Raven made a few notes but noticed Jo stood close by holding out her phone and recording the interview. “Have you ever worked near their homes or the places they frequented?”
“I’ve no idea where they live.” Jones scratched his stubble and shook his head. “Same goes with the places they frequented. I guess if they ever went to Aunt Betty’s Café or any of the stores in town I would have gone there as well. I don’t really know.”
“Where were you on Friday night?” Jo hadn’t brushed the glass from her hat and her mirror sunglasses reflected Jones’ image, making him appear grotesque. “Say around the hours eleven to one?”
“Here in bed.” Jones sighed. “It’s too cold to sit up late and I’m running out of wood for the fire.” He indicated to the smashed door. “At least I’ll be able to use the door for fuel.”
“What about Monday and Tuesday, early in the morning? Where exactly were you? Did you go to work?” Jo kept her attention on Jones.
“Yeah, I went to work.” Jones gave his head a little shake. “I went to the school early Monday. I worked there on Tuesday as well.”
Raven nodded. The records at the school already indicated that Jones had been there over that time. “Did you happen to go into Ellie McBride’s classroom?”
“Nope.” Jones gave them a bleak look. “I shoveled snow from walkways most of the morning on both days. On Tuesday morning when I’d finished, I had a job at the council offices. I had some time to spare, so I went to Stanton Forest and collected some wood for my fire. I didn’t have time to collect very much and I’ll need to go back and get some more. At thistime of the year most of the dead fallen trees have already been taken.”
“Just a couple of other things I need to ask you.” Jo looked at Raven from over her glasses and raised one eyebrow. “I’m familiar with your childhood. What was your relationship with your mother before she died?”
“Great.” Jones frowned. “I still miss her.”
“How did you feel about your father remarrying and then placing you in foster care?” Jo cleared her throat. “It would have been a very painful time for you.”
“At five years old, yeah, I guess so.” Jones kicked at the debris on the porch. Agitation rolled off him in waves. “Before that, my father used to beat me. He hated me. I told my teacher at school, but I ended up getting into trouble for that. When I spoke to a social worker, they did nothing to help me. It was a relief when they placed me in foster care. I hated my father and still do.”
“Do you blame the social workers and teachers for ignoring you?” Jo remained perfectly still.
“I blame my father.” Jones screwed up his face. “Look at you, trying to twist everything to make out I had an ax to grind with the woman that sent me to foster care.” He stared at Raven. “Arrest me or let me go into town so I can fix my door.” He looked at Jo. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“You don’t point a gun at someone unless you intend to kill them, Mr. Jones.” Jo stared at him. “I’ll need to write a report on the incident. Any charges are pending the amount of damage you caused to my face.”
Seeing the color drain from Jones’ face, Jo had made her point loud and clear. Arresting him could go two ways in Montana, often a small fine would be all he’d get for supposedly feeling threatened in his own home and the time and paperwork wouldn’t be worth the trouble. Figuring he had enough information,Raven nodded. “Okay, Mr. Jones. That’s all for today. Don’t leave town without notifying us.”
“Fine.” Jones shook his head slowly. “Can I go now?”
Raven nodded. “Yeah, but pull that shotgun on us again and you’re going to jail.” He stood and watched Jones go back inside.
His feet had frozen during the interview and he tried to stamp some life back into them. He looked at Jo. “You have glass in your face. I’ll need to treat you when we get back to the office.” He pulled off her hat and shook out the glass. “There, that’s better. Don’t touch your face.”
“I feel fine.” Jo climbed inside the truck and pulled down the mirror to peer at her reflection. “Oh, that’s not good. My cheeks are so cold I didn’t feel a thing.”
Raven rubbed Ben’s ears and then started the engine. He looked at Jo. “It will be fine. I’ll have you fixed up in no time. What do you think about Jones?”
“Like I said before, he fits the profile.” Jo fastened her seatbelt. “Add to that he gives in to streaks of violence. He knew darn well we were on the porch and yet he discharged his weapon with no thought or remorse for coming close to killing us. He has no witnesses to say he wasn’t near Laney Prescott’s house. He admitted being close by in the forest. He’s on the list.”
THIRTY
Listening intently to her deputies’ reports, Jenna sucked in a relieved breath when Rio announced that everything was fine. They’d reached the school by the time Raven came over the com to give her a brief rundown on what happened. “Okay, Raven, thanks for letting me know. We’ll definitely keep Jones on our suspects list. We’ve just arrived at the school and we’re heading inside to speak to the janitor. Get on back to the office and patch up Jo and then write up your report.” She tapped her com to close it and collected her things. She looked at Kane. “Maybe Jones is our man. The problem is not finding any prints at the crime scenes. We can’t haul him into the office and lock him up without evidence.”
“There have been many people convicted on circumstantial evidence. There are four possibles. All we can do is collect the evidence for the DA and let him decide.” Kane pushed his Stetson down lower on his head and slid out from behind the wheel. “Watch your step, Jenna. It’s very slippery. It seems that now the students are on vacation, the upkeep to the pathways is falling a little behind.” He held out his hand for her. “Take my hand.”
Jenna slid a few inches away from the Beast, and Kane gathered her up closer to his body. He just spread his feet and became stable. She clung to him. “Thanks.”
As the icy wind buffeted them all the way to the front door, Jenna looked at him. “I hope this guy is close by. The school is massive, finding him if he doesn’t want to be found will be difficult.”
“Maybe not.” Kane pushed open the front door and they stepped inside into blissful warm air. “They need to use their cards as they move around. We should be able to track him via the office.”
Jenna’s phone chimed. It was Maggie. “I’m just at the school now.”
“A call came in on the hotline. I have all the details here. The main thing is that a college student driving his younger brother to school noticed the janitor hanging around the teacher’s SUV over the week before she claimed to be abducted. He mentioned seeing him twice and figured it was unusual. The student knew Ellie McBride’s vehicle as he’d helped her carry some things to her vehicle previously.”
