Pray for Mercy (Detectives Kane and Alton)

Rubbing her temples, Jenna dragged her mind back to the case. “We have an autopsy at ten.” Her gaze moved over her deputies. “You have your orders, make it happen. Rowley, go help Kane set up the camera, and Rio, make the call.” She waved them away.

She turned to scrutinize the whiteboard, trying to wring out one drop of useful information, when her desk phone rang. Maggie had a call for her from Bret Carson. Assuming Flora’s son was asking after the autopsy findings, Jenna sucked in a long breath. “Mr. Carson. How can I help you?”

“I’m concerned about Mrs. Jefferson, Harriette Jefferson. She’s been very upset as we all have over my grandma’s murder. I thought I’d drop by to see her this morning and she’s not home. I called her and she’s not picking up her phone.” He sounded stressed. “I called some of her friends. I know them because they’re the same acquaintances as my grandma’s, and she didn’t show up at any of their homes. They did see her yesterday. I took the liberty of looking around the house, just in case she’d taken a fall in the backyard. The chickens had no water or food and she loves her chickens. I’m concerned she might be ill inside the house. Or that something happened to her on her way home from town yesterday.”

Glancing at Jo and Carter, Jenna stood. “What makes you think something might have happened to her on her way home?”

“She walks home every day from town as part of her exercise routine. She’s always telling people about how her doctor insists she walks every day. So she does it Monday to Friday like clockwork. You can set your clock by her. The problem is, at this end of Stanton, the houses are spaced wide apart. Some four or five acres between. After what happened to my grandma, well, I’m worried about her.” Bret Carson let out a long breath. “Could you drop by her house and check on her please?”

Picking up a pen, Jenna pulled her notepad toward her. “Okay, give me her details. We’ll come by now.”

“Thank you. I’ll fix up the chickens and wait for you.” Carson disconnected.

In a few words, Jenna brought Jo and Carter up to date. “I’ll need the keys to my cruiser.”

“We’ll come.” Carter jumped to his feet, the action making Zorro stand and stretch luxuriously and stare at him. Carter glanced at Jo. “Right?”

“Yeah, we’ll come.” Jo gathered her things. “I’m out of ideas. I’m hoping Flora Carson’s autopsy will give us something to go on.”

Jenna nodded. “I’m hoping that too, we sure need a breakthrough in this case. Wolfe is the best, and if there’s a clue to the killer, he’ll find it.”

FORTY-ONE

As they made their way down the steps, Jenna noticed Maggie speaking to a boy wearing a hoodie. She was taking down his details and praising him for coming into the office. When she handed him a note, the boy scampered out the door, climbed on his bicycle, and rode away. Jenna walked to the counter. “I’m heading out to hunt down Harriette Jefferson. Let Kane know where I’ve gone when he comes in. The details are in my daybook.”

“Harriette Jefferson?” Maggie’s eyes widened. “You don’t say? That boy just handed in her purse. He found it in Wishing Well Park on Stanton near the well.” She looked from one to the other. “Oh, Lord, I didn’t wear gloves. I just figured I’d look for ID and drop it into the lost and found.”

This is too much of a coincidence. Jenna stared after the boy, making a mental note of his description, not that she could see his face. He could be any of the local kids. Hidden under ballcaps with hoodies stretched over the top, they all blended into one. Could he be the same kid who told Rio about Flora Carson? “Don’t worry, we can eliminate the boy’s and your fingerprints if needs be, but if it looks intact, chances are she dropped it. You did get his details?”

“I sure did, but he was wearing gloves, so no prints.” Maggie indicated to the daybook on the counter. “I wrote him a note as well to explain why he was late for school.” She frowned. “I’m not sure I could recognize him again. I wasn’t paying too much attention.”

“I didn’t get much of a look at him either.” Jenna pulled on gloves and took the bag from her. “Cash, house keys, and phone. So, it wasn’t a purse snatching.” She took the keys and dropped the purse on the counter. “Drop that into an evidence bag. I’ll go straight to Wishing Well Park and see if there’s any sign of her. When Kane comes back send him along. We’ll wait for him.”

Pulling off her gloves, she followed Carter and Jo to the cruiser. She climbed in the back seat, hoping that nothing had happened to Harriette Jefferson. She gave Carter directions to Wishing Well Park. “It’s not in the GPS. It’s a local name for a strange little clearing in the woods. People use it most times as a shortcut. It runs across a sweeping bend in the road and takes about ten minutes off the distance if you take the sidewalk.”

It didn’t take long to reach the grassy stretch beside Stanton and they pulled up beside a well-worn pathway leading into the woods. This area had been part of Stanton Forest before the town council built a road through it, cutting it off and leaving a wooded area with strange twisted trees. Some townsfolk believed the trees objected to being torn away from their families and had become ugly and angry. Although she’d discovered the town council at the time had poisoned the trees, but a rainstorm had soaked the area the same day. The trees had blackened and twisted from the poison. The outcry that followed from the townsfolk when they’d discovered what had happened, prevented any further intervention by the town council. In the eighty years since, the trees had remained a twisted reminder to everyone not to damage the forest.

She stepped out of the cruiser and looked around. “I guess we follow the path. The boy said he found the purse in the clearing near the well.”

The three of them fanned out. Jo took the path and Jenna and Carter walked through the grass on either side of her. Zorro stuck to Carter’s side like glue, lifting his long fine legs through the spiky grass like a prancing horse. Jenna sniffed, searching for anything unusual. The usual pine fragrance held an

underlying damp smell as the forest recovered from the melt, but something else tainted the air. She turned to Carter. “Do you smell anything?”

“Yeah.” Carter waved toward the clearing. “The wind is blowing toward us, so it’s in that direction.”

Scanning back and forth, Jenna searched the ground and found zip. As they moved closer to the dark grotto a shiver of apprehension slid down her spine. The smell was increasing and it was the stink she never forgot. Death lurked close by.

“It smells like something died recently.” Jo peered into the gloom. “It’s so dark in here.” She pulled out her phone and a light lit up the area. “I can’t see a body.”

Jenna pulled out her Maglite and shone the beam around. Carter was doing the same, walking back and forth staring into the surrounding trees. She turned to him. “What about the well. Maybe she fell down there?”

“I don’t figure an old lady could climb up there and jump in.” Carter headed for the well and stopped to stare at the ground. “I have drag marks. I’ll go in from the other side.” He headed through the trees and emerged on the other side of the well. Shining a beam of light into the dark hole, he lifted his head. “She’s here.”

Jenna pushed her way through the dense undergrowth to his side and peered down the well to see a floating body of a white-haired old lady. “Oh, no.” She reached for her phone and called Wolfe. “I’m sorry, the autopsy will have to wait. We have a body down a well. There are drag marks. It’s a possible homicide.”

“Give me the details and I’ll be right there. Is there room for a truck in there? We’ll need to use the winch.”

Jenna swallowed hard. “Yeah, I think so. The well is narrow. I’m not sure how you’re going to get her out.”