Page 43 of In Her Path

“I will. But Jenna Marie, Piper’s voice told her something else. ‘She’ll vanish soon into silence.’ What do you think that means? Who do you think that means? Something about the Mayor, maybe? Or Diane?”

“I’ve got no idea. But I’m sure it’s important. Maybe Piper can help us figure it out.”

“Maybe. I’ll call you shortly.”

“Thank you, Frank. For everything.”

“Yeah, well.” She could almost see him waving away her gratitude. “I’ll call you when I’ve talked to your mother.”

The call ended, and Jenna stood on the porch, phone clutched in her hand, staring out at the quiet street.

Bringing Piper into an active murder investigation—two murders of powerful people in the county—was a risk she wouldn’t normally consider. She knew her twin was still fragile, still adjusting to being Piper Graves again after two decades as Emma Kirby.

But their father had never steered her wrong. Not in life, and not in the dreams where he visited her. If he said she needed Piper, then she needed Piper.

She just hoped it wasn’t a mistake—for the investigation, for the town, and most of all, for her sister.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Jenna stood alone on the front porch, the cool morning air stinging her cheeks. Jake was taking advantage of this quiet moment to check out the crime scene himself.

The sound of tires on pavement pulled her from the many questions in her mind. She turned to see the Genesius County coroner’s van rolling to a stop behind the patrol cars. Dr. Melissa Stark emerged from the driver’s seat, her expression grim. Two other members of her team got out and stood waiting for instructions.

Jenna stepped down from the porch and met her halfway up the walk. “You made good time.”

“You said it was the same MO as Paige.”

“Definitely,” Jenna confirmed.

Melissa’s expression darkened. “Lead the way.”

Jenna gestured to Jake, who was just coming out through the front door. “Jake, Dr. Stark’s here. She’s going to see the body now.”

“It’s certainly the same MO,” he commented as he fell into step with them.

Jenna led them through the house to the back hallway where she’d found Diane’s body. The officer who’d been stationed at the doorway stepped aside, and Jenna pushed the door open.

The body still lay sprawled on the floor, surrounded by bloodstains that had dried over and around the still form. Dr. Stark told her team to wait in the hallway for a few minutes, then she donned protective gloves and crouched to check the body more closely.

“Time of death?” Jenna asked.

“Hard to say without vitals. For a rough estimate, I’d put it between 3:00 and 4:00 a.m.”

Jenna remembered the time stamps on the surveillance footage—how the woman who looked like the Mayor had entered the house 3:09 and left at 3:20. The pieces were fitting together too well for comfort.

Melissa circled Diane Holt’s body, examining it from different angles.

She gently lifted Diane’s head, peering at the back of the neck. “There’s the entry wound.” She pointed to the small, neat puncture at the base of Diane’s skull. “Same as Paige—ice pick or similar instrument, angled upward to reach the brain stem. Clean entry, no hesitation marks. Killer knew exactly where to strike.” She let the head settle back into position and carefully examined the side of Diane’s face. “And there’s our other point of correspondence.”

Jenna knew what she meant. Diane’s mouth hung slightly open, revealing the bloody cavity where her tongue should have been.

“Removed after death?” Jake asked.

“It was,” Melissa confirmed. “There’s significantly less blood than there would be if she’d been alive, the same as Curtis Paige. My guess is the killer struck from behind, waited for her to die, then removed the tongue post-mortem.”

The killer’s signature—the tongue removal done with precision, not passion. This was someone who knew exactly what they were doing and why.

Melissa’s assistant was already setting up equipment in the hallway, ready to begin the official documentation of the scene. “I’ll need about an hour to process the body and the immediate area,” Melissa told Jenna. “Then we can transport her to the morgue. Have you got any leads?”