Page 34 of The Whispering Girls (Detective Katie Scott #14)

THIRTY-TWO

Katie and John decided to take the Jeep. It was more reliable with four-wheel drive, and it was a smaller, narrower vehicle that could maneuver in tight places if necessary.

“You sure you know where the police station is?” said John.

“Yes. Gav and I drove by it a few times. And, by the way, it’s not a police station like you think…

it’s more like a small place of business.

” Katie wasn’t entirely sure that what they were doing was the right thing to do, but since the police force was missing something had to be done.

She slowed her speed and skillfully maneuvered around large snowdrifts. “It’s down that alley.”

She then drove by.

“I thought you said we were going there?”

“On second thought, it would be easier and not to mention more legal if we had the keys.”

John smiled and nodded, knowing what she had in mind.

The roads were definitely more difficult to drive. There were times Katie had to veer off the main road and take shortcuts along sidewalk and parking areas, which had less snow. As she drove closer to the hospital, they saw a couple of emergency fire vehicles.

“Where is it?” she said.

The chief’s vehicle was gone.

“Wasn’t it parked out front?”

“Yes. Definitely.” Katie found a place where she could safely turn around and headed back to the station.

“That’s not good,” said John. “Do you think the chief is behind this?”

“I don’t know. But we have to get to the bottom of it while the storm works in our favor.”

John remained quiet as he watched the road. The falling snow increased, making it difficult to see even with the windshield wipers.

“Our window is about thirty minutes until it gets too difficult to drive back to the lodge,” he said.

Katie agreed.

They returned to the police station and made their way down the back alley. There was no use trying to hide the Jeep. The alley was narrow, mostly used as a walkway, so the car doors wouldn’t open all the way.

The cold attacked her body and her face was close to being almost completely numb. She ran her gloved hands over her cheeks, trying to warm her skin. She fought the urge to let her teeth chatter and pushed through the discomfort.

They approached the front door from the main street.

She did the normal thing and knocked. When there was no answer she knocked again, trying the door, but it was locked.

There was still no answer. There was a small window next to the door and it was obvious the lights were out inside.

She stood on her tiptoes, but she didn’t see much except for a couple of desks.

“What do you want to do now?” said John.

Katie looked directly at him and said, “We’re going to have to find another way inside.”

“You mean break in.”

“You have a better idea?” she said, but knowing the answer.

“Finding the key?”

“I would say these are exigent circumstances, wouldn’t you?” she said.

John slowly smiled. “I would say so.”

“Okay then.” Katie viewed the window. “Do you think we can break this?”

John went back to the Jeep, opened the back hatch, and found a crowbar. He returned to Katie. “I’m not going to ask why you have this in the back. Most people have this with their spare.”

“It pays to be prepared.”

Katie stepped back and let John smash the window and then he used his sleeve to clear off the broken glass at the bottom.

The window was smaller than the average and it was clear Katie would have to be the one to climb through.

They waited a moment, expecting to hear an alarm, but since the patrolling cops were missing, probably no one would investigate even if there was one.

But it remained quiet. The only sound was the moderate wind accompanied by the light snowflakes carried along by the breeze.

“A little help,” she said, wiping away the cold particles on her face.

John gave Katie a leg-up to the window, where she was able to balance herself and push her petite body into the small building. She hit the floor harder than she had anticipated and scrambled to her feet. She made her way almost blindly to the entrance, unlocking the door.

John quickly slipped inside. “You okay?”

“Yeah, fine.”

John wiped the snow from his jacket sleeves and stomped his boots.

“I can’t find the light switches. They don’t seem to be in the usual places,” she said.

Katie moved to one of the desks where there was a lamp. She fumbled a bit, but managed to switch the light on. The low light bulb shined a yellowish glow around the room. She thought it was better to keep the lights to a minimum in case someone did see them, even though it was highly unlikely.

“What are you looking for?” said John.

“Notes, reports, something about the homicides.”

The office was small, just one room. Three desks, four filing cabinets, two large floor-to-ceiling bookshelves.

Surprisingly, things were organized, but definitely squeezed due to the small space.

The first desk had some personal items, a framed photograph of a couple and their large husky dog.

It was clear it was the assistant who answered the phone.

Katie remembered talking to a Libby and assumed it was her desk.

Katie could hear John looking through filing cabinets with his flashlight. The beam moved from drawer to drawer.

The second desk was almost clear, but there were blank incident forms, a notepad, a couple of phone messages, and a cup with various pens and pencils.

Katie supposed that Officers Clark and Banning shared the desk.

Interesting. She opened the drawers and there wasn’t anything suspicious or out of place.

The last desk was larger and had many drawers and small cubbyholes.

Upon closer inspection, even in the insufficient lighting, it seemed to be an antique mahogany desk.

Perhaps one that had been here for decades or something the chief owned that was sentimental.

“Anything?” said John. His voice sounded stressed.

“Not yet.”

“There’s definitely not a lot of serious crime here. These murders must’ve overtaxed the cops and the chief. Maybe they ran. ”

Katie stopped and turned to John. “You mean abandoned their posts?”

“I don’t know, something like that. It’d be a perfect time during this storm.”

The thought had never occurred to Katie.

“Some of these cases…a Mrs. Arnold filed against a neighbor for stealing her chickens…a man exposing himself to children…someone skipping out and not paying for their breakfast…it’s all stuff like that.”

“What would make the entire police force, granted it’s small, disappear?” she said.

“It could be anything.”

Katie shook her head. “It’s one of two things:They skipped just like you said or they’re involved somehow in these cases. I’m not saying all of them, but I’m betting at least one of them.”

“Here’s something curious,” John said, pulling a file out of the bottom cabinet drawer.

Katie joined him.

“It’s dated a little over fifteen years ago…Carol Ann Benedict.”

“That’s the name on the memorial bench on the hiking trail.”

“You sure?”

“Yes, I’m definitely sure.” Katie’s curiosity heightened.

“It says she was found murdered, strangled, on a remote trail,” he said. “Looks like after an exhaustive investigation, where there were no suspects or forensics of use, the case stopped and is officially a cold case until new evidence comes to light.” John studied the report. “Look at this.”

Katie read the page John was referring to. She didn’t see anything to grab her attention until she saw the victim was referred to as Carol Ann Benedict-Cooper. “Cooper?”

“Think it’s a coincidence? Do you think she was married to the chief—well before he was appointed to his position? ”

Katie looked at the chief’s desk to find a date. “It looks like he was sworn in six months after Carol’s death.”

“That would make sense. He became chief to solve his wife’s murder. In a small town it wouldn’t be difficult to get put in that position,” John said.

“How sad that this case hasn’t been solved. And there haven’t been any homicides in Echo Forest since.”

“Until now.” John studied Katie’s face. “What are you thinking?”

“It’s hard not to think that maybe all these cases, including the one from fifteen years ago, could be connected somehow.

” Her mind was on overload. The crime scenes, the hospital, and now this made her more convinced that they all had something in common.

And right now, the common denominator was Chief Cooper.

“The chief seems to be a part of all these cases,” John said, as if reading her mind.

“And he called us to the hospital before we were attacked, and now he’s gone missing.”

“He could be a victim too in all this.”

“It’s possible, but we need more. Grab everything pertaining to the recent cases and the old homicide. As well as who was the mayor and part of the town council fifteen years ago. It will be easier to comb through the reports back at the lodge.”

They systematically began pulling files that would be helpful.

“Get your hands up!”

Both Katie and John immediately reacted, pulling their guns.