Page 46 of The Whispering Girls (Detective Katie Scott #14)

FORTY-TWO

The more Katie searched Dr. Jack Thomas’s vet office and his personal area, the more frustrated she became.

They needed a plan—a solid one. She had searched the two bedrooms and a smaller one that was Jack’s office.

She walked back into the hallway as fear overtook her.

It was her usual anxiety and fearfulness, but every minute they waited the more than likely scenario was that John was dead.

Katie and McGaven were on the same page about not trusting Clark. If he wasn’t going to be transparent, then they didn’t want to include him in their plans. But she knew McGaven was still hurting from his injuries and wasn’t his usual one hundred percent. That was definitely a concern.

Cisco trotted around areas where dogs had been and then stopped near Jack’s office.

It suddenly hit Katie and she kept going over it in her mind: Why wasn’t Clark as drugged as her and McGaven?

She saw him drink the coffee just like everyone else, but he seemed fairly clearheaded when she confronted him at Jack’s desk .

Clark thought he would find something in Jack’s office. What was he looking for?

Katie went into the office again. She had already carefully searched the drawers and filing cabinets. There were two bankers’ boxes in the corner that she looked through as well.

Cisco caught a scent and seemed interested in the desk around the drawers.

It could be anything in a vet clinic. Probably all kinds of animals had been around.

She remembered on one of her cases that people sometimes hid things in drawers, taped underneath, or in clever secret compartments.

Thinking about the hidden staircase, she was guessing that maybe Jack liked secret places.

Katie pulled the middle drawer out and set it on the desk.

There was nothing unusual, just typical stationery like notepads, pens, pencils, paperclips, and such.

She emptied the drawer into one of the boxes and then turned it over revealing nothing but a smooth thin piece of wood.

She ran her fingers along the bottom and it wasn’t flat.

Upon closer inspection, she could see that one edge looked different.

Grabbing a letter opener, Katie pried the bottom, which easily came loose. It was false.

There was an eight-and-a-half-by-eleven single envelope with nothing written on it that had been taped securely. It didn’t appear to have been removed and reset recently.

Katie didn’t care. She ripped the envelope free.

It wasn’t a crime scene so she was finding evidence that would help them understand the connection of the chief, his wife, and the three homicides.

They already knew that Theresa Jamison and TJ were sisters, and by the obvious findings they must’ve been put up for adoption and separated, never knowing what happened to the other.

For whatever reason and however she had managed it, TJ was able to find Theresa but not before she had been murdered.

The thought that they didn't quite reunite was heartbreaking. Everything that came after was murky .

Katie opened the envelope and pulled out several old newspaper articles that had been carefully cut out.

Underneath, there were official copies of documents: birth, death, and marriage certificates.

They were old and had begun to fade with age and some appeared to have been wet at one time because parts of them were bumpy and rough.

In a small white envelope were two separate snippets of hair.

Katie began to read what she could around the damage. It seemed that Jack Thomas had had these papers for a while. There were articles about his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas, owning this building along with their two children, Jack and Carol Ann. Later, his aunt and uncle renovated it.

Katie stopped reading and stood up. Cisco spun around, obviously feeling her energy.

“Jack’s sister is Carol Ann?” she whispered.

Quickly searching through the records, Katie came across a name change for Carol Thomas.

It seemed she changed her last name to her mother’s maiden name of Benedict.

There was a newspaper announcement for Beryl Cooper and Carol Ann Benedict.

Another article was from the crime beat stating that a woman had been found dead in Echo Forest.

Katie retrieved her cell phone. There was a blip of a one bar signal. She sent McGaven a text message to come down ASAP.

It didn’t take long before Katie could hear footsteps coming down the secret staircase and the wind howling against the office window. The storm was their nemesis as it built more power.

Cisco went out of the office with his tail wagging.

“Hey,” McGaven said. “What’s up?”

Katie explained what she had found and showed her partner the documents and where they had been hidden.

McGaven was just as shocked as Katie was. “So let me get this straight. The chief was married to Jack’s sister, who had given birth to Theresa and TJ before meeting the chief. Carol Ann then ends up dead shortly after marrying the chief.”

There were adoption papers for each girl and they went to different families—so their last names would be that of the adopting family.

“Well the chief wasn’t the chief yet,” she said.

“Then Carol Ann’s case goes cold and no one talks about it?”

“Sounds like a story instead of facts.”

“But does this mean that the chief is the killer or that Jack is the killer?”

She let out a sigh. “We can’t connect these two without more information that we haven’t been given.”

“Jack took John,” he said.

“We’re assuming that. There are other things that could have happened.”

“But honestly, we’ve all been drugged and then both Jack and John go missing.”

“We have to assume that because we haven’t heard from John. There’s no evidence of a struggle. But…” she began.

“What’s your gut?” he said. “I know you hate to base things on that when we have limited facts.”

“There’re more facts than you realize. But…

there’s a possibility that Jack may have killed his sister.

For what reason, I don’t know. There could be a lot of reasons: accident, jealousy, maybe inheriting this building so he wouldn’t have to share it.

” She thought back to her encounters with him and their conversations, trying to string together something solid.

McGaven took a step back. “Who killed the girls? And why? Jack?”

“Could be. Maybe the chief killed his wife and Jack knew about it, so he was going to make him pay.” Katie was frustrated.

“But how does all this translate to the five homicides here? There’s something we’re missing…

” She recalled what the chief ha d said on the phone the last time they had spoken to him.

He’d seemed spooked before the phone disconnected and wanted them to know he was sorry.

I know what’s been going on and I’m sorry that…

“What are you thinking?” McGaven said.

“Just that the chief seemed desperate to tell us something. I don’t think he’s the killer. Why would he kill his wife’s children? No way, it doesn’t fit.”

Katie slowly went through the paperwork again. McGaven took a second look as well.

“I know we’re missing something huge that hasn’t been revealed yet,” she said. “And it’s always bothered me that Jack was doing forensic duties at crime scenes. Why?”

“Look at this crime beat from fifteen years ago. It mentioned there was a suspected serial killer and that Carol Ann might have been one of their victims. But there’s no other information.”

“Grasping at straws.” Katie turned to her partner. “Can you do some searches on unsolved murders with the same MO and signature as the victims here?”

“I’ll do what I can with the intermittent internet signal. What areas?”

“Here, and then fan out to nearby counties and then statewide if you get that far.”

“On it,” he said. “What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to search Jack’s personal files. His taxes, business stuff, holdings, and so forth. Not sure what I’m looking for.” Her expression was grim as she worried about John.

“We’re going to find him,” said McGaven as if he read his partner’s thoughts.

“I know,” she said. Although she wasn’t so sure, and the thought of losing him hurt her soul, but it also pushed her forward.

McGaven left .

“C’mon, Cisco, let’s go find you some doggie treats first.” Katie went into one of the examination rooms looking for a jar of dog biscuits. “Here we go,” she said and gave Cisco one.

In the corner, there were three stacked boxes labeled “Real Estate” and “Taxes.” Katie moved them to the office and began going through them.

There were taxes leading back ten years and file folders of the warehouse building, improvements, remodel paperwork, and two other real estate listings.

Apparently Jack owned some property in Echo Forest. He owned twenty-five acres on the edge of town that had no improvements and he owned another twenty-five acres under development that was located right next to Devin Bradley’s parents’ ranch.

Jack’s property showed it was an old ranch of some kind.

There were notations of structures. There appeared to be barns, some type of mill, and other structures she didn’t recognize.

Katie thought it would be a perfect location to hide out, hide a body, or get rid of a body.

Katie and McGaven needed to be prepared for anything and everything because the killer likely knew they would be coming to get John—no matter what. And that’s what the killer wanted. They were going to be walking right into a trap with no backup.