Promises in the Dark (Detectives Kane and Alton)

“Why did you burn my clothes?” Pamela stared into the blackened grate. “That was my favorite jacket.”

“Because you no longer exist.” He unlocked the chain from the bed, picked up his backpack and waved her to the door. “Pick up the bucket. You can empty it outside. Move.”

He ushered her through the door and locked it behind them. After waiting for her to empty the bucket, he pushed her toward the forest. “Don’t take the trail, we’re walking through the trees.”

She said nothing and walked ahead of him, head held high. The dress was too big for her and fell off her shoulders. It looked almost comical. A cool breeze rustled through the forest and he urged her toward the old sedan he’d stolen from Black Rock Falls. People were so trusting considering it was supposed to be serial killer central. He’d had his choice of vehicles and found one in a barn with the keys in the ignition. He’d return it and maybe they wouldn’t even notice it had gone missing.

“Come here. Lift your foot.” When she complied, he bent to remove the chain from her ankle, straightened to open the trunk, and placed it beside the spare wheel. He grabbed Pamela by the arm and squeezed hard. “Get inside.”

“I’ll be good and won’t scream if you let me ride up front, I promise.” Pamela turned wide eyes on him. “Please don’t put me in there again. I’m frightened of the dark.”

“Then you’re gonna love where I’m taking you.” He picked her up and tossed her into the trunk. She flopped inside like a rag doll and curled into a fetal position. He stared down at her for a long moment and then showed her his weapon again. “Not a sound.” He dropped the lid.

Thirty

It was a little after nine by the time Jenna’s team had devoured the ton of takeout Kane had ordered from Aunt Betty’s Café. His excuse that they might be held up all through their break at the Sophie Wood autopsy made her smile but Jenna had little appetite and picked at her food. She’d had a restless night filled with bad dreams about her cat, Pumpkin, drowning in the lake. She’d headed into the kitchen to find Jo at the table sipping hot chocolate, another victim of bad dreams. She had no idea why the Woods’ case had made such an impression on her. She’d investigated far more gruesome murders in the past.

“You okay, Jenna?” Kane sat beside her scanning his files.

Jenna snapped back to the present. “Yeah, but I’m starting to believe this case is getting to me. I had nightmares last night and that’s unusual.”

“Have you ever suffered PTSD?” Carter looked at her from across the desk. “I’m not prying into your private life, Jenna, but I have some experience with the disorder.”

Jenna nodded. “Yeah, two guys I thought were friends kidnapped, drugged, and tried to kill me. It messed up my head some is all.”

“Well, I stopped having the flashbacks about a year ago and boy they were nasty. The night terrors then were a reenactment too. Sometimes I didn’t know if I was asleep or awake.” Carter removed his hat and ran a hand through his hair. Troubled green eyes met hers. “After, odd things happened that gave me nightmares but the dreams were unrelated to my situation.” He popped a toothpick into his mouth. “The girl being kidnapped and obviously restrained kicked off the nightmare. Don’t worry about it. I figure it beats the hell out of a flashback.”

Jenna nodded, what he said made sense. “Thanks. I guess we’d better get back to work. The autopsy is at ten and Wolfe doesn’t like us to be late.”

“Before you start. Did you follow up with Joe Ranger, the rancher who called in about a blue Ford sedan near the Woods’ ranch?” Kane scrolled through his notes. “I only have his statement here, taken by Sheriff Crenshaw.”

“Yeah we spoke to him.” Jenna turned in her seat to look at him. “He gave a verbatim account as in his statement. I asked him if he was one hundred percent sure the vehicle he saw was blue and he replied in the affirmative.” She scrolled through her notes. “He didn’t take down the plate number because he had no reason to suspect the driver was doing anything wrong but the vehicle was parked alongside the road just before nightfall and then drove into the Woods’ driveway around eight.” She looked up at Kane. “Ranger headed into town soon after and didn’t see the fire.” She added a note to her to do list. “Okay this is what we need to cover today if possible. Carter, I want you to contact Bobby Kalo and ask him to hunt down if Suffolk has experience with explosives. I also want him to run a facial recognition scan on the footage taken at the lake. When you’ve done that, I need you to find out what you can about the car wreck that killed Suffolk’s wife.”

“Bobby can handle that as well.” Carter made notes. “He’s been complaining he has nothing to do.”

Jenna pushed her hair from her eyes. “Sure, if you figure he can handle it?”

“He can handle it with his eyes shut. What else is on the list?” Jo peered at the board. “We could split the grunt work. I’ll go with Carter and speak to the old lady, Dotty Grace, about her car. She lives near the Triple Z Bar and we could stop by and ask about Suffolk. Like Kane said, he’s a big guy and easily noticed. We’ve had dealings with the barkeeper before,

he might cooperate.”

“Okay, that sounds like a plan.” Jenna made a few notes. “Kane and I will stop by Miller’s Garage and Aunt Betty’s and see if they recall him being there on Tuesday night.”

“I noticed on the file Rowley has added a note about Harvey Haralson—the guy I charged for being in possession of a stolen vehicle—he’s out on bail.” Kane leaned back in his chair. “I’d like to find out where he was on Tuesday night, and if he comes up clean, we’ll need hair and saliva samples for Wolfe to eliminate from the samples he takes from the vehicle. Carter, can you collect the same from Dotty Grace? There’s everything you need in the forensics kit in Jenna’s vehicle.” He looked at Jenna. “It sure looks like the bomber used the blue Ford to kidnap Sophie Wood.”

“Damn right.” Jenna nodded. “Well, that’s settled. I hope Wolfe will find time to do a forensic sweep of the vehicle today. If it is involved, it’s one more piece of the puzzle.” She glanced at the clock. “Okay, when you’ve made the calls, Carter, we’ll head over to the ME’s office.” She stood. “I’m going to touch base with Rowley before we leave.”

She hurried to her office door. It was open and Rowley was pounding away at the keyboard. She knocked on the door and smiled when he looked up. “Just touching base, anything interesting happening in town today?”

“Another stolen car, strange, it’s almost the same as the last one. This one is another sedan, taken from a barn out on Stanton.” Rowley frowned. “Apart from that, not much is happening. We’ve had a few complaints about dogs barking and I’ve been writing up a report about the body in the river.”

Jenna nodded. “Keep me informed about the stolen vehicle and the body of Sophie Wood. We’ve sent the footage you took on scene to an FBI agent to do a facial recognition scan and see who was there. We’re hoping we might find a clue to the bomber.”

“I’m glad I was of some help.” Rowley leaned on the desk and looked at her. “I’m happy to assist in any way I can.”

“You could tell me what exactly Matt Thompson said about me? You didn’t give me any details in your note.” Jenna frowned. “Did he make a complaint in writing?”

“Nope, he was just mouthing off about you saying he wasn’t doing his job is all.” Rowley’s mouth twitched into a smile. “He’s one of those guys who believe all men have a beef about women. I figure he had his nose out of joint about you being thorough.” He grinned. “He didn’t get too far with me, Sheriff.”