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Astonished that Jane had spoken to Adam about her ordeal, Jenna took the opportunity to push him a little more. Any information she could discover would be a bonus. She stood and went to the coffee machine a few feet away and purchased two cups of coffee. After handing one to Adam, she sat down. “I hope you like it white with two?”
“Yeah, thanks.” Adam clutched onto the cup as if it were a life preserver and glanced at her. “I hope the assholes come and try and kill me.” His head turned and he stared straight into her eyes. “Jane told me what they did to her. I can’t believe she survived eight years with them. They chained her to the wall, for Christ’s sake.”
Jenna held his gaze. “We know there were at least four men involved and two of them are dead. Did she give you any clues about the others? I know they wore masks but any small clue might help us to track them down.”
“One had green eyes.” Adam snorted in anger. “When they first took her, she said she thought he was a fairy because he had fair hair and his eyes were green, emerald green.” The nerve in his cheek twitched. “And a spider tattoo in the web of one hand. From what she told me he was a mean son of a bitch, cruel and merciless. She was terrified of him.”
Wanting to keep him talking, Jenna put down her cup then took out her notepad and jotted down a few details. “Anything else you can remember?”
“I’ll never forget what she said to me last night.” He rubbed a hand over his face and blinked as if still seeing her. “She said since you found her, bits of memories have been coming back. She thinks there could have been four men. Two were of similar build but one of them was real quiet. The others teased him but she did remember something significant about him.”
Pen poised above the notepad, she leaned toward him, anxious to hear every word. “Which was?”
“He had a scar on his knee like mine.” Adam placed his coffee cup on the chair beside him and rolled up one leg of his jeans to display a long scar running up the center of his knee. “I came off a horse when I was a kid and crushed my knee so bad it had to be replaced. My father’s health insurance covered the surgery but Jane said these men always appeared to be short of money. They argued about putting in money to pay for her upkeep. So the fact he had such expensive surgery has to be important.”
Jenna let the facts roll around her head. A rodeo rider came to mind then a thought hit her. “He could have been in a car wreck.”
“Exactly.” Adam rolled down the leg of his jeans. “A big claim like that would still be on record with an insurance company.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “She said they all wore masks and latex gloves but she could see the tattoo through the glove.” He swallowed hard and looked away. “She said they took photographs. Disgusting freaks.”
Jenna winced at his aggressive stance and stood. “Okay, thanks. I promise you, we will find these men.”
Relief flooded over her at the sight of Kane coming from Jane’s room. When he waved her over, she looked down at Adam. “It won’t be long now. I’ll go and speak to Deputy Wolfe.”
“He looks tense. Problems?” Kane raised one dark eyebrow and led the way into the room.
“He is angry and does not believe for one second she died in her sleep.” Jenna moved to Wolfe’s side and stared down at the emaciated figure of Jane Stickler, trying to ignore the scent of death hovering in the room. “Have you come to a conclusion?”
“Yeah.” Wolfe moved the overhead light so it illuminated the corpse. “She has needle marks in her arms but they could have been during administration of drugs by the nurses. So usually a full toxicology screening wouldn’t be necessary but I figure someone overdosed her. I have the list of what the hospital gave her during her stay and nothing could have killed her.”
Jenna shot him a glance. “A hunch isn’t homicide; you must have found something else.”
“Look here.” Wolfe moved the light so it shone on the top of Jane’s head. “See the bruising? That is fresh and not in the initial report. I had reason to believe someone dragged her by her hair, so I checked the room and found many of her hairs under the bed and by the door. I suggest checking the hallway for hairs and dusting the nurses’ station and the elevator control panel for fingerprints.”
“Okay.” She glanced at Kane. “Grab Wolfe’s kit and get me some evidence.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Jenna moved her attention back to Wolfe. “What else have we got?”
“Jane’s socks look brand new but are soiled as if she was walking around.” Wolfe’s gray eyes narrowed. “She has a bundle of new socks on the chair over there. Why wear dirty ones to bed? Then there is this…” He flicked back the sheet and pushed up the girl’s nightgown to display red marks on her knees. “Classic friction marks. She was dragged face down.”
A wave of apprehension hit Jenna and she swallowed the lump in her throat. “Do you believe she tried to run away from her killer?”
“Yeah, he could have chased her down and subdued her then dragged her back by her hair. Sometime during the struggle, he administered a hot shot then put her back to bed.”
Jenna’s head spun with the news. “How the hell did someone kill her in the hospital? Where were the nurses?” She paced the room, shaking her head in disbelief. “I want answers. Do they have CCTV cameras on each floor?”
“No, they are at the main entrance and the emergency entrance.” Wolfe covered the body. “I already asked.”
“I’ll have to speak to the nurse and everyone on duty in the wards last night.” Jenna headed for the door just as Kane came back in. “Find anything?”
“Nope, the nurse on duty said the cleaners did this area before the body was discovered but I did find out something interesting. One of the nurses used the water from the hot water urn for tea in the break room and passed out cold. She is still asleep and the doctor thinks someone put sleeping pills in the water. I told her to make sure no one touches the urn so we could get a sample.”
“You mean someone drugged the entire staff last night?”
“On this floor and the two below, yes. It makes sense they did—apparently, the night shift on those floors usually take a short break to make coffee or whatever at eleven thirty, and it’s rare to have more than one nurse on duty overnight. If anything happens to a patient, she only has to call down to emergency to get assistance.” Kane leaned his wide shoulders against the wall. “Whoever did this knows the shift times and when the nurses take a break.”
Jenna scratched her head. So much to do and time was running out. Delegate. “Wolfe, if you’re taking blood from the people on duty last night who could have been drugged, can you question them as well and see if they noticed anything unusual?” She sighed. “This is way too big for us; we’ll have to call in the FBI again to carry out a full investigation. I want to know if the pills we found on the victims and the drug used on the staff came from this hospital. You can trace packaging and the batch numbers from missing inventory out of the hospital pharmacy can’t you?”
