Page 36

Thirty-Five

Armed with Thermoses of fresh coffee from Wolfe’s machine, Jenna and Dave headed toward Blackwater.

It hadn’t taken Jenna more than a few minutes to discover the location of the Silver Buckle Ranch, a cattle and horse ranch set out on the lowlands between Black Rock Falls and Blackwater.

As Kane accelerated along the highway, Jenna called Rio to bring him up to date with the autopsy findings.

“The parents of Isabella Coleman are attending a viewing at the medical examiner’s office this afternoon at four.

I need you to be there. Due to some inconsistencies in the attacks on the victims, we are considering the victims might have some knowledge of psychopathic behavior.

I’m not sure if this is something that they would study in high school, but one of the girls might have a special interest in it.

Maybe they’ve read Jo’s books or perhaps they enjoy watching crime programs on TV.

” She took a breath. “Would you please ask the parents and the previous victims’ parents as well? ”

“Yeah, I’ll have time to go and speak to Samantha Haimes’ parents before the viewing.” Rio’s chair scraped as he stood and his boots could be heard clattering over the tiled floor. “I’m on my way now. I’ll call you when I’ve spoken to them.” He disconnected.

“What information do we have on Silas Thorne?” Kane lifted his to-go cup of coffee from the center console and took a sip.

“I’ve read his rap sheet and he did time for sexual abuse of a child.

The rape charge against him was dropped due to the victim refusing to testify at the last minute.

Seems he gets his kicks out of following young girls and touching them in a crowd.

He was caught on CCTV in a line outside a bakery in Louan with his hand up a girl’s dress. ”

Pulling her tablet out of her backpack, Jenna scrolled through her files.

“Born and raised in Louan, he spent a year at Black Rock Falls High School. That was apparently due to some repairs being made on the one in Louan. So he would be familiar with the local area.” She cast her gaze through the information that Rio had uploaded to the files.

“The ranch hand job was organized by the social worker at the prison. Apparently, the Silver Buckle often takes criminals straight out of jail for their summer season. They normally have bunkhouse accommodation available, but after a recent fire, they are short on beds at the moment. From Rio’s notes, Thorne is staying at the shelter in town.

” She looked at Kane. “Father Derry always believes in giving people a second chance, but we should give him a heads-up if we believe this man is capable of killing people.”

“I figure you should call him now.” Kane frowned at her. “He might be able to give you a rundown on the character of the guy. You know Father Derry is very astute when it comes to assessing a person’s character.”

Jenna made the call and listened with interest as Father Derry explained the situation around Silas Thorne.

After disconnecting she turned to look at Kane.

“He said he hasn’t seen very much of him since he arrived.

He leaves for work early in the morning and doesn’t come back until late at night.

His first impression was that he was quite charismatic.

He also mentioned that Thorne had no family support.

His parents died when he was in prison, leaving debts that resulted in losing the family home.

All the family’s belongings, including any keepsakes he might have had as a child, were all given to Goodwill or destroyed when the home was sold. ”

“So if Thorne is a serial killer, we can assume that any trophies he gathered during his last killing spree were hidden at the house somewhere.” Kane tipped back his Stetson. “I wonder how someone like that would deal with losing something so precious.”

Jenna thought for a beat. “Then to discover that someone else had been taking credit for your kills—that would be enough to push him over the edge, wouldn’t it?”

“Maybe we could discover his feelings about losing the house?” Kane accelerated and pulled out to pass two eighteen-wheelers. “And his parents dying and leaving him alone wouldn’t have been nice, although most serial killers have no empathy for anyone, not even their parents.”

The information Jo Wells had given her was never far from Jenna’s mind every time they faced a possible serial killer. “Perhaps his parents were psychopaths as well, or at least one of them. There’s always a reason for triggering a violent episode and it’s usually a close family member.”