Where Angels Fear (Detectives Kane and Alton)

Jenna shook her head. “No, this is personal.”

“You’re not ill, are you?” Concern etched Kane’s expression. “If so, I have time now. He’s at the cottage.”

“I’m fine. This is something from before we met.” Jenna gave him what she hoped was a meaningful look. “I’ll explain later.”

“Roger that.” Kane strolled out the door.

During breakfast, Jenna discussed the daily running of the office. Apart from the Sky Paul case, her deputies had to cope with the usual day-to-day problems in town. Rowley reported a large number of vehicle collisions due to the bad weather, and the usual complaints. She eyed him over the rim of her cup, then placed the cup on the table. “Contact the Department of Transport and see if they can spray more salt on the roads in town. They invested in more snowplows this year and are concentrating on keeping the highway clear, so maybe they need to be advised of the situation.”

“Yes, ma’am, I’ll get on to it right away.” Rowley rose from the table, rinsed his plate and cup and placed them in the dishwasher. “We have people coming home for the holidays and I figured a public announcement to make sure they have chains or all-weather tires fitted to their vehicles would be beneficial.”

Jenna nodded in agreement. “Yeah, and maybe add to stay indoors during a blizzard and keep off the roads unless necessary.” She shook her head. “I can’t imagine why people come here in winter. I would be taking a vacation somewhere warmer, if I had an option.”

“Me too.” Rowley smiled.

Jenna glanced at her notebook. Working away from the office was a pain, like dealing with problems second-hand. “Another thing, with the Sky Paul case, I’m thinking ‘what if’ as we have nothing to go on. What if the man Ella Tate saw wasn’t alone?”

“Possible but if there was another man in the car wouldn’t he have helped try and catch her?” Kane scooped eggs into his mouth. “Why do you figure there are two men involved?”

Jenna sighed. “Because Sky’s vehicle vanished from sight and the man who attacked her had the keys.”

“Most vehicles around this way carry some type of towing device.” Rowley frowned. “It would be easy to hitch it to the back of his truck and tow it anywhere. It could be in another state by now.”

Jenna sighed. “Yeah, search and rescue said much the same. The time between the incident and getting on scene was far too long.” She looked at her deputies and shrugged. “It was just a thought.”

“We could make a visit to the local recycling yards but they were told to be on the lookout for the missing vehicle.” Kane cleared his throat. “Most have shut down over the holidays as well.”

Jenna nodded. “It’s worth a drive-by. If they’re closed, the car could have been abandoned outside.”

“I’ll go take a look.” Kane stood and refilled his cup. “But I figure search and rescue or the snowmobile team would have found it, even with the blizzard.”

“I’ll head into the office and open up.” Rowley shrugged into his coat and looked at Kane expectantly. “The snowplow should have cleared the roads by now.”

“I’ll be in later. I have to drop into the ME’s office to speak to Emily.” Kane sat back in his chair, making it groan under his weight. “I promised to take her some information on profiling.”

“Okay.” Rowley nodded at Jenna and headed for the front door, stopping to pull on his boots.

Once the door closed, Jenna explained the blood test situation to Kane. “Wolfe is concerned about security and is contacting HQ.”

“Don’t be surprised if a chopper lands here with a specialist crew on board.” Kane frowned. “They tend to move swiftly. I’ll call Rowley and tell him I’m staying home today.”

“It’s no big deal, Dave.” Jenna lifted her chin. “I m

anaged just fine before you arrived. I’m armed and aware of a potential threat. I’m sure I’ll make it until you come home at two.” She sighed. “I can’t see anyone risking an attack in daylight.”

“That would depend on the threat.” Kane’s expression of concern spoke volumes. “Did Wolfe mention anything about hacking the doctor’s computer?”

Jenna shook her head. “No, and I would say to do that legally would be difficult with the patient privilege laws.”

“I doubt HQ will be waiting for a court order, somehow.” Kane drummed his fingers on the table and smiled. “Wolfe told me you have information that’s even above my pay grade, so they’ll do one of two things—hack the doctor’s computer to see who she is contacting, or come and take you out of the equation.”

The thought of leaving her home, Kane, Wolfe, Rowley, Emily and her sisters hit her hard in the pit of the stomach. “I’m not leaving Black Rock Falls. You and the others are the only family I have now.” She stared at him in disbelief. “I’ll refuse to go. I nearly lost you once and I’m not losing you again.”

“You won’t have any choice.”

Sixteen

It was with some reluctance Kane left the house with Duke on his heels. With a possible threat hanging over Jenna, the last thing he wanted to do was leave her alone at an isolated ranch. Her insistence she would carry her Glock in a shoulder holster did little to ease his worry. If an assassin got through her inadequate security system, she wouldn’t have time to get to the safe room in the barn. Her ring when activated alerted his cellphone but he would be too far away to lend assistance in an emergency, yet she insisted on staying alone, giving the excuse that she would need to be available if Wolfe organized a team from HQ to update her security. Unconvinced his trip to the recycling yards was a priority he stood on the stoop for a few moments staring out across the landscape.