Pray for Mercy (Detectives Kane and Alton)

She walked to Kane’s desk, pulled out a chair sitting beside him, and looked at Rowley. “Who are all these women?”

“That was my fault.” Rowley glanced back at the crowd. “I went down Agnes Wagner’s contacts list and made a few calls.” He pushed his hands into the front pockets of his jeans and shrugged. “I mentioned Mrs. Wagner had died and we needed to know who’d seen her last. All but one of them had seen her recently and none of them would give out any more information over the phone. They all wanted to speak to you because they don’t trust strangers calling out of the blue. Well, all but Mrs. Mills, Wolfe’s housekeeper. She was having lunch with Mrs. Jacobs—ah, that’s Rio’s housekeeper—and they both said they’d drop by. Well, seems they all showed at once.”

Not surprised by the women’s reaction, Jenna nodded. “Okay, Maggie will sort them out.” She leaned back in her chair. “I need you to go with Rio and drop by Mrs. Wagner’s property to hunt down the murder weapon. It’s probably an icepick or similar. Rio has the details and has metal detectors for you to use.” Beside her, Kane’s stomach rumbled, reminding her it had been six hours since breakfast and Rowley had been stuck in the office all morning. “Grab a quick bite to eat and then head out with him to the victim’s property.” She waved him away. “Get at it.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

As Rowley walked away, she turned to Kane. “Thoughts? Apart from what’s on today’s specials at Aunt Betty’s?”

“Oh, I already know them. Susie sends me a text every morning.” Kane rubbed his belly. “I’m sure, I’ll survive another hour or so.” He indicated with his chin to the women seated in the foyer. “The women have settled down now and before we take individual statements, maybe we should speak to them as a group.” He collected pens from the top of his desk and dropped them into the bottom of a candy jar. “I figure they’re involved in a group activity or maybe they help out at the shelter. They must all have something in common.”

Jenna pushed to her feet. “That works for me. Grab a notebook and take down anything we need to follow up on.” She made her way through the office and stood in front of the women. She caught sight of Wolfe’s housekeeper and smiled at her. “Mrs. Mills, I need a spokesperson. I assume you all know each other?”

“We do.” Mrs. Mills stood and her lips quivered. She seemed almost on the edge of tears. “What happened to Agnes?” She shook a finger at Jenna. “Don’t tell us she died in her sleep or some other fanciful nonsense. I’ve been working for the ME long enough to know th

e deputies don’t go around calling everyone unless something’s wrong.”

Scanning the concerned faces, Jenna straightened. “You’d know that I’m not able to give you details of the case, but her death is suspicious. So we need you, her friends, to give us as much information about her as possible. For instance, when you last spoke to her, did she mention having anyone drop by? Was she getting quotes for work around the house? Has she mentioned if she was concerned about anything?”

“I last spoke to her on the phone not three days ago.” Mrs. Mills’ brows knitted into a frown. “She mentioned having a new furnace fitted and having to leave the window open in the cellar. A critter had crawled inside the cellar and died. She complained about the smell, but she would have closed it by now. We all met this morning, for the first time since the melt, for our quilting circle but she didn’t show and she’s never missed a meeting. We used to hold our meetings at one of our members’ homes, but now we have a nice cozy room at the town hall we can use from ten until two.”

Jenna frowned. “No one thought to call her?”

“Of course, we called her.” Mrs. Mills’ eyes filled with unshed tears. “Now we know why she didn’t pick up. I had planned to drive by her place as soon as the meeting ended.”

Jenna didn’t have to glance at Kane to know he’d be taking notes. His solid presence beside her had calmed everyone down. She wasn’t sure how he did it, but she’d seen the Kane effect many times. The townsfolk felt safe when he was around. Turning her attention back to Mrs. Mills, she sighed. “I know this is difficult, but we desperately need information. Anything you can remember will help. Do you recall if Agnes mentioned the name of the contractor?”

“That would be Trey Duffy.” A small woman, with a round face peeking out from under a knitted hat embellished with roses, stepped forward. “I recommended him. He replaced the furnace in my cellar as well. He did a fine job, took away my old furnace, and cleaned up all the mess afterward.” She cleared her throat. “Many of us use the same contractors. People we think we can trust—this being Black Rock Falls and all.”

“May I have your name?” Kane moved closer to the woman. “What other contractors do you share? Do you have their contact details?”

“Mrs. Harriette Jefferson out of Stanton Road and, yes, I do, right here on my phone.” Mrs. Jefferson’s cheeks blushed bright red. “I’m a widow and need help with a few things from time to time—we all do.”

“Can you give them to me, please.” Kane moved closer and took the details. “Anyone else?”

“Many of us call Colby Hahn if we need a handyman, or Archie Bueller if we need a gardener.” Mrs. Jefferson gripped her purse in front of her like a shield. “I do recall Agnes mentioning Colby did some fixing up at her place before the snow.”

Jenna held up a hand to get everyone’s attention. “Okay, did anyone here see Agnes at any time before Sunday?”

“I did. I’m Mrs. Jacobs, Deputy Zac Rio’s housekeeper.” She nodded to Jenna. “Nice to see you again, Sheriff.”

“And you too.”

Not wanting to chat, Jenna slid a meaningful glance at Kane, to block the unnecessary chatter.

“Can you elaborate?” Kane stared at her, pen raised. “When, where, and approximate time.”

“Aunt Betty’s Café last Friday. We met at one and stayed until about two.” Mrs. Jacobs smiled. “I have to be home for when Cade and Piper come home.” She rolled her eyes. “Well, let’s say I have to be there to make sure they get home and aren’t sneaking off to the computer shop or hanging out in town. Zac likes to make sure they’re at home in case he’s held up here.”

“Okay.” Kane made copious notes on his screen.

Thinking for a beat, Jenna cleared her throat. “Was there anything in her conversation with you about any problems she was having, or any worries, prowlers or the like?”

“Well, she’d changed the furnace because it was making a noise and keeping her awake at night.” Mrs. Jacobs stared into space for long seconds like an automaton that needed winding or a server drop out freezing an image on a screen, and then all at once, she came back on line and blinked. “Not that I recall, but you really need to know about Jolene Darvish’s near-death experience this morning. She lives out on Rocky Road. The poor woman is all alone out there and the melt has caused rockslides. The mountain road to her home is covered with debris.” She heaved a long breath. “Now Jolene isn’t the skittish type, but she told me a truck was tailgating her this morning and came close to running her off the road. You know that road up to Bear Peak is twisty and can be darn right dangerous. What fool drives like a maniac in that neck of the woods?”

Concerned, for the woman’s safety, Jenna glanced at the group of people. “Is she here today?”

“No, she is not.” Mrs. Jacobs lifted her chin. “She left to drop by the general store before Deputy Rowley called us. We couldn’t let her know about the calls. Jolene turns off her phone when she’s not using it to save the battery.”