Pray for Mercy (Detectives Kane and Alton)

Thinking the same, Jenna nodded. “I agree. This goes way past being angry at his brother. I have that prickling sensation as if something isn’t quite right.”

They drove higher up the mountain and when Kane pulled to a halt and jumped from the truck, she followed him. “What’s up?”

“See that?” Kane pointed to a flattened bush and strange marks dug into the dirt road. “Something happened here.” He moved closer to the edge of the ravine, and grabbing hold of saplings, dropped onto a narrow rocky outcrop.

Heart in her mouth, Jenna followed. “Be careful, it’s not safe here. The sides are giving way.”

“There’s a pickup down there.” Kane turned his head toward her, his eyes filled with regret. “It looks like the old vehicle Mrs. Darvish was driving yesterday.” He pulled out his binoculars and called out the license plate. “Got it?”

Sick to her stomach, Jenna nodded and used her phone to run it. “It’s her.”

“There’s no way we can recover that vehicle.” Kane rubbed the back of his neck.

Jenna slid down the crumbling side of the ravine but Kane’s back was blocking the view to the swollen river below. “We have to get down to her. She might be alive.” She tried to go past him and he turned and grabbed her arm. Shaking her head, she glared at him. “We have to try, Dave. She’s all alone down there.”

“Jenna. Look at me.” He gave her a little shake. “There’s no way down by foot. It’s a sheer drop over this ledge. Don’t you figure I’d be heading down if I could?”

“She might have been thrown clear.” Jenna took a step closer to the edge sending a cascade of gravel tumbling down into the ravine.

“Stop right now. This is suicide. Don’t move and I’ll take a look.” He turned and scanned the area looking up and down side to side and then back to her. “She wasn’t thrown clear. The side of the ravine is a sheer drop. She’s still inside the pickup. The cab is submerged and she wouldn’t have stood a chance even if she’d survived the fall, which is doubtful.” He gave her a little push up the slope. “There’s nothing you can do to help her, Jenna. Climb back up. Take your time and grip hold of the bushes. I’ll be right behind you.”

Alarm gripped Jenna by the throat. Had she made a fatal error by not escorting the old woman home last night? She had to find out what had happened to her. Biting back a sob, she nodded and slowly climbed back to the road. Following her, Kane stood for long moments staring back and forth along the road. As a cold wind buffeted her, she watched him with interest. She understood what he was doing. Kane had the ability to track a bullet’s trajectory, so making sense of what happened would be a walk in the park. Her gaze followed him as he paced up and down, back and forth, bending to examine the dirt. She went to his side. “What do you see?”

“Here, there’s chips of paint and glass. Someone rammed the passenger door and pushed her pickup sideways over the edge.” Kane turned and stared down the road, hands on hips. “There’s one set of tracks back and forth over the disturbed soil. I’d say that’s Rio looking for his brother, so we know Mrs. Darvish went over the edge before four or five yesterday afternoon. I figure this happened on her way home. She mentioned a GMC truck causing her trouble yesterday, right?”

Dragging on her professional cloak, Jenna used her phone to take images of the evidence Kane had pointed out. “Yeah, with a silver grille and a bull bar, like a ton of vehicles in town. She didn’t even make out the color.” She pushed hair under her woolen cap and frowned. “How come Rio didn’t see the evidence of an accident and stop to take a look? You spotted it the moment we turned the bend.”

“Unless he’s covering for his brother—it’s not unusual for siblings to do that. It could have been either of them. Cade and Rio have similar vehicles. Likely the same tires as well.” Kane gave her a long considering stare. “Both were on the mountain when Mrs. Darvish went into the ravine.” He sighed. “We’d better head up to her cabin. She might have livestock that need tending, and I’ll call the general store to cancel the supplies I ordered. We don’t need anyone else coming up here and disturbing evidence.”

FOURTEEN

As Kane drove up the mountain, Jenna considered the situation. The thought of that poor old lady dying like that made her sick to her stomach. She’d seen the sides of the ravine. There’d be only one way of retrieving the body and that would be by dropping a team down by chopper. “Wolfe will need a search and rescue team to get him down to the retrieval site. There’s no way up the river at this time of the year. The water is too deep and moving too fast.”

“Do you figure the local search and rescue pilot has enough experienced to negotiate a deep ravine?” Kane climbed back inside the Beast. “It takes skill, with the wind and all, to drop a rescue team down and retrieve them in a limited space.”

Concerned, Jenna stared at him. “I don’t know. You know as well as I do that Wolfe is capable, but they’ll need him on the ground. I’ll call it in and see what they say.” She made the call and explained the situation. “Well, if Doug is sick, I’ll find someone else, but we’ll still need a retrieval crew. There’s no way down to the bottom of the ravine by foot or boat. Okay, I’ll call you back when we’ve arranged another pilot.” She glanced at Kane’s frown and disconnected. “The pilot they have is sick, but they’ll have their crew on standby.”

“Call Ty Carter. He has combat experience, and he’d be the only person apart from Wolfe I’d trust in that ravine.” Kane headed up the mountain and they turned into the driveway with the sign darvish posted on the open gate.

Jenna called the FBI field office in Snakeskin Gully to speak to ex-navy Seal Special Agent Ty Carter. Carter and behavioral analyst Agent Jo Wells had become friends and often assisted the team in difficult cases. She explained the situation.

“Sure, I can handle that with my eyes closed. Glad you called. We’re staring at the walls going crazy with boredom here. I’ll have wheels up in twenty.” He mumbled something Jenna missed and then came back on the line. “I’ll hand you over to Jo. She’d like to know more about the case, I’m sure.”

As Kane pulled to a halt outside the old cabin, Jenna looked around. All was quiet apart from the chickens. She frowned. “Can I call you back, Jo? We’re at the assumed victim’s home and I need to take a look around.”

“Sure, but from what Ty said before, this case is complicated if you have someone killing old women and in different ways. I’d like at least to come with Ty so we can discuss it. Do you mind? I won’t interfere with your case, Jenna, but I’ll be there to consult with if you need me.”

Jenna smiled. Having an FBI behavioral analyst as a friend was a real bonus. “I’d love to see you both again. If you want to stay, Kane’s cottage is free.”

“Well then, we’ll see you soon.” She disconnected.

She followed Kane to the front door. The house was locked up tight. “Best we check on the chickens.”

They went round the house with Duke sniffing all around but he gave no hint of smelling a bear in the area or anyone else. The chickens looked just fine. Jenna frowned. “If Mrs. Darvish died in the wreck, what happens to her chickens? She doesn’t have any relatives.” She wrinkled up her nose. “Don’t suggest we take them home. I really don’t want chickens, Dave. It’s just another thing we have to have cared for if we go away.”

“The good thing about chickens is they can care for themselves.” Kane refilled the water and sprinkled pellets on the ground. “We could let them out to fend for themselves. There’s water and they’d scratch around for food. At night they’d return to the coop but the eggs would go to waste.”

Horrified, Jenna stared at him. “What about the wildlife around here? They’d end up being eaten by something.”