Bring Me Flowers (Detectives Kane and Alton)

“What about Derick Smith?” Kane stretched out his long legs. “We haven’t really considered him, have we?”

Jenna chewed on the end of the pen. “Okay, I’ll add him with a question mark until you can speak to him again.” She sighed. “Take out Rogers, and all the others look pretty weak.”

“Nah.” Kane’s long fingers closed around his second cup of coffee. “I think we need to take a closer look at Lionel Provine. You have him as a key player in both cases. Both victims played online games and interacted on a social level with Lionel Provine. He lives alone and can’t prove his whereabouts during either murder.”

“Yes, I agree.” Jenna made some notes on the whiteboard. “The kids regard him as a gift horse. He has gotten close to them by giving them gift cards or whatever they use to obtain bonuses in their games. He could be skulking online and pretending he is a kid.”

“That’s a possibility. Those games rooms are open to everyone who purchases the game.” Kane peered at her with a worried gaze. “Pedophiles use them all the time to get close to kids. The fact they are able to swap bonus cards should be a red flag to any parent. Wolfe has been so busy with the forensic investigations he hasn’t had time to look at the victims’ laptops, and their cellphones are missing. He did a trace and couldn’t find any of them, so I would say they’ve been destroyed.”

“That fact alone makes me wonder if the killer has left a trail to him on their cellphones. Maybe not Joanne but the other victims.” Jenna went back to her seat. “He must be close to the local girls; this is why Rogers fits the profile as well. Computer-savvy, knows the girls, hangs around the computer store with Provine, was in the area both times the murders were committed. You said they must have known their killer to be lured to their deaths, or someone had up-close and personal information about their whereabouts.” She picked up her second coffee and sipped. “Rogers could be in the damn games room acting as if he is one of the kids.”

“So what is your next move?”

Jenna tapped her fingernails on the desk and considered his question. “I’ll wait here for Wolfe to return. I can’t leave at the moment. I sent Walters home as he is doing the six until midnight shift.” She rubbed her brow. “Go and lean on Lionel Provine and drop over to Miller’s Garage and have a chat with Derick Smith about where he was last night. I’ll call you if Wolfe has come up with any startling new evidence.”

“Sure.” Kane stood and towered over her. “What time is the lawyer due to arrive? I would like to be present for the interview if that’s possible, ma’am.”

“Three, so you have an hour.” Jenna looked up at him, way up, and smiled. “Would you like to interview Rogers?” She noticed his eyes flicker as if in surprise. “You are my expert of psychopathic behavior and if he is not the killer of our victims, we need to know. Although, dragging him across the table and beating a confession out of him is out of the question as he’ll have his lawyer in the room.” She bit back a snort of laughter.

When Kane’s dark gaze narrowed, she caught a flicker of the man who killed for his country without one shred of remorse.

“Yeah, I’ll be happy to interview him.” Kane inclined his head and examined her face. “If you order me to do anything else, it will have to be after the lawyer has left.” He turned to leave.

Appalled he had taken her joke seriously, she gaped at him. “Kane, I—”

His large frame pivoted in the doorway and he grinned at her. “Gotcha.”

Forty-One

As Kane walked through the jostling crowd toward Miller’s Garage, he noticed Emily Wolfe strolling beside Aimee Fox ahead of him, the pair stopping occasionally to check out the rows of stalls cluttering the sidewalk. After Jenna had informed him both girls should be spending the afternoon at the Fox residence, he pulled out his cellphone and called Wolfe. “Hey, I’m not sticking my nose in your business, man, but I’m heading toward Miller’s Garage and Emily is ten feet in front of me. Jenna mentioned she was at the Foxes’ house this afternoon.”

“Thanks, I’ll give her a call. Keep your eye on her for a few minutes—for her to break one of my rules, she must be onto something. I’m leaving the lab now, ETA ten minutes.”

“Roger that.” Kane disconnected and ambled along the sidewalk as if he had all the time in the world.

He stared into storefronts, keeping his attention locked on the girls. Aimee, it seemed, had a lot more friends than they had anticipated. The girls wore serious expressions as they stopped to speak to a few different teenagers, but when they strolled into Miller’s Garage, he noticed they went straight into the workshop. Stupid! Of course, they know Derick Smith. He had failed to add him to their list of friends.

He purchased a bag of cookies from a stall then spent so long gazing into the window of the bakery that the proprietor came out to speak to him. Embarrassed by the huge box of donuts pushed into his hand, he came close to missing the girls heading out of the garage. He dropped the carton into the plastic sack with the cookies and slipped it over one arm. Following a discreet distance away, he made a mental note of the girls’ interactions. They checked all the stalls, bought cookies, then met Lucas Summerville outside the computer store.

Kane’s cellphone vibrated in his pocket and he found a fuming Shane Wolfe barking into his ear.

“Yeah, hold on, what’s wrong?”

“Emily isn’t taking my call and I’m stuck in traffic.”

“I’m eyeballing her now. She is with Aimee and Lucas Summerville outside the computer store. They are deep in conversation.” Kane cleared his throat. “I’m heading over there; whatever he is saying to them is upsetting Aimee but Emily is taking it in her stride.”

“My daughter is tough, probably too tough for her own good. She would probably slip into your old occupation without blinking an eye. She thinks outside the box.”

“I’ll hang with the kids and wait for you.”

“Do me a favor. Tell her you need her back at the station. She won’t appreciate me hauling her ass out of there.”

Kane bit back a laugh. As tough as Wolfe was, his daughter had him tied around her little finger. “Roger that.” He disconnected and crossed the road.

As he approached the group, he could hear Lucas telling the girls to be careful of strangers if they planned to go to the rodeo dance. Walking up behind him, he slapped him on the shoulder. “Afternoon.”

“What’s going on, Deputy Kane?” Lucas’s mouth turned down. “It’s all over town you arrested Steve Rogers this morning and searched his house. Is he involved in the deaths of our friends?”