Page 34 of Whisper Through the Pines

A soft crunch came from Jenna’s right. Kane had heard it too. “Rio and Rowley, stay here. The rest of you, follow me.” She looked at Kane. “Go.”

Ahead of her, Kane moved silent and fast, weaving between the pines. She ran after him and the cold bit into her face. In the distance, she made out a tall thin silhouette slipping between the trees. “See that?”

“Yeah.” Kane drew his weapon and sprinted away.

Jenna ran after him, and behind her Carter’s and Raven’s boots hammered the frozen ground. The dark figure moved with amazing fluidity, as if he knew which way to go. Cold air sliced into Jenna’s lungs with each gasp. She ran faster as Carter bounded past her with Zorro and closed in behind Kane. She could just make out the figure and then it vanished. “Where did he go?”

“It was an illusion.” Kane turned back to her. “Look, no footprints, no broken branches, nothing.” He spun around. “It was a trick to lure us away and leave the others alone.”

“Run.” Raven bounded off with Ben streaking behind him.

Thirty-Two

Relief flooded over Kane as they ran back to the clearing in time to see Wolfe and Webber rolling the bodies onto the stretchers. “We need to move now. Visibility will be gone completely in twenty minutes and we need to drive down from this mountain.”

“The temperature’s dropping fast.” Emily moved to his side, shivering. “Did you see him?”

Kane gave a small shake of his head, his attention still moving through the forest. “Nah, he’s set up another illusion, a shadow moving through the forest, and we fell for it.” He glanced at Wolfe. “He likely set it up using motion detectors and then it runs in a sequence. Much the same as the girl Jenna encountered along Maple.”

“Do you figure he’s still out there, watching us?” Emily glanced over one shoulder and then back to him. “It feels like someone’s eyes are boring into my back all the time.”

Not wanting to alarm her, Kane shrugged. “Most of us feel the same. Is he out there? Maybe, so we stick together. I know he is terrifying. What he is doing is very disturbing and, yes, he could easily pick us off one by one, but we’re not hikers or hunters. We’re aware he’s out there, so put your trust in the team.” He squeezed her arm. “Okay?”

“I guess.” Emily moved closer to Wolfe, her head moving from side to side as she watched the forest.

“Ready?” Carter and Rio took the first stretcher and carried it along the trail, their boots crunching through the deepening snow.

“I’ll carry the other one.” Rowley grabbed one end of the second stretcher and followed with Webber.

While Raven and Wolfe collected the forensics kits, Kane lingered for a moment, staring into the forest. He could see by the expressions on everyone’s faces that the feeling of being watched hadn’t faded. If anything, it had intensified. He shook his head slowly. Mind games didn’t work on him, and he rested one hand on Jenna’s elbow and gave Duke a soft whistle as they moved off. The snow was coming heavier now, weighing down the branches. The previous light snowflakes had thickened and the wind had picked up, swirling icy tendrils around them. It took longer than expected to reach the cabin, and they gave it a wide berth. Crime scene tape fluttered in the wind and snow had already covered the porch. In fact, all signs of habitation had vanished. They’d left the victims’ backpacks behind in the cabin but had collected their rifles from alongside the trail where they’d been murdered.

Vigilant, Kane followed behind everyone. The snowstorm started to howl through the pines by the time they reached the trucks. Once everyone had climbed inside, Kane lifted Duke into the back seat and wiped the snow from him with a towel and then wrapped him in his blanket. The old dog shivered. “I’ll have the heat on soon, boy.” He rubbed the dog’s head and climbed behind the wheel. The fire road had shrunk into a tunnel of white, and snow built up on the wipers. He’d never seen snow so bad in late October. He glanced in his rearview mirror and could only just make out the headlights of Wolfe’s van. He reached for the radio. “Is everyone okay back there? Over.”

“Yeah.” Raven cleared his throat. “It should clear once we get lower. These storms seem to remain at high altitudes at this time of the year. Over.”

Kane waited for everyone else to check in. “Okay, thanks. Over.”

They crawled along the highway between eighteen-wheelers until the snow became gentle flakes and visibility went back to almost normal. Kane looked at Jenna as they slid into their parking space outside her office. “What’s next on your schedule?”

“Give me a minute to get some takeout delivered and then I guess we start a list of suspects we need to haul in for questioning. I’d like to pay a visit to the kid Carter mentioned working at the Old Mitcham Ranch. He figures Marty Flynn knows something and I’d like to speak to him after he finishes work.”

Kane turned off the engine and smiled at her. “That sounds like a plan.”

Thirty-Three

A wave of delightful heat hit Jenna as she stepped inside the sheriff’s office. She stopped at the counter to ask Maggie if she had any messages. The first one was a request from the doctor who’d examined Jill at the hospital to call her. She used the phone on the counter to return her call. “This is Jenna Alton returning your call.”

“We have a problem with Jill Marsden.” The doctor sounded serious. “There are signs of abuse: broken bones healed but never set, and she has bruises all over. She is in good spirits but is afraid of being sent back to the foster home. Yet she didn’t call it a foster home. She called it ‘the place she lived.’ I found this unusual. Apart from malnourishment, I felt it would be better to have her settled at Her Broken Wings with other children. The people from the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services agreed, so I discharged her, but she will need follow-up. I have X-rays and have made up a case file of evidence, which I will send to you.”

A ripple of anger went through Jenna. How long would this keep happening? She bit down hard on her bottom lip. “Thank you. I’ll make sure she is safe.” She disconnected.

The second message was from Rhett, who told her the child had been abused, but that Jill had settled into Her Broken Wings very well. He had observed her with Julie mixing with the other three children currently living there under the supervision of a qualified caregiver. It seemed the child had never had her own bedroom before and believed that Julie was a fairy. Jenna stared at the note and handed it to Kane. “It’s not good news, but little Jill is in very good hands. The moment our current murder cases are settled, we’ll pull out all stops to make sure we find her sister and investigate the foster care family she was living with.”

“Beth will be all over it. You should send her the files. She’ll get started.” Kane followed her upstairs to the locker rooms and Duke bounded past them into her office looking for food. “My boots are soaked through. I need to change my jeans too. I won’t be long.”

Jenna looked down at her soaking boots and jeans wet to the knees. She headed into her locker room to change and could hear loud voices coming from the men. By the time she walked out dry and warm again, the delivery from Aunt Betty’s Café had arrived and Rio was carrying it upstairs to the conference room. She met him in the hallway. “I hope there’s enough food for everyone. I told Susie there were eight of us and we were starving and to send plenty of hot meals.”

“Rowley carried another box up just before.” Rio shouldered his way into the conference room and dumped the box on the table beside another. “I’m sure there’s enough.”