“That’s why I want you to handle the interview with Jo.” Jenna smiled at him. “If you don’t mind?”
“My pleasure.” Carter touched his hat and headed for the cruiser with Jo close behind.
Kane looked after them and bit back a grin. “You’ve made his day.”
“I find it difficult giving them orders.” Jenna met his gaze with a frown. “I know this is our case and they’re here as consultants, but sometimes it’s strange. I mean, on the scale of things, they are higher up the chain of command.”
Kane shook his head and followed her to the door of Mrs. Jefferson’s house. He gave Duke the signal to stay and the dog sank down on the porch with a sigh. He turned to Jenna. “Nah, you’re the highest-ranked officer here. The only person over you is the medical examiner at a crime scene. Jo and Carter are here not on a federal level. They’re here to share resources so we can catch a killer. We needed their resources: Carter’s flying skills, Jo’s insight, and Kalo’s IT expertise. They can’t arrest anyone in your county unless they commit a federal crime. They understand what capacity they’re in and won’t overstep, even though the case is now a serial offender. Although they could step in if they considered the killer might be operating out of your jurisdiction.”
“Well, I know that, but it’s still strange.” Jenna pulled on gloves and then took the keys from her pocket. “Let’s take a quick look around and make sure nothing has been touched.”
The house smelled of damp and stale rose perfume but inside was tidy. Kane moved through the downstairs rooms, clearing each one and taking his time to make sure nothing had been disturbed. He sucked in a deep breath and, with Jenna watching his back, ventured down into the cellar. “We’d better take a look.”
“Is that a new furnace?” Jenna kicked at a pile of dust swept against one wall. “Hmm, if this is Duffy’s work, he didn’t take the time to clean up the mess he’d made.” She pointed to an open window. “It looks like he makes a habit of leaving the window open.”
Taking the time to examine the new furnace, Kane bent to pick up a wrench. “Seems he was in a hurry to leave. I think we need to have another chat with Mr. Duffy.”
“If he admits to installing the furnace, it won’t prove anything. I figure we wait and see what the CCTV footage shows after a day or two.” She glanced back up the stairs. “Let’s g
et out of here. I hate cellars.” She headed for the steps.
Kane followed Jenna back into the main part of the residence. It was a large house with five bedrooms upstairs. He opened doors, finding four closets along one wall of the hallway. “This family must have been huge. Look at all the closets.”
“Carson said she didn’t have kids.” Jenna frowned and pulled open a closet door. “Dogs? Do you figure she kept dogs in here?”
The hairs on the back of Kane’s neck stood to attention as he ran his Maglite over the inside of the empty closet. Cobwebs filled the corners and spiders ran from his light, but as he moved the beam around the small space, it picked out long marks dug deep into the door. On one wall someone had scratched a stick figure of a girl with a balloon on a string. He moved to the next door and then the next. All the empty cupboards had the same telltale signs. Turning slowly to take in Jenna’s ashen face, he swallowed the lump in his throat. “She kept kids in here.”
He pulled out his phone and called Kalo. “Bobby, can you check if Mrs. Harriette Jefferson out of Stanton, Black Rock Falls, had any involvement with kids, foster system, teacher, anything at all, and check out her husband too. He died. Go back as far as you can, twenty years if possible. Also, see if there were any reports of kids going missing around the same time. Check all surrounding counties. Thanks.” He disconnected and looked at Jenna. “I guess we’d better go through the bedrooms with a fine-toothed comb. People like this keep souvenirs.”
They moved through the house, checking out each room with care. Inside the master bedroom, Kane turned at Jenna’s intake of breath. “Found something?”
“Yeah.” She held out a cookie tin, the lid rusted with age. “A trophy hoard.”
Kane peered into the collection of hair. Each strand held with a ribbon. Each ribbon had a name written in ballpoint pen. In the bottom of the box, a collection of earrings, necklaces, and bracelets, all costume jewelry or made of plastic—kids’ things. His stomach tightened as his greatest fears for what had happened in this neat home rushed over him. “It’s hard to believe that sweet old lady murdered kids, but it sure looks that way.”
“Well, something sure happened here.” Jenna shuddered and pulled an evidence bag from her jacket pocket and held it open for Kane to drop in the cookie tin. “If she was involved with the foster system or not, we’d better get a team down from Helena to excavate the backyard. I’m treating this as a crime scene just in case.”
FORTY-THREE
As soon as Jenna climbed into the Beast, she called Jo and gave her a rundown of what they’d found. “Ask Carson if Mrs. Jefferson fostered kids. Wait for his reaction. He’d have been around if she’d been friends with his grandma. He’d know if she had kids in the house.”
“Hmm, interesting.” Jo sounded businesslike and Jenna assumed the interview had already started and she couldn’t talk. “I’ll pass that on.” She disconnected.
Jenna shot a glance at Kane. “Okay, now what?”
“Call Wolfe and bring him up to date.” Kane stared straight ahead as they sped along Stanton on the way back to the office. “He’ll be able to arrange a forensic anthropologist team to search the grounds.”
Jenna shuddered. “What is wrong with this town? I thought crime followed us, but the longer I live here, I discover terrible things have been happening here for decades.” She pushed a hand through her hair. “Why in this beautiful place?”
“It’s the vastness and the wilderness.” Kane shrugged. “That’s what attracts people both good and bad. It’s the perfect place to escape the world and detection. That’s why they sent us here, not to mop up the crime but to hide. Seems the more we dig, the more we find, and these cold cases are more chilling than the present crimes. Imagine what the town would have been like twenty or thirty years ago.”
Jenna stared out the window as they moved through town. The place had changed dramatically since she’d arrived. In fact, it had tripled in size and gone from a sleepy backwoods town to a tourist destination. She pulled out her phone and called Wolfe. After explaining, she caught his sharp intake of breath. “So how do you want me to handle this?”
“Four murders and now a cold case?” Wolfe let his breath out in a long sigh. “You do know there’s only one of me working here? I can’t possibly start an excavation with the bodies lining up here for autopsy. I deal with other cases as well. People die in hospital, at home, or have accidents and the cause is unknown. All of these come through my office.”
Swallowing hard, Jenna chewed on her bottom lip. “I know you’re overworked, Shane. Just tell me who to call and I’ll get right on it.”
“I can’t call for a team from Helena to excavate without evidence, Jenna.” Wolfe tapped away on his keyboard. “I could request a cadaver dog and handler. If he finds anything, you’ll be able to get a team to do the excavation. It would be quicker to get your deputies down there to unearth anything that looks suspicious. It’s unusual for people to bury children in deep graves. If they use my drone to search the area, they should be able to map any ground disturbances. Flowerbeds are popular places as well.”