by D. K. Hood
“Okay.” Jenna wrote down the names of the four men they’d interviewed and made notes beside each name. “I figure our killer is one of these men.”
Lancaster (Groundskeeper at high school): In the area at the time of Lindy Rosen’s disappearance, knows her, has no alibi.
Kittredge (Green Thumb Landscaping Service working at the Rosens’): Lives at the Triple Z, knows Lindy, has no alibi at this time. Sex offender.
Sean Packer (Handyman working at the Rosens): Had contact with Lindy, lied about his knowledge of explosives.
Noah McLeod (Janitor at high school): Also has contact with Lindy, admitted sex offender.
Jenna turned back to look at her deputies. “We have one more person of interest to interview and I’ll be heading out to speak with him when we’ve wrapped up here. Charles Anderson. He’s a technician working with a company by the name of Silent Alarms. He installed the alarm system at the Rosens’, had access to the home, and had contact with the family, so he comes under our scrutiny.”
“Didn’t Kane mention he came up clean?” Rowley glanced down at his notes. “He’d have been background checked to work for a security company.”
Jenna gave him a long look. “You’d be surprised how many killers have no priors. That’s why over half of them are never caught. Anyone who met Lindy is a person of interest until proved otherwise. These five men are the tip of the iceberg. On the way home tonight, I want you to head out to the Triple Z with Walters and see if anyone remembers seeing Kittredge there Sunday evening and see if you can find the woman he spent the night with.” Exhausted, she sucked in a deep breath. “First thing in the morning, I want background checks on everyone who worked on the Rosens’ ranch over the last month. You’ll need to contact the Green Thumb Landscaping Service and Silent Alarms because they would’ve used a number of men over that time.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Rowley made notes.
Jenna dropped into her chair and waved them away. “Okay, when you’re done, go home and get some sleep.”
Twenty-One
Kane waited for Jenna to shrug into her coat. She looked pale and her eyes were huge in her thin face. Knowing how concussion could sneak up on a person, he moved closer and cupped her chin in one hand. “You doing okay?”
“Says the man with a butt full of splinters and torn ligaments in his shoulder.” Jenna smiled at him. “You don’t look so good either. Are you in pain?”
Kane smiled at her and brushed the red marks on her cheek. “I’m hurting all over but I figure we’re pretty lucky to have survived the explosion with a couple of scratches.” He eyed her critically. “These are superficial, they won’t scar.”
“That’s good.” She looked up at him. “Let’s get this interview over with, and then it’s Chinese, watching TV then hitting the hot tub.” She sighed. “We’ll be working around the clock until we solve this murder and I’ll need to grab a couple of hours’ rest while I can.”
“Yeah, a good sleep will help.” Reluctantly, Kane dropped his hand. The hot tub would have been his choice too. He turned to head out the door and she touched his arm. He turned and looked back at her. “I’ll grab my coat.”
“Have you changed your mind about coming over tonight?” Jenna gave him a puzzled look, pulled on her knitted cap and met his gaze. “My sofa is way more comfortable than yours and we can eat in front of the TV.” She pointed to his dog. “Duke can come too.”
Kane let out a long sigh and smiled. “I’d like that.”
* * *
Anderson lived three miles from the Rosens’ ranch, in a small house walking distance from Stanton Forest. The same white pickup they’d seen at the Rosens’ sat in the driveway. Kane pulled up behind it and climbed from his truck. He leaned over the back seat and rubbed the dog’s ears. “Stay here, Duke, we won’t be long.”
He waited for Jenna and they headed to the front door. When Anderson opened the door, he gave them a horrified stare.
“What happened to you?” Anderson looked from one to the other. “Been in a car wreck?”
“Something like that.” Jenna offered him a smile. “May we have a word with you, Mr. Anderson? We’re speaking with everyone who came in contact with Lindy Rosen before she went missing.”
“Sure, you want to step inside? It’s getting cold.” Anderson stood to one side and opened the door wide. He was still in his coveralls. “I’ve just gotten home but I’ve had time to light a fire in the family room.” He waved them through a door.
Kane did a visual scan of the house. It had a lived-in appearance, old overstuffed furniture and a musty smell of stale lavender as if his grandma lived with him. He glanced down the hallway into a seventies-style avocado and teak kitchen. The house had paintings on every wall in an overindulgence of art, each of landscapes of places he didn’t recognize. He’d an appreciation of art. He walked closer to examine a study of a clearing in a forest. It was precise right down to the wildflowers and butterflies.
His quick sweep of the interior hadn’t picked up any sign of a security alarm. The house seemed out of sync with a man working in a high-tech profession. “Lived here long?”
“Nah, I inherited it from a distant cousin last summer. I was living down in Colorado, working for the mines.” Anderson shrugged. “When I discovered she’d left me this house, I decided to move here. I had the qualifications to get a tech job with the security company and take a casual job with the council. I run community art classes once a week at night. The security job isn’t as hard as working shifts in the mines and it pays well enough.”
“Are these your pictures?” Jenna peered at the framed landscapes. “They’re very good. Do you sell them?”
“No, they’re scenes from places I’ve been, memories I want to keep.” Anderson straightened a frame, and then looked back at Jenna. “Now, you mentioned Lindy Rosen. Have you any suspects yet?”
“Suspects?” Jenna’s brow creased into a frown. She flicked a glance at Kane then shook her head. “We don’t have a cause of death yet. For all we know she was sleepwalking and died of exposure.”
“I can’t imagine how she walked right out the house without tripping an alarm or a CCTV camera.” Anderson rubbed his chin. “I was in the crew that set up the system. It needs a code to disable it and that’s not something I’d imagine she could’ve done in her sleep.”
Kane watched the man’s reactions closely. Although his body language was outwardly calm, asking about suspects was a red flag. He shrugged. “Not necessarily. I’ve heard of cases where people unlock six deadbolts in their sleep. If Lindy had memorized the code, she could’ve used it in her sleep. This is why we aren’t ruling out sleepwalking.”
“I see, so how far did she get?” Anderson directed his question to Jenna. “On the TV I heard you were searching all over Black Rock Falls. Surely if you believed she’d just walked out the door, she couldn’t have gotten too far.”
“It’s normal procedure. We’d no idea what happened to her so we covered every possibility.” Jenna had ignored him and her face became a mask of professionalism. She’d obviously had enough of his questions and turned the interview back around. “When did you last see Lindy?”
“When I installed the floodlights.” Anderson leaned casually against the doorframe. “That was a few weeks ago, I guess. I could check my work sheets to give you the dates I worked there if you like?”
“We already have them from your employer.” Jenna lifted her chin. “Did you speak to her?”
“I did.” Anderson stared into space for a few moments as if thinking. “She asked me why I had installed a floodlight right outside her bedroom window.”
“And why did you?” Jenna pulled out her notebook and jotted down some notes. “Wouldn’t that disturb her at night if the sensor lights came on and shone into her room?”
“I guess, but it was on the design approved by Mr. Rosen.” Anderson shrugged. “They’re outside all the bedroom windows. Lindy’s bedroom has a rose trellis. Ma
ybe her father figured someone might climb up it to break into the house.”
After Kane had examined Lindy’s bedroom, he’d noted the alarms fitted to her bedroom windows. It would have been near impossible for anyone to break into the house without tripping one of the alarms or the CCTV cameras. “So, you don’t believe anyone broke into the house and kidnapped her?”
“If the system was activated, not a chance.” Anderson shuffled his feet. “I checked it out and everything is working fine. I had the ME watching me as well, and asking questions. Maybe you should speak with him.”
“So in your professional opinion, the system was either not activated or Lindy switched it off and walked out the door?” Jenna made more notes, and then lifted her gaze. “Run me through what happens if someone walks onto their property and trips the alarm.”
“The motion sensors would activate the cameras and the floodlights simultaneously; a silent alarm sounds in the family room and the parents’ bedroom. It’s a flashing light.” Anderson cleared his throat. “The alarm is raised at head office. Technicians there view the footage and take the appropriate action. First, they call the owner in case they’ve accidentally tripped the alarm. If not, and we see someone sneaking around or attempting to break in, we call 911.”
“Where were you on Sunday night through Monday morning?” Jenna glanced at her notes. “Between the hours of midnight and seven?”
“At work. I do the graveyard shift on Sunday and Wednesday nights, twelve till six, and then I’m on call for any emergencies from around midday, sometimes earlier. But most Mondays and Thursdays, they give the work to the other guys. It’s a fair trade; none of them want to work every night.”
“Okay, one more question and we’ll be on our way.” Jenna closed her notebook and slid it and her pen inside her jacket pocket. “Did Lindy attend your art classes?”
“Yeah, for a couple of weeks.” Anderson frowned. “It’s a community class and anyone can attend as long as I have room. I get the usual crowd, and then a few different people drift in and out.”
“Did you notice if she was friendly toward anyone in particular?” Jenna exchanged a look with Kane.
Kane narrowed his gaze. “What the sheriff means is, did she have any guys hanging around her, anyone who may have lured her from the house?”
“I have my hands full during the class; I don’t take any notice of what they’re doing outside their artwork.” Anderson walked to the front door. “If that’s all, it’s been a long day and I’m still in my coveralls.”
Kane waited to see if Jenna had any more questions, then followed her out the door. “Thank you for your time.”
He caught up with her. “I’m not too sure about him, two things bother me. He asked about suspects before we released cause of death, and he made a comment about our injuries as well. Most strangers don’t ask personal questions when dealing with law enforcement. He seemed way too friendly to me. What do you think?”
“It seems to me everyone we’ve spoken to is a possible suspect but all we have is circumstantial evidence – not one of them has a motive.” She climbed into the truck.
Kane slid behind the wheel and started the engine. “Only if you’re looking at this murder as a crime of passion, but psychopaths don’t need a motive to kill. They may have a trigger that sets them off on a killing spree but I get the feeling this kill was well planned.” He headed back to town. “I don’t believe for one minute Lindy just walked out the house and happened to bump into a killer.”
“So we’re looking at this from the wrong angle?” Jenna turned in her seat and looked at him. “Lindy knew her killer and went with him willingly.” She snorted in disgust. “We’ve dealt with enough pedophiles to know how they groom kids. I figure one of the men on our list lured her from the house and used her as a pawn in his deadly game of chess with us.”
Kane nodded in agreement. “Yeah, it was checkmate on the last game but he hasn’t finished playing yet. I figure he’s just resetting the board.”
Twenty-Two
Wednesday
Amanda Braxton lay in bed looking at the full moon spreading its light across her bedroom. She had wonderful memories of her grandma’s stories of fairies dancing in the moonlight. When she’d told her friend Lucy, she’d laughed at her but Amanda didn’t care. She believed in fairies and it would be her secret, her and Grandma’s. Sleep came easily as she had no fear of seeing her grandma’s ghost – Grandma told her she would watch over her and if she wanted to stand at the foot of the bed, she didn’t mind.
The familiar sound of her music box woke her and she peered at the bedside clock. It was two in the morning. Moonlight no longer shone across her floor – the moon had made its path across the sky and would be over the roof by now – but she could see quite clearly. She rolled over to look at her music box. It stood closed on her nightstand, but the tinkling melody surrounded her. She sat up, intrigued to find the source of the music, then slid out of bed and went to the window.
A shiver of excitement made her gasp at the sight of her grandma standing in the trees opposite the house. Wearing her pink dress and cardigan, just like in the photograph, and at her feet she could see fairies. Was she dreaming or had Grandma really come by to show her the stories about fairies were true? She pinched her arm hard and it hurt. I am awake. Without a second thought, she pulled on her dressing gown, pushed her feet into her slippers and, taking her house key, left her room, closing the door behind her.
Amanda had memorized the security code for the front door and her dad had instructed her how to disable the sensor lights during the day and turn the system on and off when visitors arrived. If she disabled the lights and CCTV cameras, the house alarm would reset five minutes from when she left the house. She could use her key to get back inside and as long as she input the code and reset everything, no one would ever know she’d gone out to see her grandma.
She looked through the glass in the front door and Grandma was waiting patiently for her. She punched in the code, disabled the lights and CCTV cameras, then opened the door and peered into the moonlight, but she could no longer see Grandma standing in the trees. Disappointment flooded over her as she moved onto the porch, closed the door behind her and searched the trees. She kept her voice low. “Grandma, where are you?”
A flash of movement caught her attention and she bolted down the steps and ran into the trees. Small bushes snagged at her dressing gown and low branches seemed to reach out to grab her hair. A figure came out of the darkness behind her and she huffed a sigh of relief and turned. “Grandma?”
Someone crashed into her with such force that the air rushed from her lungs. Amanda staggered over the uneven ground, trying to remain upright. The next moment a large smelly cloth clamped over her face, covering her mouth and nose, then an arm like steel closed around her, crushing her ribs. She couldn’t breathe. Panic gripped her, she thrashed around, kicking, but the cloth against her face held tight and she sucked in a strange taste. Her stomach rolled and her limbs became weak and useless. A strange sleepiness engulfed her and she opened her eyes wide, fighting to stay awake, but the forest seemed to melt around her. A voice, low and husky, came close to her ear. Warm breath brushed her cheek.
“No, honey, it’s the Big Bad Wolf.”
Twenty-Three
Heavy-hearted, Jenna slid out of Kane’s truck and made her way into the medical examiner’s office. There could be nothing worse than witnessing an autopsy of a young girl and Wolfe had saved her from the more gruesome aspects by offering her a run-down of his findings. Having both Wolfe and Webber as part-time deputies, she covered the legal aspect of having an officer to witness the post. She used her card to access the morgue and glanced over one shoulder, to see Kane’s rigid expression. “I figure this is the worst part of our job.”
“Yeah, it’s not something I generally look forward to.” Kane moved through the door. “I’ve been wondering all night what Wolfe has found. He seemed confused and that’s n
ot like him at all.”
Jenna inhaled the familiar smell only a morgue carried and wrinkled her nose in disgust. As she pushed through the double doors leading to the examination room, a near freezing chill hit her face. She smiled at Wolfe, sitting beside Webber and his daughter Emily, chatting about his findings as if they were discussing last night’s movie. “Morning. What have you got for me?”
“More than I bargained for, I’m afraid.” Wolfe rose to his feet and indicated to Webber to bring out Lindy Rosen’s body. “As I mentioned, the body temperature I took at the scene didn’t add up to the series of events we figured happened to Lindy. Since doing her autopsy, I’ve a completely different timeline.”
Intrigued, Jenna turned to look down at Lindy’s body. Her skin was deathly white and Wolfe had made a number of incisions around her throat plus the usual Y-shaped one down her chest. She had prepared for this visit and pushed away the part of her that grieved this girl, allowing her professional side to take over. She needed to see Lindy through Wolfe’s eyes and use the information to catch her killer. “Okay. So what was so unusual about this case?”
“The one very pertinent fact is that Lindy died no more than one hour after her parents found her missing.” Wolfe took the iPad Emily handed him and held it out to Jenna. “When I took her temperature at the scene, it was too low for her time of death to have been in the last hour or two before we located her and when I loaded her into the van, I noticed the rigor wasn’t consistent with the assumed time of death.”
“So you’re saying he kidnapped her, filmed her and murdered her before he sent Jenna the video?” Kane’s brow furrowed. “So what time do you believe she died?”
