by D. K. Hood
All the energy seemed to seep out of Jenna as she stared at the forlorn figure sitting on the lichen-covered bench. She’d failed to find Lindy in time. Kane was right – the girl deserved some dignity. She fought to push out words over the lump in her throat and not scream out in anguish. “Okay, I’ll call him. We’ll need coordinates. Get going, I’ll get the location.” She sighed at his obvious reluctance to leave. “What are you waiting for? She’s out there all alone and the crows could be eating her.”
“Jenna.” Kane pulled her against his broad chest and stroked her hair. “You’re not to blame. We did everything humanly possible to find her.”
Unable to hold back a sob, she inhaled his comforting open-air scent. She could always rely on Kane to calm her shattered nerves. Brushing back tears, she straightened and regained her composure. Being exhausted was no excuse to fall to pieces. She had to find this SOB and bring him to justice. The stark reality of the circumstances around Lindy’s kidnapping slammed into her. The kidnapper was playing a game with her and, this time, he’d won. She looked up at Kane. “He’s going to do this again, isn’t he?”
“Yeah, he is.” Kane removed his arm from around her shoulders and started the engine. “But next time we’ll be ready for him.”
* * *
As Kane slowed to turn onto the road leading to the old schoolhouse, he glanced at Jenna. Not many crimes got under Jenna’s skin but she’d switched off her compassion and fallen into her professional, almost robotic mode. Her calls had been concise and to the point. She’d instructed Rowley to make sure the media circus was way over the other side of town by landing the chopper at the next old property on their list and remaining there. Wolfe had slipped out of town taking the backroads and would be arriving at the crime scene soon. They’d decided to avoid using the two-way as the media and many others owned scanners. When Jenna’s cellphone chimed, he glanced at her. “Wolfe?”
“Yeah.” Jenna placed her phone on speaker. “What have you got for me, Wolfe?”
“I’m on scene. I’ve checked the victim for life signs and taken photos of the scene. I’d take a look around the building but as it’s just Emily and me, I figured I’ll wait for backup. What’s your ETA?”
Kane glanced at the GPS. “Five minutes, maybe less.” He slammed his foot on the gas and his truck accelerated. “This perp is playing games. Don’t take chances and wait by your vehicle.”
“How close are you to the building?” Jenna shot Kane a worried look.
“Right now, we’re on the road out front. I drove past to scan the area for a vehicle.” Wolfe cleared his throat. “It’s a ramshackle building, no vehicles.” He took a deep breath. “I can hear you coming.”
“Roger that.” Jenna chewed on her bottom lip. “Be on alert, we don’t know what kind of crazy we’re dealing with.” She disconnected and looked at Kane. “Is this another stage of his game?”
Kane accelerated and soon caught sight of the ME’s van parked beside the remnants of an old barn. He could make out the small figure of Lindy on the bench some distance away from an old red-brick building with only the skeletal remnants of a roof. “Maybe. Sick people can display many facets of insanity. Not many fit neatly into one box.” He pulled in behind the old barn and parked behind Wolfe’s van. “One thing for sure – to crave this much attention, he’s done this before.”
“This place was on Rowley’s list.” Jenna slid from the seat and pulled out her cellphone to call him. She explained their discovery. “Didn’t you check the old schoolhouse down a dirt road about a mile past the Triple Z Bar?”
Kane climbed out the vehicle and opened the back door to release Duke from the seat. He could barely hear Rowley through the speakers on Jenna’s phone with the chopper in the background.
“Yes, ma’am, first place we checked and it was clear.”
“Roger that.” Jenna glanced at Kane. “I need to keep this out of the media. Pull the search teams out of Stanton Forest and move west. Keep away from us. We’ll need to notify the parents before the media discover we’ve located Lindy’s body.”
“Leave it to me, ma’am.”
“Thanks.” Jenna disconnected and made her way to Wolfe’s side. “What have you got for me, Wolfe?”
Kane did a visual recon of the scene and all the usual mistakes a frenzied killer made were missing. No tire tracks were visible, but the killer or Rowley’s search party could’ve disturbed the new spring growth on the grasses and shrubs surrounding the area. He noticed how Duke stayed close to his heels, stopped frequently, then whined and walked around in circles. One thing for sure, something wasn’t right. “What is it, boy?”
He scanned the area, taking in every shadow, but could see no movement. Duke’s heightened senses had picked up something and he respected the warning. He moved swiftly to Jenna’s side. “Stay alert. Duke has picked up something unusual.”
“Okay.” She wore a mask of professionalism but he detected the expression of deep sorrow in her eyes when she turned to him. “You’re right; Wolfe believes the kidnapper strangled her.”
“I hate being right when it comes to kids suffering.” Kane stared down at the tragic form of Lindy Rosen, so young with all her life in front of her, propped up on an old bench like a bag of garbage.
He pushed down the rush of anger. The instinct to hunt down and kill the animals who hurt kids rested deep in his subconscious. He swallowed hard and looked at Wolfe, remembering his friend’s creed – to learn the story of how victims died, to always treat them as a person and bring their killer to justice. “Did she suffer?”
“I’m afraid so. Slow asphyxiation.” Wolfe gave him a direct stare. “I’m making an assumption from the ligature marks around her neck and the pinpoint hemorrhages, petechiae, in the skin and conjunctiva of both eyes, but these are non-specific. I’ll give you an exact cause of death once I’ve performed an autopsy.”
“At least he didn’t cut her.” Jenna wiped the back of her hand over her mouth. “I don’t see any signs of a struggle.”
“None evident.” Wolfe lifted each of Lindy’s hands and examined them before Emily slipped a plastic bag over each one. “Her nails aren’t broken, the marks on her wrists are consistent with the image we received, and she has no defense wounds. I’ll know more in the next twenty-four hours and after I examine the larynx, including the hyoid bone. If I can prove strangulation, I believe it was committed from behind and she had no chance to fight back.” He sighed. “The time of death isn’t conclusive. We’re assuming he killed her in the last hour but from her body temperature, I figure she died as long as six hours ago.”
“I’ll need to inform her parents.” Jenna sighed. “How long do you need to get her ready for them?”
“I’ll make her presentable and they can see her this evening. I’ll require them to formally identify her and I’ll need a day for any other marks on her skin to become visible.” Wolfe gave her a long look. “I did a recon of the immediate area to see if I could find any evidence but the area is too clean for him to have killed her here.”
“Why do you figure the bench is way out here so far away from the schoolhouse?” Jenna stared at the ground. “Did the killer move it?”
“It hasn’t been moved.” Wolfe crouched and peered under the bench. “It’s been here for a long time.”
Kane stared at the old bench. “It would be logical to place the bench under the tree.”
“Apparently, apart from the barn there was a one-room school building. I read about it on the internet, it’s over a hundred years old.” She turned to look at him. “Now it will go down in history as the place we found Lindy’s body.”
“That’s the least of our worries; we need to know where he had her holed up before he moved her here.” Wolfe frowned. “Are you sure he didn’t use the actual schoolhouse?”
“Rowley said they searched it early this morning.” Jenna stared at the old building. “If your time of death is correct, the killer probably moved her her
e before he sent the video.” She shrugged. “We’ll take another look. Do you need help to finish up here?”
“Kane, if you help me lift her into the body bag on the gurney, we’ll take her back to the lab.” Wolfe frowned. “I’d like to get her on ice as soon as possible.”
“Sure.” Kane pushed down his anger at seeing someone so young discarded like last night’s pizza box, pulled on latex gloves and went to work.
They loaded the body into the van and Kane walked back to Jenna and Emily. Wolfe’s daughter had a determined expression on her face. “Did you know Lindy?”
“No, but I sure want to discover what happened to her.” Emily indicated with her chin toward the old schoolhouse. “Do you figure it’s possible the killer held her in there for any length of time?”
“No, that’s not the place. It’s part of a stupid game this killer is playing with us.” Jenna shook her head in disgust. “Rowley searched it with Webber this morning. If there’d been one speck of dust out of place, he’d have reported it.”
“You’ll look again, won’t you, Jenna?” Emily straightened. “We could search it again now.”
“I’ll go take a look with Kane and if I find anything, I’ll call Wolfe.” Jenna squeezed the girl’s arm in a comforting gesture. “You can leave this bit to us, Emily. Go help your dad.”
“Okay.” Emily trudged off toward the van.
“I guess we’d better take a look at the old schoolhouse.” Jenna let out a weary sigh. “Not that I figure this SOB has left a single clue for us to find.” She looked up at him. “Let’s get it over with, and then we can hunt down suspects.”
“Wait a bit.” An ice-cold finger stroked Kane’s spine as if in warning. “Duke’s acting strange. He smells something.”
“He’s been hunting down Lindy’s scent all day. Maybe he’s telling you he found her and now he wants to go home.” Jenna jogged away from him through the long grass toward the building. “You coming?”
Kane hustled after her, scanning the area. Without warning, Duke howled, turned tail and ran back to the truck then crawled beneath it. Confused, he stared after him then back at Jenna. To his horror, not three yards out front of the open door to the building, a shaft of afternoon sunlight glistened on a tripwire. Heart racing, Kane took off at a run toward her; she was less than ten yards from death. “Stop, it’s a trap!”
Nine
So they haven’t found her yet. Excitement sent beads of sweat running between his shoulder blades. On a buzz, he found it hard to sit still and watch his dream of recognition playing out on TV. At first, his brain refused to accept the newsreader’s tense story, and when he realized the man was speaking about him, his heart raced so fast, he’d gasped in deep breaths. The media already had a name for him – he grinned into the darkness – they’d named him Shadow Man. He sounded like a comic book character. Hell, maybe they’d create a comic strip about him. The dramatic way the newsreader had described the fruitless effort by the hordes of people searching the forest made him laugh aloud. Did the sheriff in her blah, blah, blah, speech believe he’d obey her command? She had to be delusional if she believed him to be the same type of killer usually roaming Black Rock Falls.
He was unique, one of a kind, and when he’d finished killing in this town, he’d move on and start again – but then he’d adopt a different persona again. He prided himself on being versatile; not having a predictable MO was a gift he had in spades. Most profilers were on an ego trip, believing they’d come close to a fit but, in fact, the BS these so-called experts spewed about him was baloney.
The game with Sheriff Alton had taken his adventure to a new height. She’d be his first female sheriff to dance with and if she was as smart as people seemed to believe, she should have given him a decent challenge. Sadly, she wasn’t fast enough to beat his generous timeframe. Now he’d see if she could figure her way out of his latest maze. If she escaped this time, he’d need to be patient to gain the ultimate prize. The wait would make killing her so much sweeter. Soon his win would be all over the news and he’d already planned the next round of entertainment.
The thrill of watching young teenage girls strolling along the sidewalk in town, chatting together or walking alone, heads bowed, staring at their cellphones, stirred him into action. The recent murders in Black Rock Falls hadn’t instilled one ounce of caution in them and they continued to stroll around without a care in the world. He rubbed his hands together, itching to pluck one off the street or from their family’s oh-so-safe home. He’d formed so many ideas to confuse the cops and there were so many girls in town – he could take his time and choose just the right one. They were such easy prey but first he would bask in his newfound fame on the news. Then it will be game on, Sheriff Alton.
Ten
Running headlong into danger was what Kane had trained to do. It was second nature to put his body on the line, but his usual fearless calm abandoned him. Jenna was in mortal danger. She turned to look at him with a confused expression and time went into slow motion. Lungs bursting, he flung himself toward her and as her foot brushed the tripwire, he scooped her up and dived headlong down a small embankment. His feet hadn’t touched the ground when a fire-bolt of white light lit up the pasture and the concussive force from an earsplitting explosion picked them up in a whoosh of hot air and tossed them across the grassland like autumn leaves.
Kane wrapped his arms around Jenna as they flew on the cloud of heat, through the branches of a tree, then fell crashing to the ground. On impact, pain shot through his left shoulder and he slid across the rough ground on his back. He lost hold of her as they bounced and tumbled through the long grass. The fall had forced the air from his lungs and he gasped for a breath. Missiles of twisted metal, bricks and wood rained down on him. Disorientated and blinded by the clouds of dust, he reached out like a blind man searching the ground as debris peppered his back like hail. “Jenna, Jenna!”
A massive block of broken bricks crashed down inches from his head and a wave of panic for her safety hit him as he caught sight of her boot in the grass. Ears ringing, he dragged himself toward her. She lay sprawled out, face down and pale as a ghost. He crawled over her inert body and covered her, protecting her from the projectiles dropping all around them. She wasn’t moving – not even a slight flutter of eyelids. Dear God, no. He spat dirt from his mouth and bent close to her ear. “Jenna, can you hear me?”
Nothing.
Another explosion shook the ground, turning the sky red again, and a wave of heat lashed out at them in a dragon’s roar. His nostrils filled with the smell of burning hair. Massive chunks of cement and wood rained down on them, cutting into the ground like a hot knife through butter. He covered his head as a huge block of cement with the remnants of letters carved into it landed a few inches from his face. Pieces of splintered wood stabbed the dirt all around him, piercing his jeans, then a blanket of dark gray smoke poured over them and seemed to crawl away across the meadow, undulating like a serpent. An eerie silence descended and, apart from the loud ringing in his ears, it was as if the world had stopped.
Sure that the debris was no longer falling from the sky, he coughed and pushed to his knees and then used his sleeve to wipe his streaming eyes. He stared down at Jenna. She lay face down in the grass, motionless, head on one side. Scratches and bruises covered her face. Please God, let her be alive. Easing two fingers under her collar, he felt for a pulse and, finding a strong beat, gasped back a flood of emotion. He used his shirt to wipe her face, then pulled twigs and grass from her singed hair. Her eyelids twitched and she tried to push him away. Worried she might have spinal injuries, he bent down close to her ear. “There was an explosion, lie still and let me check you out.”
He saw her lips move and her eyes opened, but he couldn’t make out what she was saying for the buzzing in his head. He shook his head and Jenna pointed to her ears and mouthed, “I can’t hear you. I’m okay.”
Relief flooded over him and he nodded. “Me too, I thi
nk.” Then he pointed to his legs and winced.
Jenna held up a dirty hand in a waiting gesture, and then crawled to his side and her eyes widened. She shook her head. “You’re not okay.” She pushed him down onto his side. “Splinters.”
Kane blinked at her. She was yelling at him but he could hardly hear her through the buzzing in his ears. He raised his voice. “It’s nothing.”
“Don’t move.” Jenna pushed him hard on the shoulder. “I’ll call for help.” She pulled out her cellphone. “I’ll send Wolfe a message. I can’t hear a darn thing.” She staggered to her feet and peered around. “There’s fires breaking out all over. I’ll get Wolfe to call the fire department.”
Kane tugged on her jeans to get her attention. “Tell him to get a bomb squad out here as well.”
“Okay.” She sat down beside him and sent the text. Dirt streaked her face like camouflage paint and the explosion had scorched her hair light brown in patches. Long scratches over one cheek looked like red cat’s whiskers. She glanced at him. “Head okay?”
He touched his head, feeling for injuries and finding nothing more than a few scratches, he was glad he’d pulled his thick woolen cap over his ears. “Yeah, I’m good.” He checked his weapon and cellphone. “Phone made it too. Those new covers we found are worth their weight in gold.”
“What?” Jenna pointed to her ears. “I still can’t hear you. You’ll have to yell.”
The next moment Duke came bounding through the grass covered in soot and grime. The dog launched himself at Kane, and then walked around in circles barking. Not long after, Wolfe came running through the tall grass, face pale and eyes examining them like a hawk. Kane looked up at him and touched his ears. “We can’t hear a thing. Is Emily okay?”
