“Maybe one of the women in the group is a serial killer?” Carter tossed a toothpick into his mouth and chewed. “They all appear to be scared of their own shadows, but you know as well as I do how a psychopath can hide in plain sight, right? Which one of them moves through the group and is friends with everyone?”
“None of them.” Jenna frowned. “As far as I’m aware. Maybe their social media will tell another story.”
Kane lifted the laptop from the table, pushed it into a large evidence bag, and labeled it. “As luck would have it, she’s written the password on the laptop in marker pen. I don’t figure we’ll need Kalo to break into it for us.” He glanced at Jenna. “Ready to drop by Jan Pierce’s house?”
“Yeah.” Jenna collected the evidence bags and headed toward the front door. “I checked Sierra’s purse. There’s nothing unusual in there. I found a docket from the convenience store, is all, dated yesterday. So we know where she was before she attended the self-protection class. The phone is locked, and we’ll need to view her messages.” She blew out a sigh. “It’s discouraging. We’re doing everything we can to keep people safe and they still get murdered. Maybe we need to suggest that anyone who believes they’re at risk should carry weapons.”
Frowning, Kane shook his head. “I’d never put a weapon into the hands of a nervous man or woman. They’re likely to shoot first and ask questions later.”
A clap of thunder shook the house and lightning lit up the front yard as they dashed from the house to the Beast. Kane peered at the sky. Black turbulent clouds spread out as far as the eye could see, past the tops of the mountains way in the distance. The wiper blades swished back and forth rapidly in an effort to clear the downpour from the windshield. He started the engine and headed back down the driveway. Visibility had decreased since they’d arrived, but he could still make out the runoff filling the drainage ditch, spilling dark brown water across the road as he turned onto the highway. His truck would go through almost anything, but it wasn’t a boat. No one was coming in either direction, so he drove along the middle of the road, fully aware of the water rushing past at speed on each side of the highway.
The road lit up every few seconds as lightning zigzagged through the dark sky. The storm had sucked all the light out of the day. Beside him, Jenna gave the address to the GPS, and Kane followed the directions until they got to Jan Pierce’s house. The garage door stood wide open and steps to a connecting door led inside. He stood to one side as Jenna used the keys they’d collected from Jan’s personal belongings to gain access. As the door swung open, the musty odor of the house oozed out like stale breath. He followed Jenna inside and touched her shoulder. “This place stinks of mildew. I suggest we use our masks.”
The smell as they moved through the house had the lingering scent of illness. A hint of vomit, antiseptic, and urine. “Jan lived here alone?”
“After her grandma died, yeah.” Jenna pulled on examination gloves as they entered the family room. “Look at the dust in this place. It’s thick in the corners, as if it hasn’t been disturbed for months. I doubt if she ever had any visitors.”
Kane wrinkled his nose. “She worked from home, didn’t she? She’d need to see her clients.”
“Nah, everyone does business over the internet these days.” Carter stood hands on hips, looking around. “This place is a dump.” He gave Jo a side-eye. “I don’t figure anyone was jealous of Jan Pierce. Seems to me she gave her life to caring for her grandma. There’s no sign of life in here. It’s depressing.” He shook his head. “You sure she didn’t jump from the trail?”
Unimpressed, Kane shook his head. “I’m sure.”
They found little of interest on the ground floor. The home office, close to the front door, appeared to be the only part of the house she used apart from the kitchen. It seemed neat enough, although the refrigerator was completely empty apart from a few bottles of rehydration fluid. They climbed the stairs, each taking a bedroom. In one of the rooms was an old hospital bed with a worn recliner beside it with a deep sag in the seat. Maybe Jan had sat there watching her grandmother for hours. A deep sadness seeped into Kane. He recalled the shy woman and her desire to live her life, as he took in the mess around him. “Caring for someone dying would take every minute of her time. Then when it was over, she likely didn’t feel like spring cleaning. From my impression of her, she kept herself clean and tidy. She’d taken the first steps to regain her life.” He sighed. “I’d say, once Raven made plans to work with her and the dog here, she’d have cleaned up the place. I noticed a number of items in a box in the kitchen for a dog.”
Kane followed Jenna into the bathroom. A plastic seat sat in the shower and the medicine cabinet held half-filled bottles of prescriptions. “These all belong to her grandma.”
“The other bedrooms are practically empty with a good covering of dust.” Jo poked her head around the door of the bathroom. “Carter is searching her bedroom. That room is clean and tidy, much the same as where she kept her grandmother. It can be very overwhelming for someone caring for a terminally ill person. I can’t imagine what she went through, stuck out here alone, without any family or friends to support her.”
Scratching his chin, Kane backtracked down the hallway and into the bedroom where Carter was looking through a pile of papers he had pulled from a drawer. “Did you find anything of interest?”
“Yeah.” Carter waved a wad of paper at him. “These are invoices for medical supplies and food. I also found an estimate for a security system. So this would prove that people came to the house on a regular basis. We might be looking at a delivery driver.” He raised an eyebrow. “Jenna has invoices for deliveries at Sierra’s home. We need to cross-reference them to see if we can get a match. We have nothing else to go on at the moment.”
They all walked through the house again and then headed back to the truck. Wind howled around them as they climbed inside. Kane glanced in the rearview mirror at Carter. “It’s getting violent out there. We should head back to town. Let’s hope we keep power.”
“Head to Aunt Betty’s.” Jenna glanced at her watch. “It’s lunchtime and there’s no way we’ll get a delivery in this weather.”
“You’re singing my song.” Carter grinned at her from the backseat. “I’m starving.”
Seventeen
After getting an update from Rio, Jenna leaned back in her chair at Aunt Betty’s Café and sipped her second cup of coffee. She smiled as Wendy, the assistant manager, came to the table with a handsome man in tow. “It’s good to see you. Did you have a good vacation?”
“The best.” Wendy turned to the man behind her. “This is Paul, my fiancé. We’ve just come back to pack my things and then we’re heading to Las Vegas for our wedding.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful news.” Kane stood and hugged her and shook Paul’s hand. “Congratulations.”
Jenna grinned. “You always bring a ray of sunshine with you, Wendy, and in the middle of a storm too.” She stood and hugged her. “Will you be living in town?”
“Nope.” Wendy grinned at Paul. “We’ll be living in his house. I’m going to move to Canada. His place is just as lovely as Black Rock Falls. I’ll miss you all, but you’ll always be in my heart.”
Feeling the loss of her friend, Jenna nodded. “You’ll be in ours too. Be happy.”
“I will.” Wendy waved and headed for the door.
Missing her already, Jenna stared out of the window, watching them drive away, and then forced her mind back to the case. The afternoon would be wet and miserable, but with everyone in the office, they should be able to continue searching for possible links between the two murders. When her phone chimed, she assumed Rio was calling her back, but it was a frantic 911 call. She put her phone on speaker and pushed it closer to Kane. “You’ve reached Sheriff Alton. What is your emergency?”
“A sedan has been dragged into the river along Maple, the part that goes west out of town. The river has spilled all across the road, and a woman in a sedan tried to get through it, but the water is flowing so fast it just tipped her vehicle into the gully and then washed it into the river.” A man coughed. “I’m way too old to try and help her. Can you send someone before she drowns?”
