Page 38

Thirty-Seven

Tuesday

Kane piled scrambled eggs onto plates and followed that with a stack of bacon. Beside him, Carter was spreading liberal amounts of butter on toast. He looked at him and smiled. “We’ll domesticate you yet.”

“I’ve always been domesticated.” Carter flashed him a white grin. “I need to be to feed myself and keep my house clean. One thing I know about women is that they appreciate a man who keeps his house clean and can put a good meal on the table.”

“That wasn’t my first priority.” Jenna looked at Kane and smiled.

“But if Kane didn’t cook, we’d be living on a diet of burned toast and frozen microwaved meals.

” She shrugged. “I can clean but I don’t have the cooking gene.

I’ve tried but nothing apart from choc-chip cookies turns out edible.

That recipe my grandma taught me when I was about seven. ”

“Oh, I love your cookies.” Carter smiled. “You’ll need to teach me how to bake them one day when we’re not chasing down criminals.”

“I will.” Jenna laughed. “It’s like watching a miracle—but I need to stay close by the oven just in case I forget and burn them.”

Kane ruffled Tauri’s hair and then slid a plate in front of his son. He indicated to a drawing of trees and a cabin stuck on the refrigerator. “That’s a fine picture you drew for me yesterday at kindergarten.”

“It’s Uncle Ty’s cabin in the woods.” Tauri nibbled on a strip of bacon. He looked at Carter. “Why don’t you stay there when you’re in town?”

“It’s just a fishing cabin I use from time to time when I want to get away from people.” Carter moved the coffee pot onto the table and sat down. “Your mom and dad need me close by right now, so I stay in the cottage.”

“I like when you stay in the cottage.” Tauri licked his fingers. “I like it when Aunty Jo comes as well and brings Jaime. She’s funny. I like her.”

“I like her too.” Carter added fixings to his coffee.

“Has anyone contacted you since last night?” Jenna looked up from her plate. “I figure there’s a ban on calling me. It’s so annoying.”

“Yeah, I did get a call from Kalo.” Carter stirred his coffee and placed the spoon gently on the saucer.

“None of the suspects who we’re interviewing has any connection to explosives.

” He shrugged. “That’s not a definitive answer to say that they have no knowledge of explosives.

We have no idea what paths their lives have taken or what experience they’ve gained.

Like I mentioned before, some of the simplest yet deadliest explosions are made from readily available materials. ”

“So nothing more from Wolfe at all?” Jenna pushed a forkful of eggs into her mouth.

“No.” Carter frowned. “His workload is astronomical. It’s all hands on deck there at the moment. Norrell has her entire team working in the examination rooms to get all the tests completed.”

“It’s the moss I’m more interested in than anything.” Jenna sipped her coffee and sighed. “It might give us a clue to where to find the girls.”

“He did mention that he’d sent the sample to a very experienced person in the field.

” Carter bit into a slice of toast, chewed, and swallowed.

“I figure it comes down to if the person he sent it to drops everything to examine the sample or it gets put in a line of work. I’m sure that Wolfe would have asked it to be a priority as lives are at stake. ”

When everyone was done eating, Kane cleared the table and Jenna got Tauri ready for kindergarten.

When she disappeared through the door to Nanny Raya’s apartment, he turned to Carter.

“Do you figure that Jo has had time to profile the killer? I have some ideas myself, but we really need her expert view on this guy.”

“We should get her on a video call this morning and see how things are going.” Carter stacked dishes into the dishwasher.

“Kalo mentioned he had a few leads on the other suspects to hunt down and was still searching through prison records to discover if any of our suspects have been in contact with the original serial killers. Personally, I figure this would be remote because everyone that you’ve sent to prison is in County and not in the general population.

There’s no way they’d allow a crossover. It’s too dangerous.”

Nodding, Kane wiped the table and straightened. “What’s dangerous is Jenna being involved with catching this psychopath. I know she’s struggling to keep going every day. The baby is very close and I figure she should be resting up and she completely refuses to take it easy.”

“You need to see things from her side.” Carter leaned against the bench.

“She feels responsible for everyone under her care. There’s a threat out there and she intends to stop it.

I know you’re concerned. All you can do is support her the best you can and we’ll all try to keep her out of harm’s way.

” He blew out a long sigh. “That’s all we can do.

For all the years I’ve known her, she makes her own decisions.

She’s strong and I figure she’ll know when it’s time to stop working. ”

Not convinced, Kane rubbed his chin. “I sure hope you’re right.”

They arrived at the office a little before eight, and Kane found Rio and Raven waiting for Jenna to give them instructions for the day. As they headed for Jenna’s office, his phone buzzed. It was Kalo. “Hi, Bobby, what have you got for me?”

“I found the location of Ben Holloway. He’s living out at Blackwater but is working at the meat processing plant in Black Rock Falls.

I’ve uploaded the details to the server.

I’ve also searched through prison records going back five years and found no connection whatsoever between any of the suspects and the original murderers. ”

Kane nodded and followed Jenna into her office. “Thanks. I appreciate it.” He disconnected.

“So I’m being kept out of the loop again, am I?” Jenna gave him an eye roll as she sat down at her desk. “Can you bring me up to speed, please?”

Kane smiled at her. “I’m sorry. It wasn’t intentional. I was just taking some of the weight, is all.”

After giving her the details of Kalo’s call, he placed his tablet on her desk and sat down. Carter sat beside him, and Raven and Rio stood with their backs against the wall waiting for instructions.

“I called Rowley before and he’s doing fine.” Jenna looked at Rio. “I’m guessing his head hurts more than he’s saying, so I’ve told him to come back after he’s had the stitches removed.”

Kane smiled. “Did he argue?”

“Nope.” Jenna frowned. “Why?”

Rubbing the back of his neck, Kane looked at her. “He won’t admit he’s hurting but he must be if he didn’t insist on returning to work. I’m glad you made him stay home. Head injuries have a habit of sneaking up on you.”

“I’m aware. Okay.” Jenna made a few notes on a piece of paper and then handed it to Rio.

“This is where you’ll find Ben Holloway.

Head out and interview him about his whereabouts over the last few days and ask him why he hasn’t reported to the office as he is a sex offender.

That’s your reason for speaking to him today.

Use it as an excuse to find out what he’s been doing since at least Friday.

Ask his employer if he arrives on time and if he’s had any days off work.

” She lifted her head and stared at him.

“You know the cases. Ask the questions.”

“Got it.” Rio stared at the note.

“Another thing.” Jenna turned her attention to Raven.

“Maggie received a call this morning to say that your vehicle is ready to be collected at the dealership. It’s unmarked at the moment but we are in the process of getting the decals printed.

You can collect it on the way back from the interview.

Everything is ready. You can just drive away. They’re expecting you.”

“Thanks, I appreciate it.” Raven pushed his hat on his head and grinned. “That was fast.”

“Just lucky, is all.” Jenna smiled. “They had one on the floor.” She waved them away. “Get at it. We need to find this killer.”

Kane waited for them to close the door. He stood to adjust the screen on Jenna’s computer. “Let’s see what Jo has to say about our killer.”

The screen opened and in moments Jo was smiling at them with Bobby Kalo sitting beside her. “Morning, Jo. Have you had time to look over the files on our killer?”

“Yeah.” Her forehead puckered into a frown. “Each action he takes gives me more of an insight into his disturbed mind. I figure we should take it one case at a time and see where it leads us.”

“That works for me.” Jenna leaned back in her chair.

“I’d love to know how he managed to get into the limo in the first place.

He must have hijacked the driver the moment he left home.

Nobody saw him in the vehicle and the parents all agreed that everything went like clockwork.

” She sighed. “I wonder why the driver didn’t alert the parents. ”

“You know the killer was carrying a weapon.” Jo peered at them through the screen.

“We don’t know what hold he had over the driver.

Maybe he threatened to kill his wife and kids.

More likely he held the gun on him or gave him some story about it being a prank on the kids in the limo.

Whatever, we’ll likely never know the answer, but it shows just how cunning this killer is and how he can manipulate people. ”

Wanting Jo to move to the profiling, Kane leaned forward, his forearms resting on the desk. “It was well planned and executed. I figure the killer knew about the kids’ plans to hire a limo. It was all over their social media and mentioned in the local newspaper.”