“I don’t recall being in the teachers’ parking lot. You’re mistaken.” Agitated, Dorsey gripped his hands together tightly on the table in front of him. His eyes flashed with unmistakable anger. “Someone is telling lies about me. Who said that?”
Ignoring his outburst, Jenna leaned back in her chair. The hairs on the back of her neck prickled in warning. The man’s sudden change of demeanor concerned her. He went from placid to aggressive in a split second and she’d seen the change in his eyes before in mentally disturbed people. “Can youconfirm your whereabouts between the hours of eleven and one on Friday evening?”
“I was at home.” Dorsey shook his head slowly. “Before you ask, no, I had no one there to verify that.”
“What about Monday and Tuesday mornings?” Kane cleared his throat. “I can see on both these days you didn’t arrive until eight. Yet some days you arrive at the school at seven. Is there any reason for the varied start times?”
“I don’t recall what time I got to work on Monday and Tuesday mornings.” Dorsey picked at his short dirty fingernails. “My shift is variable as I’m often needed to fix things early in the morning and sometimes needed to come back here late in the evening, after everyone has gone home. Sometimes clubs use the classrooms and they need to be cleaned, which means I need to be here at nine at night sometimes. It is part of the job. I don’t mind because I have no one waiting for me at home and I’d rather keep busy.”
The shift in the man’s demeanor had changed again in seconds. Seeing this and knowing that this unstable man worked at a school sent shivers down Jenna’s spine. “Do you know a woman by the name of Laney Prescott?”
“I don’t know her personally, but I do know she has visited the school from time to time because I needed to have a room ready for her to interview students at one time.” Dorsey opened his hands wide. “I also know she was murdered because it’s been all over the news. Are you going to blame me for her murder as well? I figure next time we speak I want a lawyer present.”
Unable to continue with the questioning, Jenna stood. “Very well, that’s all for now, Mr. Dorsey. Thank you for your time.”
Jenna waited until they’d moved through two doors and headed along the hallway back to the office, beforeshe turned to Kane. “That guy scares the hell out of me. I want to know why he’s working close to children. If he is not involved in these murders, he needs to be investigated. It seems that right now we have two viable suspects on our list.”
THIRTY-ONE
As Jenna picked her way through the snow and back to the Beast, exhaustion dragged at her. Cold crept through every crevice in her clothes and her numb fingers ached. She didn’t ask Kane but could see by his frown that his head throbbed due to the steel plate. The cold played havoc with him and they’d been out for a long time. The day dragged on and on, and as she fully intended to go with Kane to the drug distribution takedown, it would be very late before they made it home. She checked her watch. “We can swing by and see if we can catch Dr. Lionel Graves. He is not a priority and we need to make sure we have time for everyone to get a decent meal and warm up before we head out to the BW Ranch.”
“We?” Kane started the engine and turned to look at her. “I figured you’d be staying at the office and going over the files from the interviews. You didn’t say you wanted to be there. Are you sure you want to go out for hours in the freezing cold, waiting for a delivery truck to arrive—or not?”
Jenna entered Graves’ address into the GPS and then sat back in her seat and shook her head. “I know you’d like to run these types of things like a military mission and I’m happy foryou to take the lead. This is what you do best and I’m sure you, Carter, and Styles have everything planned right down to the last second, but I’m the sheriff and this is my county, which makes me responsible for any missions going down. Why don’t you bring me up to date with the plans you have? I’m happy to slip in anywhere you might need me.”
“We have everything covered.” Kane raised both eyebrows and then stared at her for a long moment. “We’re parking Wolfe’s van along the fire road in the forest opposite the ranch. I’ll have Kalo positioned there. He will be flying a drone overhead to monitor the arrival of the delivery truck and to give us a heads-up of any potential problems ahead of time. Wolfe is fitting out the van with monitors so he can keep an eye on our bodycam footage during the raid. I would really appreciate your help as backup for Kalo as we’ll be all out in the field, and honestly, I have no idea what to expect after someone shot at Raven when he collected data from the trail cams.”
Clearly Kane had not wanted to include her in the raid. Deep down inside she understood his reasoning. He cared deeply for her and wouldn’t put her in danger, but she had a dangerous job and being sheriff carried a responsibility she refused to ignore. “We’re not sure if one of Withers’ men shot at Raven.” She sighed. “Two stray bullets are common at this time of the year, and he was wearing camouflage. I don’t believe anyone from the ranch spotted him up a tree in the forest, but I also don’t want to leave Kalo at risk. I would never forgive myself if anything happened to that young man.”
“That’s settled then.” Kane’s relieved expression spoke volumes. He checked his watch. “I figure we have half an hour to speak to Graves and get back to the office. I would say everyone is freezing by now and we’ll all need time to recharge before we head out.” He turned the Beast around and headed back to town.
Before Jenna could reply, Rio’s voice came through her earpiece. “Copy. What’s the problem?”
“We’ve been chasing all over town after Ethan Rourke. We just missed him at the Cattleman’s Hotel, then at a computer supply place in town. I figure he’s collecting items he needs for his job. The manager at the Cattleman’s Hotel informed me that he’s usually there before eight each morning and works late, so we could catch up with him then. As time is getting short, do you want us to keep on searching for him now or head back to the office?”
Three interviews were better than none and Rourke could wait for the morning. “I figure you should call it a day and meet at Aunt Betty’s Café. If you could contact the others for me, we’ll be along as soon as we’ve interviewed Graves. Can you ask Carter to take Duke with him?”
“Yeah, not a problem.”
Ten minutes later they bumped along a dirt road that led to Dr. Graves’ rundown house. Weeds had long ago taken over the garden alongside the house, leaving dead sticks protruding through the snow. Jenna surveyed the front of the house, surprised to see dead vegetation sticking out of the gutters. From what she could see of the house, the paint on the front door had peeled, leaving the bare wood to the elements. An old porch swing hung by one chain and the rest of it trailed on the floor. Animals had gotten into the cushion and torn it up. She eyed the floor of the front porch with concern. People that left their property in disrepair created a death trap for anyone visiting. She touched Kane’s arm. “That doesn’t look very safe. The floorboards could be rotten.”
“You stand to one side and I’ll go and knock on the door.” He grimaced. “We don’t want another incident like what happened to Raven and Jo.”
Jenna noticed a twitch of a curtain at the front window. “They know we’re here and I’m sure they can read the wordssheriff’s departmentall across the front of our windbreakers.”
The sound of footsteps running came clearly from inside the house, echoing as if the place were empty. She glanced at Kane as he crept up the front steps. “Be careful, someone is running toward us.”
“I don’t think so.” Kane jumped down from the front porch and took off around the side of the house.
Tearing after him, Jenna lifted her knees to get through the thick snow alongside the house. Pain hit her lungs as she rushed forward, sucking in the freezing air. She struggled through deep snowdrifts as Kane sprinted toward the forest. As they reached the perimeter, Kane stopped and looked back at her, enclosed in a cloud of steam. “We’re assuming that’s Dr. Graves. What if it isn’t? He might be back there in need of medical assistance. The idiot that ran away will be easy enough to follow if there is a problem, as he’s left his footprints in the snow. I figure we should go back.” He gave her a long look. “If it’s Graves and he has something to hide, he’s on foot and won’t get far. When we leave, he’ll come back. I’ll stick a tracker on his truck, and if needs be, we can pick him up later.”
Nodding, Jenna walked beside him treading in her own footprints. As they reached the back of the house, the door stood wide open and in the short while they had been away snow had formed a wet puddle inside the door. They pulled their weapons and Kane went high and she went low as they moved slowly inside the house. Heart pounding, she edged forward. “Sheriff’s department. Dr. Graves, are you in there? Call out.”
Keeping her back to the wall, Jenna moved slowly along the hallway checking each room as they went. The house seemed more like a cabin with two bedrooms, a family room, and kitchen all on one floor. As they reached what Jenna imagined to be the third bedroom, Kane held up his hand. Gripping the handle of her weapon, she waited in the hallway, as keepinglow, he in moved inside. Moments later, his head came around the door and he beckoned her toward him. “Did you find him?”
“Nope.” A nerve in Kane’s cheek twitched and anger flashed in his eyes. “I figure Dr. Graves has a ton of things to answer to.” He indicated to a computer screen alive on the desk. “Child porn.”
Sickened by the site, but knowing they couldn’t touch anything or the evidence would be inadmissible in court, she pulled out her phone and called the judge. Luckily, he’d finished court for the day and his secretary put her through to his office. “We came to interview Dr. Lionel Graves regarding the deaths of Ellie McBride and Laney Prescott. When we arrived, we heard someone inside the house. I called out but they ran out the back door. We gave chase but lost them in the forest. Concerned for Graves’ wellbeing, we went back to the house to find the back door open and entered to do a welfare check. We didn’t find him inside the house and when we went into his office, the computer displayed child porn. I need to arrest this guy and can’t leave this evidence. I would like to request an immediate search warrant for the premises.”
