Page 42

Forty

Wednesday

Details of the murder cases ran around Jenna’s mind all night.

She hadn’t slept well and no matter how she tried, she couldn’t get a grip on who’d murdered the students in the limo.

The wait for Wolfe’s associate to send results on the sample of moss taken from the last victim was driving her crazy.

She’d reviewed the suspects’ interviews and tried to match them against what Jo had told her, but she couldn’t make a case for either of them so far.

She’d read a brief report from Rio about the interview with Ben Holloway, but would chase that up after she’d spoken to her deputies this morning.

It was fortunate that Carter had decided to stay around, he didn’t have any cases to work in Snakeskin Gully and his superior officer had given him the green light to stay for as long as necessary.

With her team in the office all seated in front of her desk, Jenna leaned against the pillow supporting her back and placed her feet on the footstool under the desk.

Resting her hands on her belly, she glanced at all of them.

“First of all, I’d like to inform you that I will be remaining in my office for the next few days at least. If we have any breaks in the case, you can do a live feed to me via video call, if it is safe to do so.

I need to consider the risk to my baby. I hope you understand. ”

“We’ll handle things just fine.” Rio met her gaze. “Do you want me to update the whiteboard now?”

Seeing the understanding in Rio’s eyes, Jenna smiled. “I would like your personal opinion of Ben Holloway.” She looked from him to Raven. “How did he seem to you?”

“Angry and he hates women.” Raven rested one hand on Ben’s head.

“He has an attitude. Well, I guess you might call it a chip on his shoulder. What I didn’t see in him was the usual charismatic personality we see in serial killers, but as you know, they’re very smart and that could have been an act. ”

“I agree.” Rio ran his fingers around the rim of the hat on his lap.

“He took offense at us being there and refused to answer questions about his whereabouts. I guess when we ask questions it’s up to the people we’re interviewing to agree to give us information.

Remaining silent is their right. So this man comes into the same category as the other two, in that he is a possible but there’s no proof. ”

“It’s a shame we couldn’t get a bullet from the kid who was shot.” Kane sighed. “It was a through-and-through wound. I guess I could put on diving gear and go down and see if I can find a bullet in the wreck.”

Jenna nodded. “If we need a bullet to prove who killed him, you can go by all means, but I recall Wolfe saying that he’d searched the inside of the limo for bullet holes and found nothing other than a small hole in one of the windows.

He was unable to determine whether the hole was from a bullet or had been there previously or had happened when the limo was driven into the river. ”

“It’s deep and very dark down there.” Carter peered at her as he chewed around a toothpick. “The current is exceptionally dangerous. There’s no way Kane should go alone. If you need a second diver, I’m available.”

Jenna shook her head. “I’ll consider all the other evidence before I put you both at risk. It’s likely long gone.”

“One more piece of information we need to discuss.” Rio stood and went to the whiteboard. “Kalo called early this morning. He has located Jasper Montgomery. We can take him off our list. He’s been held in remand at County awaiting a court hearing since Wednesday last, so it can’t possibly be him.”

Twirling a pen in her fingers, Jenna watched as Rio added notes to the whiteboard. “The short list of suspects. This case is becoming a nightmare.”

The phone on her desk rang and she picked it up. “Sheriff Alton.”

“I figure someone has been murdered, Sheriff. There’s so much blood. We all ran out and jumped in my car and drove away. I’ve left the house open.”

Writing notes, Jenna quickly put the phone on speaker so the others could listen. “Okay, you’re safe at the moment. Take a few deep breaths. What is your name and what exactly happened?”

“My name is Barb Furlich, I’m a Realtor.

I was showing a house in Bison Ridge. I was there only yesterday making sure it was perfect for the showing this morning.

I had two clients with me, Monique Webby and Donna Tesman Bihn.

We looked at the ground floor first and then went upstairs.

When we went into the master bedroom, it smelled terrible and I’d cleaned it only the day before.

You see, the owners are living in another state. ”

Casting a glance at Kane, who stood and pulled on his jacket, she held up one finger. “Okay, what did you see?”

“Blood everywhere, massive amounts of blood.” Barb sucked in a shuddering breath. “I didn’t go all the way inside, but I couldn’t see anyone. There’s a message on the mirror. It says: This one is mine.”

Jenna remembered the case and her stomach clenched as a wave of fear rushed over her.

No one was safe. Writing frantically, Jenna cleared her throat.

“Okay, I’ll need the address of the house and I’d like you to bring the other two women to my office immediately.

You can give a statement at the front counter.

I’ll need all of you to give us details of exactly what you saw. ”

“We’re on our way.” Barb disconnected.

Jenna scribbled the address on two pieces of paper and handed them to her deputies.

“Okay, Carter, you’re with Kane. Rio and Raven, you too.

It’s a very secluded area, so watch your backs.

” She pushed a hand through her hair. “If this is the same as the Freya Richardson murder, don’t waste any time, grab the trail bikes, and head out to the grave site we discovered at Halloween.

If the old graves we found belonged to this killer, it’s likely he’ll take the body back there.

” She looked from one to the other. “Video the crime scene and upload it so I can see what’s happening. I’ll call Wolfe to meet you there. Go!”

Jenna wanted to go with them so much, but common sense prevailed. She had faith in her team. She called Maggie on the front counter and asked her to take the statements of the women who discovered the crime scene. “When they’re done, send them up here and I’ll talk to them. Thanks.” She hung up.

She looked down at Duke, who never left her side now and scratched his silken head. “I’ll pull up the files on the Freya Richardson case.”

It had been a strange case. They’d discovered old graves and then new ones appeared at Halloween.

All seemed to be murdered by the same man.

She perused the files and scanned the reports that Norrell had uploaded about the previous victims. The bodies had been there for some time, as long as seven years and as the MO was exactly the same, they had naturally presumed that the killer had been restricted from killing between the old and recent murders.

One main thing that linked the murders together was the old phones left in each grave site.

Each phone had the previous murder recorded on it.

She scratched her head. How did the copycat know about the phones?

One of the graves had been empty and they assumed that the original killer had been disturbed.

His last kill never eventuated. But what if that grave had contained a victim after all, and the copycat killer removed the body and the phone from the grave to use in his first victim’s burial?

It was possible but not something they had considered because at that time they didn’t know a copycat killer had been involved.

Her phone chimed. It was Kane. “Is there a body?”

“Nope.” Kane’s face appeared on the screen.

“Rio has videoed the entire scene and taken still shots, but I’ll walk you through.

” He turned the phone around to capture the blood-soaked bathroom and the message.

“It’s identical. Although the message is in lipstick and there’s not one here.

He must have taken it with him.” He turned the phone back around.

“We’re done here and have collected everything we need.

Wolfe has just arrived with his team. He’s armed and so is Webber.

We’ll come by and grab the trail bikes and head into the forest.”

The horrific scene looked surreal on a phone screen. She had tried to take in all the details. “Okay. The blood looks fresh, so you might be close behind him. Make the guys wear their Kevlar vests just in case the killer is still hanging around.”

“I’m on it.” Kane disconnected.

On a hunch, Jenna called Kalo. “Bobby, can you go back seven years and see if any of our suspects were in jail?”

“I’ve checked them all out. Apart from the time they’ve done in Montana, they’re clean.”

Pushing hair behind her ears, she thought for a beat. “Okay, then can you do a search across the US and see if any crimes match the Freya Richardson case going back, say, fourteen years?”

“I can but it will take time, and I know you don’t have time.” Kalo’s chair squeaked as he moved from one computer to another on his desk. “I’ll set it up and see what comes up. I’ll broaden the parameters as well, just in case the bodies were never found.”

Jenna smiled. She admired Kalo’s expertise. “Thank you so much.”

It took some time before the crime scene files appeared on the server.

Jenna watched the video and then scrolled through the photos.

She had the previous crime scene images open and ran them parallel to the new ones.

She swallowed hard. Who had died here? Chloe Bennett or Olivia Cooper?

The attack in the bathroom, the lack of footprints apart from the victims, the imprint of where a towel had lay over the blood.

It was identical. They’d assumed the killer had entered the house when the victim was in the shower, stripped off to murder them, and then showered away any evidence.

He used a bunch of towels to prevent any footprints and wiping up any others he might have left during the stabbing.

The towels were never found. The bodies wrapped and taken away to be buried in the forest. The worst thing was that he recorded the murders but didn’t bury them with the victim—no, he buried the recording of the previous victim’s death with the body.

Copies of the audio files were discovered at the killer’s home—but now they knew the new killings were copycats.

A knock on the door announced Maggie. She walked inside with three women and introduced them. She handed Jenna their statements. “Thanks, Maggie.” She looked at the three ashen-faced women. “Please take a seat. Can I get you anything? Coffee? Water?”

All three shook their heads. Jenna glanced over the statements.

As usual, Maggie had been thorough. Each one stated the time of the incident and the exact movements up to discovering the blood-spattered bathroom.

They’d even included the weather. She looked up at the women.

“Okay. Just a few questions.” She directed her first questions to the Realtor.

“Ms. Furlich, how many people knew the house was open for inspection this morning?”

“Any amount. It’s on our website, but we ask for anyone interested to call me first so I can give them a guided tour.” Barb frowned. “I didn’t want a rush of people arriving and not being able to supervise them properly.”

Jenna moved her attention to the other women. “As passengers in Ms. Furlich’s vehicle, I would assume you took in the surrounding scenery on the way to the property. Did either of you see anyone or a vehicle coming from the property?”

They all shook their heads. “When you went into the bedroom where you found the blood, did any of you touch anything? A door handle? Did you peek into the closet?”

“No, we didn’t touch anything upstairs.” Barb frowned.

“I did notice the glass doors leading out back were open. I assumed I’d left them open the previous day.

It’s not something I do. I check everything but I was running late.

I needed to meet another client at a property in town, so I could have forgotten to close the door. ”

Sorting through the statements, Jenna handed one to Barb Furlich. “If you can add that to your statement and sign it. We’ll make sure to check the door. Did you close it before you left the premises?”

“Yes, I did,” Barb looked mortified. “I closed it when we arrived.” She made the changes. “I didn’t know, I’m sorry.”

After taking the statements and scanning them into the system, Jenna handed a copy back to each woman.

“It’s okay, but we’ll need your fingerprints and a sample of DNA to use for elimination purposes.

When you go back downstairs, Maggie will do it.

The DNA swab is just from inside your mouth.

It’s painless and simple.” She looked from one to the other.

“You’ve all had a nasty shock. If you suffer any nightmares or flashbacks, please consult a medical professional. Thank you for your time today.”

The women stood and left the room. Jenna called Maggie and told her what she needed.

She checked her watch. Kane should be at the gravesite by now.

She leaned back in her chair, chewing on her bottom lip.

Not being in the thick of the action was torture, as was waiting for information.

Patience, in her case, wasn’t a virtue she enjoyed.