Break the Silence (Detectives Kane and Alton)

“I can’t say until I complete the autopsy. I’ll need to open him up and make sure he isn’t suffering from anything unusual, but his medical record, apart from a recent football injury, indicates he was in top shape.” Wolfe shrugged. “I’ll do a toxicology screen as well but if someone murdered this young man, he sure tried to make it appear like an accident.”

A horrible sensation of dread slid over Jenna at the thought of another killer in Black Rock Falls. Had the once sleepy town become a magnet for everyone with the itch to go on a killing spree? She lifted her gaze from the body back to Wolfe. “Okay, we’ll head back to the office and try and hunt down some clues to get a jump on who is doing this and why.”

“I’ll send over a report when I’m through.” Wolfe lifted a scalpel from the tray.

“Thanks.” She waited a beat. “Did you match the ring we found in Jacobs’ locker with the mark on Chrissie Lowe’s arm, or the handprints?”

“Not yet.” The scalpel in Wolfe’s hand hovered over Devon’s chest. “Later today I want to make sure that the bruising is more pronounced. I’ll take more images and make a digital comparison but from what I can see with my naked eye, it looks like a match.” He frowned. “It might be an idea to run down the design, just in case it’s a team ring or similar.”

“I’m on it.” Jenna made a hasty retreat from the morgue. With Webber still officially a deputy, the need to have a law enforcement officer as a witness to the autopsy was satisfied.

As she walked out into the fresh air, she turned to Kane. “Dammit, seems like we’ve got another killer in town.” She threw her hands into the air. “What is it with Black Rock Falls? It’s as if someone is advertising it as a serial killer’s playground.”

“I wouldn’t say that too loud.” Kane grinned at her. “Someone will make it the title of a book.”

Thirty

Kane met Rowley and Walters on the sidewalk outside the sheriff’s department. He’d given Jenna a ride back to the office and then had gone to collect the food order for the meeting from Aunt Betty’s Café. As Walters made his way inside, Kane stared at Rowley’s disheveled appearance and raised one eyebrow. “Trouble?”

“You could say that.” Rowley straightened his shirt and ran one hand through his hair before replacing his Stetson. “The usual fights breaking out all over town from the influx of cowboys, and this time they ran their mouths at an interstate MC having a few beers at the Triple Z Bar.” He shook his head. “It wasn’t pretty. We tried to calm things down without luck. I went back to my cruiser and pulled out the shotguns. I climbed onto the bar and the owner turned off the lights and then switched them on again. When they noticed us, they settled down.”

Kane flicked a glance at Rowley’s cruiser. “No arrests?”

“Finding

out who threw the first punch would be like sorting my grandma’s tangled knitting yarn.” Rowley grimaced. “No one was talking, so I took down their names and gave them a warning.” He indicated to the food in Kane’s arms with his chin. “We having a meeting?”

“Yeah.” Kane nodded. “Wolfe figures both deaths are homicides.” He cleared his throat. “While you’re here, Jenna wants to throw a birthday party for Wolfe’s little Anna. You coming?”

“Wouldn’t miss it.” Rowley’s cheeks pinked. “I’m seeing someone but it’s early days yet. Sandy works in administration at the college. Can I bring her along?”

Kane smiled. “Sure.” He headed up the steps and shouldered his way through the glass doors.

“Good, you’re all here.” Jenna stood at her office door. “Wolfe and Webber are still working on the Devon autopsy, so we’ll have to go ahead without them.” She went to her whiteboard and waited for them to sit down. “I’ve discussed the three cases with Kane and Wolfe. As the football team shares a link with these otherwise seemingly unrelated cases, I’ll need to add the information to the whiteboard side by side so we can consider the whole picture. Kane, will you bring everyone up to date and I’ll get the information onto the whiteboard?”

Kane scrolled through the files on his cellphone. “Okay, at first we believed we had three separate cases, so we’ll take them one by one. Wolfe hasn’t ruled out Chrissie Lowe’s cause of death is suicide. She made a date with the quarterback Seth Lyons to go to a party on Saturday night but according to his friends at the house where they all live, she never showed. Duke thinks otherwise and gave positive results of her being there. We’re waiting on blood samples taken at the scene to see if they’re a match for Chrissie.” He waited a beat for Jenna to write the information on the whiteboard. “Her roommate, Livi Johnson, gave us a statement confirming Chrissie left the building around nine and was last seen getting into a silver sedan. This sedan belongs to the janitor, John Beck, who leaves his car keys unattended in his office. Wolfe obtained forensic proof Chrissie was in that vehicle but Beck has a solid alibi, so we can only assume the person who gave Chrissie a ride to and from the house used his car.” He frowned. “By all accounts Chrissie was intelligent and it’s highly unlikely she’d take a ride with a stranger, which makes me believe Seth Lyons and perhaps one of his friends were in the car.”

“As the football players living with Lyons are close-knit, we have Webber working undercover at the college; he’s known there, tried out for the football team, and was accepted.” Jenna turned to look at them. “So, if you see him on the street, walk on by, he’ll understand. From conversations with Lyons, Webber believes he lures girls, usually freshmen, to the house and drugs them, and then he and a number of his friends rape them.”

“Did Wolfe find any proof?” Rowley’s mouth turned down. “Chrissie Lowe had been under a hot shower for hours; there’d be no DNA on her body and I doubt anyone who planned a rape would forget about protection.”

Kane shook his head. “No trace DNA evidence was found but she does have handprints on both arms, and one bruise is quite distinct and in the shape of a ring. Wolfe has a ring owned by Alex Jacobs and will update us if he considers it a match.”

“Walters, I need you to run down the ring design.” Jenna looked at the elderly deputy. “Make sure it’s not a school ring or whatever and everyone has one.”

“Sure thing. So why wouldn’t the girl come and tell you about the rape, Sheriff?” Old Duke Walters scratched at the white stubble on his chin. “Why kill herself? From what I’ve found out about her, she was a straight-A student. Makes no sense, no sense at all.”

“We’ll get to that later.” Jenna continued to add the facts to the whiteboard. “Our first assumption was it was murder, and until Wolfe makes a decision that still must be a consideration. She didn’t leave a note but maybe she tried to reach out to someone before she died.” She frowned. “We couldn’t find her cellphone, although from her records she sent a short message at two thirty on Sunday morning.”

“To who?” Rowley leaned forward in his seat. “This could be the key.”

Kane shook his head. “We don’t know. When Wolfe backtracked the number, the military shut him down. I figure she wanted to reach out to someone and the only person we can link to her is her brother. We know the Navy deployed him some weeks ago. His status is unknown, which means he is MIA. The Navy informed the family in the week before Chrissie died.” He sighed. “There’s no way of knowing what was in the message.”

“So she knew her brother was MIA?” Walters shook his head. “Poor kid. That might have pushed her over the edge.”

“Or she wanted to say goodbye.” Rowley frowned. “So, she lost or dumped the cellphone between the party and her dorm. She could’ve thrown it anywhere—oh, shit… you don’t think her rapists could’ve sent the message?”

Kane grimaced at the thought. “Anything is possible, and sending disgusting images to her brother could sure push her to suicide.”