Cross My Heart (Detectives Kane and Alton)

“That’s good to know.” Jenna smiled at him and leaned back in the seat with a sigh. The heat was running and the drug was working already. “Now if I had coffee, it would be perfect.”

“Your wish is my command.” Kane smiled at her. “I have coffee and sandwiches for the ride home.” He closed her door gently. “I’ll get Duke settled and we’ll be on our way.”

Stifling a yawn, Jenna nodded. “You’re a lifesaver. I’d have dropped by the office but I don’t think I’d make it up the steps right now.”

“I hope you’ll rest when you get home.” Kane looked at her. “We need you at full strength, and you’re tuckered out. You’ve given Rowley and Rio their orders. The autopsy isn’t until tomorrow, we have a BOLO out on the missing woman. I can handle anything that comes up.” He sighed. “If I promise to wake you if we have a breakthrough, will you please go and get some sleep?”

Forcing to keep her eyes open, she took the cup he offered her. “Okay.”

Nineteen

Tuesday

It was dark when Jenna woke, and she peered at the bedside clock. The digital readout told her it was a little after five. She didn’t recall getting home, let alone climbing into bed. Stretching tentatively, she sighed with relief. The pain in her back had gone. She’d slept through. Staggering to the bathroom, she showered and returned to the bedroom to hunt down her bag of clean clothes. With a smile, she stared at the chair by the door at the clothes she’d worn to the mountain with the smell of death clinging to them washed and in a neat pile. This was typical Kane. The military in him couldn’t stand seeing an unmade bed, or a stack of dirty washing. His cottage was as neat as a pin and, like him, immaculate.

She dressed quickly and headed to the kitchen. The smell of coffee drifted down the hallway and a laptop sat open on the table, with pictures of Duke on a screensaver that ran in a loop. She peered into the family room, but Kane and Duke were missing. Duke slept in a basket by the fireplace and it was unusual for him no

t to greet her. She walked down the hallway. Kane’s bedroom door was wide open, his bed made. Had he gone to tend the horses already? She poured a cup of coffee and added the fixings. Taking the cup to the window, she stared outside. Men moved around, going in and out of what looked like a mess tent erected in her paddock. The house had a new front door. It looked different from before. The windows on either side of the door had gone, replaced by ornate wood that suited the old ranch-style home very well. The windows now had security blinds. They looked strange, but after what she’d been through the idea of having a way to secure the windows was a relief.

After finishing her coffee, she pulled on a coat and woolen hat and headed for the barn. As she moved into the warm interior, she could hear Kane humming a tune. The smell of horses and the sharp odor of urine seemed welcoming after such a terrible weekend. “Morning. You’re up early.” At the sound of her voice Duke bounded out of an empty stall and nuzzled her hand. “What do you want me to do?” She rubbed the dog’s silken head.

“I’m done here as soon as I’ve emptied the wheelbarrow.” Kane closed the gate to a stall. “I’m leaving the horses inside the barn today as another storm is forecast.” He took both handles of a full wheelbarrow and headed out the back door of the barn.

Jenna followed behind him. “Anything happen overnight in the case I should know about?”

“Nope. No sighting of the missing woman, nothing to report.” Kane emptied the barrow and turned back to her. “Jo called last night to ask after you, and the new phones arrived this morning via a security team. I took the liberty of ordering a new rug for the family room. It’s the same as the one you had and it will be here sometime today. Everything will be back to normal soon, although the paint smell may linger for a few days. The men Wolfe had sent here have been working around the clock.”

Jenna smiled at him and pulled a strand of hay from his hair. He looked healthy and moved easily. Obviously, the long ride yesterday hadn’t caused him any problems. “Good to know.” She rubbed the noses of the horses. “You go and get cleaned up and I’ll start on breakfast.”

“There’s a pile of hotcakes in the refrigerator, they just need reheating in the microwave.” Kane smiled. “And bacon. I have a hankering for bacon, as many strips as you can fit in a pan, and crispy.”

Jenna grinned at him. “I’ll warm the maple syrup as well. I’m starving.”

As they headed back to the barn, Jenna turned to him. “I’ll call Jo later, after the autopsy, and get her opinion on my theory about James Stone.”

“I’ve been giving what you said a lot of thought.” Kane pressed in the code on the keypad to his cottage. “I figure unless we find June Harris dead and she fits Stone’s MO we might be wasting valuable time. I say we treat this like any other case and hunt down suspects. Right now, we’re surmising June Harris is missing. We don’t know if the ear attached to your porch belongs to her. The two cases may be unrelated. June Harris could have killed her husband and dropped off the grid.”

Jenna headed for the kitchen and washed her hands over the sink. “And if he strikes again?”

“If it’s the same MO as Stone, then two murders the same takes the idea of a coincidence off the board.” Kane headed for the bathroom. “Let’s hope that never happens.”

After stopping by the office to get a report from her deputies, Jenna discovered they’d been very active since the discovery of Payton Harris’ body. Rowley had notified the forest wardens and made sure everyone who went through their station was aware they had a potential missing person and showed them June Harris’ picture. Atohi Blackhawk had called and offered to take a group on horseback with their dogs to search the area across the river from the campsite where Harris was murdered. With the news media broadcasting June Harris’ image on the hour, if she was anywhere in the area Jenna hoped someone would see her or the couple’s vehicle and call the hotline. After sending Rowley and Rio out to check the remote places people might park their vehicles out of Bear Peak, she went with Kane to the ME’s office for the autopsy.

The sterile environment and antiseptic smell did little to hide the stench of death hovering in the air. After settling Duke inside Wolfe’s office, they suited up in the alcove outside the examination room with the red light. “There are people out hunting all over the forest and yet no one has reported anything to the forest wardens. It’s as if June Harris has vanished. If there was a body somewhere out in that area, surely someone would have smelled it by now?”

“Maybe, but the forest is vast. People are field-dressing their kills as well, and that stinks. Most people would assume the smell is from an animal.” Kane removed his jacket and pulled on scrubs. “If she’s up there and alive, she’d head for one of the trails, or a hunter. If she’s dead, the bears could have eaten her by now and we’ll be lucky to find any remains at all.” He snapped on gloves. “Ready?”

Jenna smeared mentholated salve under her nose and pulled on a facemask. “Yeah.” She followed him inside and the doors whooshed closed behind her.

She immediately noticed that Emily was missing but Colt Webber stood beside Wolf, ready to assist. “Morning. Where’s Em?”

“Exams.” Wolfe looked at her over his mask. “She seemed a little more confident this morning. She has it in the bag, I have no doubt. She worries if she fails post grad, she won’t be able to study for her medical degree.” He sighed. “She’s a straight-A student and there’s no reason she won’t pass with honors. I’m not sure why she’s so worried.” His eyebrows rose. “On the bright side, Julie strolled through her exams without a problem, and Anna is doing just fine. They both have their heads set on carving a pumpkin with me next weekend.”

Jenna nodded. “Good to know.” She ignored the covered lump under the sheet on a gurney and walked to the X-rays displayed on a screen. “What do we have?”

“Apart from a bolt through the brain?” Wolfe moved to her side. “The damage you see is a good representation of the food chain in the forest.” He pointed to the image. “Here there are puncture marks in the bone, made from large canines, likely a bear. The mastication, from a powerful jaw, causes pitting and scoring like we see here. See how the lines overlap?”

“Can you tell if he was dead when this happened?” Kane’s brow wrinkled into a frown.