by D. K. Hood
“Okay, so we concentrate on those four.” Jenna made notes on her laptop. “Kane, what have you got for me?”
Kane explained the call to Jo. “I haven’t looked over the files from Kalo yet, but with Jo’s insight, it will be easier to match up possible links between our suspects and the victims.”
“I don’t recall asking you to involve the FBI in my case.” Jenna lifted her gaze to him. “Do you suddenly feel the need to question your profiling skills, because as sure as hell, I don’t need anyone working with me who doubts their ability.”
“I’ve never doubted my ability.” Kane stared at her uncompromising expression. “I didn’t think asking your permission to call my friends was part of my job description.”
“That’s the problem, Kane. You don’t care what anyone thinks, do you?” Jenna’s eyes blazed. “Maybe I’m sick of looking incompetent because you keep running to the FBI for help.”
Unaccustomed to dealing with Jenna’s anger, Kane ignored her question. “Validating a theory is hardly running to Jo for help. We haven’t dealt with an organized serial killer who does a complete three-sixty in his MO. I’m not a behavioral analyst in Jo’s class, and with Julie in possible danger, I wanted to ensure we’d be prepared for whatever was coming next.”
“Well then, when you get back to Kalo, ask him to find out if any murders of women fitting Julie’s description happened during our suspects’ lifetimes.” Jenna turned back to her laptop. “Rio, if Wolfe has formally identified the victims, contact their local law enforcement office to notify next of kin. Once you have confirmation of all three victims, write me a statement for the media. I’ll go and speak to them.”
The air in the room seemed to crackle with anger. Kane stood and went to the coffee machine the hotel had supplied. He pushed in a pod and waited for the aromatic brew to drip into the cup. Emily came up beside him and selected a pod. He glanced at her. “It’s not safe for Julie here. Do you think we can convince her to go home?”
“Not a chance.” Emily slid the fixings across the bench to him. She dropped her voice to a whisper and both her eyebrows rose in question. “First argument, huh?”
Kane added cream and sugar to his cup. “It goes way past that, I’m afraid.” He shrugged. “She wants me out of her life.”
“No… she wants you to fight for her, Dave.” Emily smiled at him. “Not give in and run away the moment she raises her voice. She’s a strong woman and needs a strong man.” She sighed. “And that’s all I’m going to say on the subject. I’m not taking sides, so don’t ask me.”
Kane sipped his coffee and grinned at her. “Yes, ma’am.”
Thirty-Three
Black Rock Falls
Wolfe stared at the somber faces on the screen. The isolation must be getting to the team as not one of them, apart from Emily, greeted him. He pulled up files and cleared his throat. “I’ve identified all three victims. As it happens, all three completed DNA profiles for various things and all showed up on the databases. I’ve contacted their local law enforcement agencies and all have come back to me that the next of kin have been notified.” He waited for a reaction but none came. “Moving right along. The earrings found at Storm’s and Longfellow’s crime scenes don’t belong to Dakota Storm. I found a DNA trace on both the earrings; small amounts of blood and tissue were trapped under the stones. I ran the samples and came up with a cold case from twenty years ago. Many cold-case files, as you know, have been reopened due to the advances in DNA. These earrings belonged to Diane Tate out of Black Ridge, Montana. She died from multiple stab wounds. Before she died, the local cops found two murdered men in the woods, close by the house. They’d been killed at different times. One of them was the local priest. Tate was a single mother. She had a son, Paul, a religious choirboy who was staying over at a friend’s house at the time of Tate’s murder. He was ten years old and went into foster care. They never found a trace of the killer. These earrings were ripped from Tate’s ears during the murder.”
“Twenty years ago?” Jenna frowned. “The ski resort is new. There must be some mistake.”
“Unless our killer is the same person who killed Diane Tate and the men.” Kane stared at the screen. “Do we have a photograph of Diane Tate?”
Wolfe smiled. “As it happens, I do.” He scrolled through the files and sent one through. “Blonde, small boned, and pretty.”
“Ah, we have a problem.” Kane cleared his throat.
Wolfe listened with incredulity as Kane brought him up to speed with the profiler information and what had happened to Julie. “So, it comes down to the risk of leaving her there and risking another trip down the mountain?”
“From what we experienced last night and the conditions this morning, she has less chance of being murdered.” Jenna pushed both hands through her hair. “She is aware of the situation and isn’t a fool. She’s with a group of friends right now and we’ll be checking on her all day.” She sighed. “It’s up to you. If you want her back home, we’ll get her down the mountain. Just say the word.”
Torn between wanting Julie home and the potential risk, Wolfe moved his gaze to Kane. “What do you think?”
“I’ve given her my stun gun. Her tracker ring won’t work up here. We have no reliable wireless signal.” Kane stared back at him over cyberspace. “I’d prefer she were off the mountain, but Jenna is telling it how it is. We came close to sliding over the side. It’s dangerous out there right now.”
Wolfe nodded. Kane had made the first tracker ring for Jenna, when he’d arrived in Black Rock Falls, but over the years he’d made significant improvements. With one click, the rings allowed the team to track the wearer on their phones and the one-way communication, sent them vital information, should one of the women be in trouble. “Their rings will work. I’ve upgraded them to satellite. Like the pair of you since the upgrade on the ranch, your new phones have a red panic button on the main screen. It works with your satellite sleeve or wireless.”
“Mine too?” Jenna frowned. “Is that why you wanted my ring?”
Wolfe nodded. “Yeah, I thought I’d told you. Anyway, back to the case. Anything else you need to know about the Tate murder?”
“Was she raped?” Kane’s attention moved to his laptop.
“No. All the victims died from sharp force trauma. Multiple stab wounds. The woman’s main injuries were to the face and neck. The men received similar injuries but had their genitalia removed. It was a gruesome scene from frenzied attacks. I’ll send the autopsy reports on all the victims.” Wolfe sent the files. “I leave it to you to discover why a killer leaves a trophy behind from one kill to the next. Assuming this is the same person.”
“Unless the killer was a kid at the time, none of our suspects would be old enough. The oldest one we have is thirty-two. The son you mentioned had an alibi and it would be hard for a kid to take down three adults.” Jenna looked up at him. “I assume he was considered at the time of the murder of his mother, but what about the others?”
Wolfe consulted his notes. “I’ll send you everything I have, but it doesn’t look like they were able to establish the approximate time of death for the men. They didn’t look at the boy because his alibi was solid. He was sleeping over with a friend, in the same bedroom. They’d have noticed him missing and he would have been covered in blood if he’d slipped out and then returned. The kid discovered his mother’s body after school the next day. From the report, he was acting normal all that day at school but was hysterical when he ran to a neighbor’s house to tell them what had happened.”
“Where did they live?” Kane raised both eyebrows. “Nobody heard anything?”
Wolfe sighed. “Black Ridge, just outside of Blackwater. They lived out a ways, on the edge of the forest.”
“Okay thanks. Getting back to our cases. What did you find on Dakota Storm?” Jenna’s serious expression was set in stone.
Wolfe surveyed the line of faces. All but Emily had their mouth turned down. The atmosphe
re was unusual and troubling. “In simple terms, she drowned. The splinters found in the head wound caused by blunt force trauma match the log you found at the scene and the blood is a match. I conclude she was struck from behind but not killed, strangled to the point of unconsciousness. But she was alive when the pen was stuck into her eye. The subsequent injury wasn’t fatal but would have rendered her unconscious. She had pond water in her lungs.”
“That was overkill.” Rio pushed a hand through his dark hair. “He wanted her to suffer. It didn’t last long enough for him. I’ve heard of killers who strangle just enough to make their victims black out, then bring them around for round two.”
“Yeah, that’s up close and personal.” Kane sipped his coffee.
“So, this would fit a revenge kill.” Jenna made notes. “We have a theory that this killer has some beef against members of the publishing industry.”
Wolfe nodded. “It seems logical, but there are easier ways to kill. This person toys with his victims, like a cat with a mouse. Have you seen the way a cat tosses a mouse around, lets it go just to chase it down again? They amuse themselves by torturing the mouse. This killer is the same.”
“How so?” Jenna stared into the camera.
Wolfe had been waiting to reveal his new investigative tool. “It’s a shame you aren’t in the office to gain the full extent of this new device. It will make understanding the extent of the injuries much easier.” He turned on a machine and adjusted his camera to send the images to Jenna’s laptop. “This is a digital anatomy table. By superimposing the images of a victim over a normal body, I can demonstrate the nature of the injuries. This machine also produces a 3D image and, by rotating parts of the body, I can display underlying organs. It will give you a concise and visual explanation of cause of death.”
“That is amazing.” Kane leaned closer. “How does it work?”
Wolfe ran the machine through its paces. “There is a slider that allows me to manipulate the image, or for indicating or demonstrating injuries, I can just write on the screen with my finger.” He sighed. “But you’ll be able to get the full benefit when you next come to the morgue. I’d better get on.”
He pulled up the images of Jedidiah Longfellow. “From my preliminary examination I would have thought maybe one of the nails had punctured a vital organ, but in fact, on autopsy we see that apart from the paralyzing effect of the one pressed into the base of the skull, this victim could well have survived unless he froze to death—but he didn’t. He actually died of heart failure.”
“The killer scared him to death?” Jenna looked incredulous.
“The heart wasn’t in great shape to begin with.” Wolfe displayed the images on the new machine, moving them back and forth to explain as he talked. “The stress of what happened to him caused the heart to fail. Again, from the number of nails I pulled from this victim, it was a different MO, but similar in the fact that the killer was playing with him to cause maximum pain.”
“Revenge again.” Kane leaned forward peering at the screen of his laptop. “That’s two, but how can you call number three revenge?”
Wolfe flicked up more images, this time of Kitty Pandora. “No burn marks. She didn’t handle the hairdryer in the bathtub. Her prints and only her prints are on the hairdryer. No water on the floor. No struggle. What does this say to you?”
“She knew her killer, well to allow them into her bathroom.” Rio scribbled on a notepad. “The killer didn’t play with her, he just dropped in the hairdryer and left.”
“Maybe not.” Jenna chewed on her bottom lip. “Think about it. If a friend suddenly arrived in your room, you wouldn’t scream. You’d maybe chat a bit. Say things got nasty. Maybe he had a weapon and ordered her into the tub? Then he tormented her by threatening to drop in the hairdryer. He’d want to hear her beg for her life, but he didn’t care and dropped it anyway.”
Wolfe smiled at her. “That makes sense because, when Emily took the temperature of the water and the body, they were cool. You discovered the body within half an hour, and the bathwater should have been at a higher temperature. The room temperature was warm, toasty in fact. Women don’t lie in cold baths unless they’re forced to. She died of asphyxiation due to a paralyzed diaphragm induced by an electric shock.” He checked his notes. “Do you know if anything was left at the scene or taken from the scene?”
“As we don’t have anyone to confirm either, we have to assume the negative.” Kane shrugged. “The room hasn’t been touched. Why? Did you notice anything unusual?”
Wolfe nodded. “Yeah, she has an indent, on her finger as if she constantly wore a ring. Third finger left hand above her wedding band. So an engagement ring, perhaps?”
“Okay, I’ll do a search of the room, and if we can’t find it, I’ll contact her husband for confirmation.” Jenna sighed. “Is that everything?”
Wolfe looked from one to the other. He’d never had such a cold reception. “Yeah, for now. Ah, Emily, can you call me, please? I have some family business to discuss with you.”
“Sure thing, Dad.” Emily smiled at him.
Wolfe disconnected and waited for Emily to call. When the phone rang, he smiled to himself. Emily wouldn’t hold back information from him unless she’d been asked to keep a secret. “Okay what’s going on? I get a better reception in the morgue than I did today.”
“Well.” Emily let out an exasperated sigh. “Sit down and I’ll tell you.”
Thirty-Four
Glacial Heights Ski Resort
After a stern warning from Uncle Dave about not spending any time alone and keeping the stun gun in her jacket pocket, Julie tried to relax and enjoy the conference. She took a ton of selfies with her friends to remember the weekend and kept a watchful eye out for anyone acting suspicious, but everything seemed normal. There was so much to see and do here, and reading crime was the best thing in her life. She loved trying to unravel the mysteries and follow the clues in the books she read. She preferred to lose herself in the pages of fiction. The true-crime books were too close to home. She’d live enough true crime in her life to read about it. Although the cases her father, Jenna, and Uncle Dave solved were interesting, she didn’t really want to know all the gory details.
Julie had at least six friends from school staying at the lodge, and many had intended to ski during their stay, but the events throughout the conference kept them from going stir-crazy. She’d had to bite her tongue a few times during discussions about a mystery game everyone was convinced was playing out over the week to prevent from telling them about the murders. The moment Jenna walked into the hall and took the stage to address everyone, her stomach dropped. She hadn’t told any of her friends about the man in her room and hoped Jenna wouldn’t say anything.
“Can I have your attention?” Jenna stood and her gaze scanned the crowd. “My deputies are in the other halls, so everyone will be aware of what’s happening at the same time. Unfortunately, I’m here to report the deaths of Dakota Storm, an agent out of Wild Woods, Oregon; Jedidiah Longfellow, an author out of Wilderness, Wyoming; and Kitty Pandora, an author out of Superstition, Oregon. Their deaths are unrelated and the causes undetermined at this time.”
The crowd burst into a barrage of questions, and Jenna waited in silence for the noise to settle. In an effort to look as horrified as her friends, Julie looked at them and mouthed, “Oh, my gosh.”
“Do you know what happened?” Jenny Pritchard elbowed her in the ribs.
Julie shook her head. “Not exactly, but I think something happened when the lights went out. Maybe they were electrocuted or something. My dad doesn’t give me any details. It’s a privacy issue and, really, I wouldn’t want to know. I’d have nightmares.”
“During our investigation, I would strongly advise you all to move about the lodge and especially outside in pairs, until we can get to the cause of deaths.” Jenna avoided all questions from the media and left the room.
“It’s all part of the mystery game, isn’t it?�
� Jenny giggled. “I’ve lived here all my life and the sheriff rarely leaves town, and not in the dead of winter with two deputies. She was here before anyone died. I figure she’s given us a secret task. We have to find out who the killer is.”
Concerned, Julie worried her bottom lip. “I don’t think so.”
“I do.” April Perkins moved closer. “Those three people are linked. Anyone who has been at the conference knows Kitty Pandora’s and Jedidiah Longfellow’s agent was Dakota Storm. Dakota mentioned their books Frizzled and Nailed It.”
“So that’s the first clue. The second and third would be in their bestsellers. We’ll need to buy copies and hunt through them.” Jenny grinned. “And what was the book Dakota Storm mentioned during the agents’ roundtable?”
Julie swallowed hard as realization dawned on her. “It was the Frozen in Time series. The first book is titled Body in a Frozen Lake.”
“Oh, how intriguing.” April made notes on a pad. “Soon as this forum has finished, we’ll grab a book each and head for my room. We can work together. It will be fun. We have time before the next reading.”
I must go and find Jenna. Julie smiled at her friends. “I’ll be back soon. I’m going to the bathroom.” She took off through the crowd.
With everyone involved with the conference, very few people moved through the ski lodge. The staff acted like ghosts and seemed to drift in and out getting things done when no one was around. As Julie headed through the walkways from one part of the conference area to the next, her neck prickled with an awful feeling that someone was behind her. She heard a slight squeaking like leather shoes on the tile and turned to look over one shoulder, but found the passageway empty. Swallowing the rising panic, she peered into the shadowed doorways along each wall. Each of them offered a place for someone to hide. Heart thumping, she gripped the stun gun in her pocket and quickened her pace. The corridors had no windows and when one of the lights flickered and went out, fear had her by the throat. Someone was following her and they must have ducked into the recessed doorways each time she stopped to look behind her. The terror of seeing a man in her room charged into her mind. It had been a stupid mistake to move around the lodge alone. She took her hand off the stun gun and went to depress the stone in the tracker ring when she heard someone clearing their throat. She spun around, ready to fight for her life, but recognized the person coming along behind her.
