Page 10 of Their Haunted Hearts (Detectives Kane and Alton #27)

Nine

Tuesday

“Mommy, Mommy.”

The sound of Jackson’s voice woke Jenna with a start.

She stared down at the grinning face, cheeks bright red from teething and the wet bib around his neck.

He was Kane’s clone, solid build, black hair, and dark blue eyes, but Jackson had a dimple in his chin and she wondered if Kane had had his removed during his facial reconstruction, but she’d never ask.

“Good morning, handsome.” She swung him onto the bed. “You’re up early.”

“Yeah, he came out with me to do my chores this morning.” Kane came into the room with a cup of coffee and set it on the bedside table.

“I’m running a bit behind.” He ruffled Jackson’s hair.

“He’s a handful now he’s walking. He refused to sit in his highchair, so I haven’t been able to fix breakfast or wake Tauri. ”

Jenna pressed kisses all over Jackson’s face, making big smacking sounds, and the baby giggled.

“You should have woken me. I can’t expect you to do everything.

” She smiled at him. “We work together, right?” She frowned as Jackson worried his gums with his fist. “I’ll settle him and then get Tauri ready for school before I take a shower.

” She slid out of bed and carried the toddler to the kitchen.

She took a frozen teething ring from the freezer, wrapped the handle in a bib, and handed it to Jackson, guiding it to his mouth.

“Yes, that helps doesn’t it. Poor boy, don’t worry, it’s almost through.

” She slid him into the highchair and grabbed the cup Kane handed her.

“He should be fine for a while. Give me five and I’ll come back and feed him. ”

Footsteps came along the hallway and Tauri burst into the kitchen. Jenna bent and gave him a hug. “Look at you, up and dressed. You are such a good boy.”

“I’ll get Jackson some toys.” Tauri gathered a few things from the toy box in the corner and dropped them on the tray of the highchair. He smiled at Jenna. “He likes toys in his highchair now. Nanny Raya says it’s okay.”

Putting the shower on the back burner for now, Jenna took the scrambled eggs Kane had just prepared and slid some onto a small plate.

She buttered small fingers of toast. Jackson was starting to feed himself and, although messy, was getting better by the day.

She would feed him the eggs and eat her own at the same time.

The toast he could negotiate himself as well as a sippy cup.

After breakfast, she checked the time, bathed Jackson, and had him dressed by the time Nanny Raya came through the connecting door from her apartment.

She smiled at her. “I’m afraid I’m running late.

The boys are ready. Jackson’s tooth is almost through. He’s been up since before dawn.”

“He’ll sleep later, don’t worry.” Raya held out her arms to Jackson who gave her a toothy grin. “Come on, we’ll take your brother to school and then we’ll go and visit your friends. Grab your bag, Tauri.” She headed back through the door with Tauri on her heels.

Separation anxiety gripped Jenna but Jackson had no worries at all.

Their careful handling of easing back into the workforce had prepared the toddler for his parents’ long absences.

She’d discovered not making a big thing out of leaving and having Raya as a constant person in both the boys’ lives meant her sons remained contented.

She turned and looked at Kane. “I still hate leaving them.”

“Me too.” Kane held out his arms to her.

“If we stayed home with Jackson, he wouldn’t get the social skills he gets when Raya takes him to playgroups.

We spend as much time with them as possible.

Allowing Rio to run the office, we’ve been part-time law enforcement officers for the last four months.

It’s a compromise most parents don’t have.

Jackson and Tauri are well adjusted. Now we have a homicide case, we need to spend the time at work.

Once we catch this guy, we can spend more time with the boys.

They’ll cope with the extra hours with Raya just fine.

It’s all good.” He turned her around. “Go and get ready. I’ll clear the table. ”

Loving the growing excitement of Halloween, Jenna peered out of the window as Kane drove the Beast, his tricked-out black truck, along Main.

The displays and decorations set up outside the stores had reached a new level this year.

She couldn’t remember seeing so many automated displays.

The black and orange theme continued along the entire length of Main.

“Slow down so we can look. Oh, that one is remarkable.” She pointed to a pair of gunslinger vampires, jumping from coffins to have a showdown, with stakes instead of guns.

“I don’t know where they come up with these ideas.” Kane buzzed down his window. “Can you hear them, Jenna? He’s saying, ‘Why are you coming at me with that stake?’” He grinned at her and crawled along the blacktop. “I figure the haunted house is going to be a hit with the locals.”

Jenna waved at a couple of townsfolk tying skeletons to the light posts.

“I agree, they’ve been working on it for a long time.

I’ve only heard gossip about it so far, but apparently, they completely gutted that old house so you can go in one door and move through rooms and have different terrifying experiences.

I’d say it will be real spooky when it’s finished.

It’s going to be a tourist attraction for sure.

I heard it’s going to be open for all the festivals and the theme will change.

I figured it would just be basically a haunted house. ”

“I heard they’re going to be using the pumpkin patch beside the old graveyard for something this year.” Kane left Main and took the side street to the back of the sheriff’s office. “We’ll park here. I figure it’s going to rain again today.”

Jenna looked at him. “What about the pumpkin patch? Don’t leave me hanging here.”

“I’m not sure.” Kane smiled at her. “They’re having some stalls there selling stuff and apple-bobbing and other Halloweeny things, I guess.”

Snorting, Jenna climbed from the truck and waited for Kane to unclip Duke from his seatbelt. “Halloweeny things?” She slipped her arm through his. “I can’t wait to find out what they are.”

“You know, spooky things.” Kane leaned into the retinal scanner and the door clicked open.

The moment Jenna reached the counter, Rowley came over. “Morning.”

“I have good news.” Rowley held up a sheet of paper.

“This just came in from Helena. The Jane Doe, we believe is Darlene Travis. Her parents caught the news report and called their local cops. They had a few things with her prints on and the local guys are running them against the set we took from her.”

So happy for a break in the case, Jenna smiled. “How long ago did they call?”

“Maybe ten minutes or so.” Rowley moved around the counter as Maggie, the receptionist, came through the front door. “I’ve just checked the server and Kalo uploaded a few video files. Do you want me to take a look?”

“Yeah, we’ll check it out as well.” She turned to go. “Let me know the moment Helena gets back to you.” She waved to Maggie and then headed up the stairs to her office.

The smell of freshly brewing coffee wafted toward her as she dropped into a chair behind her desk, turned on her computer, and looked at Kane.

“We have an unconfirmed ID on the Jane Doe, and Kalo has sent some of the video files he collected from around Aunt Betty’s before and after the body was found.

I hope he found something on the killer. ”

“We need suspects.” Kane poured two cups of coffee and moved a chair beside her. “We have a body, with no idea where this poor woman came from or how she met her killer. For all we know, he could have brought her body here from anywhere and dumped it in town and then left.”

Jenna lifted her gaze to him. “Really? Since when have exhibitionists like this guy not hung around to watch the reaction to their kills? It is part of their thrill; they love terrifying people. Look at the response already. People are starting to believe in vampires.”

“I suppose, as many of them already believe in ghosts, it’s not a stretch of the imagination.” Kane made a whirling gesture with his fingers. “Okay, let’s see this footage. Did he send any notes?”

Opening the accompanying file, Jenna scanned the page.

“Yeah, he mentions the same figure and vehicle in each of the examples. He has tried to clear up the images and has included them in a separate file. He estimates the figure is approximately six-three and two hundred and forty pounds.” She glanced at Kane. “What do you want to see first?”

“The footage.” Kane leaned forward on the desk. “Often, I can get a good idea of physical fitness by the way they walk or carry themselves.”

They sat in silence and watched the five video clips that Kalo had sent them.

The street lighting cast deep shadows across the frames and the footage was grainy and jumped around.

Jenna paused the footage and turned to Kane.

“He knows about the camera. See how he walks keeping his chin down. He has the drop-off planned to the second, as if he made the automaton himself. One mannequin out and the body installed in minutes.” She watched for a few more frames.

“He discarded the mannequin in the dumpster in the alleyway.” She shot a glance at Kane. “How come we didn’t find it?”

“They’re emptied at six. We missed it.” Kane rubbed the back of his neck. “It will be buried by now in the landfill.”

Next, she opened the enhanced images. “He’s wearing a balaclava, gloves, and a heavy winter jacket, all dark colors. Apart from his size, there’s not much here to go on.”

“I can’t see a weapon bulge.” Kane moved closer and used his fingers to enlarge the image on the touch screen.

“See, the coat goes straight down, but when he lifts the body from the back of his truck, the jacket rises. There’s no holster belt and it would be clear from the back.

That doesn’t discount the fact that he could have a shoulder holster. ”

Searching the screen, Jenna moved her gaze over the man and then the vehicle. “No bumper stickers and the plate is unidentifiable. It’s difficult to know what make and model it is.”

“From what the witnesses told us, I figure we can narrow it down to one or two models.” He stared at the screen.

“There’s something else. He’s not wearing boots.

This time of year, I rarely see anyone not wearing leather boots of some description.

Most in town wear cowboy boots, the miners wear steel-toe boots, the hikers have insulated hiking boots, and the forestry workers wear logger boots.

I’m not seeing any of these here, I’m seeing sneakers.

That’s unusual, so I figure he’s not from around these parts. ”

A knock on the door signaled the arrival of Rowley. Jenna waved him inside. “What have you got for me, Jake?”

“It seems as if the Helena detectives followed up.” Rowley leaned against the doorframe.

“Darlene Travis is the daughter of Malcolm Travis, a lawyer in Helena. She has been a wild child since leaving high school. She refused to go to college, deciding to take a few years of study to find herself. She had an argument with her parents as she maxed out her credit card and this was becoming a bad habit. Her dad cut up her credit card and grounded her, which at twenty she didn’t take too kindly.

She packed her bags and left in the dead of night but forgot her phone.

They said she was complaining about having no money, so we must assume she used everything she had on the bus tickets.

They discovered she’d made an appointment for an interview for a job in Blackwater.

She had also made inquiries about bus timetables.

They assumed she was heading to Blackwater for an appointment on Monday.

” He blew out a long sigh. “I checked the passengers on the bus from Helena and her name wasn’t there.

I did find a bus that went to Butte and there she was on the list. I figure she took the wrong bus and likely got a ride in a truck. ”

“We need to check out the Triple Z Roadhouse.” Kane pushed to his feet. “What time did the bus get to Butte?”

“A little after ten.” Rowley scratched his chin. “So, she must have made it to the roadhouse by midnight if she picked up a ride right away. A woman alone, nicely dressed. I have the description of what she was wearing. I’ll send it to your phone. She’d be noticed for sure.”

Standing, Jenna walked around her desk to grab her jacket.

“We must assume that the killer scoped out Aunt Betty’s Café sometime in the week prior to dumping the body.

” She stared at Rowley. “Rio can handle the office. Head down to the diner and check out their CCTV footage for inside the café. We’re looking for someone who wears sneakers.

” She gave him the general description they’d discussed.

“If you find anyone that matches, ask Susie Hartwig, the manager, to give you a copy. Take a thumb drive with you.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Rowley headed downstairs, his boots clattering on the steps.

“Come on, Duke.” Kane whistled and Duke’s eyes opened. He stood in his basket, shook from head to tail, and then did his happy dance. Kane bent to attach the dog’s leash. “Walkies.”