“Yes, ma’am.” Rowley pulled out his phone and took a number of photographs moving slowly from one area to the other. “I’ve got them. Are you ready to move forward?”
“Yeah.” Kane nodded. “Stay alert, we don’t want to miss any evidence along the way.”
“Copy that.” Rowley continued along the walkway and used his card to swipe them into the maintenance area.
They walked past a few locked doors with signs on the outside giving various warnings until they came to the boiler room. The door stood wide open and the smell of death seepedinto the hallway on a wave of heated air. Jenna glanced at Kane, who had already pulled a mask and gloves from his pocket. She turned to the other deputies. “Rio, Rowley, clear the area. I’ll go inside with Kane. Raven, watch our backs but remain outside. We don’t want everyone inside contaminating the crime scene.”
After putting on a mask and pulling on examination gloves, Jenna waited for Kane to find the light switches. The boiler room burst into light, the overhead strip lighting buzzed and flashed for a few seconds. Jenna’s breath caught in her throat at the sight of Ellie McBride. She’d seen many people murdered during her time in Black Rock Falls and they’d all shocked her. There had been other strangulations, and although she’d seen stabbings and terrible mutilations, often the faces of the victims remained untouched and didn’t show the fear they’d suffered prior to their death. A victim of strangulation usually looked horrific. The faces of the victims often stayed with Jenna in a parade of terrifyingly gruesome images. Ellie McBride didn’t remotely resemble the woman that she’d met previously. A wave of remorse washed over her and she reached out and touched Kane’s arm. “I’ve let her down. This is my fault. I should have believed her.”
“You followed procedure and went through the evidence—or lack of it.” Kane’s arm slid around her shoulder and pulled her against him. “You did everything possible to keep her safe. The person to blame is the killer. The only thing you owe her is what we owe any victim of crime in our county, and that is to find out who did this.” He turned her to face him. “You’re the smartest woman I know. You’ll figure it out. You always do.”
Nodding, Jenna pulled her professional cloak around her, took out her flashlight, and circled the body. Evidence would be everywhere, she just needed to recognize it. The cord ends at the back of the neck told her that Ellie had suffered strangulation from behind, the same as Laney Prescott. The cord, the type purchased everywhere, had been made into a garrote, lefton the body, and tightened by using a small piece of wood, in this case a pencil broken in half and secured to each end. She glanced at Kane, who crouched beside the body examining the hands. She touched his shoulder. “The garrote is his signature.”
“Yeah. One good thing, she has fibers under her nails. She fought very hard.” Kane stood and walked slowly around the body. “I figure he attacked the other victim from behind as well. She didn’t get time to run or do anything.” He glanced around the boiler room. “Jesse Holland told us he’d checked out the boiler room to make sure no one was there. Someone was hiding in here where he couldn’t see them.” He scanned the room.
Jenna went to his side, unease creeping over her. “Maybe there’s a closet here somewhere where they keep tools.”
“Stay close. We’ll take a look.” Kane pulled his weapon and moved very slowly from furnace to furnace, checking along each wall. He led the way past an open purse, its contents scattered over the floor, and then walked along the wall at the back of the room. “There it is.”
Jenna’s attention moved to a yellow door with the red sign:keep out.staff only. She followed Kane to the door. “It needs a key to open it. If someone hid in there, they could only be one of the staff. Why didn’t Holland check the door?”
“Maybe he did.” Kane turned to look at her. “All doors can be opened from the inside to prevent people from getting trapped. The killer could have waited here for her to come into the room. He would have taken his chances that she’d be alone, or he made the call to get Holland out of the way. We’ll need to see his phone.”
The smell of oil and machinery seemed to hang in the heat, and from the rancid smell, it had accelerated the decomposition of the body. “What if they’re still hiding in there?”
“Doubtful, but we’ll check.” Kane went through his pockets and pulled out a set of lock picks and went to work. In seconds the door opened.
Pulling her weapon Jenna stood to one side of the door, as Kane opened it slowly and moved forward, leading with his M-18 pistol. A light flashed on, illuminating an almost empty room with boxes of tools lining the walls. “I guess the light has a sensor.”
“Yeah, it would be for cost cutting, as people tend to leave lights on. In a room like this, maybe someone wouldn’t go in there for days on end.” Kane closed the door and stepped to her side. “They often use sensor lights in government buildings, especially the bathrooms.”
Footsteps came down the hallway and Jenna heard Raven’s voice. Wolfe had arrived with his team. Keeping to the outside of the room, they headed for the door. Having Wolfe on scene had a calming effect on everyone and Jenna’s unease dropped down a level. Apart from Colt Webber, the medical examiner’s office had become a family affair, and this time he brought his wife, Norrell, along, as well as his daughter, Emily. Although Norrell specialized in forensic pathology, her interest in crime solving overlapped into what she called the fresh cases. She’d taken Wolfe’s name when they married, so asking for Dr. Wolfe at the medical examiner’s office often caused confusion. Jenna nodded as they came into the room. “This murder is a shock to me. I’d been sure she’d be safe.” She stared at Ellie’s twisted blue face and swallowed hard. “We’ve cleared the building. You should be safe to work in here but please watch your backs.”
“We’re all carrying and we’ll be just fine, Jenna. Did y’all record the scene?” Wolfe looked at them expectantly. “Raven mentioned that Rowley has taken photographs of the footprints they noticed between the buildings. They’ve searched everywhere and can’t find anything out of place.” He pulled off his woolen cap, displaying a shock of white-blond hair. “It’s hot in here. That’s sure gonna mess with the time of death.”
Shaking her head, Jenna met his gaze. “No, we’ve just arrived. We can start now.”
“No, it’s fine. Webber can do it.” Wolfe smiled at them, seemingly oblivious to the stink in the room. “We’ll record the scene and get this body out of the heat as soon as possible. Y’all go and interview your witnesses.”
“We have a rough idea of the time of death.” Kane moved to his friend’s side. “One of the maintenance men delivered her here and then went back to check on her sometime later. I’ll get the exact time from him and text it to you.”
“That will make my job a whole lot easier.” Wolfe turned to look at Emily. “We’ll need to get her hands bagged.”
“Not a problem.” Emily dug into the forensics kit Wolfe had placed on the floor for evidence bags to cover the victim’s hands.
“I’m concerned about her head and neck.” Norrell moved closer to the body. “I figure for the perp to get that close to kill someone, she would have been pressed up against him at one time and have fibers in her hair.” She glanced up at Wolfe. “Do you want me to cover her head?”
“Y’all don’t need me here at all, do you?” Wolfe grinned at her, snapped on examination gloves and turned his attention back to Jenna. “My team is working as smoothly as yours now.” He pulled on a face mask. “You can leave her with me now, Jenna. I’ll call you later, after I’ve done a preliminary examination.”
Knowing she’d left Ellie McBride in safe and caring hands, Jenna turned toward the door. “Thanks. We’ll catch you later.”
TWENTY-THREE
An overpowering sense of guilt hung over Jenna as she walked along the hallways back to the office. Ellie McBride had been her responsibility to keep safe and she’d let her down. She bit hard on her bottom lip and forced her mind to go through the list of procedures she needed to attend to. She needed to step up to the plate and make sure they caught the killer. By the time they had reached the office, she had jobs for her team already mapped out. She turned to Rio and Rowley. “I want you to take the principal to the media room and look over CCTV footage for the last twelve hours. Obtain a copy, if possible, and it will give you more time to check it out when we get back to the office.” She looked at Raven. “I want you to speak to the administrator. Her name is Ms. Bell. She issues passes to anyone coming into the building who isn’t part of the staff. Get a list of anyone, including students, who came to the office. I want to know about them. I also need a list of everyone who entered the building today. Everyone is logged in and out, so that shouldn’t be a problem. It could be a crucial piece of evidence, so make sure that you insist that she gives you the information. Explain that anyone inside the building is in danger after whathappened, which is in fact at least two breaches in their security system that we know about.”
As she led the way out of the main building and into the foyer, she glanced at Kane. “We’ll take Jesse Holland into one of the classrooms and interview him. As the last person to see Ellie alive, he becomes a suspect. Lean on him if need be. I want to know if he is involved in anyway whatsoever.”
“Wait up just a minute.” Kane placed his hand on her arm. “I’ve been thinking about the victims. Usually, serial killers have a type of woman they murder. They’re usually around the same age and have some distinctive feature about them, and yet the two victims are almost complete opposites. One with dark hair, one with blonde; one in her early thirties and the other mid-forties.” He met her gaze. “The only thing I can see that links them is children. They both work with children.”
