“Not at all.” Wolfe sounded highly amused. “Y’all should be aware that the women living in Montana have skills in many areas. Many work on the land and so it’s useful for them to understand the basics of vehicle maintenance. The problem with this particular vehicle is that, as it’s been in the river, we won’t be able to find any trace evidence whatsoever. I’ve taken photographs of the damage to the brakes and we’ve checked out everything else but found nothing unusual about the vehicle. The fact that someone tampered with it and caused the death of the driver, we have to rule Roxanne Dunn’s death as homicide.” He cleared his throat. “As her death was witnessed by Kane and Carter, I’ll rule it as asphyxiation by drowning, caused by a person or persons unknown. In this case, with two law enforcement officers as witnesses, I won’t need to complete an autopsy. The vehicle can stay here for a time until the victim’s next of kin decide what to do with it. I won’t need to see it again.”
Raven leaned back in his chair, realizing with a jolt he’d made a mistake by sending the vehicle to Millers’ Garage and not to the morgue. However, Wolfe didn’t seem too upset and he appeared to be happy working alongside George. “That’s good to know. I apologize for not calling you in on the inspection, but Kane gave me the orders just as he was leaving with Jenna. I rushed to call George to make sure the vehicle was recovered. I won’t make that mistake again.”
“It’s all good.” Wolfe’s boots clattered on the floor of the garage as he walked to his vehicle. “I’m going to take Norrell home now. The storm isn’t letting up at all. I figure we should all hunker down for the night and hope that it blows through by tomorrow. If you get stuck in town and can’t get back to your ranch, there’s always room at my place.”
Raven smiled. “That’s very kind of you, but the fire roads I need to take should be above the flood level. I’ve had mudslides around my area during the melt and storms, but so far, the place hasn’t flooded. Jenna insisted that I set off before dark due to the floodwaters. I was concerned about getting back to feed my dogs tonight, but Blackhawk insisted on dropping by and making sure everything was all right earlier. He called me just before and he’s already fed the animals.”
“That’s good to know.” Raven could hear Norrell’s voice as Wolfe opened a door. “I figure I’ll see you at the autopsy in the morning if the roads are still clear.”
Raven nodded to himself. “I’ll be there.” He disconnected.
At the other end of the conference table Rio and Rowley were chatting quietly to each other. He stood and walked over to them to relay the information about the vehicle. “So, we know the victim drowned in the river is Roxanne Dunn. Can you use your incredible memory to recall who she hung out with during classes?”
“Yeah, she was a loner, but I recall her sitting chatting with Jolene Hurst and Maya Trent during one of the classes.” Rio narrowed his gaze at him. “Where is this leading?”
Raven sat down beside them and rested his forearms on the table, his hands clasped together. “They might have been the last two people to speak to her before she died. I figure we need to at least contact them and see what they have to say. I’m very concerned that whoever is killing these women is picking them off one by one.” He looked from one to the other. “Why would someone have a problem with women learning self-defense?”
“The problem is, it’s likely this is another psychopath and we’re trying to reason why he does something, when, as Jo mentioned before, they don’t need a reason to kill. They just feel the need and then do it.” Rio stood and went to the coffee pot to refill his cup. “I figure we stick to Jenna’s plan and discover who’s been around these people in the past three months or so. There must be someone who knows them all. The problem is, I can recall Jolene and Maya speaking to the other victims as well—and I know they all go to Aunt Betty’s Café for coffee and pie after each session.”
“Are you saying that Jolene Hurst and Maya Trent are in danger? That all the women are potential targets?” Rowley leaned forward in his chair with a worried expression on his face. “Maybe we should go and check on them.”
Raven shrugged. “There is no way of knowing for sure. I do know that Kane has been training women for some time but mostly they’re friends of his and Jenna. So whoever we’ve triggered by running these classes has a problem with women knowing how to defend themselves.”
“The first person who comes to mind is a man who expects his wife to be chained to the kitchen sink and not to have any friends or to socialize on any level.” Rio opened his hands wide and sighed. “The problem we have with that scenario is that most of these women don’t have a man in their lives. I haven’t even questioned them all closely enough to discover how many of them live alone or with their parents or someone else. I do understand that they are all single, but we’re not aware if any of them have had a recent breakup with a possessive boyfriend. This is something we need to know. Someone like that could possibly be taking it out on everyone else.”
Raven nodded. “Or when his girlfriend fought back, he became so enraged that it triggered his psychopathy and he decided to murder them all. I figure we need to go back to the first victim and look into her background a little more. If she had a possessive boyfriend, then we’ll know we’re on the right track.”
“That sounds like a good plan but I still believe we should call them all right away.” Rowley’s eyes flashed with concern. “If we explain we’re looking into the deaths of their friends and ask them about their situation and if they have any idea who could be doing this, it would be a start. Right now, we don’t seem to have many clues to go on and the only way we’re going to find out what’s happening is to do some old-fashioned legwork.”
“Okay.” Rio looked from one to the other. “We split the list and call them but once we’re done, we need to dig into the background of Dr. Caleb Morrow.” He smiled suddenly and picked up his phone. “I’ve just remembered the Snakeskin Gully field office is on the case now that Jo and Carter are here. I’ll call Bobby Kalo and ask him to check out the doctor. Then we can concentrate on the women in the group.” He made the call, disconnected, and smiled. “Done.”
Twenty-Four
Rio added the list of the women who took the classes to the whiteboard. He turned to the others.
“Okay, we have Lila Crane, Maya Trent, Donna Dallaire, Jolene Hurst, and Judy Gamber. All their details are on file. Get at it and then we can go home.”
He picked up his phone and called Lila Crane and explained what he needed. “Yeah, it’s just a few questions so we can understand a little more about your circumstances.”
“That’s fine. What do you want to know, Rio?” Lila sounded happy to hear from him.
Rio cleared his throat. “First up, do you live alone?”
“Yes, I do.” Lila giggled. “I’m sure I asked you once to come by and check if my doors needed deadbolts, but Deputy Kane gave me a card and recommended a locksmith. My main worry was the garage door and I’m not sure if Deputy Kane’s contractor did those. It’s strange because I ended up getting the same guy who Sierra and Jan used. His name is Rodney Wallace.”
Rolling his eyes at her flirting, Rio made a note of the name and kept the interview moving forward. “Have you been involved with someone recently—I mean in the last twelve months—who may find the self-defense classes you attend objectionable?”
“Yes, I did date a rodeo cowboy for a few months but he was too much of ladies’ man for me, so we broke up. He’s long gone now, though. He moved to Colorado. He doesn’t know about me doing self-defense classes. I haven’t spoken to him for six months.”
Making a few notes as he went along, Rio nodded. “Have you had any strangers visit your home recently, apart from the locksmith?”
“Yeah, I did have a guy come by who sells security systems.” Lila drummed her fingers on the side of the phone. “I didn’t let him in the house because I didn’t like the look of him. I’ve been planning on speaking to Deputy Raven about getting one of his dogs. I figure that would be all the protection I’d need.”
Interested, Rio scribbled more notes. “Do you recall the security guy’s name?”
“Nope, but he gave me his card.” A chair scraped as Lila stood. “Give me a minute and I’ll go look for it.”
Hoping this would be a breakthrough, Rio waited in anticipation for her to return.
