by D. K. Hood
“Yeah.” Wolfe’s pale eyes narrowed. “If I found someone messing with one of my girls, I might be tempted to pay him a visit too.”
“We do things straight down the line here, Deputy Wolfe.” Jenna’s expression hardened. “No matter who is involved, understand?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Wolfe rubbed the back of his neck. “By the way, I would consider poison to be usually a woman’s choice of weapon.” “He had an open bottle of bourbon but I tested it and it came up clean. There were glasses in a kitchen cupboard but they all appeared untouched. I will have them collected and test for residue but I doubt I will find anything. The trap under the kitchen sink came up clean. Whoever did this planned it well.”
“Suggestions?” Jenna shifted her attention to Kane. “How he got inside the house without a key, for instance?”
“I’m working on it, ma’am. I would like to know his incentive for going there in the first place.” Kane met Jenna’s intense expression and shrugged. “To meet a girl?”
“It’s a possibility.” Jenna scratched her cheek. “Say we go with that assumption. What do you know about grooming kids?”
“Pedophiles tend to go for a lonely kid. I figure they profile them to find a vulnerable subject to groom. They spend hours talking to them online.” Kane sighed. “The FBI has operatives masquerading as kids to sit online in chat rooms in an attempt to lure them. The predators use games rooms and other social media groups, impersonating teenage boys. They have usernames and post an image of a good-looking guy then start up a conversation. Once the FBI has them admitting to wanting sex with an underage girl or boy, they set up a meet and arrest them.”
“Which makes me doubt the FBI has been working our area or Price wouldn’t have ended up dead. I guess if a killer wanted to lure a pedophile to his death, that scheme would work just as well. That’s something to consider.” Jenna’s mouth turned down at the corners. “Looking at what Price had with him, he was expecting to have sex and intended to subdue his victim if necessary.”
“It makes me wonder how many times he has done the same thing.” Kane leaned back in his seat, making it creak in protest. “Like I said, it would take time to groom a kid online and he would need access to a house. We’re back to wondering how Price knew when the house was empty and how did he get in?”
“You need to find out.” Alton’s gaze narrowed. “It’s obvious. He had a key. Investigate.”
Kane cleared his throat. “Yes, ma’am. The moment we get back from his cabin.”
“We know a number of people who could have a key. Alison mentioned tradespeople had worked on the house—any one of them could have made a copy.” Jenna’s intent gaze moved over the deputies. “Before we leave, Wolfe, I need you and Rowley to pull up any files we have on victims of child abuse in the area. You’ll need to check the archives. We found no complaints at all during the Rockford case, so you’ll have to search the national database. Check the girl in the photographs against missing persons. Go back some years.”
Kane rubbed his chin. “You are talking about hundreds of thousands of missing kids. It is an impossible task. I suggest start in the neighboring towns and work out.”
“Yeah, we don’t know for sure he intended to meet a kid or in fact if he met anyone at all.” Wolfe looked chagrined.
“Well, further speculation will have to wait until we look at Price’s computer.” Alton picked up the phone. “Deputy Walters, did you locate Mr. Price’s family?” She listened for some time then shook her head. “Give me the coordinates to his home. Thanks.” She made notes, disconnected, then pushed the pad toward Kane. “Price has no living relatives. Walters believes the unsealed road up to Price’s cabin should be passable this time of the year. Check if we can access the area by SUV. Apparently, another road leads way up on the north side to a few cabins locals hire out when fishing at Black Rock Falls, but a rock fall blocked the road. The water from there feeds Black Rock Lake, a huge area on the other side of the mountain. Apparently the rock fall doesn’t show up on the GPS.” She stood. “I’m sure your SUV is powerful enough to climb the hill.”
“Oh yeah, that baby will do it with ease.” Kane could not help the smile. “I’ll check the road conditions and get the gear together. Will you or Wolfe be coming with me?”
“Oh, I’m coming.” Jenna’s eyes flashed. “Wolfe, I want you to coordinate the search for the victim in the photographs and cases of child abuse here or in neighboring towns. Notify the FBI, we have a potential pedophile ring operating in the area. They’ll know all the usual haunts of these people and will be able to handle that part of the investigation. Make sure you insist we are kept in the loop.” She glanced at Wolfe. “Before you start, send Rowley to collect the glasses from the murder scene. I’ve trained him in the correct collection of forensic evidence. ”
“Yes, ma’am.” Wolfe gave her a curt nod, picked up his hat, and headed for the door.
“I want you both ready to go in ten minutes.” Jenna’s voice followed them.
Kane followed Wolfe from the room and noticed Rowley deep in conversation with Alison Saunders, the young woman who had found the body.
He strolled toward Rowley’s cubicle and cleared his throat. “Problem?”
“No, not exactly.” Rowley’s cheeks pinked. “Alison wanted to know how long it will be before she can get a cleaning crew inside the house.”
“I didn’t mean to get Jake into trouble.” Alison’s big brown eyes moved over his face. “I just needed to know when I could get back into the house and if the man was murdered.”
Kane shot a glance at Rowley. The deputy was usually discreet and professional. “And what did Deputy Rowley tell you?”
“He told me the sheriff would let Mr. Davis know when she had finished the investigation.”
Kane heaved a sigh of relief. “Well then, you have your answer. At the moment, we have no idea how the man died. It could take weeks, so if Mr. Davis is pressuring you to obtain information from Rowley, tell him to contact Sheriff Alton.”
“Oh, sure.”
“If that is all, Miss Saunders, Deputy Rowley is needed elsewhere.”
“I’ll see you later.” Alison smiled brightly at Rowley and headed for the door.
Kane watched her go. “I’m sure I don’t have to remind you not to give out information, even to your girlfriend. We could have a possible homicide and we don’t want any leaks.”
“No, sir. I wouldn’t tell her a thing.” Rowley swallowed hard, making his Adam’s apple bob up and down. “What did Deputy Wolfe discover in the autopsy?”
“Nothing positive yet.” Kane lowered his voice to just above a whisper. “We believe the deceased was involved in some kind of child porn ring. Wolfe will be coordinating a search for the kids in the images and bringing in the FBI. Hunt up any reported cases of child abuse and do a complete rundown of Price’s employment history. Find out if he worked with kids in the last couple of years. We’ll need to find out if he procured kids from another town, so search the other counties’ data banks for missing kids or reports of anything suspicious.”
“Okay. I’ll get on to it as soon as I get back from collecting the evidence Wolfe needs from Maple Street.”
“Okay. I’m heading up the mountain with Sheriff Alton to search Price’s cabin.”
“Oh, make sure you take a rifle with you.” Rowley’s face broke into a grin. “Folks up that way tend to shoot first then ask questions later.”
“Wonderful.”
4
The adrenaline rush of killing slipped away, leaving a wave of contentment. She glanced around her neat home, everything in its place, all surfaces polished to a high shine. She liked clean. In fact, one thing out of place, one speck of dust annoyed her, and right now she had some cleaning to do.
She opened the cupboard door in the spare bedroom and stared at photographs of the monsters. To enforce her determination to rid the Earth of predators, she had stuck the images to the inside of one door,
and on the other, the missing girls she had found in the newspapers. She touched each young face. I will get justice for you, I promise.
She scowled at the men’s images and rage sent bile rushing up the back of her throat. Oh yes, she had discovered the monsters’ names and where they lived. Now she would stop them from hurting girls. She had tracked down Amos Price after overhearing about the strange behavior of a clown at a kid’s party. She wondered how many times parents ignored inappropriate touches and kids’ complaints because they were too ashamed to admit such a thing had happened to their child. She had stopped him. The monster hiding behind a painted smile.
With satisfaction, she tore Amos Price’s image from the wooden door and ripped it into shreds then strolled into the bathroom and flushed it down the toilet. The sight of him writhing in agony and the fear in his eyes as his life slipped away had ignited the dark side again. She enjoyed his suffering, could almost taste it, and wished it had lasted longer. The craving to lure the next man into her web had become an obsession.
An absolute need to hunt down and kill.
Who will be next? She let her gaze drift over the photographs then dragged her nails down the image of a monster. “Are you ready to die?”
5
As Kane’s powerful SUV climbed up the winding mountain roads, eating up the miles, Jenna let out a sigh. A vista of intense beauty stretched out forever, pine forests climbed up magnificent mountains, swirling rivers and dancing waterfalls threw a myriad of rainbows, making the view magical. “Oh, this is magnificent. I wish I had ventured up here earlier. I can’t believe I’ve missed seeing this before.”
“It is amazing but not somewhere you should venture alone.” Kane’s large hands gripped the wheel as he negotiated a tight bend in the road. “Rowley mentioned that the mountain men, wherever they are hiding, tend to shoot first and ask questions later.” He grinned at her. “Then there are the black bears and the bobcats. I guess you’d look like dinner to them.”
“You wouldn’t.” She returned his grin. “You’re all gristle.”
“Thanks.” Kane’s eyes sparkled. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
Jenna stared at the GPS. “Price’s cabin should be down a track on the right about a hundred yards ahead.”
The car bumped over the dirt road, tipping from one side to the other. The trees came close to the road, sending zebra shadows flashing past as they moved in and out of the sunshine. “There on the right. See the ‘private property’ sign?”
“Got it.” Kane spun the wheel and expertly negotiated a bend then a dip in the road. “No wonder his truck was so beat up. This place would be murder during the winter.” He indicated ahead with his chin. “There’s the house.”
Jenna stared at the log cabin. It was larger than she expected with a woodshed and a small barn. An old hunting dog ambled out to greet them. It was pitifully thin with its bones showing. “You were right about the livestock. I wonder what he has in his barn.”
“I guess we’d better check there first.” Kane slipped from the car and raised both eyebrows. “I can’t smell livestock.” He trudged off toward the barn.
Jenna patted the old dog on the head. “Don’t worry, we’ll find you something to eat.”
“His water bucket is empty.” Anger radiated from Kane. “A hunting dog doesn’t get that thin in a couple of days. Up here, he could have caught his food.” He bent and filled a bucket from a faucet attached to a rainwater tank. “Come here, boy, there you go.” He turned and pulled open the barn door. “Nothing in here.”
“Okay, let’s check the house.” Jenna pulled on a pair of latex gloves then took a set of keys from her pocket. She strolled onto the porch, opened the door, then took a step backward. “Man, this place stinks.”
“Not death; that’s the smell of the unwashed.” Kane’s mouth curled into a grin. “It seems Amos Price wasn’t one for personal hygiene.” He moved inside the door. “Wait there. I’ll open some windows.”
“I’ll check the bedrooms.” Jenna strolled into what looked like the master bedroom and her attention settled on an array of wigs on the nightstand.
She threw open the cupboard doors and gaped at the rack of brightly colored clown costumes. A shudder of revulsion went through her. When Kane walked into the room, she turned and grimaced at him. “He was a clown. I hate clowns.”
“He’s a dead clown now.” Kane’s blue gaze moved over her face. “It’s a real phobia, isn’t it? Clowns, I mean.”
“Yeah, and John Wayne Gacy didn’t do much to help their cause either.” She shuddered. “In case you forgot he was a mass murderer of little boys.”
“I’m not likely to forget him but I wish I could.” Kane squeezed her arm and the heat of his hand felt comforting against her skin. “You okay?”
“I’m fine.” She turned away and walked down the passage into a family room with a fireplace, a couple of old sofas, and little else. Through an open door, she found a kitchen with a sink piled high with dishes. “I’ll see if there’s anything to feed the dog.”
She had not taken three paces when she heard a noise. “Did you hear that?”
“What?”
A tiny sound froze Jenna on the spot. She tilted her head from side to side. An eerie feeling crept over her as if a ghost was reaching out of a grave to speak to her. “I thought I heard a voice—a really creepy sound like a whine maybe. Listen.”
“Maybe it’s the wind or it may be a cat. I had a Siamese who sounded like a baby crying.”
She strained her ears and the sound came again, sending goosebumps running up her arms. “It sounds like a child.”
From behind, Kane dashed back down the hallway, pushing open bedroom doors, then he turned his large frame slowly and stared at a door sealed with a wooden slat. “Oh no, not the cellar again. I am so over going into dark cellars.” His biceps bulged as he lifted the substantial piece of wood barring the door. “This is strong enough to keep out a bear.” He glanced at Jenna over one shoulder. “You don’t think he has a pet panther, do you?” His brow wrinkled. “A very hungry pet panther?”
The whine came again, throwing every horror movie to the front of Jenna’s mind. Real she could deal with; spooks not so much. She forced her mind to think rationally. “It can’t be a ghost, they move through things.”
“I didn’t think it was a ghost but some people do believe spirits get trapped in places.” Kane shrugged. “It’s more likely a big cat.”
“I think I’d prefer a ghost.” Jenna moved to the door, keeping her back to the wall. “Open the door a crack and be ready to slam it shut if it is a damn panther. I’ve heard they have a strange call.”
“Yeah, they sound like a yell or a cry. I’ll wedge my foot behind the door.”
She moved closer. “This is Sheriff Jenna Alton, is anyone down there?”
A small, quivering voice echoed from the darkness. So ghostlike, cold chills slid down Jenna’s back.
“Yes, I’m down here.”
Every hair on the back of her neck stood to attention. “Are you alone?”
“Are you really a sheriff?”
Jenna nodded at Kane to open the door a few more inches. “Yes, I’m here with Deputy Kane.”
Jenna gagged at the stink of sewage wafting up from the dark beyond and turned to Kane. No way was she entering the cellar in the dark. “Can you see a light switch anywhere?”
“Yeah, here by the door.” His voice lowered to a whisper. “Be careful, Jenna, she could be his crazy old mother and is an unknown quantity.”
Jenna slid her Glock 22 from the holster. “Open the door.”
Pressing one hand over her nose, she moved onto a small landing and surveyed the cellar. It held a large double bed and a cage. Inside the cage sat a young ten- or twelve-year-old girl wearing filthy rags. Oh my God!
6
Holstering her gun, Jenna ran down the steps toward the cage. “It’s okay, you’re safe now. What’s your name?”
�
��Zoe. Zoe Channing.”
Jenna went to the girl. “You’re going to be okay.” She turned to Kane. “She’s the one in the photograph.”
“So I see.”
She shook the sturdy metal door and turned to him. “Get something to bust her out of here and bring some water.”
As Kane took off, thundering through the house, Jenna smiled at Zoe. “I’m going to get you out of here. Where do you live?”
“I live in Helena.”
“That’s a lovely place to live.” Jenna squatted by the door. “How long have you been here?”
“A long time, lots of weekends. I can’t remember how many.” Zoe wrapped filthy arms around her knees, flinching away.
Why does she measure time by the weekends? Jenna turned and did a visual search of the room. She noticed a pile of blankets on a shelf and pulled one down then passed it through the bars. “Here, wrap this around you. Deputy Kane is going to break the door and get you out.”
“Can I have a shower?” Zoe’s sunken eyes pleaded with her. “Amos didn’t let me wash. They never let me wash until they’re ready to leave.”
“They?” Jenna stared at her.
“Yes, Amos brought three of his friends here every weekend.” Her small body shuddered. “When he went out, he said he was bringing a friend home for me. He said her name was Fresh Meat.”
The girl’s measure of time slammed into Jenna like a steel pole. She stopped the overwhelming wave of disgust from reaching her expression. “Amos won’t be bothering you anymore, he’s dead.”
Kane’s footsteps sounded on the stairs and Zoe cringed, her eyes filled with terror. Jenna reached through the bars and took her hand. “It’s okay, Kane is my deputy and he’s here to help you, just like I am. We will catch the men who did this to you.” She took the bottle of water Kane handed her and gave it to the girl.
