Gripping tight to each other, they made their way slowly to the truck driver and Kane climbed up to check him. Jenna kicked snow over the leaking gas. “Is he okay?”
“He has a few lacerations to his face where the windshield shattered but nothing serious. He has blankets in the back. He’s going to climb in there to keep warm. We can leave him and go and look around the other side.” Kane jumped down and slid over to her. “Whoa, it’s slippery.”
Gripping tight to Kane’s hand, she followed him around the back of the truck and her mouth fell open at the sight of thecarnage. One pickup trapped up to the windshield under the side of the eighteen-wheeler had been pushed forward by a number of trucks all smashed together. From the position of the vehicles, it appeared that most of them had tried to stop and ended up spinning out of control or sliding sideways into each other. Steam rose from the damaged vehicles and bits and pieces of metal stuck out from the snow across the road. With care, they picked their way through the damage, checking on the drivers of each vehicle. None of them were bleeding to death and most had superficial cuts on their face from flying glass and debris. The man in the pickup wedged under the eighteen-wheeler, possibly had broken legs. “We’re going to need more doctors. I’ll call Wolfe and Raven.” She made the call as she followed Kane.
Jenna stood to one side as Kane wedged open the door to the pickup. He found blankets and another coat on the back seat and wrapped them around the man. It was all they could do until the paramedics and fire trucks arrived to cut him out of the damaged vehicle. She turned at the sound of a man’s voice. “Please, stay in your vehicle.”
“I’m Dr. Villard, an orthopedic surgeon from Black Rock Falls County Hospital.” He smiled at her. “What can I do to help?”
Blowing out a sigh of relief, Jenna smiled at him. “We’re currently checking victims. We haven’t found anyone badly injured apart from this man so far. He’s trapped and maybe has broken legs. There’s not much we can do for him until a fire truck arrives. They’ll be able to cut him out.”
“I’ll take a look.” Dr. Villard held up his bag. “I have a few supplies with me. I might be able to relieve the poor man’s pain until we can get him to the hospital. Give me a wave if you find anyone else who needs urgent medical attention.” He frowned. “The cold is going to be the killer. Have you called the paramedics?”
“Yeah, first up.” Kane gave him a long stare. “We’ll leave you to it.” He headed off into the snow.
Shivering, Jenna followed. The bitter cold seeped into her clothes and she couldn’t feel her nose or cheeks. Concern for the pain Kane would soon suffer from the metal plate in his head was at the front of her mind. His debilitating headaches caused by the cold weather had never abated and although he bundled up, the pain would hit like a tornado. They’d been in the freezing temperatures too long. She needed to get him back into the truck. “Dave.” She grabbed his arm. “If your head starts to ache, you’ll be no good to anyone. I can handle the rest. Go and get warm.”
“Right now, I’m okay, so keep going.” Sunglasses masked Kane’s expression. He’d pulled up the collar of his coat to his ears. “Move as fast as possible. There are only a few we haven’t checked and help will be here soon.”
Nodding and pulling her scarf up like a mask, Jenna followed him, his hand wrapped tightly around hers, strong and dependable as always. They checked three more wrecks and found no serious injuries but some of the vehicles were totaled and the occupants were in shock. She straightened from cleaning up a man with a cut on his cheek and pulled examination gloves from her freezing fingers. As she dragged on her thick leather gloves, she peered into the blizzard. Blue and red lights flashed and the wail of sirens increased. “Oh, thank goodness, the cavalry is on its way.”
SEVENTEEN
It had taken over five hours to push the eighteen-wheeler to the side of the highway and clear the wrecked vehicles. The road sprayers were out in force, covering the blacktop with the pink ice retardant. Jenna had called out fire trucks and paramedics from Louan and Blackwater to deal with the people trapped inside vehicles and their injuries. It had been such a relief when Wolfe and Norrell arrived along with Raven and Emily in the same vehicle. Having four extra medical doctors on scene was a godsend. They had the injured triaged and off to the hospital in record time. None of the vehicles involved in the wreck were drivable and tow trucks arrived en masse to spirit them away to local garages. Jenna had made sure she had the information of each vehicle along with the damage sustained in the collision. There would be a chunk of paperwork to do to make sure the reports were ready for the insurance claims. The moment she got back to the office she would hand everything over to Maggie, and if necessary, she’d call someone else in to give her a hand. With two cases running parallel to each other, she didn’t have time to personally do the amount of paperwork necessary.
With feet like blocks of ice, Jenna led the way into AuntBetty’s Café. At the back of the room Wolfe and Kane pushed three tables together and everyone sat around them. It had been a long and freezing morning and everyone needed a hot meal. They all devoured plates of pumpkin soup with a dollop of sour cream in the middle and then ordered a variety of dishes, from chili to hamburgers, and of course, wedges of Aunt Betty’s famous pies. They used the coffee cups as hand warmers while they waited for the meals to arrive. Jenna looked at Wolfe. “I’m sorry we missed the autopsy.”
“You didn’t miss anything.” Wolfe sipped his coffee and sighed. “We left the moment Maggie called. Raven happened to be close by delivering a protection dog and was able to get to us within five minutes of being notified.” He grimaced. “The way the weather is at the moment, that won’t be the last multiple pileup we’ll see this winter. I figure the snowplow drivers are doing their best but they are running twenty-four-hour shifts now.”
“Have you identified the victim?” Raven leaned forward in his chair.
“Yeah, we did.” Wolfe smiled at Wendy as she placed another large bowl of pumpkin soup in front of him along with a plate of hot biscuits. “It’s the social worker Laney Prescott, as we assumed. Kalo called me early this morning as her prints were on file. She hasn’t any priors; her prints were taken during a court case some time ago for elimination purposes.” He waited for Wendy to head back to the kitchen for more food and looked at Jenna. “Something really strange showed when we ran the prints on the lipstick.” His eyebrows raised. “The fingerprints on the lipstick used to write the message match the woman allegedly kidnapped. We got a match for Ellie McBride.”
Everyone around the table fell silent and stared at Wolfe. Jenna put down her spoon and stared at him. “Oh, now that’s really weird. What about the handwriting?”
“It’s close and could have easily been written by her but wedon’t have conclusive evidence that she wrote the note on the whiteboard.” Wolfe took a few spoonfuls of soup and met Jenna’s gaze. “I’ve seen men shoot their toes off to get out of combat, so I don’t find it unusual if Ellie McBride decided to hit herself in the head with a car jack, for whatever reason.”
“My main concern about this”—Kane looked from Wolfe to Jenna and back—“is how she managed to get from the convenience store parking lot to the roadhouse at night in winter. I’ve watched the CCTV cameras, and no other vehicles came by to give her a ride.”
Mind racing with possible scenarios, Jenna leaned back in her chair and blew out a long breath. “Unless she walked to the highway and met her accomplice there. Now we find her prints on the lipstick used to write the message. What proof have we that a man killed Laney? I’m finding it difficult to believe that she’s not involved. The only thing I don’t have is a motive.”
“No one can just slip out of the Her Broken Wing residences without using their card, right?” Rio pushed his empty bowl away and then folded his hands on the table. “So, one call to Father Derry and you’ll have the information you need. If she left the residences, which I doubt—I mean, that would be darn-right stupid when she has someone hunting her down—then you’ll know if she was around to murder Laney.”
“Where she’s staying isn’t a prison is it?” Raven poured coffee into his cup from one of the pots on the table. “Its purpose is to keep people out. I’d say getting out without a card would be easy enough. There are windows low enough to climb out of and it doesn’t take a genius to switch off the alarm, do the deed, and then get back inside.”
“Again, how did she get to Laney’s house, kill her, and get back home again?” Kane dabbed at his mouth with a napkin. “Her SUV is locked in the garage at the morgue awaiting forensic examination. She has no transport. Father Derry is driving her back and forth to work.”
Every point made sense and Jenna allowed the comments to percolate through her mind as three servers arrived with the main meals. Her burger and fries looked delicious and smelled wonderful. She glanced at Kane. His section of the table surrounded him with a huge plate of barbecue ribs with all the trimmings, including corn, coleslaw, and mashed potatoes. All the men had the same meal; Norrell and Emily had chosen pulled pork bread rolls with coleslaw. Everyone had huge appetites in the cold weather. After swallowing her first delicious bite, she looked at Kane. “All that makes sense, if she worked alone. What if she has an accomplice?” Jenna took a sip of her coffee. “Maybe someone working at the school?”
“Why would she point a finger at herself by pretending to be kidnapped?” Rowley licked his fingers and then grabbed another rib from his plate. “After murdering someone, maybe, but before doesn’t make much sense, does it?”
Unconvinced, Jenna conceded and sighed. “We’ll follow up with Father Derry and search for any connections between her and Laney. If there’s nothing, we need to find possible suspects. It’s close to Christmas. I don’t want any more nasty surprises.” She looked at Wolfe. “What time will you be rescheduling the autopsy?”
“Same time tomorrow.” Wolfe stared out of the window. “The snow isn’t giving up anytime soon. If you have a problem getting to me, I’ll do a video call. The time of death hasn’t changed. Because of the low temperature inside the house, it’s difficult to pin down. The cause of death is evident, but I won’t sign off on it until I have completed the autopsy. If you want to skip it, I can also just send you my report. Right now, finding her next of kin is a priority before someone slips her name to the media. It’s not fair discovering that someone murdered a loved one on the six o’clock news.”
Jenna nodded. “Yeah, don’t worry, we’ll get right on it.” Shesmiled at him. “Now, no more shop talk. It’s been a horrific day and everyone needs a little time to gather themselves.”
“Amen to that.” Wolfe blew out a long sigh. “I need to switch off for a time.”
