Whisper in the Night (Detectives Kane and Alton)

“Sure but someone close by is doing this, I feel it in my bones.”

Kane nodded. “Yeah, I feel the same way. Thanks for your help.”

“Any time.” Blackhawk disconnected.

When Lancaster strolled up to him, Kane looked him up and down. “Had any experience with explosives?”

“Nope.” Lancaster smiled. “Not much call for them in my line of work.” He tipped his hat and kept walking.

Thirty-Four

Kane slipped into the classroom and all eyes turned to him. Jenna sat in the middle of a group of teenage girls. Two teachers he assumed were Miss Dryden and Mr. Ambrose stood to one side, and a few boys were there too, listening with interest. From the conversation, the girls involved all had similar dreams. A shadowy figure appeared in the corner of their room and sometimes they could hear a whisper. When their parents searched the room and outside the home, they found no trace of an intruder.

Outside stimuli often generated dreams and a hypnotist could utilize them as a preset trigger. He walked closer to the group. “May I ask a question, Sheriff?”

“Go right ahead.” Jenna turned to look over her shoulder at him.

“The girls who’ve had bad dreams raise your hands.” Kane looked at the six of them and smiled. “How many of you leave your drapes open at night?”

Their hands all remained high in the air. Interesting. All the girls had outside stimuli to trigger their dreams. He turned his attention to the remaining three girls. “How about you? Do any of you sleep with the drapes open?”

No hands raised.

“Okay, thanks, girls.”

As Jenna continued to chat to the girls, he allowed the information to drift through his mind. He’d found a key to link the girls together. His attention moved to the teachers, wondering if either of them was involved. The problem was all the staff would’ve undergone vigorous background checks to be able to work with children, so he dismissed them but took note of their names to run

a background check anyway. He let the case of Lindy Rosen filter through his mind again. They hadn’t considered the fact the killer could be a woman. He’d discuss the notion with Jenna on the way back to the office. He headed over to the teachers with Duke at his heels. He figured it wouldn’t hurt to have the dog sniff them; but again Duke didn’t react and just rolled on his back to allow them to rub his belly.

He smiled at the teachers. “I hear you’re doing Macbeth this year. Great play. I saw it at Stratford-upon-Avon in England many years ago.”

“We don’t mention the title during the rehearsals or anytime during the performance of the play. It’s said to be bad luck.” Miss Dryden, a petite, dark-haired woman in her late twenties, looked distraught. “We’ve two of our students involved in the play missing already.”

Kane shrugged. “If you believe naming the play aloud caused their abductions then I’d suggest you forget performing it again.” He scrutinized their unconcerned reactions. “Did the same thing happen the last time this play was performed here?”

“I’ve no idea – that was before our time.” Mr. Ambrose, middle-aged and balding, glared at the group of boys, who were snorting with amusement. “I moved to Black Rock Falls about two years ago.” He indicated to Miss Dryden. “Miss Dryden joined the team this year.”

Kane turned his attention on the boys. “I see you find it amusing Lindy Rosen was murdered and Amanda is missing. Why is that?”

The boys sobered at once. Two of them went sheet-white. Kane looked down at one of them. “Well?”

“We don’t figure it’s funny about Lindy and Amanda.” The boy straightened, trying to be tough. “It’s the stupid curse about the play and the girls believing in ghosts. We figure it’s funny is all… ah, sir.”

“Okay.” Kane handed them all his cards. “If you hear or see anything unusual, never mind how trivial, call me. We need to find Amanda and stop this happening again.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Jenna staring at him. He turned to her. “Are you ready to go, ma’am?”

“Yeah.” Jenna turned to the teachers. “Thank you for your time.” She led the way to the door. Outside in the parking lot, she looked up at him. “Why did you ask about drapes?”

Kane unlocked his truck and lifted Duke into the back seat, then climbed behind the wheel. “It’s a link between the girls who had nightmares.” He started the engine and swung the car around to head back to the office. “I’d like to know if Lindy and Amanda slept with the drapes open.”

“Why?” Jenna clicked in her seatbelt and turned to look at him.

“Both the Rosens’ and Braxtons’ houses have trees opposite the girls’ bedrooms.” Kane accelerated along Stanton Road. “Either the shadows from the trees are triggering the dreams or, if you want to go with a hypnotist’s trigger, he could use the shadows from the trees hitting the windows.” He glanced at her. “Say he conditioned them to believe they see the man – first he tests it to see if it works, then perhaps he ups the ante and adds something like, ‘when the shadows cross your bed on a full moon’ or, ‘walk downstairs and out into the dark’ – or maybe the sunshine. Something that isn’t frightening.”

“Okay, we’ll look into that idea, as crazy as it sounds.” Jenna reached for her go cup of coffee, sipped, and then pulled a face. “Yuk, cold coffee, and I’m starving but we can’t waste time stopping to eat. Wolfe will be at the office with McLeod.”

Kane shrugged. “Rowley would have ordered a mountain of food from Aunt Betty’s.” He glanced at her. “Another thing – we’re focusing on a male killer. What if it’s a woman these girls know and trust? They’d open the door for her. Even take a ride with her.”