by Hood, D. K.
Jo turned as Ty Carter walked out onto the porch and rested a rifle against the wall. He was not what she’d expected. Tall and strong with a square jaw and buzz cut was the image she remembered from his file. The man standing before her was a cowboy right down to his snakeskin boots. Piercing green eyes bore into her, and his shaggy blond hair poked out from under a well-worn Stetson. She straightened and walked up the steps to greet him. Grab your gear, we have an urgent case.” She noticed a slight smirk and it made her blood boil. “Why didn’t you answer my calls?”
“No bars up here.” Ty shrugged and moved a toothpick across his lips. “I received my orders last week by mail. They informed me to wait for you to contact me and here you are.” He stood to one side. “I guess you’d better come in and bring me up to speed.”
Jo stood her ground. “We don’t have time.” She pulled her phone from her pocket, opened the image files Wolfe had sent her, and handed the phone to him. “Mass murder out of Black Rock Falls. The medical examiner is waiting for us before he removes the bodies. You’ll need to pack for a few days.”
“My duffle is always packed.” Ty frowned at the images. “Give me five to put out my fire and get my weapons.” He looked at the sheriff. “Cage, can you grab a bag of food for Zorro from my pantry and put it in my truck?”
“Sure.” Cage walked in the door and stopped dead. “Ah… is he okay?”
Jo’s attention moved to a Doberman, sitting ears tall, quivering lips pulled back displaying very white teeth. “Do you have someone to care for him?”
With one small gesture from Ty’s hand, the dog dropped and watched them closely. Jo marveled at the condition of the animal. He was a fine-looking dog and held his head up with pride, looking like a Sphinx.
“Zorro goes where I go.” Ty walked through the small, spotless cabin and into a room at the back. “He’s the bomb squad.”
She waited a few minutes for Ty to emerge from the other room. He’d changed into clean clothes and had a duffle over one shoulder, a gun case in one hand, and a pair of hiking boots in the other. He still resembled a cowboy.
“We’ll go in my truck.” Ty ushered her out the door.
Once they’d dropped Cage at his cruiser, Jo brought Ty up to speed with the murders in Black Rock Falls. He hadn’t said a word to her for the past ten minutes. He had no conclusions or opinions on the case, which she thought strange. “Have you handled many serial killer cases?”
“Yeah, a few.” Ty turned onto the highway and accelerated. “So, what is your part in all this? You’re my boss—my orders made that perfectly clear.” He tossed the toothpick out the window, letting in a blast of freezing air.
It was obvious to Jo that he didn’t like the idea of her seniority. From his file, he’d been at the top of his field two years ago. He’d been much of a lone wolf before a slip-up by a team he was working a case with had resulted in the deaths of two young children. From what she’d read, Ty had suffered PTSD to such an extent he’d gone off the grid to recover. Although his psych tests had come back clean, he was still an unknown quantity. She turned to look at him. “The idea is we work together but I’ll be taking the lead. I’m a behavioral analyst. I profile killers and attempt to anticipate their next move.”
“I use my gut instinct and I’ve not been wrong yet.” He shrugged. “Do you work on the fly?”
“If you mean will I stay in the office and send you out on cases, no. I prefer to be right in the action. I need to see the crime scene to determine the profile of the killer.” Jo looked at the rigid set of his jaw. It was obvious he wasn’t impressed to be working with her in the field. She cleared her throat. “I’m not a detective but my insights have solved many crimes.”
“Can you handle yourself in the field in extreme conditions?” Ty flicked her a swift glance, taking in her attire. “It’s going to be tough working the backwoods towns. Days of hiking through forests, hand-to-hand combat, and ducking bullets.”
Jo set her jaw. Her boss and ex-husband’s lover had given her a hardnosed, damaged partner with the intention of making her life a misery. She’d dealt with a bossy, demanding man during her marriage and was well versed in how to deal with egos. She didn’t need to impress Ty Carter with qualifications. She’d earn his respect but he was correct, they would sure need to be tough. She lifted her chin. First, she’d need to convince him she wasn’t a helpless woman. “I can handle myself just fine.”
“Uh-huh.” Ty stared straight ahead. “So, how many do we have on our team?”
Jo swallowed hard. “Right now, it’s just you and me.”
“Oh, boy.”
Thirty-Four
Black Rock Falls
It was after two by the time Jenna spotted the incoming chopper. She hurried into the barn, thanked Tom Dickson, and asked him to finish up. She gave him a full day’s pay but didn’t explain why an FBI chopper was landing on her ranch. Kane had dashed to his cottage with Duke and then hurried inside the barn to calm the horses as the noisy machine landed. Shielding her eyes from the whirlwind of dust from the spinning blades, Jenna waited on the front porch for the agents to emerge. She took in the two strangers and shook her head. Jo Blake, an attractive woman she imagined to be around thirty, had dressed in a tailored suit with fashionable boots and with her dark hair swept up; she reminded Jenna of her time working in DC. Agents had a dress code unless undercover, but when Ty Carter emerged from the pilot’s seat, she did a double take. Bundled up in a sheepskin coat and wearing blue jeans, a battered Stetson, and one-way sunglasses, he looked as if he’d just walked off a ranch. He’s a DC agent?
Carter obviously owned the sleek Doberman that jumped down from the chopper wearing a harness. It moved to his side and looked up at him as if awaiting instruction. She wondered what Duke would think of another dog in his yard. She turned as Kane strode out from the barn, and after the introductions, she looked at Carter. “I didn’t know you’d be bringing a dog. Our Duke is pretty territorial.”
“You won’t have a problem. Zorro will just ignore him, and it takes two to tango.” Carter smiled. “What breed is Duke? His name sounds like a hunting dog to me.”
“Yeah.” Kane moved to Jenna’s side. “He’s a bloodhound and a fine tracker.”
“Zorro is our bomb squad.” Carter patted Zorro on the head. “I haven’t trained him to disarm one yet, but if there’s one out there, he’ll find it.”
Jenna nodded. “Good to know. Bring him along. The ME is waiting for us at the crime scene.” They climbed into Kane’s truck and headed to the Old Mitcham Ranch.
“I hear you’re the profiler of the team, Kane.” Jo sounded interested. “Would you consider this a serial killer’s work or are we looking at a terrorist?”
“Serial killer.” Kane looked at her in his mirror. “We’re here, so you can take a look for yourself.”
“I hear you’re an expert in catching serial killers.” Carter instructed Zorro to remain inside. He removed his sunglasses and moved to Jenna’s side as they stepped down from the truck.
Jenna looked at him to see if he was joking but she only saw genuine interest in his unusual green eyes. “Well, I have a great team.” She waved toward the murder scene. “This is our first mass murder, and I believe Jo was involved in something similar in Baltimore.”
“So she said.” Carter took a toothpick from his pocket, pushed it into the side of his mouth, and moved it from side to side. “I only met her a couple of hours ago. She didn’t say too much on the way here about her old cases; she was on the phone making arrangements for her daughter. She has a seven-year-old at home.” He took the gloves and booties Wolfe handed him and put them on. “Let’s see what we have here.”
As Carter walked up the steps and nodded to Rowley, who was standing guard just inside the front door, shotgun in hand, Jenna pulled on her gloves and booties. She’d already listened to Wolfe’s take on the crime scene but was interested to hear the discussion between Kane and Jo. They were speaking in
hushed tones and doing a great deal of pointing and gesturing.
“Oh, I agree. Severe trauma-induced psychosis would push an already unstable psyche into this pattern.” Jo looked up at Kane. “Using the girl as bait is the same MO as the Baltimore case but this is more violent, more advanced. It shows a power-induced frenzy. He loved the audience, and when they passed out from lack of blood, they lost their use to him, so he shot them in the head.”
“What puzzles me is the first victim, Robinson.” Kane turned to look at Jo. “His murder was too clean, unhurried, a walk in and walk out. It doesn’t fit into this type of extreme behavior.”
“This is what fazed me too. I’ve had several the same.” Jo glanced at Jenna as if seeing her for the first time. “If this killer is working across the states, this investigation will become an FBI matter. Although, there’s only the two of us available at the moment.” She sighed. “I only arrived in Snakeskin Gully last weekend, and so far, I’ve only located Ty. The computer guy and receptionist are AWOL.”
“Do you have access to the case files? We’ll need them to compare the cases.” Kane walked off the porch with her and they chatted on the way back to his truck.
“Sheriff Alton.” Carter walked up beside her. “There’s a few things I’d like to discuss with you.”
Jenna turned to look at him. “Yes, of course.”
“Wolfe said he’s matched all the bloody footprints with the victims, yet the killer must have been covered in blood. How did he move around without leaving footprints? All the victims are secured, so it’s not a murder–suicide.” Carter waved flies away from the pool of congealed blood beneath Ruby’s lifeless body. “I can usually sum up a scene in seconds but I’d be interested to know what you see here.”
Is he testing me? Jenna scanned the array of footprints. “This isn’t my first dance, Carter. I don’t need a lesson in crime scene investigation.”
“Then why the rush to get us here?” Carter gave her a long look. “You’re clearly out of your depth. I’ve noticed an anomaly on Wolfe’s preliminary examination—have you?” The toothpick moved across his lips and he grinned at her. “No?”
Kane had mentioned Carter was arrogant, and he was sure showing it now. She straightened and eyeballed him. “Wolfe doesn’t make mistakes.”
“I didn’t say he did. I asked you what you see here.” Carter stared at her, green eyes flashing with amusement.
Okay, I’ll play your game. “I see everything perfectly clear, Carter. One set, the one with the swirls, appears to be more dominant than the others.” She pulled out her phone and scanned the footprint comparison files Wolfe had made previously from the victims’ footwear. “The first victim from the left owned these shoes, so I’d imagine he was the last to die. The killer ordered him to secure the others and then carry the severed hands into the kitchen, as the same footprints are throughout the house.”
“Uh-huh.” Carter scanned the scene again. “So, Wolfe figures the killer stood back here and ordered the big guy, we’ll call him number one, to tie everyone up and then collect body parts in his jacket. The killer told him to carry them to the kitchen and display them on the table like a good boy. He expected him to come back here so he could tie him up and kill him?” He walked over to corpse number one and looked at him closely. He turned back to Jenna and rested the toothpick in the corner of his mouth. “That doesn’t work for me. Not at all. I’d say he died first, he was the guy with the weapon, maybe the boss here.” He frowned down at the victim. “How could he have carried the body parts with a hand missing, and why didn’t he escape? According to the footprints he was alone in the kitchen. Any fool would have hightailed it out the back door.” He snorted. “There’s something else significant. Take another look.”
Wolfe had backed his conclusions with physical evidence and Jenna had no cause to doubt his findings. Bemused, she stared at Carter and then back at the crime scene. He’d spotted something she’d overlooked. She went to each man, looked at their footwear, and checked the soles against Wolfe’s record. When she got to victim number one, she did a double take. Large leather boots stuck out from the end of his jeans. She looked up at Carter. “His shoes are on the wrong feet.”
“Yeah, I noticed that, and his jacket is missing and it’s freezing out here. His must be the jacket Wolfe found in the kitchen.” Carter stepped around the blood spatter and went to her side. “Wolfe had no reason to remove his boots. I believe the killer wore them to move around and put them back on the corpse when he’d finished. We know he used a jacket to collect the body parts. I would say he took the jacket from victim number one before he began his killing spree. The rest is much like Wolfe surmised. He held them at gunpoint and had one tie up the other. The last one he secured himself. He is smart—look here.” He pointed to victim number two. “The murderer severed the right hand of the second victim but placed a tourniquet above the amputation to prevent blood loss. It’s the same with the others. He wanted them alive and in pain.”
Intrigued by Carter’s insight, Jenna nodded. “Going by the damage to the arm of the chair, he used the ax Wolfe found on the kitchen table.”
“Yeah, I would think so.” Carter picked his way back to Ruby and stared at the pool of blood. “The feather. Jo said this is three for three, so we must assume the same man murdered all the current victims. I believe the feather is significant to him: it means something, and by leaving it, he’s sending a message.”
Jenna nodded. “I thought Jo was the behavioral analyst.”
“She is but it doesn’t take a degree to understand human nature in our business, does it?” He pushed back his Stetson and looked at her. “Anything else I need to know?”
“Wolfe believes the killer is left-handed from the laceration on Ruby’s neck.” Jenna waved a hand toward Kane. “Kane has the same theory with the Robinson murder. When the killer walked into the bedroom, he turned on the light, shot Robinson, and turned off the light, all in seconds. The switch is on the right going into the room, so Kane figures the shooter was left-handed or ambidextrous.”
“More like left-handed; one hand is always weaker.” Carter ambled off the porch. “I think we’re done here and the stink is getting bad. Where’s a good place to stay around here? And we’ll need a vehicle.”
Jenna frowned. “I guess you can use my cruiser. I ride with Kane most times.” She waved a hand toward the house. “I’ll speak to Wolfe about the victim’s boots and then we’ll drive you into town.”
She picked her way back inside and noticed Carter sticking to her like glue. In the kitchen, Wolfe was bagging and labeling the body parts. She explained Carter’s theory to him. “You didn’t mention victim number one’s boots, so is it a possibility the killer used them to disguise his identity?”
“Yeah, but I’ll need to prove it. I’ve made a note of the boots being on the wrong feet in my crime scene report.” Wolfe wrote on an evidence bag and then looked up at her. “I have to consider both scenarios, Jenna. The killer using another man’s boots is a possibility, but he’d have to have the victims secured first.” He sighed. “Then you have to consider the situation the men faced. It was the middle of the night, a girl is screaming, and they would’ve dressed quickly to rush outside to see what the noise was about. Victim number one could’ve easily put his boots on the wrong feet. If the killer did use his boots, I’ll find evidence. For instance, I’ll look for blood spatter from the other victims on his socks.” He gave Carter a long look. “I can’t figure out why the first victim didn’t fire his weapon. He must have had it in his hand when he came out the trailer.”
“Maybe the killer had the drop on them.” Carter chewed on his toothpick. “Or he put down his gun to help the girl.” He looked at Jenna. “Did you search the trailers for weapons?”
Jenna nodded. “Yeah, we didn’t find any, which out here is more than a little strange, but there’s a rifle in the truck.”
“What I think is stranger.” Kane walked in the back door
with Jo on his heels. “Where are the other workers’ vehicles? We have one truck parked behind the first trailer owned by Trevor Wilson; from the driver’s license on record he’s the shirtless victim. He’s sixty-two years old, has been in the service, and we have his prints—it’s a positive ID.”
Jenna waved the flies away from her face. “What type of crazy boss drops their workers out here without transport or weapons to protect themselves?”
“Illegal aliens, maybe.” Kane shrugged. “Cheap labor and ones who don’t know the local legends or don’t care.”
“Or maybe they flew in from another state, and as the boss is living on-site, he’d be giving them a ride into town when necessary.” Carter leaned against the doorframe. “There’s time to discuss this later. Can we get away from this stink?”
Jenna looked at Wolfe. “Do you need our help? I’ll leave Rowley here to watch your back.”
“Nah, we’ll work our way through and get them on ice, although I’d appreciate Rowley as backup just in case the killer is hanging around.” Wolfe’s eyes met hers over the mask and she noticed one raised eyebrow. “You’d better get the agents settled. We’ll be just fine.” He turned to Jo. “What’re the chances of the killer returning to the scene of the crime?”
“It’s possible, don’t take any chances.” Jo moved her attention to the body parts. “Although, this much carnage might satisfy him for a while.”
Jenna headed for the back door. “I hope so, we’re running out of space in the morgue.”
Thirty-Five
Deep in her own thoughts, Jenna allowed the light conversation drifting around her to go by and let Kane answer the agents’ questions. The truck pulled up outside her front door and the passengers climbed out to retrieve their bags from the chopper. She heard Kane clear his throat and looked at him. “Did you say something?”
