Once outside, she took a deep breath of fresh mountain air. The sudden cold burned her lungs, but she didn’t care. The smell of pine trees with a hint of woodsmoke drifted across the town. Staring into the distance, she stood for a minute to absorb the snow-covered rooftops and the chimneys with lines of gray smoke wafting up into sky. Reluctantly, she followed Kane to the truck. As they drove along Main, Jenna looked out of the window. The town changed dramatically over the seasons, the townsfolk enjoying all the festivities in the calendar. Twinkling lights on Christmas trees glittered through the windows, and this year the council had placed tubs with live trees in them covered in bright colored balls all along Main. Stores had joined the festivities, all façades flashed with Christmas lights and brightly colored glittering garlands. Outside Aunt Betty’s Café, a huge snowman had appeared overnight, complete with a redski hat, a carrot for a nose, coal for the eyes, and a set of vampire teeth for the smile. In the window hung a hugemerry christmassign.
Beside her, Kane’s stomach rumbled. It wasn’t lunchtime yet, but by now, he’d usually topped up his ferocious appetite with cookies and coffee or hot chocolate. She glanced over at Raven in the back seat. “When we’re done with social services, we will head to Aunt Betty’s Café and get some lunch. This cold weather really makes me hungry.”
“Me too.” Raven rubbed his middle. “Just the smell of the pie when we pass Aunt Betty’s makes my mouth water. I figure if they rented out rooms, I’d live there.” He grinned at her.
“Me too.” Kane chuckled and flicked a glance at Jenna. “I’m joking—okay?”
TWENTY-SIX
The temperature had dropped again as Kane led the way along the salt-covered walkway into the social services building. Although, it didn’t resemble a government building; it was more like a frosted gingerbread house. Snow eight inches deep sat on the rooftops and dagger-like icicles hung all around the gutters. He crunched through patches of ice before pushing his way through the front door and into a waiting area with a front counter with glass surrounds. The depressing foyer painted in magnolia offered no TV, magazines, or anything other than flyers about suicide and family problems. A few people sat in the waiting area. All held bleak expressions.
When they’d built the Her Broken Wings Foundation building, they’d made it like a family home: warm and inviting but with separate residences where people could have their privacy and dignity. The communal areas and kitchen were places to meet others, and more like a cozy home. They’d had enough land to expand and would be building another wing after the melt. Here, despair and resentment surrounded him. Kane ground his teeth. They needed to do more to help people in trouble. Raising money in their town had never been a problem.He’d speak to Jenna and they’d look into what else could be done. People deserved to be happy and most times they ended up here through no fault of their own.
A blast of warm air hit his face and he removed his gloves and pushed them into his pockets before unbuttoning his coat. Beside him, Jenna and Raven were doing the same. He followed Jenna to the front counter and waited as she asked the person in charge to direct them to her deputies. They were let inside and followed a woman to an office door with the namedirectorembossed on a metal plaque.
After the woman knocked on the door and announced them, a man he assumed was Christopher Paul stood from behind his desk and waved them inside. Kane offered his hand. “Deputy Dave Kane. I’m sure you know Sheriff Alton and this is Deputy Raven.”
“Yes, I spoke to Sheriff Alton on the phone.” An expression of concern crossed Paul’s face. “Is there a problem? The search warrant was very specific, saying that it needed names of anyone who had interacted with Laney Prescott during her time here. As it didn’t specify individual cases or the reasons that they needed to see her, we were able to locate the list of names without any difficulty. I supplied your deputies with the list of names and the dates that they attended.” He sighed. “I do understand the gravity of the situation. If there’s anything else I can do to help, please ask. As long as it is legal for me to do so, I will help you any way I can.”
“That’s very helpful.” Jenna stepped closer to his desk. “There are a couple of other things that we need to know, regarding Laney. We need the names of her workmates and any friends that you know she may have.”
Kane nodded. “Can you recall anyone in particular that she became friends with at work? We’re having difficulties finding out if she had any friends outside of work at all.”
“I’ve given your deputies a list of everyone who works hereand added a couple of notes for anyone that she seemed to chat with, but you must understand, as director, I don’t have the information you require. You may have better luck speaking to some of the other social workers.” He opened his hands wide. “I’m really sorry but there’s nothing much else I can tell you. Laney came to work, we had weekly meetings to discuss her clients, and that’s about it. We never discussed her personal life at all. I didn’t at any time see her meeting anyone at the door or anything like that. She never had any personal phone calls. It seems she divided her time between work and home.” He frowned. “It’s a quiet day today. If you have time, I’ll find out if my social workers will be able to speak to you.”
Kane nodded. “Yeah, that would be good. We can split up to save time. If that works for you?”
“Yes, of course.” Paul picked up the phone and made a few calls. “I have three counselors who worked closely with Laney who can see you now.”
“Thanks.” Jenna nodded to Paul. “Point us in the right direction.” She turned to Kane and Raven. “Record the meeting. It’s better than notes.”
Kane smiled. “Sure. We’ll meet back in the foyer.”
“If you go into the hallway, they’ll call you into their offices.” Paul stood. “I hope you find who killed Laney.”
“We’ll catch them.” Jenna led the way into the hallway.
A woman with dark hair tied at the nape and a huge orange sweater over tight black leggings stepped out and beckoned to Kane. “Deputy Kane, isn’t it? I’m Lucinda Bragg. It’s terrible about Laney. She was such a sweet person.” She waved him to a chair and closed the door before taking a seat behind the desk and looking at him expectantly.
Kane sat down in a low chair. It didn’t worry him, but he could see how it would to someone else. It made Ms. Bragg appear to loom above him in an almost intimidating way. “What is your area of expertise?”
“I usually have clients who are coping with a marriage breakup or placement of a child into foster care.” She leaned forward on the desk, resembling a huge pumpkin.
Nodding, Kane bit his tongue from commenting on the low chair and smiled. “I see. What clients did Laney usually work with?”
“Much the same as me.” She linked her hands on the table and adopted a pious expression. “Does this have anything to do with her murder? Are we all in danger?” She grasped her throat.
Kane leaned forward in the chair and clasped his hands between his knees. “At this time, we don’t know who may be in danger. Laney was the first victim in town, and we’ve had another since, but she has a different occupation to you, so the killer might be attacking random women.” He met her gaze. “Do you recall Laney having any problems with any particular clients? Not necessarily recent clients, maybe ones over the time she worked here?”
“In this profession, we all have problem clients, Deputy Kane.” She sighed and picked at her nails. “There are always two sides to a story, which means one side isn’t going to be happy. Sometimes, no matter what we do to try and solve a problem, no one is happy.”
After getting nowhere with this woman, Kane decided to change tack. “Do you know the names of her friends or acquaintances that she hung out with from time to time?”
“We went down to Aunt Betty’s for lunch a few times.” She gave him an inquiring stare. “Laney often went to lunch with different members of staff but I don’t believe they got together after work at all. Laney never mentioned any close friends or relatives to me. She did mention she’d first moved to Black Rock Falls after ending a relationship with a very controlling man. She needed to get as far away from him as possible. I’ve worked here around the same time as she has and he’s never shown up in town, so I couldn’t imagine it would be him. She did mentionhis name, ah—Don something. I’m sure if you contacted her next of kin, they would remember his name, but as I said, he’s never shown in town. In my experience men who are controlling like that would usually take to the hills once they realize their woman is gone for good.”
Shaking his head, Kane wondered where this woman had received her training. “I wish that were the case. Both men and women who use coercive control over their partners often hunt them down and murder them, but it’s usually within the first six months of them leaving. If they run into their ex-spouse or partner, they can become violent. They often stalk them over months, watching what they’re doing. They would do anything to break up a relationship. They have the attitude of,If I can’t have her or him, nobody else can.” He stood and towered over her. “If you could give me the names of anyone else that you know that Laney used to socialize with, I would appreciate it and then I can be out of your hair.” He took out his notebook opened it and handed it to her.
Kane waited for her to write down the details of the other members of staff. He took the notebook from her, folded it shut, and pushed it back inside his pocket. The interview had been a complete waste of time. No doubt, Jenna and Raven were interviewing the two people that Laney went to lunch with most times. If she had any friends outside of work, it wasn’t evident, and she hadn’t mentioned any names to Lucinda Bragg. Seemed to him that Laney had been lying low. The thought of running into her ex could have been playing on her mind. He nodded to Lucinda. “Thanks for your time. If you recall anything else, call my office.” He handed her a card and headed for the door.
