Her Broken Wings

by Hood, D. K.

  “Nope.” Wolfe examined Ann’s eyes. “I doubt this killer would’ve waited for her casually smoking. Criminals aren’t usually that stupid.” He rolled the body over and did a cursory examination. “She doesn’t have a mark on her. She has something under her nails, so I’ll bag them but it doesn’t appear to be flesh. This looks like asphyxiation due to strangulation. There wasn’t a fight. From the dropped bags and her purse, the killer surprised her, likely as she was opening the dumpster.”

  “This is another hit.” Jo stared at the body. “Men who strangle women do so for power. It’s most usual in spousal abuse. It’s used to subdue a woman for rape as well. Both are acts of power over women.” She pursed her lips. “I don’t see that here at all. He hasn’t touched her. Her clothes appear to be in order. It’s as if he just walked up and killed her in the most undetectable way possible. No blood. A man of average height and weight would’ve been able to strangle her away from him and avoid coming into contact with her clothes, but I’d look for any trace evidence on her.”

  “She was a hair stylist.” Wolfe frowned at her. “I can see a ton of hairs on her skirt; the likelihood of proving one of those belongs to her killer is remote. If this is a hit, he didn’t leave any evidence behind.” He looked at Jenna. “Brad Kelly had time to do this before you arrested him.”

  Footsteps running made Jenna reach for her weapon. Heart pounding, she stood her ground as Webber came into sight. “Oh, good, it’s you.”

  “Go get my van and back it into the alley. I’m done here. I’ll get her back to the morgue.” Wolfe picked up the purse on the ground and tossed it to Jenna. “You’ll have to contact her family.” He sighed. “I’ll do a preliminary tonight and leave the post until Monday. I’m pretty busy right now.”

  Jenna nodded. “Sure.” She opened the purse and found a small amount of cash, car keys, and her driver’s license. She shone her flashlight on the contents. “Ann lives out on Stoney. I’ll get a statement from Stack and then we’ll head out to speak to her family.”

  “Where’s Kane?” Wolfe pulled out a body bag from his kit and gave her a curious look.

  “He’s at the Cattleman’s Hotel with Carter.” Jenna replaced the items in the purse and slid it into an evidence bag. “I have to give him time off sometimes. This can wait for the morning. I have everything under control.”

  “Ah, I see.” Wolfe waited for his van to arrive and looked at Jenna. “We’ll take it from here. If you need me, I’ll be awake for some time yet.”

  Jenna pulled off her gloves with a snap and tossed them into the dumpster. “Thanks.” She looked at Jo. “Handled many death notifications?”

  “No.” Jo followed her between the van and the wall. “I’m usually called in after that chore has been done. It would be one of the worst things to do, I imagine.”

  Jenna grimaced and headed for her cruiser to grab a statement pad. “Yeah, it is.”

  Forty-Nine

  It was close to midnight and the drive back to the ranch seemed surreal to Jenna. The homes they passed had all embraced the Halloween tradition, gearing up for a spectacular street festival the following Friday. Under a full moon the stars went on forever in a cloudless sky, but when the moonlight hit the dancing white mist sweeping across the blacktop, it seemed to create a procession of ghostly figures. With her headlights picking up the ghoulish decorations along every fence, she experienced a hint of the fear of the dark she’d had as a kid. It had been some time since she’d traveled this road without Kane by her side. She missed his solid strength and black humor; he always seemed to sense her apprehension and make her laugh.

  “Anything worrying you?” Jo turned in her seat to look at her. “The notification of the next of kin was a harrowing experience. It’s hard to leave work behind sometimes, isn’t it?”

  Jenna turned into her driveway and waited for the gate to open and the floodlights to fill the area with light. “It’s not the job tonight, although I’m concerned about Ann’s death. If we’d had the results of the DNA earlier, we might have saved her.” She glanced around and sighed. “It just seems so strange coming home without Kane.” She flicked her a glance. “He used to drive me crazy with his overprotectiveness and now I kinda miss him.”

  “I know what you mean.” Jo chuckled. “I’ve worked with many Navy Seals and Marines during my time; you can make them into agents but they’ll always be military. I can tell Kane was in the service just by the way he acts. They’re all respectful, and putting their bodies on the line to protect people is as normal to them as breathing. Look at what happened today.” She smiled. “I’ve only just met Ty and he had me out of danger in seconds. I noticed Kane stood in front of you, ready to take a bullet if necessary. It’s not macho, it’s what they’re trained to do. You know, at first I found Ty arrogant, but now I’m getting to know him, he’s a pretty cool guy.”

  Jenna pulled up to the front porch and climbed out the cruiser, back sore from a long day. Barking and the long howl from Duke echoed across the yard. “The dogs want out.”

  “Maybe they need to go potty?” Jo stared at Kane’s dark cottage and shrugged.

  “Nah.” Jenna headed up the steps. “There is a fenced area out back; they can use the doggy door to get out plus there’ll be plenty of food inside. I’m just glad we fed the horses before we went out. It would be a nightmare tending to them this late.”

  Before she had the chance to open the door, a black flash dashed across the porch. “What the—?”

  “I didn’t know you had a cat?” Jo bent down and picked up the purring animal. “Oh, it’s lovely. Its eyes are the color of pumpkins.”

  Amazed to see the cat again, Jenna shook her head. “It’s not mine. It showed up recently. I thought it belonged at the Old Mitcham Ranch. It showed up the day of the mass murder all covered in blood. We wouldn’t have checked the place if it hadn’t hightailed it in that direction. Just think, if it hadn’t dropped by, the killer would still be out there, murdering people.”

  “Seems like it’s moved in.” Jo looked at her, eyes shining. “Sometimes pets choose their owners. Can she come inside?”

  Jenna considered it for a minute. “I guess, but I don’t have any cat things here. She’ll need a litter box or whatever, won’t she?”

  “She’ll probably tell you when she wants to go outside. She seems very intelligent.” Jo rubbed the cat’s head. “I wonder what her name is?”

  “Pumpkin, I guess.” Jenna chuckled.

  She opened the front door and disarmed the alarm. “I’ll find her something to eat. I have a can of tuna somewhere.” She headed for the kitchen and soon had the cat settled. She turned to Jo. “That was easy enough. Now, as we don’t have to go into the office in the morning, I’m going to soak in the hot tub. I have swimwear that will fit you if you want to join me.” She smiled. “It’s a huge tub. I’d say we’d fit ten or more Navy Seals in there with room to spare.”

  “I’d love to.” Jo followed her to her room. “This will probably be the last night I spend here. I can’t imagine the judge throwing the case out of court. You’ve taken a very dangerous man off the street.”

  “We did—the team—and I can’t imagine Kelly walking with the DNA evidence.” Jenna went through her drawers, searching for something suitable for Jo. She handed her a one-piece and Jo hurried off to her room to undress. She changed and stared out the window at the dark shadows surrounding Kane’s cottage. She missed not having him close by. I’m starting to rely on Kane. She looked at her reflection in the closet mirror and shook her head. I’m some tough sheriff, huh?

  She grabbed a pile of towels from the hall closet and met Jo as she was walking out her door. “The hot tub is down in the gym; well, in a room beside the gym.” She led the way through the house and opened a door that led down a ramp into the converted basement. To her surprise the cat followed close behind, tail straight up and waving.

  “Ah, so this is where you go at the crack of dawn.” Jo smiled at her.
“I did wonder where you and Kane disappeared to. I thought you’d gone out to the barn to feed the horses.”

  “We do that too. The exercise is to keep us in peak condition. In this town, you never know when you’ll need to defend yourself.” Jenna led the way through the gym, opened a door, and turned on the lights to the wood-lined room that held a massive hot tub and a steam room, the latter recently installed by Kane in his downtime. “Kane did most of the work in here. The basement covers the footprint of the house, so we have tons of room. The gym I built some years ago, but he’s added weight benches and a few other torture devices.” She placed the towels close by and turned on the bubbles in the hot tub. “It feels decadent keeping the water hot all the time, but the solar panels keep the running costs to a minimum.”

  The cat jumped onto the bench and sat washing its paws. Jenna smiled. “Pumpkin has settled right in. Is the water hot enough?”

  “It’s wonderful.” Jo slipped into the water. “I’m so going to have to get one.” She looked at Jenna. “The one good thing about divorcing a prominent attorney is the settlement. Mine should be through in a couple of weeks.”

  Although Jo sounded okay, Jenna could hear the resentment in her voice. She wasn’t sure if Jo wanted to discuss her past. “I think adultery is the hardest to forgive or get over. I can’t imagine how you’ve coped. It must have been a shock?”

  “Shock doesn’t come close.” Jo ran her fingers through the water. “I came home after being away for two days on a case and found my boss had moved into my house.” She stared into the distance. “He’d sent Jaime to my mother’s and had our things packed. It was as if we’d become nothing to him.” She shook her head. “I can’t forgive that, Jenna. Treating me like that is one thing but Jaime doesn’t deserve it.”

  Seeing her pain, Jenna sighed. “Are you going to be okay?”

  “Me? Yeah, I’m as tough as nails.” Jo seemed to shake herself. “I know he wanted me out of the FBI but I’d never give him the satisfaction. I happen to like my job and now I have new friends.” She smiled. “I’m looking forward to running the new field office, and the sheriff of Snakeskin Gully is a hunk.”

  Jenna laughed and then heard the cat growl. Its fur stood up all over and its tail looked like it belonged to a raccoon. It was as stiff as a board and staring at the door. “What’s wrong with the cat?”

  The next moment the room plunged into darkness. “Don’t worry. If there’s a problem with the power, the generator will kick in soon.” They waited in the darkness but nothing happened. “That’s unusual.”

  “Maybe it’s a fuse or something?” Jo’s voice sounded loud in the silent room.

  The cat kept up a low growl punctuated by spits.

  Jenna looked in its direction but the room was pitch black. “Do cats sense danger?”

  “Yeah, and they have incredible hearing—maybe she was giving us a warning.” Jo’s voice echoed in the room.

  Jenna pulled herself out the tub and felt around for the bench. “I guess we’d better find out. Dammit, I’m more tired than I thought, I’ve left my phone beside the bed. I never do that, not when I’m taking the 911 calls. Do you have yours with you?”

  “No.” Jo sounded calm. “I did the same.” A splash of water and she could hear Jo walking around the tub. “I’ve found the towels—here, grab one. Holy shit it’s dark in here.”

  Jenna took a towel and wrapped it around herself. “No windows. Wrap the towel around you and we’ll go back upstairs. I’ll get some clothes on and go see what’s wrong. My Maglite is on my duty belt in my room. Place your hand on my shoulder; we need to navigate the gym to get out of here.”

  “Hush a minute.” Jo gripped her arm. “Did you hear that?”

  Above their heads the floorboards creaked as if someone was walking along the hallway and into one of the bedrooms. Heart pounding, Jenna dried off as best she could and dropped her voice to a whisper. “It should be impossible to get in here. We have military-grade security and a backup generator, but if we’ve been breached, it’s no ordinary threat—we’ll have to fight.”

  “The killer is locked up, so it’s not him.” Jo’s grip intensified. “Who else would risk walking in here? You’re usually armed.” She moved closer. “It’s probably Kane.”

  “No, it’s not Kane.” Jenna looked up at the ceiling, seeing only darkness. “He’d call out and not creep around, and he doesn’t make a habit of walking into my room in the middle of the night.”

  Jenna’s stomach turned into a ball of knots. Had she overlooked something? Did the killer have an accomplice? The idea made goosebumps rise on her bare flesh. She’d been in a psychopath’s line of fire before, but she’d done nothing, said nothing to provoke an attack lately. She tried to push her concerns away and fell into her zone of professional calm, but the constant creaking above her head dragged at her nerves. Someone had trapped them in the basement without phones or weapons, and even the failsafe tracker ring she wore as a backup sat on her nightstand.

  “Someone has breached your security by taking out the power.” Jo’s voice was barely audible, it was so low. “Your failsafe is the generator, so whoever is out there knows you have one and has disabled it. Do you have anything down here we can use as weapons?”

  Jenna pictured the gym in the light. “Yeah, dumbbells. The ones I use weigh six pounds and they’ll do. They’re on the bench in the gym. Not that they will help much if the intruder is carrying a gun.”

  “I wonder if they know I’m staying here? If not, we might have an advantage.” Jo’s voice remained calm. “How do you want to handle this?”

  “We get out of here, locate our Glocks, and call for backup.” They edged toward the gym door, Jo gripping Jenna’s shoulder in an elephant parade. Jenna opened the door silently and listened for any sound. Above, someone was searching the house, moving slowly from room to room. The slight creak of the floorboards gave her the impression they were dealing with one intruder. She negotiated the equipment-filled gym, and using the wall to guide her, she moved through the door to the bench, ran her fingers along the padded fabric, found what she was looking for, and handed Jo a dumbbell. She leaned against the wall. “I figure it’s one man; he’ll have a flashlight, so we’ll be able to see him. We’ll wait until he heads for the kitchen or family room. We should be able to make it to the bedrooms without him seeing us.” Jenna reached back and squeezed Jo’s arm. “We’ll have to split up or neither of us will get to our weapons. Your room is closest. You go first and sneak inside and then I’ll head for mine. If he shows, I’ll charge at him, so don’t look back, just get your weapon.”

  “Gotcha.”

  The hairs on Jenna’s body stood to attention as a beam of light shone under the door. Footsteps creaked down the wooden ramp. Her voice seemed to stick in her throat. “Someone’s coming.”

  Fifty

  The darkness closed in on Jenna in a suffocating wall. Fingers trembling with cold, she searched the door, and when her hand touched the key protruding from the lock, she turned it. The well-oiled tumblers moved without a sound. When she’d first arrived in Black Rock Falls, convinced the cartel would find her, she’d installed locks and made every door in the house secure. Her paranoia had finally paid off. She leaned against the wall, heart thundering in her chest. Whoever had breached her security was right outside.

  The handle rattled and something slammed into the door. She gripped onto Jo and they waited. Two or three times the intruder tried to get inside, but then, she heard footsteps moving up the ramp. She turned to Jo, keeping her voice low. “He’s sneaking around like a burglar. Although, he’s gone to a ton of trouble to give up after finding the basement locked. Heaps of people lock their basements. I bet whoever is out there believes we are all out in Kane’s truck. I often leave my cruiser outside the house.”

  “Maybe but he’d have seen our weapons and phones when he searched the house.” Jo’s voice was calm. “Who goes out without their phone?” She squeezed Jenna�
��s arm. “He could be outside the door at the top of the ramp just waiting for us to come out.”

  Jenna thought for a moment; between the two of them, they should be able to handle an intruder even while half-naked and shivering. “I didn’t hear him shut the other door. He’s probably left it open.”

  The creaks came again. The intruder was moving away toward the family room. “Maybe he’s leaving. It’s now or never—coming?”

  “I’m right behind you.” Jo gripped her shoulder. “Go.”

  Jenna turned the lock and eased open the door. She waited long seconds before peeking into the hallway. The ramp ahead was seeped in darkness but dim light filtered in from the open door above. The full moon was high in the sky and would offer her enough light to see in the familiar surroundings. She moved up the ramp swiftly. At the top she looked both ways and then urged Jo to move down the hallway to her room. As she followed, cold bit into her bare flesh. Her teeth chattered. The intruder had left the front door open. She halted at Jo’s door to watch her back. One weapon would be enough, two even better. No footsteps or dark shadows loomed toward her, but before she could slip past and along the hallway into her bedroom, Jo popped back out the door. In the dim light, Jenna caught the shake of her head.

  “He has my weapon and phone.” Jo’s voice was barely a hiss.

  Jenna stared at Jo. Her bare arms and legs were clearly visible in the darkness. They’d need clothes fast; damp and wearing swimwear, they wouldn’t last long in the freezing wind whistling through the house.

  They moved as one, reaching Jenna’s bedroom a few moments later. The cat streaked past and jumped onto Jenna’s bed, its silhouette a moving shadow against the light quilt. Moonlight streamed in the bedroom, and from the door Jenna could see her phone, duty belt, and backup weapon were missing from the nightstand. Once inside, she closed the door and made straight for the landline beside the bed. The line was dead.