Page 31

Thirty

The one thing Kane loved about living in Black Rock Falls was the townsfolk.

The moment he started moving rocks, vehicles pulled over onto the grass and people climbed out to help him.

Two gardeners had wide brooms and were industriously sweeping glass from the blacktop and collecting it in garbage cans.

He glanced over at Jenna to see her speaking with the two witnesses and turned around as Wolfe arrived with Carter driving Jenna’s sheriff’s department vehicle close behind.

Wolfe had positioned his medical examiner’s van to obscure the view of the body from the road.

As usual, Carter was all business. Dressed in a Kevlar vest and a riot helmet, he opened the door for his dog, Zorro.

The dog also wore a protective coat and on Carter’s instruction headed toward the explosion site.

Kane deposited a few large rocks onto the side of the road and then headed toward Carter. As he watched Zorro go through his paces, Wolfe came up beside him. He kept his attention on the dog as it moved back and forth, covering the ground between the bench and the damaged building.

“This looks a little too familiar for my liking.” Wolfe cleared his throat. “It’s another copycat, isn’t it?”

Nodding, Kane flicked him a glance. “So far, they all are. If this one has the same message, we’ve become involved in some type of morbid game.”

“Jo believes he’s trying to make a point.

” Wolfe rubbed his chin. “So far, all of these cases are mine. I produced the evidence needed to convict. I stood up in court to deliver my evidence to the best of my ability, but what if I’d gotten one wrong?

I find it hard to believe as I check and recheck every result. ”

Unable to believe his ears, Kane snorted.

“I’ve never known you to make a mistake in all the time we’ve been together.

” He sighed. “The thing is, Shane, many of the cases that we have solved had very little or no positive evidence. Those killers we caught in the act. I’m starting to believe this may be one of those cases.

Maybe this person was arrested for a minor charge during his killing spree.

This would mean he couldn’t murder anyone over the period of time he was in jail.

Most of our cases are all over the media, and it’s possible the coverage triggered another psychopath, and he took on the fantasy of killer number one.

The second killer decided to copycat him and could have moved in seamlessly.

We would have never known as all the evidence pointed to the second killer. ”

“You mean it would have just been a coincidence that the guy who was doing the killing was arrested around the same time as the copycat took over?” Wolfe shook his head.

“That’s a little far-fetched. Most of the cases we’re involved in, the psychopaths kill over a period of a week or two before we catch them.

” He sighed. “I believe you’re mistaken.

Mainly because I don’t make a habit of making errors when it comes to convicting killers.

Well, I have spoken to Jo a number of times about this, and her only explanation is that the copycat is using historical kills as his template.

If you look back on some of our cases, they have involved cold case files.

In those cases, most of the evidence has been destroyed or is nonexistent.

I honestly believe that this is what the copycat did to annoy this psychopath, and he is willing to risk everything to put the record straight. ”

Understanding exactly what Wolfe was saying, he nodded.

“Yeah, well, Jo is the expert. I just hope we figure out who this guy is before he kills anyone else. He must make a mistake soon. When he does, we’ll catch him.

I pray it’s soon, before any more young girls pay with their lives for his vanity. ”

“All clear.” Carter waved at them and removed his helmet. “It really stinks over here. I suggest you mask up.”

“Okay.” Wolfe indicated to his assistant, Webber. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

Kane handed Carter a mask from his pocket and they followed Wolfe to the body.

As Webber took photographs, he gazed at the body of a girl maybe sixteen to eighteen.

She fit the description of a girl on the list missing from the limo.

The victim had long black hair. Her face was blue and eyes bulging.

Her blackened tongue poked out from between her lips.

She was wearing a thin summer dress and slippers a couple of sizes too big.

Her hands were zip-tied in front of her.

“That’s interesting.” Wolfe moved around her and then picked up her hair. “She has stun gun burns on the back of her neck. He stunned her and then strangled her.”

A name shot into Kane’s mind. “That’s the work of Dallas Strauss, but this guy didn’t have the knowledge to tamper with a regular stun gun.

His one didn’t kill outright. That’s why he strangled her.

Yet he left her here on the bench and added an explosion.

It’s like he combined two different cases. ”

“Maybe he muddled them up.” Carter scratched his cheek. “He’s crazy. We can’t expect anything logical from him, can we?”

Kane shrugged. “I guess not.”

“Dallas Strauss didn’t leave the bodies on park benches.

He broke into the victims’ houses or was invited and left them sitting in front of the TV.

” Wolfe stretched the body along the bench, slit open the front of the dress to take the liver temperature of the victim.

He indicated to the abdomen and shook his head slowly.

“Massive bruising. She was beaten and we have the same message: ‘not mine.’ From the blood loss, he did this before he killed her. I hope she was stunned at the time.” Wolfe made a small incision on the upper right-hand side of the abdomen and inserted the thermometer.

He removed it after a minute or so and read the reading to Webber.

“It’s the same as the air temperature. I’ll make a determination about time of death back at the lab, but from the rigor, I’d say she’s been here overnight.

I’m surprised nobody noticed her before now. ”

“I figure not many people would risk stopping after dark along this stretch of highway.” Carter peered at Kane over the top of his face mask. “Placing a girl here could easily be a trap and in Serial Killer Central, most folks would accelerate and not look back.”

Walking around the body, Kane examined the soles of the slippers.

“Her footwear is dirty. My guess is she walked here.” He indicated to the length of the cord around her neck.

“I figure he used this like a leash. It’s long enough to prevent her from running away.

” He shot a glance at Wolfe. “Her thighs are bruised, so she could have been assaulted. Can you confirm that?”

“I’ll conduct an autopsy as soon as we get her into the morgue.

If you want to observe, give me an hour or so to prepare.

I’ll need to do a preliminary examination, so say two hours, okay?

” Wolfe narrowed his gaze. “None of the victims were raped in any of the cases he is portraying. You need to talk to Jo about why he’s doing this. It might be significant.”

Kane rubbed the back of his neck and turned as Jenna made her way slowly toward them.

“Yeah, I’ll call her later.” He turned to Jenna and kept his body between her and the victim.

She’d already seen enough, going on her pale face and wide-eyed expression.

He gave her a rundown. “Wolfe’s done here.

He’ll do the autopsy in about two hours.

” He placed a hand on her arm. “It’s nasty, isn’t it? ”

“The poor girl. I’m not sure her parents should see her like that.

Maybe we’ll ask for DNA samples instead of a viewing, but that’s not why I came over.

I need Shane to examine Rowley before he goes anywhere.

” Jenna turned as Wolfe came to her side, his eyebrows raised in question.

Jenna indicated to Rowley’s truck. “I’m guessing no one mentioned that Rowley was in the explosion and has a nasty gash on his head.

I’ve tried to stop the bleeding. Can you take a look at him or would you rather I call the paramedics? ”

“No one told me. I’m sorry. I’ll look at him right away, but I need to change my PPE before I touch him.

It won’t take long.” Wolfe frowned. “If he’s mobile, can you ask him to sit in the bed of the Beast?

It will give me more room to work.” He turned to Webber.

“Kane will help you get the body into the van.”

“He seems okay, but he’s lost a ton of blood.” Jenna turned and picked her way slowly through the debris and back to Rowley’s truck.

Hating not to be with her in case she tripped and fell, Kane kept one eye on her as he helped to load the body bag into the ME’s van.

In that time, Wolfe had changed, washed his arms in alcohol, and pulled on clean scrubs and examination gloves.

They walked together to the back of the Beast. Blood-soaked but sitting upright in the bed of the truck, with his legs dangling over the tailgate, Rowley gave him a wave.

Kane gripped his shoulder and Jenna hovered close by as Wolfe examined Rowley and inserted seven stitches into the wound on his forehead. “Is he okay?”

“Yeah, no concussion, but that might come later.” Wolfe peeled off his gloves and looked at Rowley.

“I’m sending you home for forty-eight hours.

Sandy will need to keep you under observation for the rest of the day.

You know the deal: she’ll need to check you every two hours overnight. Can she do that?”

“Yeah, she’ll make sure I’m okay.” Rowley blinked and looked away. “For a moment there just before I hit the ground, I wasn’t sure if I’d see them again.”

“Yeah, that’s happened to me many a time. It’s not a good feeling but don’t dwell on it. You’re okay. If there’s any change, Sandy has my number.” Wolfe turned to Jenna. “He can’t drive. Webber can drive his truck if someone gives him a ride back to town.”

“He’ll need to wear scrubs. My truck has blood all over.” Rowley frowned.

“Then he can take it into town to get it cleaned. We’ll pay for it.” Jenna smiled at him. “We’ll drive it back to you when it’s done.” She waved Rio over. “Can you give Jake a ride home? You’ll need to grab his rifle and collect his gear from his truck.”

“Okay.” Rio shook his head and pulled a face at the sight of Rowley. “Sandy is going to be upset when she sees you. Maybe you should call her before we arrive.”

“I’ve lost my phone.” Rowley rubbed the back of his neck. “And my hat.”

“Ah, then this belongs to you, Jake.” Carter waved a phone in an evidence bag. “Zorro found it.” He waved a hat at him. “I found your hat too.”

“Thank goodness.” Rowley took it from the bag and the screen lit up. “Great, it works. I’ll call Sandy and then send all the images of the scene prior to the explosion to the server.”

“Thanks, Jake, but take care of yourself, okay? Send the images but rest up. We’ll manage.” Jenna looked at Kane. “I’ve sent the witnesses on their way. They didn’t actually see anything. No one hanging around and no vehicles parked in the vicinity.”

Kane nodded slowly. “Somehow, I figured you’d say that. We done here?”

“Yeah, we have everyone sorted. We’ll head back to the office and hunt down suspects, but I want to be at the autopsy.

I need to see what murder this links to.

It’s obviously a copycat. We need to pull up files and check out the details.

” She sighed. “Rio had Kalo hunting down the whereabouts of the suspects and if they’re anywhere near town, I’ll need to call him before we head off to the morgue. ”

Kane opened the door to the truck and helped Jenna inside.

“Yeah, and I need to talk to Jo. This case has taken a twist and she might have a better idea of who we’re dealing with.

” He blew out a sigh. “That poor girl was tortured before he murdered her. That was no thrill kill. It was cold and calculated. This is a new breed of monster.”