“He knows you’ve been injured.” A shiver went through Jenna. “That was in the newspaper, so he knows you’re not at full strength.” She chewed on her bottom lip. “But how did he know you’d be away at the weekend? Only our team knew.”
Dropping his hands, Kane stared into the distance. The idea of Stone noticing him in the newspaper was so remote he hadn’t told her. He looked at her and shrugged. “There was a picture of me with Jo at the conference in the newspaper on Friday.” He sighed. “You have to remember Jo is a big name in her field. I honestly didn’t know they’d taken a photograph of me until Bobby Kalo checked the newspapers.”
“You knew?” Jenna’s eyes narrowed. “You broke security protocol and didn’t think it was relevant to inform me? I’d have taken precautions if I’d known.”
Kane rolled his eyes. “Really, Jenna? Don’t you figure I’d have called you the moment I found out if I’d known? Kalo only just told me. I spoke to him just before we left the ranch. I’d never risk putting you in danger, Jenna.” He cupped her cheek. “When I left home, everything was sweet. We had no cases, there was no perceivable threat. You had the team behind you and the security on the ranch should have been enough. I’m not clairvoyant. I had no idea any of this would happen.”
“Why didn’t you tell me in the truck on the way here?” Jenna stared up at him, the anger in her eyes palpable. “It’s relevant information and I needed to know.”
Kane blew out a long sigh. “It’s only relevant now we’ve seen the body and have a possible link to Stone. The intruder’s only connection to Stone was the fact he used a crossbow. You said he dressed like an old-time gunslinger, long coat, hat, and Stone wore a mask and camouflage gear.?
?? He could feel Jenna tense under his palm. “Say I’d known about the newspaper article and called you before all this happened? You would have told me to stop being overprotective and that you could take care of yourself.” He dropped his hand with some reluctance. “I can’t win either way, can I?”
“I guess.” Jenna rubbed her temples. “Okay, let’s get at it. There’s a woman out there with an ear missing.” She pulled out her phone. “Now we have her ID, I’ll call Rowley. He can hunt her down at the ER and local doctors. I’ll ask Rio to put out a media release and a BOLO on her. We might have some information by the time we get back to the office.”
Relieved that Jenna had dropped back into her professional mode, Kane nodded. “They must have arrived here in a vehicle. I’ll call Kalo. Once we have the plate number, make, and model we can add that to the BOLO.”
“Yeah, we’ll need help to chase her down. She could be lying injured and need help. I want every man and his dog out looking for her within the hour.” Jenna walked toward the horses. “I’ll grab my satellite phone. The reception isn’t so good this close to the mountain.”
Kane took the satellite sleeve from his pocket and slid it onto his phone. He made the calls, and after his phone had chimed the receipt of a text with the information, he chatted to Kalo about his latest online game scores.
“When y’all have finished playing with your phones. I’ve a corpse to get on ice.” Wolfe walked up behind Kane. “My team has bagged and tagged all the evidence. If you could assist in packing everything onto the horse, I’d appreciate it. I’ve a long day ahead of me and I want to get off the mountain.”
Kane turned to look at him. “Sure, I’ll get out a BOLO for June Harris and the vehicle and get right at it.” He made the call.
After they’d packed the horses, they headed down the mountain, but even with the body sealed in a body bag the scent of death lingered. It would cling to his clothes and he couldn’t wait to get in the shower. Kane moved his mount closer to Jenna. “Are you still riled with me?”
“No, not after you explained.” She turned in her saddle to look at him. Her raven hair had dropped over one eye and she dragged it back behind one ear. “I don’t care what proof everyone thinks they have about Stone’s lack of communication. I know it’s him. Something, an early warning system inside me, whatever, is screaming his name at me. He’s involved, I’m sure of it.”
Kane shrugged. “I often go with my gut feeling.” He scanned the area, peering into the deep shadows, ever moving like a living entity as the wind rustled through the trees. “Believe it or not, I figure we’re being watched. It can’t be Stone unless he died and his ghost is haunting the forest, and although that might be an option for you, even after listening to Atohi’s stories, I don’t believe in ghosts. Trust me: if people could come back, they’d sure as hell be haunting me.”
“Then it’s someone we know.” Jenna moved her mare away as Kane’s stallion’s teeth snapped an inch from her toes. “What do we really know about Rio? Let’s face facts here, Dave. If we are living a lie, he could be too. They put killers in witness protection too if they roll over on their crime boss.”
Kane shook his head. “No way. Wolfe checked him out with his people. Rio is clean.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I hope the woman shows and she’s not out there somewhere being tortured. This murder was well planned. Who brings gas with them hunting? I figure what happened to Payton Harris isn’t this killer’s first dance and it won’t be his last.”
Eighteen
The temperature had dropped considerably by the time Jenna returned to the Beast. Exhausted from lack of sleep and an adrenalin high that had lasted six hours or so, the cold wind was the only thing keeping her awake. She rubbed her arms with frozen fingers. Latex gloves did nothing to prevent the bitter cold of the northern regions of Stanton Forest. Getting the body and the mound of evidence Wolfe had collected into his van had been a long task. She had been grateful when Blackhawk had gathered up the reins of the horses and led them back to the res. Suffering a headache straight from hell and a backache that went from her backside down both legs, she tried unsuccessfully to climb into the Beast and just leaned against the door gathering her strength.
“Are you ill?” Kane closed the distance between them in two strides. “Headache?”
Jenna peered at him from under her lashes. Darn, even blinking hurt. “Yeah, and my back has seized up. The headache is a mystery, but the back must have been from sitting on a cold floor all night.”
“Just stay there for a second, don’t move.” Kane hurried away and moments later came back with Wolfe.
“I’m fine, Shane.” Jenna blinked at Wolfe. “I’m tired is all.”
“Where does it hurt?” Wolfe prodded at her back. “Hmm, muscle spasms. I can give you something for that.” He bent to go through his field medical kit.
The fact that as a medical doctor Wolfe preferred to examine the dead didn’t bother Jenna. He’d flown a medevac chopper during his tour of duty, treated many wounded troops, and saved Kane’s life on more than one occasion. She trusted him implicitly. “Thanks. I need to have my wits about me, no morphine.”
“Sure, show me your hip.” Wolfe prepared a needle, swabbed her skin, and jabbed it in. “There you go. You’ll be fine after a good night’s sleep.” He looked at her. “Go home. You need to rest. You can work from the cottage if needs be. I’ll be performing the autopsy on the victim in the morning at eleven.”
“Thanks.” She turned to Kane. “Can you help me climb in? My back is frozen.” Then she remembered. “Oh, no, I’ll ask Wolfe. I forgot about your injury.”
The next moment Jenna landed softly in the passenger seat, the harness was strapped around her, and Kane had tucked a blanket around her.
“I’m fine.” Kane narrowed his gaze. “It’s been a month and I can start back on my regular exercises next week. I can do warm-ups now. The scan came back fine. There’s no permanent damage, the doctor was just being cautious.”