Jenna and Raven waited for him in the foyer. By their expressions, he didn’t have to ask if they’d discovered anything interesting. He followed them out of the door and turned to Jenna. “The only thing I discovered is that Lucinda Bragg had lunch occasionally with Laney and so did some of the others sheworked with in the office. She wasn’t able to give me any specific people who Laney had had trouble with over the years, actually saying that they all had trouble with people all the time.” He rubbed his chin. “Lucinda did mention Laney ran away from a controlling relationship with a man she believes is named Don. It’s a potential suspect we need to chase down. Maybe if we find any of her friends or relatives, they’ll know his last name and where this occurred. I’ll ask Kalo to look into it for us.”
“That’s the same info as Raven discovered. We were just talking about it before.” Jenna pulled on her gloves as she walked. “That’s a depressing place. I can’t imagine anyone walking out of there and feeling better. When I spoke to one of the counselors, I sat in a little chair and felt like a child looking up at the principal over the top of his desk.”
“Same.” Raven shrugged. “It seems like a form of intimidation to me. Maybe you should speak to the director about it. After visiting Her Broken Wings Foundation, the counselors you have there are very good.”
“That’s because they’re non-profit.” Jenna smiled at him. “Of course they liaise with the department counselors, but everyone that we employ has a stellar track record. Most work at the Black Rock Falls County Hospital and go to the foundation when required, but we do have a live-in counselor anyone can go to if they need help or assistance. We use the money from our fundraisers to ensure that everyone who steps inside our front door gets the best possible support. Unfortunately, not everyone comes through our doors. I can see from the poor souls waiting that there needs to be a shake-up in the system here. If I’d stayed there any longer, I would have been so depressed I wouldn’t have been able to shake off the black dog.”
Kane slid an arm around her shoulders. “Yeah, we need to do something. We can raise funds and we have people willing to give their time for free to help out.”
“I will.” Raven fell into step beside them. “Anything you need, just ask.”
“It’s a plan we can look at, over our downtime.” Jenna pulled open the door to the Beast. “Right now, we need to concentrate on finding suspects—but first we eat.”
TWENTY-SEVEN
It was a little after two by the time Jenna had finished her lunch and headed for the door. Susie, the manager, came out from behind the counter carrying a large box. Jenna raised an eyebrow as she handed it to Kane. “Did you order more food?”
“Nope.” Kane peered into the box. “There’s enough here to feed an army.”
“It’s the order from your office. Apparently the FBI is in town.” Susie looked from one to the other. “The instructions are to take it to the conference room, but as you’re here, I’m sure you can deliver it for me?”
Glad to know that the agents had arrived, Jenna smiled. “That’s fine, thank you. We’re headed there now.”
She opened the door for Kane as he stepped out into the snow. Behind her, Raven collected the bag of leftovers for the dogs. His dog, Ben, waited for them at the office. Jenna smiled and thanked Susie. Duke would know they’d been to Aunt Betty’s without him and would sulk if he didn’t get a snack. Carter’s Doberman, Zorro, ignored everyone, but Carter could tempt him to eat the odd sausage now and then. Bear, Styles’ Belgian Malinois, an overprotective K-9, guarded both Stylesand Beth with a passion, but he’d eat if directed by Styles. With all the dogs staying at the ranch, the boys would be thrilled.
The wonderful aroma of the food filled the Beast’s interior as they drove along Main. Outside, snowflakes fell in spirals, spinning away as they caught in the wind. The walls of snow from the snowplow had lost their white coating and resembled a gray wall made up of ice, sticks, and other debris. Jenna appreciated the beauty in a snowscape, but the aftermath became dirty piles of slush. Jenna sighed. More snow would be falling before long and she hoped they’d have the case sewn up before Christmas. She turned to Kane and Raven. “I hope the others have had more luck in finding suspects.”
“I figure if you release a media report and set up the hotline again, we might find a few witnesses.” Kane shrugged. “Someone out there might have seen something. The killer plans his kills. I figure he’s a stalker, so he’d be close by to the victims. People in town are more suspicious nowadays. It’s worth a try. Also, Rio’s brother and sister are back from college on vacation. They’ll be happy to man the phones. They love being involved.”
Rio’s twin siblings, Cade and Piper, had lived with Rio since his parents died. They’d become like part of the family. Jenna nodded. “Yeah, good idea. Right now, we’re getting nowhere.”
She climbed from the Beast in time to see Maggie returning with Duke and Ben. Both dogs shook themselves violently and Duke did a happy dance to see them. Jenna took Duke’s leash and pushed through the door behind Kane. Behind her, Raven entered with Ben stuck to his leg like glue. That dog didn’t like going anywhere without Raven and often howled like a wolf at the moon if left behind. Jenna smiled at Maggie. “Thanks for taking the dogs out.”
“I don’t mind two of them, but I don’t figure I’d managefour.” Maggie pulled off her thick coat. “The FBI agents will need to care for their own dogs.”
“I appreciate you taking Ben with you, Maggie.” Raven smiled warmly at her. “I’m glad he went with you. He can be sticky with some people.”
“He obeyed the signals you taught me and he needed to go outside.” Maggie chuckled. “It was me or a puddle on the floor and he chose me. I figure having Duke along helped.”
Jenna climbed the stairs, following Kane into the conference room. A cheer came from Carter as they arrived and Kane dropped the box of food on the table. Apparently, no one had stopped for lunch.
As everyone dove into the box for food. Jenna dropped into a chair and exchanged greetings with the agents. It was good to see Jo again. They’d been friends for a long time. Carter had become part of the family, and even Beth Katz and Styles seemed to be at home. Kalo sat at the end of the table, his concentration on his laptop, an unopened packet of sandwiches in one hand. She leaned back in her chair as everyone demolished the food. “Do you have anything for me?”
“Yeah, we do.” Kalo smiled at her over the top of his laptop. “Three possible suspects.”
“And we’ve planned out the takedown of the fentanyl distributor.” Carter hummed over a spoonful of chili. “It will be like taking candy from a baby.”
“Yeah.” Kane frowned. “But these babies carry MK-47s. It’s snowing and we’ll be spotted unless we’re very careful.”
Jenna held up a hand. “Suspects first.”
“Oh, you’re no fun at all, Jenna.” Carter tipped back his hat. “It’s the holidays. Where’s your ‘ho ho ho’ gone?”
Snorting, Jenna shook her head. “It will miraculously arrive when we’ve put these cases to bed. Now, what suspects?”
“Before we talk about suspects”—Jo waved a burger in one hand—“do you want to discuss theprofile?”
Glad to have Jo’s expertise as a behavioral analyst on the case, Jenna nodded. “Yeah, I would. Give me the rundown.”
