Runs Deeper

by R. D. Brady

  She placed the mug aside and then looked between the two men. “We believe Jack Kane is no longer being held by the New York Department of Corrections.”

  Gomez stared at her, trying to process what she’d just said. Had he been moved to the federal system? The feds had been making some noise when Kane had accepted the plea deal. But he hadn’t heard anything about them moving forward.

  “What are you talking about?” Sullivan asked.

  Nevaeh sighed, settling back into her chair. “It’s been a long forty-eight hours.” She then laid out what had happened with the murders and what they suspected had happened with Jack. Gomez stared at her in increasing confusion. How could these people actually think that Jack Kane had somehow escaped a supermax? It was a supermax. By definition, the prisoners were locked down almost twenty-four hours a day. In some cases they were lock downed twenty-four hours a day.

  When the chief finished speaking, Sullivan shook his head. “I’m sorry, Chief, I just don’t see how that’s possible. You can’t just break out of a supermax.”

  “We don’t believe he ever got to Southport. He had one of his followers replace him at Auburn. That follower went to Southport. We’ve confirmed that the inmate they have identified as Jack Kane in Southport is not Jack Kane but an inmate named Michael Foster. Auburn, unfortunately, is not cooperating with our efforts, and we have been unable to reach Foster’s parole officer. But the bottom line is, we believe that Jack Kane is now free.”

  Gomez stared at the chief like she’d just sprouted a second head. He wasn’t sure if she was clutching at straws to try to keep Steve Kane from being a suspect or if she was just prone to fits of imagination. Either way, the story was ridiculous. “Chief, we know Steve Kane is a friend of yours. However, this story—”

  Nevaeh’s eyes narrowed to slits, and her voice took on a hard edge. “Do not come into my town, into my office, and accuse me of manufacturing stories. I have followed the evidence. Steve Kane has never been violent in his life. His brother is a multiple murderer. And he is out. So you tell me, Detective, who’s the most likely killer in this scenario? The man who spent ten years locked up while his brother went on a multistate killing spree or the guy who’s been trying to put his life back together and leave the train wrecks that his brother caused for him behind?”

  Gomez shook his head. “Chief, I don’t think you understand exactly the kind of man Steve Kane is.”

  Nevaeh stood, leaning forward. “And you’re going to tell me? Tell me, Detective, how many hours have you spent with Steve Kane? Do you know anything about the man besides the fact that he is related to Jack Kane? Don’t you come into my office and tell me that I am supposed to accept your version of the situation as truth versus my own. You know nothing. Now, I think we’re done here.”

  Sullivan raised his hands. “Chief, I apologize for my partner’s remarks. He is very invested in this case. It does seem, however, that you could use some help.”

  Nevaeh cut him a glare that Gomez could practically see in the air. Sullivan winced slightly. “I’m just suggesting that perhaps we could speak with some people who we know at Auburn and get some files sent over. Perhaps help move things along. And, of course, we would help go through the files to verify that Jack Kane did in fact escape. That would be in the interests of New York State.”

  Nevaeh retook her seat. She took a deep breath. “That would be very helpful. Thank you.”

  Sullivan stood. “I’ll go make the call now, and I’ll let you know as soon as we have anything.” He tugged on Gomez’s jacket, and Gomez reluctantly stood up. He wanted to know more about the two murders. He’d seen the files, but he wanted to hear what the chief’s thoughts were, and if possible, he wanted to walk through the scenes. But yet again, he was pretty sure he’d botched this meeting. And the chief wasn’t going to be helping him with anything anytime soon.

  He followed Sullivan back through the small bullpen. Only two desks for detectives. Not even detectives, officers. Gomez had grown up in Albany. He didn’t understand these small little towns. They gave him the willies. He felt right at home in a crowded city, but in a small, spread-out town, it felt like something out of a horror movie. And right now this little town was definitely something out of a horror movie.

  Cold air slapped him in the face, stirring him from his thoughts as Sullivan headed outside. Gomez ducked his head, following Sullivan to the car. Sullivan ran an arm over the windshield, displacing the snow on the driver’s side that had accumulated while they were talking to the chief. Gomez did the same on his side. As soon as they got in, Sullivan turned on the engine and threw on the windshield wipers, but he left the car in park. He turned to Gomez. “So, you were not helpful.”

  “Yeah, sorry about that.”

  “Look, it’s possible that Steve Kane is snowing all of these people.” Sullivan nodded toward the windshield, where flakes were accumulating almost as fast as the windshield wipers could remove them. “No pun intended. But we’re on their turf. We need to go along with the program until we have something concrete. Right now, we have a couple of hairs that are linked to Steve Kane. But they could also be linked to Jack Kane.”

  “You don’t actually believe that Jack Kane is out, do you?”

  Sullivan placed his hands on the steering wheel, staring out the windshield. “God, I hope not.”

  The front doors of the police station flew open. Nevaeh hustled out and headed for her cruiser. She barely gave the car time to warm up before she pulled away. Gomez frowned.

  Now where are you going in such a hurry, Chief?

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  Steve and Reggie waited for Nevaeh in Reggie’s Hummer. It was warmer, and besides, neither of them felt right about staying in the house with Mrs. Tilden upstairs. Both were silent after the initial call to Nevaeh. Even without the call on speakerphone, Steve could hear Nevaeh’s explosive reaction.

  Nevaeh arrived ten minutes later and pulled in behind them.

  The two of them stepped out of the car as Nevaeh stepped out of hers. She walked up to the two of them. “Before either of you say anything, this is going to be recorded. Every step is going to be recorded, do you understand?”

  Both men nodded. Nevaeh clipped the body cam to her uniform. “Tell me how you guys ended up here.”

  Reggie quickly recounted how he’d become concerned about Rory after calling the school and that they decided to check the house to be sure. Then he explained about finding Mrs. Tilden upstairs.

  “You’re sure she’s dead?” Nevaeh asked.

  Reggie nodded. “I think she’s frozen solid. The windows were left open in her bedroom and in Rory’s.”

  A Tesla pulled in behind Nevaeh’s Jeep. Steve’s heart clutched at the sight of it. Declan caught Steve’s gaze as he joined them. He put up a hand. “Bess is with Julie and Russ. And there are two deputies at the firehouse.”

  Steve let out a small nod before Nevaeh gave Declan the rundown on what they knew, which wasn’t much.

  Declan shook his head as he stared at the house. “That’s not good.”

  “I’m going to go do a walk through the house and record everything.” She looked at Declan. “Once I’m done, can you take care of the body?”

  Declan nodded. “I brought the gear.”

  Straightening her shoulders, Nevaeh headed for the house after only a brief hesitation.

  “Any idea how long she’s been dead?” Declan asked quietly.

  Reggie shrugged. “Not a clue. But Rory was living here until about four weeks ago. He was supposed to take her to her sister’s while he went to school. But his bag was still here, so I don’t know.”

  “Any sign of Rory?” Declan asked.

  Steve shook his head. “No.”

  No one spoke as they waited for Nevaeh to return, but they were all thinking the same thing: Rory was another one of Jack’s victims. Probably the first.

  Chapter Fifty

  Nevaeh felt the beginnings of a headache buildin
g between her eyes. They’d had to take the bedsheets with Genevieve Tilden. She’d been frozen to them. There was no way to get them off of her without breaking something. Nevaeh had never seen someone frozen solid before.

  She hoped to never see it again.

  She, Steve, Reggie, and Declan had carefully carried her out of the house and into the waiting sheriff’s van that Chris had driven over. Declan couldn’t even do much of a preliminary analysis until she’d thawed a little. And right now, Genevieve would be third in line behind Laura and Minnie. She’d go into the refrigerator at the funeral home with the other two.

  God, I’m stockpiling bodies now.

  It was beyond disturbing. Her quiet little town had gone to hell in the last few days. She’d hoped at first that maybe they had a copycat, someone who had somehow recognized Julie and left a little note as some sick prank. But Jack Kane going AWOL from the supermax put a serious crimp in that theory.

  Now with the Tildens added in, she didn’t know what to think. No one had seen or spoken with Rory in a month. Which meant if he and his mom were Jack’s first victims, then Jack had been skulking around Dover that whole time, which meant he’d been planning, and Nevaeh was just trying to catch up.

  Still, there was always the chance that this death was unconnected. From first glance, Declan said there was nothing that stood out as a cause of death. No gunshot wounds, no stab wounds, no obvious injuries.

  Genevieve’s clothes had been frozen to her as well, so there was no way to check if the nightgown she wore was hiding something. But she did have a host of medical problems, so it was possible she had died of natural causes. Although where Rory had disappeared to was anyone’s guess.

  Nevaeh had never met Genevieve Tilden. Rory had been the one who took care of her and had done all the interactions in town. There’d been no calls to the house, but she’d checked her record once they’d moved her body to the van. Genevieve had had a string of drunk and disorderlies and DUIs until she’d lost her license. That had been seven years ago, around the time she’d been diagnosed with MS. After that, there’d been no legal record of her. Rory had taken over at that point, even though he’d only been fourteen.

  And now none of them knew where Rory was. He hadn’t arrived at school. Nevaeh had had her deputies double-check with the school, but as Reggie said, they hadn’t heard from him at all. Campus police had spoken with his friends, but none of them had heard from him in the last month either. When Nevaeh got back to the office, she’d check and see if any of his electronic communications had been used in the last four weeks, but she wasn’t holding her breath.

  She looked back at the house, a chill falling over her that had nothing to do with the temperature. She was pretty sure that whoever had killed Miss Minnie and Laura had started here. Why they had waited four weeks to kill again was beyond her. But it stretched the imagination too much to think that there were two killers at work in Dover.

  Reggie and Steve had left after they’d helped get the body into the car. She knew Reggie was worried about her. He’d given her that look, the look that said, I’m here if you need me. And later, she probably would. But right now she had a job to do.

  She unrolled the crime scene tape over the front door. She had a deputy coming by later with a locksmith to lock up the house. For now they were just going to have to leave it unlocked. She wanted to post a guard, but with the storm, they were running around checking on people and pulling people out of snowdrifts. She didn’t have the manpower to sit someone on the house for an extended period of time. And at this point, it was still possible she’d died of natural causes and Rory had run off.

  Although even as she thought it, her mind rejected the idea. She knew whatever had happened here was connected to the other two deaths. She just didn’t know how.

  She reached the end of the porch as a dark-gray sedan pulled up behind her police vehicle. She groaned out loud, knowing they wouldn’t be able to hear her, but she wasn’t sure she cared if they did. Detectives Gomez and Sullivan stepped out of the car, both bundled up against the cold.

  She gritted her teeth and headed toward her car. Detective Sullivan stood waiting by her driver’s door. “Heard you had a little bit of trouble, Chief. Thought we could offer our help.”

  “And how exactly did you hear that?”

  Sullivan shrugged, giving her a smile. “One of the joys of a small town.”

  “Well, we’re all good here. Sorry you wasted a trip.”

  Nevaeh reach for her door, and the detective shifted out of the way. She sat on the driver’s seat and started the engine, needing some of the warmth. She placed her hands by the vent, even though she knew there’d be no hot air coming out anytime soon.

  “So do you think you have foul play here?” Sullivan asked.

  Nevaeh shrugged. “The deceased has a long, difficult medical history. We can’t rule out foul play, but the odds are greater that it was a natural death.”

  It wasn’t exactly a lie. Genevieve Tilden’s history of medical problems was legendary, exacerbated by her alcohol abuse.

  Of course, that didn’t explain Rory’s absence.

  “Well, that is a shame. It seems it was a good thing that Mr. Tully and Mr. Kane decided to swing by for a visit.” Sullivan hesitated. “Why exactly did they swing by for a visit?”

  Oh, I do not have the patience for this bullshit right now. She slit a glare at him. “Detective Sullivan, I cannot bar you from this town, but I can bar you from my investigations. You are not part of this. I don’t have to tell you anything. Now back away.” She pulled on the door, just missing hitting the detective with it.

  The detective stood outside the door for a minute before walking back to his car. Gomez joined him. The two of them sat there, not pulling away.

  The headache that had started to manifest was now in full force. She reached for the aspirin in the console between the seats and popped two pills. She grabbed her coffee to take a swig, but it was frozen solid. God damn it. She swallowed the pills dry. They scratched her throat as they went down.

  She cursed the detectives, even though she knew it wasn’t their fault, but right now she didn’t feel like being reasonable. Right now she had three dead bodies, one missing person, and potentially one serial killer on the loose in her town.

  She was allowed to be a little ticked off.

  Chapter Fifty-One

  Last night, Russ and Declan had come over for dinner and had helped keep the mood light. They had agreed to keep the discoveries at the Tilden house between themselves and not tell Julie. Steve would tell her eventually, but she was already so worried about Bess’s safety that he couldn’t add more worry on top of it.

  Russ and Declan had left with Julie and Bess to go to the firehouse. Steve would swing by later and pick up Bess. Now, Steve pulled slowly out of his driveway. The streets had been plowed, but there were still about two inches of packed snow covering it. The sides of the street were lined with five-foot snowdrifts. It made the town almost unrecognizable. But at least it looked like the sun was trying to wrestle out from behind the clouds.

  Steve swallowed a yawn as he pulled onto Main Street. Once again, Steve had had a restless night, his imagination working overtime. He kept picturing Rory’s mom frozen to her sheets. He imagined she would have smashed to a million pieces if they had dropped her when carrying her down the stairs. He prayed she’d been dead long before the cold had taken root.

  The news about the Tildens hadn’t circulated to the town—that was one thing to thank the snow for—but Steve knew it was only a matter of time. He wasn’t sure how far the word about the murders had gone. They hadn’t been in any of the news coverage he’d seen. It was as if the snow provided a muting effect of the horror. Or maybe it was just that the snow kept people inside their homes, unable to group together and raise fears to a fever pitch.

  But that was probably going to change soon.

  The storm was finally over, and people were beginning to dig thems
elves out. Life was going back to normal, for the most part. But Steve wasn’t able to move on quite as quickly. That message for Julie scared him to the bone. And he kept having these waking nightmares, imagining Julie and Bess walking in on the killer. That combined with the images of Genevieve Tilden and his worries for Rory had him jumping at shadows.

  Another yawn threatened to swallow him whole. He grabbed his coffee from between the seats and took a long drink. Even before yesterday, neither he nor Julie had been sleeping well. Julie kept her weapon on her at all times. After the find at the Tilden house, Reggie had insisted Steve take his shotgun. Steve wanted to say no. He didn’t like being around guns, but then he thought of Bess’s face. Last night, he’d kept it under the bed. Today, it was in the hall closet.

  Steve was grateful for the support everybody had shown them. Despite the storm, food had shown up at the house in an unending stream. They now had a freezer stocked with meals.

  The detectives from Albany were back in town and talking to more people about him. Luckily the snow was hampering their efforts. That and Dover’s well-earned reputation of keeping to themselves.

  But he had a feeling that those detectives were going to make sure that people knew exactly who he was. Steve had no illusions that Gomez was going to look at him fairly. Sullivan had a reputation as a good cop, so there was a chance he might try to rein in his partner. But he’d been Gomez’s partner for years, so who knew what he would do when push came to shove?

  Despite yesterday’s events, though, life went on. Today he needed to go tidy up Laura’s apartment. Her kids, Shayna and Todd, were coming into town in two days’ time, and someone needed to go through the fridge and the garbage. Steve didn’t want Laura’s family walking into that. They had enough to deal with. Plus, he’d brought some of the meals people had prepared for his family to leave in Laura’s freezer.