At the back of the safe, Kane discovered a second notebook, this one thinner, with a leather cover and slightly curved as if it had been carried in a back pocket for months. The edges of the book were dirty and stained with something brownish. Curious, he flicked open the top page and angled the beam of the flashlight to read it. “This mentions something about missing girls.”
“What does it say?” Rhett’s face drained of color. “He wasn’t involved, was he?”
Closing the notebook, he handed it to him. “I doubt it. I only scanned the first few lines, but I figure your father saw something he wasn’t supposed to.”
“Dave, look at this.” Jenna reached into the safe and pulled out a small envelope, yellowed with age, with just a few single words written on the front in shaky handwriting
This is the truth.
Kane took it from her and stepped out into the light. He opened it carefully and slid out a single folded sheet of paper. Inside he found a list containing names and dates. Some were crossed out and others circled and a few had question marks beside them. “I guess we’ll need to cross-reference this with the employees list at the time. They’re all women. I figure your father was keeping track of those who left early or without notice. As we don’t seem to have a long list of people going missing at that time, we have no idea if he went to the sheriff with the information or not.”
“It seems to me he didn’t trust anyone, not even his lawyer with this information.” Rhett rubbed the back of his neck. “We know from his letter he was in fear of his life.”
“There’s something else in here.” Jenna gingerly picked up the old pistol and handed it grip-first to Kane. “It’s loaded.”
Kane checked it and broke it down. “It’s safe now.” He laid it on the nightstand. “What else can you see?”
“Look at this. It’s one of those cassette recorders that ranchers used decades ago to dictate notes.” Jenna pressed a button and the top opened. “It has a tape inside.” She handed it to Kane.
Turning the recorder over in his hands, Kane examined it with care. It had been old before Rhett’s father had placed it in the safe. A crack ran along one side of the plastic cover like it had been dropped a few times.
“If there’s audio on that tape”—Rhett’s Adam’s apple moved up and down as he swallowed—“it might be the last thing he ever recorded.” He moved sad eyes to Kane. “I don’t recall what they sounded like. I hardly remember what they looked like. It’s as if they were a dream I had a long time ago.”
“It will need new batteries.” Jenna frowned. “It might not work but Wolfe will have a way of making it play. He has all those types of gizmos at the morgue.”
After Kane sat the recorder on the nightstand beside the tin box and the notebooks, he turned to Rhett. The color had drained from his face the moment they’d found the first notebook and hadn’t returned. He laid one hand on the tin box. “Are you ready for this?”
“Nope, but we’re doing it anyway.” Rhett looked at him with dread. “Open it.”
Kane rested his gloved fingertips on the tin box. Small and dented at one corner, with the metal worn smooth from years of being handled. He turned it in his hand. A person didn’t keep something like this unless it mattered. He gripped the lid and pulled, but the top stuck fast. Maybe it was reluctant to give up its secrets? He tightened his grip and it opened with a soft metallic pop. A torn piece of cotton fabric, the kind used in cheap summer dresses, covered the contents. He placed the material to one side and stared at the collection of items at the bottom of the tin. He took them out one by one. A single earring, a small silver hoop bent out of shape. A red hair band, stiff with dried mud, and a driver’s license in the name of Paloma Cortes, with a faded photo of a young woman staring blankly at the camera.
“Why did my father keep these? They’re the sort of trophies a serial killer collects.” Rhett stared at her in horror. “Oh, Jesus, you don’t think he was murdering people, do you?”
“I don’t believe your father collected these. I figure he found them and kept them as evidence.” Jenna squeezed his arm. “He likely didn’t trust anyone enough to hand them over.”
Taking out the last item, Kane turned over a folded piece of paper in his hand. Creased with brown water marks, it appeared as if Lawson had hidden it somewhere damp before moving it into the tin. He unfolded it slowly and stared at a hand-drawn map. The crude drawing with shaky lines depicted landmarks labeled in a frantic scrawl. On the map he’d marked an old well and the north fence line. Circled three times was a hunting cabin in the woods. Beside it, Lawson had written a single word: Listen.
“Listen to what?” Jenna peered over his arm at the map. “Did he record something?”
Kane placed the paper carefully back into the tin with the other items. He looked at Rhett. “This is going to take some time to go through. Can we take this into the office to correlate all the information? I’ll get the recorder to Wolfe if it doesn’t work on fresh batteries. He’s the best person to extract the recording.” He searched Rhett’s face. “Unless you’d prefer to go through this in private?”
“No. I trust you to discover what happened to my parents and why.” Rhett cleared his throat. “But I also understand you have an ongoing investigation here. If someone is murdering the hands, that’s the priority. Right now, I need to keep a distance from the investigation. If there is someone on the ranch murdering people and they’ve been doing this for decades, I don’t want them to consider me a threat. It will give me the opportunity to act as your undercover agent. I’ll keep my eyes open but make sure Bowman believes I want nothing to do with the investigation.”
“That’s fine.” Jenna frowned. “But we don’t want you to end up the same way as your dad. So don’t ask any questions. Just keep your eyes open and your weapon close at hand.” She smiled. “You’ll be fine with Carter here, and Kalo will be here tomorrow. It will be normal for you to be showing your visitors around the ranch. Just watch your back, okay?”
Sixteen
Jenna went back to the family room and Kane went outside to the Beast to collect evidence bags. Everything would be tagged and bagged before leaving. They would drop by to see Wolfe and he’d forensically check everything for fingerprints and DNA before the investigation continued. It would be a time-consuming examination. With luck, Norrell’s team might be able to get involved, unless they were all tied up with working on the mud from the pigpens. Jenna tugged at her bottom lip. It seemed that with each hour that went by on Rhett’s ranch, life became more complicated. She had limited manpower and would take up Carter’s offer of assistance from Agents Katz and Styles. They were friends and had offered to help numerous times in the past. As they were working close by, they might enjoy a couple of weeks on Rhett’s ranch. He had plenty of room and a housekeeper to care for everyone. She looked at her boys playing happily with the trains with Carter and Julie. Tauri looked up and grinned from under Carter’s hat, which was hanging over his ears. Jackson stared, mesmerized as the train sped past him, clapping his hands in excitement. Julie, with the patience of a saint, crawled around the carpet with them. To one side sat Zorro, looking like a statue with only his eyes moving from side to side.
Turning as Rhett walked in behind her, she smiled at him. “I’m going to need more manpower to cover both investigations. Rio and Rowley will be able to work from the office and read the journals. I don’t know if you’re aware, but Rio has a retentive memory and is an excellent person for correlating information especially from a large number of documents. I will make sure he has your number and be able to keep in touch with you about what he’s discovered. I’m sure it will remove some of the stress you’re going through right now.”
“I would appreciate that, thank you, and what about the current case?” Rhett’s troubled eyes rested on her. “Is there anything I can do to make it easier? I have an entire house here with plenty of rooms we can use for office space or accommodation if you want anyone else to stay over.”
Nodding, Jenna led him into the hallway so they could talk in private. “Beth Katz and Dax Styles are finishing up a case in Blackwater. They have vacation time and I believe Carter can talk them into coming by and lending us a hand. If it turns into a workable case, they’ll be able to contact their director and inform him that they have become involved. They live in Rattlesnake Creek, so they are very much country folk and will fit in here just fine. They are both extremely good agents. Beth is a cybercrime expert and worth her weight in gold on a job like this, also Kalo is arriving tomorrow. You’ll have two of the best cybercrime experts in the country working in your ranch house. If they can’t help us get to the bottom of all this, no one will.”
“Yeah, for sure.” Rhett smiled at her. “Let me know when they’re expected to arrive and I’ll tell the housekeeper to make up their rooms. They’ll need a room to work in as well. There is a huge dining room at the end of the hallway. I assume it was used for dinner parties. We can change that into a command post. What else do you need?”
The conference room at the sheriff’s office was set up as a command center most of the time and she recalled what she needed. “Power outlets. They’ll need to set up their gear. They’ll use their own phones. They drink a ton of coffee, and the guys need to be fed almost constantly.”
