it is him, why keep killing?” Rowley looked bemused. “If money is a motive, as you believe, he wouldn’t gain one cent for killing Lilly Coppersmith.”

“Most psychopaths—and we know this killer is one from what we have seen of his behavior— are very smart. Money would be a very small part of his true motive; those dark, disturbing thoughts would be buried deep in his psyche but the allure of money is tempting as well.” Kane sipped the cup of coffee he was cradling in his hands. “If Canavar is involved in live-streaming murders to the dark web, it would be very lucrative, so don’t count him out just yet.”

Jenna cleared her throat to get everyone’s attention. “The next person of interest is Ethan Woods. Although he seems to keep slipping through our net with the help of his lawyer, I still have him firmly in my sights.” She turned to the board. “He fits the general description and we can place him at Bear Peak at the time of Bailey Canavar’s and John Doe’s murders.”