by D. K. Hood
Jenna entered the ranch-style house set amidst the shade of maple and pine trees. She covered her nose and peered through the kitchen door at the bloated body of a middle-aged man sprawled on the polished wooden floor. His eyes bulged from a blue-tinged face. She turned to Deputy Kane and raised one eyebrow. “He’s been here for a while.”
“By the smell, I would say so.” Kane’s eyes narrowed. “The real estate agent says he isn’t the owner and the house is listed for sale.”
“Why is it so hot in here?” She turned to Deputy Wolfe, her in-house medical examiner. “What do you think happened to him? There’s no sign of a struggle as far as I can see. If the house wasn’t unoccupied, I would have figured he was unpacking his groceries and dropped dead. I’ll leave this one to you, Wolfe. We’ll check the rest of the house.”
“The thermostat has been set to eighty-five degrees.” Wolfe tapped one gloved finger on the wall control. “Do you want me to turn it down, ma’am?”
“Yeah, and get the windows open.” She turned to Kane. “We’ll do a sweep of the house.”
She picked up her bag of equipment and followed Kane through the meticulously furnished ground floor. They checked the cellar and finding nothing of interest headed upstairs. Three bedrooms, all seemingly undisturbed. The faucet dripped in the main bathroom, leaving small splashes of water inside the basin.
“That’s unusual, seeing as everything else in here is perfect. I’ll dust the vanity for fingerprints.” She pulled the kit from her bag and tossed Kane a sample container. “Remove the trap under the sink and collect the contents.” She waited for him to complete the task.
“It looks clean.” Kane held up a plastic container and frowned. “I don’t think anyone has been here.”
Jenna dusted the vanity and faucet for fingerprints. “Nothing but a few smudged prints. If cleaners had been here, it’s likely they left their prints, but someone left the tap dripping as if the sink was used in a hurry.”
“It could have been an oversight.”
“Maybe.” She led the way downstairs and reported their findings to Wolfe. “I want to know how that man got into the house and what he was doing here. Check his pockets for a key.” She turned away. “With me, Kane. Who found the body?”
“Alison Saunders. She is the realtor working at Mr. Davis’s agency and also the woman Deputy Rowley’s apparently dating.”
Jenna followed Kane outside. “I wondered why she was blubbering all over him.”
“I guess finding a dead body in a house she was planning to sell to a young couple this evening was a little traumatic.” Kane gave a nonchalant shrug. “Maybe she can shed some light on how he got into the house.”
“Maybe he was a potential buyer?” Jenna strolled toward Deputy Rowley and a young woman with dark hair dressed in a neat skirt and blouse under a jacket. “Miss Saunders? I’m Sheriff Alton. Are you up to answering some questions?”
“Okay, but please call me Alison.” She dabbed at her red eyes and gave Rowley a mournful look.
“What time did you find the body?”
“About twenty minutes ago. I called Jake straight away.”
Not 911? Jenna pulled out her notepad and pen. “Do you know the deceased?”
“No, and he wasn’t here on Monday when Mr. Davis did the house inspection. I don’t know how he got inside. The door was locked when I arrived.” Alison blinked her long, wet lashes. “I came to make sure the carpets had been cleaned before I showed the clients.”
“How many people have keys to the house?”
“Let me think.” Alison tapped her bottom lip with a red fingernail. “This house used to be a rental. We have master keys for the houses and we have two extras at the office, and the owner has a set. I have one with me. I gave one to the carpenter, Adam Stickler, and one to the cleaning service. That is the Clean as a Wink housekeeping service, here in Black Rock Falls. We use those people all the time and they are very reliable.”
Jenna made notes. “Did the cleaning service return the key?”
“They keep a master key for their own use but they finished here before Mr. Davis’s inspection on Monday; I think they came after the carpenter left on Friday. He did mention some yard work needing doing.” Alison’s brown eyes fixed on Jenna’s face. “How did the man die? Was it a heart attack?”
“I don’t know and we won’t have a cause of death until the ME has examined the body.” Jenna replaced her notebook and pen. “You’ll need to cancel the viewing for this evening. We’ll be here most of the day and tomorrow, and when we clear the scene, you’ll need to get the cleaners in again to get rid of the smell.”
“Oh, Lord, nobody will buy the place now. We have to tell buyers about any deaths occurring in the houses.”
“Who owns the property?” Kane’s gaze moved over the house then back to Alison.
“Three Maple Lane is one of the seven properties Mr. Rockford has on our books. I met him recently and so I know the man in the house is not him. Mr. Rockford moved to Texas after his son went to jail. Mr. Davis is acting as his agent for all the sales.” Alison looked as if she carried the world on her shoulders. “That’s why I moved back to Black Rock Falls to work. There are so many properties on the market since those teenagers were murdered last summer.”
Jenna let out a long sigh. She remembered the Rockford case well. “ Did you have any tradesmen in to repair anything after the last inspection?”
“As far as I am aware, all the repairs were finished.” Alison’s dainty fingers trembled on the folder in her hands. “I’ll have to ask Mr. Davis if he sent anyone out.”
“Call me when you find out.” Kane handed her a card with a compassionate smile. “My cellphone number is on the back. You can call anytime.”
Jenna stared at him then turned her gaze back to Alison. “Okay. That’s all I need for now. You had better get back to work.”
“I’m not sure if I can drive.” Alison looked forlorn. “I’m still shaking.”
“You’ve had a nasty shock.” Jenna turned away from her and spoke to Rowley. “Drive her car into town and give me your keys. I’ll drop your car back to the office. While you’re there, find out if Davis sent any tradesmen out to the house.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Rowley’s mouth twitched into a smile as he handed her the keys. “Thank you.” He led Alison to her vehicle.
“Sheriff. I need a word.” Deputy Wolfe came out the house carrying a large evidence bag. “The victim is Amos Price, forty-nine years old, and according to his driver’s license he has a cabin in the mountains on Sunset Ridge. From what I found in his bag, I believe he was here for a romantic interlude, although he was also carrying tranquilizers in his pocket.”
Jenna listened to the list of items found with the body. “I see. Time of death? Cause?”
“Hard to determine the time of death from the body temperature. I’d say approximately forty-eight hours but someone turned up the heat, so I could be off by days. From the artificially heightened body temperature it would be a few hours ago but from the decomposition, it could be Tuesday afternoon. I’ll have to say undetermined. He is bloated so the cause will have to wait for the autopsy. Maybe a heart attack, but right now I’m not sure.” Wolfe pulled down his face mask and scratched his blond stubble. “I can’t rule out homicide at this time, so I’ll dust the entire house for prints and do a complete search. I’ll need the real estate agents’ prints as well as they both had access to the house.”
“Okay.” Jenna stared after the departing car. “I’ll call Rowley and get him to scan Stickler, Saunders and Davis.”
“I wonder if the battered truck parked down the road belongs to the victim.” Kane rolled his shoulders and strolled toward the vehicle. He pulled out his cellphone and ran the plate then turned to look at her. “Yeah, it’s his.”
Jenna turned to Wolfe. “Any keys on the body?”
“Yeah.” Wolfe dug into the evidence bag then held out the keys between two gloved fingers. �
��I tried these in the front door lock. They don’t belong to the house. Do you have gloves?”
Jenna pulled two pairs out of her pocket and tossed one pair to Kane. “We’d better check the vehicle.” She strolled to the truck.
“Roger that.” As he kept pace beside her, Kane’s attention moved over her face. “I need to ask you something.”
“Sure.”
“You know, I was talking to Rowley about how hard it is to get to some of the more remote places around town. He suggested it would make sense for us to get a horse. You don’t use the stables at your place and the grass in the corral is a foot high.”
She nodded. “Sounds like a plan but the stables are a bit run-down.”
“It won’t take me long to fix them—a couple of new hinges and they’ll be fine. Do you ride?”
Jenna gave him a sideways glance. “I can ride; well, I did the horse-riding thing when I was a kid.”
She liked having Kane living in the cottage on her ranch and spent a lot of downtime with him. He was reliable and smart and always had her back. Often after viewing a nasty crime scene he would change the subject to lighten the mood and his diversions somehow kept her human. “It will be an added expense though, and I guess we could rent horses if we need them.”
“Then we’ll have the availability issue.” Kane shrugged. “I’ll pay for any upkeep because with the expanse of forest and mountains we have in our county, we might need them in a hurry. The last time we investigated a murder, we trekked for miles up trails looking for evidence. A horse would have made life easier. We know Amos Price lived up in the hills, and if he doesn’t have a family, we’ll have to check his property. Some of the ranches are in remote areas, and neighbors are few and far between.” Kane’s lips thinned. “His property could be miles up a trail.”
She considered his words then shrugged. “I doubt it. He has a truck and looks a little overweight to be walking miles, but if you want to buy a couple of horses, that’s fine by me.”
“I’ll go and see Gloria on Sunday and I’ll fix up the stables.” Kane’s mouth twitched at the corners as he opened the victim’s truck.
“Gloria?”
“Yeah, Rowley insisted Gloria Smithers is the best person in town to go to if you want to buy a horse. I’ve been in touch with her and she has a few mounts available at the moment.” Kane allowed a pile of garbage to fall out the door then pulled on a mask and slid his large body inside the old truck. “Man, this guy was a pig; there’s mold half an inch thick on the garbage in here.”
Jenna covered her nose. “How do people live like that?”
“What do we have here? Grab this, I’m going in again.” Kane peered over the mask at her as he tossed her a rifle then bent inside again. Moments later, he stood and peered into a paper sack. “Diazepam. Hmm, these must be what Wolfe found in his pocket. I wonder why he’d take tranquilizers on a date.”
Jenna stared at him in disbelief. “Ah… maybe to drug her. It seems feasible considering he was inside someone else’s house.”
“Yeah?” Kane’s brow furrowed. “If you discovered a guy trying to drug you, would you just leave or call the cops?”
“I wouldn’t get myself into that position with a total stranger in the first place.” Jenna rested one hand on the handle of her weapon and sighed. “Maybe she didn’t show and he died of boredom waiting for her.” She shrugged. “There was a bottle of bourbon on the counter—maybe it wasn’t a date after all. He could have committed suicide. Diazepam and booze would do it.”
“I’ve never heard of anyone taking condoms, lube and a box of chocolates to a suicide.” Kane’s eyes danced with mirth. “Have you?”
Jenna snorted back a laugh. “I guess there’s always a first time.”
Embarrassed, she glanced around. “Oh Lord, that’s not a professional thing to say. The poor man is dead. Probably murdered and we’re fooling around.”
“Nah, just stating facts.” Kane glanced at her over one shoulder. “Did you know it’s not unusual for people to laugh at murder scenes?”
She met his gaze. “No, I didn’t, but I’m sure you’re going to tell me the reason.”
“It’s not because they think death is funny, it’s an emotional release to guard against overwhelming anxiety.” He disappeared inside the truck. “In our line of work, I guess it’s better to laugh once in a while than suffer from PTSD.” He backed out and examined something in his palm.
“What have you got there?”
“I found a thumb drive in the glove compartment. It might shed some light on his life, apart from the fact he liked takeout and bourbon.” Kane threw the junk back inside the vehicle and locked the door. “He has been here for a couple of days and lives on the mountain. Those places are pretty isolated and he might have livestock on his property that needs tending.”
“Yeah, most do up there. We’ll head back to the office see if Walters knows him or his relatives. He might have a family and they can handle any animals. I’ll see who lives close by as well and ask them.”
“Roger that.” Kane ripped off his mask and his lips curled into a smile. “If we don’t have any luck, I figure I’d enjoy a drive into the mountains, spectacular views, and all the peace and quiet you could wish for. We’ll be able to find the location of the victim’s house using the GPS.”
Jenna’s vacation plans would have to wait, but she had to admit the idea of getting away for a morning to enjoy the fresh mountain air sounded like bliss. “Sure, now can we stop daydreaming and get back to work?”
3
Thursday
Early the following morning, Kane leaned back in his office chair, gaping at the contents of the thumb drive he had found in Amos Price’s truck. He glanced away, sickened by the images in front of him. Almost a year earlier, Jenna had found similar images on the cellphone belonging to the ex-mayor’s son, but his father had destroyed his laptop, removing any clues to a potential child pornography ring working in the area. The FBI had become involved but even with their extensive resources they had uncovered zip. He figured Josh Rockford had acted alone, and with him in jail, they had solved the problem. Obviously not.
The find opened up a can of worms: If Price had been involved, then there could be others and yet nothing had come to light since his arrival in Black Rock Falls. He pushed to his feet and marched into Jenna’s office. “Excuse me, ma’am. I think you need to be aware of this information in the Amos Price case.”
“Come in and take a seat.” Jenna tossed a lock of glossy hair from her face and smiled at him. “What did you find?”
Kane winced. “Images of children. They all came from the camera on his cellphone, so he was involved. It looks like the same child.”
“Hmm, did he send them to anyone?”
“Nope.” Kane dropped into a chair opposite her desk. “Like the Josh Rockford case, he was too clever to use his cellphone to send the images. My guess is everything we need will be on a laptop somewhere. If news of his death leaks, we might have the same problem as we had with Rockford—one of his friends will take the hard drive and nuke it.”
Jenna tapped her pen on the desk. “Predators pop up all over the place but before we start checking out chat rooms for likely suspects, I’ll contact the FBI again and see if they have an ongoing investigation in the area.”
“Yeah, they wouldn’t be too happy if we ruined a sting operation.”
“Not only that, I want them involved. They have the resources and know where to look online.” She sighed.
A knock on the door heralded the arrival of Deputy Wolfe.
“Ah, Wolfe, you couldn’t have arrived at a better time.” Jenna’s smile was genuine; she obviously appreciated having him on the team. “What did the autopsy tell us?”
“Not much, I’m afraid.” Wolfe removed his hat and scratched his thick blond hair. “The cause of death is undetermined pending a toxicology report. Problem is the report takes about two to three weeks. We might hit pay dirt with
the stomach contents. He had taken a drink just prior to his death. Apart from the bourbon and cola, it had a very strong smell of cigarettes but his lungs appeared clean. I don’t think he smoked.”
Kane frowned. “I didn’t find any cigarettes in his truck either.”
“Or an empty can of cola inside the house.” Jenna’s white teeth closed on her bottom lip. “If he had a drink just before he died, what happened to the glass he used or the cola can?”
“Exactly. Everything I found points to poison as the cause of death, and from the contortions of his limbs, it was a very painful death. His body literally shut down in painful spasms. There are quite a few poisons that act immediately, for instance, arsenic, strychnine, and of course things like snakebite, but apart from them being difficult to obtain, they leave clues. Bite marks, for instance, and bleeding eyes or coughing blood. This was subtle. As I detected the high smell of tobacco, I asked the laboratory to check for nicotine sulfate. It’s a pesticide and extremely poisonous. It would produce the symptoms I detected in the victim. It is colorless and the taste could be disguised with bourbon.”
Kane rubbed the back of his neck. “So, this could be a homicide?”
“I’m not ruling that out.”
“If it is, then we have a motive.” Jenna’s dark eyebrows met in the middle in a frown. “He has images of children on his cellphone and it seems he took them himself. I can find no one within a few miles of Mr. Price’s cabin and none of the people I called are prepared to venture onto his land. I think we have three main objectives. The first is to hightail it up to his cabin and get his laptop to discover if anyone else is involved. If we find any clues, we’ll turn them over to the FBI to investigate. We need to concentrate on the murders and identify the child in the images. For all we know, Price’s death could be the parents taking the law into their own hands.”
