“A what?” Carter stared at her in disbelief. “What type of deranged person does that title come under?”
“Narcissistic.” Jo sipped her coffee and sighed. “It refers to a person who wants to control others for their own benefit. It usually stems from something lacking in the puppet master’s life. In this case, from what we know about Jolene, she was raised by a single mother. So it makes sense that her mother would be seeking a good match for her daughter. That’s what most moms would want but not to the extent to kill for it.” She flicked her gaze back to Jenna. “The problem is a narcissistic puppet master couldn’t just sit back and allow a relationship to grow. She’d want to direct it—be in charge every step of the way.”
Always confounded by the twisted mind of a psychopathic killer, Jenna frowned. “Do you believe that Jolene knew her mother was killing her friends?”
“No, I don’t.” Jo tapped her bottom lip with her finger as if thinking through what she was going to say next. “I’m trying to think of a way to explain what I mean. Let me see. Daphne doesn’t see her daughter as a person with her own wants and desires; she believes that her daughter is totally dependent on her—in other words, Jolene needed her mom to make sure that she got herself a decent husband. Jolene’s feelings mean nothing to her mother. She is just a piece on a chessboard to be moved around until she gets the desired outcome. To Daphne, winning is everything. When you look at Raven as the target in this case, you have a man with a successful business. He is also in law enforcement, and the cream on top of the cake is that he is a medical doctor. So, for Daphne, having her daughter married to Raven would improve her social standing.”
“So why kill the women?” Carter looked bemused. “What was her angle?”
Jenna nodded, understanding completely. “Daphne considered the other women in the group as rivals for Raven’s attention. For her daughter to win, they must be taken out of the game.”
“It goes a little deeper than that.” Jo picked up her cup again and sipped. “The main problem, which probably triggered her, was that Raven initially rejected Jolene, by suggesting that he would offer the other women his dogs first. That would have upset Daphne because the other women would gain his attention while he was training with them and thereby giving them more of a chance to win his heart. So she’s not exactly jealous of the other women; she would more likely see them as a threat. Once she removed the threat, it would leave her daughter in line for Raven’s attention.” She looked at Jenna. “Could we call Raven? I would like to ask him a few questions.”
Jenna made the call and explained the situation. “You’re on speaker.”
“Hi, Raven. This is Jo.” Jo paused for a beat. “Do you recall Jolene’s mom, Daphne, having any conversations with you?”
“Yeah, I figured she must read Jolene’s texts, mainly because she mentioned one I’d sent her regarding a dog. When I mentioned it was on a most needed basis and nothing personal, she spent the next few times at the classes watching Jolene like a hawk. I got cornered by her and she said stuff about the other women in the group. She was very nice about it, as in, ‘I think you should be aware of so and so.’ One other time, she mentioned Maya was a poor soul who took her grandpa’s pain meds.” Raven snorted. “It was all lies. I just shrugged it off. She is a very weird woman.”
“That’s confirmed my suspicions.” Jo nodded to Jenna. “She’s a combination of psychopath and narcissist. It’s a common mixture of psychosis. As you are aware, the trigger to kill can lie dormant many years or forever. In her mind, her daughter was losing the battle to get herself an eligible husband, one that would elevate Jolene’s position in life. It would have been caused by something happening to prevent her from finding a husband. It might have been a tragic episode that left her damaged. It’s something we might never know. Often when psychopaths are created the reason is hidden.”
“I guess Jolene will be lost without her mom.” Raven sounded concerned. “She seemed to do everything for her.”
“There lies the problem.” Jo placed her cup on the desk. “The controlling puppet master at work.”
When Kane’s phone chimed, Jenna thanked Raven and disconnected. “Who is it?”
“Kalo.” Kane held up one finger. “Okay, that’s great. I’ll let her know.” He looked at Jenna. “Jolene and Daphne were at Aunt Betty’s Café with all the victims before they died. That’s how Daphne discovered their movements.”
Jenna stood and looked at Jo. “That’s the frosting on the cake. Ready to interview Daphne Hurst?”
“I sure am.” Jo smiled at her. “This is going to be interesting.”
Forty-Four
Jenna, Kane, and Jo stepped into the interview room, set up the video, and introduced themselves before restarting the interview. Carter would watch the interview from Jenna’s office as Daphne had been arrested for trying to run him down and being in the interview would be a conflict of interest. Jenna didn’t want to waste any time and cut straight to the chase. “When we arrived at Maya’s house we discovered her unconscious in her truck, with hoses from the tailpipe being fed inside the cab. We witnessed you running from the scene. You attempted to run down Special Agent Carter. This was witnessed by the three law enforcement officers in this room. What I’d like to know is why you tried to kill Maya?”
“I didn’t try to kill her.” Daphne moved her mouth as if chewing on her gums. “I was teaching her a lesson, is all. That woman is always whining. Have you seen the way she clings to Raven? She’s weak and someone needed to put her in her place.”
“By drugging her and placing her inside her truck and then setting it up so she would die of carbon monoxide poisoning?” Jo leaned forward and gave her a long look. “If we hadn’t arrived, she’d have died. That’s not teaching someone a lesson—that’s murder.”
Jenna tapped a pen on the legal pad in front of her on the desk. “We have your truck. Do you figure it’s usual to carry hose pipes and gaffer tape in your vehicle? I can see that you bought extra just in case you didn’t have enough. Couldn’t you just have spoken to her about your concerns? She obviously liked your company if she invited you in the house for a cup of coffee.”
“You are so young and naïve for a sheriff.” Daphne’s eyes flashed with anger. “Words don’t work on women like her. She was a frightened little mouse, so I used what worked best—fear. You came along and spoiled everything. I wasn’t going to kill her, just scare her enough to make her back off.”
It was an admission of guilt, and Jenna exchanged a meaningful look with Jo. It was time for her friend to dig deeper into the psyche of this woman and see what they could find.
“I know you were in contact with all the women who died.” Jo’s gaze didn’t move from Daphne’s face. “Jan apparently fell from a mountain trail. Sierra drowned in a bathtub and Roxanne ran off the road into floodwater. All these women were on the list to get a dog from Raven. Did you kill them?”
“Accidents happen.” Daphne barked out a sarcastic laugh. “This is Black Rock Falls. Things happen to people here all the time. You can’t pin every murder on me.”
“We can track your phone and the GPS in your vehicle to put you at the scene of these murders. Plus, we’re conducting a facial recognition search of all the CCTV footage around town.” Kane straightened from his position by the door. “With the technology we have these days, you can’t blink and we won’t know about it.”
“The victims attended Raven’s classes, didn’t they?” Jo raised one eyebrow. “You used to go along and watch. Raven recalls you being there and even speaking to him about some of the other members of the class.”
“So what? Anyone is allowed to go to those classes.” Daphne yanked at the chain connecting her to the table and anger rippled through her body. “I was just reminding him that Jolene deserves his time, not those pathetic women flaunting themselves at him.” She glared at them. “Jolene is naïve and I just wanted to protect her from them.”
Unable to believe her ears, Jenna leaned forward. “You claim you only want to protect Jolene and yet you sabotaged Roxanne’s brakes to take her out of the equation, didn’t you? That wasn’t protection—that was murder.”
