Be Mine Forever (Detectives Kane and Alton)
Chill bumps crawled up his arms as he stared at the pristine knife. Flashes of his girl stabbing Laurie spun through his mind. This time there would be blood, lots of blood. He swallowed hard and tried to focus. Things were moving way too fast and he couldn’t think straight. “It looks brand new.”
“It could be.” His girl waved it around. “I took it from a guy.”
He blinked at her. “You did what? Are you crazy?”
“Nope, it was in a crowd at the festival, I just slipped it out of his belt. He’d been drinking too much to feel a thing. Neat, huh?” She turned around to look at Vicky and then pulled her T-shirt over her nose. “Help me drag her into the stall. I have everything ready.” She gave him a slow grin. “Then we’ll wait for her to wake up. I don’t want her to miss a thing.”
Fifty-Three
Jenna stood, cleared the takeout wrappers from her desk, and set up the coffee machine again. Kane and Rio had their heads bent over their laptops, and the printer was whirring and spitting out documents at an incredible rate. She heard the front door open and the sound of claws on tile and the next moment Duke came through the door, checked Kane was still where he’d left him, and then went into his basket, did his usual three turns, and flopped down. Footsteps came down the passageway and Carter came through the door with Zorro on his heels. Jenna waved a hand toward the desk. “Your laptop has been chiming, I figure you have a message.”
“I hope so. I sent some information to Kalo in the hope he might find something of interest.” Carter walked to his laptop and smiled. “Uh-huh.”
Jenna dropped into her chair and looked at him. “What did he hunt down for us?”
“Interesting leads.” Carter removed a toothpick from between his teeth and flicked it into the trash. “I had Kalo check the IRS database for missing information on two of the suspects. He discovered the current occupations of the fathers of Dale Collins and Cory Hughes. After the vague information we received from their ex-wives, I figured it might be relevant information. Mr. Collins is a car salesman and Mr. Hughes is a linesman.”
“Did he work where Laurie Turner was found?” Kane looked up from his laptop.
“The very same place.” Carter smiled. “How about that for a coincidence?”
“Yeah, but Al Watson was the only person working the day Laurie Turner was found.” Rio leaned back in his chair. From what I know about Cory Hughes, his pa isn’t living with them anymore. I don’t believe it’s relevant to the case.”
“When we have zip, everything is relevant.” Carter looked down his nose at him. “Think about it. If Cory or Verna visited their pa, he might have told them about where he’d been working and why. He could’ve mentioned all the old mines in the area and how isolated it is there.” He tipped back his Stetson and narrowed his eyes. “How else would kids know about the mines? It’s not a place they’d go for a picnic, is it?”
“I guess not.” Rio stood, went to the printer, and sorted through the documents. “We seem to be avoiding Wyatt Cooper. Why is that?” He made neat piles and handed them around.
Jenna shrugged. “I’m not convinced it’s him. Why place himself in the spotlight from the get-go by stuffing his shorts in Laurie’s mouth? I figure we need to concentrate on the others.”
“Okay.” Rio ran his fingers over the documents. “These are the timelines of everyone involved based on the evidence we have to date.”
“We could easily have used the split screen on our laptops.” Carter stared at the paperwork with a bewildered expression.
“Sometimes old school works.” Rio shrugged. “Our brains get used to the same format. Change it up and things start to pop out. Give it a try.”
When Jenna’s phone played Wolfe’s ringtone, they all looked at her expectantly. She put her phone on speaker. “Hi, Shane, any news?”
“Yeah, the samples from the ring are fresh. I didn’t have much to work with but there’s no doubt, the skin sample trapped in the ring, came from the night of Mrs. Turner’s murder. It seems Dr. Turner removes his ring when he washes his hands. I found no traces of soap at all. The DNA itself hadn’t broken down, that takes years so the decomposition rate of the skin sample was crucial. I’ve completed a comparison of the tissues found and those collected from her body. The rate of decomposition from the body and the sample taken from the ring is identical.” Wolfe tapped away on his keyboard. “I also found traces of Dr. Turner’s DNA on his wife’s cheek where he slapped her and on her neck around the fingerprints during the strangulation. It’s conclusive evidence that Turner strangled his wife. I’ll make it pretty and send it to the DA.” He cleared his throat. “I’ll send you a copy. Good work, guys, you got him.”
Jenna smiled and then her mind went to Laurie and Becky. “But unless we find patient 124, we can’t tie him into the cheerleader murders. Their killer is still walking free.”
“Turner is still going to try and wriggle out of murdering his wife.” Kane looked at her. “There is a way a doctor can give up the name of his patients in a criminal case. It takes a court order and he has to inform the patient.” He shrugged. “He’ll have to go see him, won’t he? Well, we have a Blackwater deputy watching his property. His vehicle hasn’t left his home yet but when Shane’s evidence is presented, I bet he’ll make his move and then we’ll find the name of patient 124.”
“I’ve hunted down any chance of Turner being involved with the other murders but found nothing.” Wolfe sighed. “Jeanette Turner’s murder was a copycat. Turner was sloppy, he left fingerprints and didn’t try to disguise his presence on scene. In the other cases, the killers left little behind.”
“Have you had anything back from the Snapshot DNA Profiling System?” Kane stood, stretched out his tall frame and headed for the coffee pot.
“I should get something soon.” Wolfe sounded pleased. “The information could bust the case wide open.”
Jenna smiled. “I sure h
ope so. Call me as soon as you have something.”
“I sure will.” Wolfe disconnected.
Jenna’s phone chimed again and she pulled a face. “Oh, great that’s all we need, a 911 emergency.” She accepted the call. “You’ve reached Sheriff Alton, what is your emergency?”
“This is Tony Perez. I’m concerned about my daughter, Vicky. I dropped her at Aunt Betty’s Café to have supper with a friend. I told her I’d be by to collect her at eight-thirty. She’s not there and she’s not picking up her phone.”