“Okay, let’s see if anyone is down here.” Kane aimed his flashlight down the alleyway. “That street light is out.” He pointed the light at the glass. “It’s broken. So, it’s been vandalized on purpose.” He headed into the darkness, his light illuminating the line of three dumpsters ahead.
“I saw him down there near the dumpsters.” Jenna followed close behind. “The mist and the shafts of sunlight made it difficult to see him.”
“There’s no one here now.” Kane lowered the flashlight to the ground. “There are a ton of footprints.
No doubt people from the stores are in and out all day dumping their garbage. There’s nothing here we can use to identify anyone.” He turned to look at her. “This doesn’t mean someone wasn’t here trying to frighten you, but if it was the same person who broke into your house, how would they know you were here?”
Suddenly cold, Jenna looked at him. “They’re watching me, or followed me from the office and slipped by when I was in the store.” She shook her head. “I saw him, Dave. I’m not going crazy.”
“I believe you.” He took her hand. “You’re freezing. We’re going to be stuck in town for a while. I’ve called in the night shift you arranged to stay with Adams but we’ll be late getting home. Maggie is staying back, so we might as well grab a bite to eat as we have to stop by Aunt Betty’s to collect Adams’ meal.” He led her back to Main and they climbed into the truck. “I want to discuss the interview with Adams. I’m convinced he killed Payton Harris. He has the overconfident attitude of so many serial killers we’ve interviewed. The only problem I have is he is admitting to everything.”
Astonished, Jenna turned to him. “He admitted to killing Harris?”
“Nope, but everything else. Including meeting the couple in Aunt Betty’s and taking them into the forest. He took them to an isolated area and supposedly left them there to find their way home in the morning.” Kane raised an eyebrow. “What sensible person does that to an out-of-towner? He uses a crossbow and admits to being a good shot. He knows about James Stone and was in the same jail for a time. He didn’t admit to meeting him, though; he said he was in a different part of the jail. We don’t know if Stone’s story influenced him or if he found out how Stone killed his victims through prison scuttlebutt.” He pulled to the curb outside Aunt Betty’s. “It’s as if he admitted being with the couple all the time but just left out killing Payton Harris. Then we have his conviction of the supposedly accidental shooting of another man. I’ll check that out when we get to Aunt Betty’s. If Adams shot him in the head with a crossbow, I think we have enough circumstantial evidence for the DA to charge him with murder.”
After eating a quick meal, Jenna collected the sandwiches and a to-go cup of coffee for Riley Adams and they headed back to the office. While Kane delivered the prisoner his meal, Jenna correlated the evidence to present to the DA for an arrest warrant for Adams. She glanced up at a knock on the door. “Ah, Zac, what do you have for me?”
“Nothing much, I’m afraid.” Deputy Rio stood hat in hands just inside the door. “We have his quiver and Wolfe has identified small fragments of wood on them that could be from the holes in the trees I noticed in the forest.”
Jenna straightened in her chair. “Or from my house. He did make the effort of removing most of the bolts before he left. If Wolfe finds a match to my house, it will be all we need. I’d say the pine trees in Stanton Forest will all come back as the same species but not the interior of my home.” She pushed both hands through her hair. “Nothing else?”
“Not in the house.” Rio smiled. “We went over that place with a fine-tooth comb, vacuumed the carpets, checked for any trophies, took his dirty laundry and a pair of his boots. Wolfe will check everything back at the lab but the tests he did on scene didn’t show anything of interest. It looks clean. The vehicle is immaculate, I figure he had it cleaned this morning, but Wolfe will do a forensic sweep as soon as possible.”
“Okay, thanks.” Jenna stood, collected the documents from the printer, and tapped them into a neat pile. She turned back to Rio. “What’s your take on Adams?”
“The evidence points to him.” Rio shrugged. “It would be a slam dunk if we had some physical evidence.” An expression of remorse crossed his face. “I’ve been checking in all day with search and rescue as you asked. It’s as if June Harris has disappeared without a trace.” He rubbed his chin. “I hope Blackhawk is as good as you say and he can track her from the marks I found in the trees. I’m convinced the blood in the forest belongs to her.”
Jenna nodded. “He’s the best tracker I know, and we should have an answer on the blood you found this evening. I know Wolfe set up the DNA sequencing machine before he left with you but that’s to see if it’s a match for the ear we found at my ranch. He’s still waiting for a DNA comparison from a close relative of June Harris.” She smiled at him. “Go home and get some rest. You’ve an early start in the morning.”
“I will, thank you.” Rio turned and headed down the steps.
A few moments later, Kane walked into the office with his phone pressed to one ear. He glanced at Jenna. “One moment, I’ll ask Jenna.” He muted his phone. “I have caught the DA at his office, he’ll wait for the paperwork on Harris and go over it at home tonight if it’s ready?”
Jenna slid the documents from the printer into a folder. “Yes, everything is here. We’ll update him if any forensic evidence comes to light overnight.”
She listened as Kane relayed the details. When he disconnected, she handed him the document. “You’ll have to run through this with him.”
“I already have over the phone.” Kane grabbed his coat from a peg behind the door and shrugged into it. “I’ll take this to him now.” He picked up the folder. “Oh, by the way, I sent Maggie home when the night shift arrived.”
Exhausted, Jenna stood and walked around the desk. “Thank goodness. I’ll grab my coat. We can drive over to the DA’s office and then head straight home. It’s been a long day.” She looked down at Duke curled up in his basket, eyes tight shut. “Even Duke is tuckered out.”
“He doesn’t need an excuse.” Kane chuckled and collected the bag from the gun store. He peered inside. “Mmm, cookies.” He looked at Jenna. “Did you buy these for me?”
Jenna followed him down the stairs. “Yeah, and I have cakes too, but after seeing the man in the alleyway, they slipped my mind.” She tapped him on the shoulder. “I hope you have hot chocolate to go with the cookies?”
“Sure.” Kane headed for the front door. “I’ll make you some as soon as we get home.” He glanced at his phone. “I hope this new phone opens the gate, or we’ll be sleeping in the truck.”
Twenty-Nine
Wednesday
Wind buffeted the cottage and rattled the windows, but it was Kane whistling a tune that woke Jenna on Wednesday morning. She peered from under the blankets to the light streaming from the hallway across her bedroom floor and listened to Kane clattering around in the kitchen. She turned to look at the clock on the bedside table. It was almost six, and by this time Kane had probably already tended the horses. She moved and Pumpkin, her black cat, stretched and rolled onto her back with four feet raised and front paws kneading the air. Cats seemed to stretch from the tip of their tails to the ends of their claws, and watching her fascinated Jenna. Pumpkin had arrived at the cottage when they returned home, tail held high and complaining bitterly about being left alone with strangers.
They’d been stopped at the gate, their creds scrutinized, and escorted to the cottage. The ranch resembled a building site crossed with a scouts’ jamboree. Tents and the smell of cooking greeted them the moment they climbed out of the Beast. The noise of men working went long into the night. To Jenna’s surprise, the horses had been tended, too, and the stables were spotless. She’d wanted to enter her house and see what progress had been made during her absence but had been prevented by the guard at her front door saying it was too dangerous to go inside. The smell of paint spilled from the house, and through the open door she could see men working in organized chaos.
She sat up and shivered. There was a chill in the air, which was unusual, as Kane usually kept the heat turned up. She dropped her legs over the edge of the bed and pushed her feet into her slippers. Pulling on her coat as she walked because she’d left most of her clothes at the house in her rush to escape, she headed for the kitchen. “Morning.”
“Hey.” Kane flashed a white smile at her. “I’ve just put on the coffee. You could’ve taken your time this morning, everything is done. “I had help with the horses this morning; in fact, I hardly did a thing. The team Wolfe organized to repair the house is doing just about everything.” He frowned. “You look kinda lost, Jenna. Is your back still sore? Come here.” He walked toward her and pulled her against him, enclosing her in a bear hug.