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He gathered she was speaking to Wolfe, and he called Duke and told the dog to sit under a tree. He wandered over to Rowley and they walked to the door of the cabin. Covering his nose with one hand, he peered inside. Sticky black pools of blood surrounded the body, which appeared to be wearing a black shroud of flies and other insects. He stepped away and turned to Rowley. “No bloody footprints but I can see some smear marks on the floor as if the killer tried to hide his tracks.” He took out his notepad and jotted down the information. “Did you see the body before the flies arrived?”
“Yeah, but I don’t have anything to add to what the sheriff told you.” Rowley scratched his head. “He looks familiar and I recall his name. That’s Chris Jenkins, I gave him a ticket for a broken tail light a week or so ago.”
“That will be easy enough to check.” Kane turned at Jenna’s voice. “Have you been inside, ma’am?”
“No, Wolfe is five minutes away, we’ll wait for him. We have another problem: Walters can’t locate Lizzy Harper.” She removed her hat and wiped the sweat from her brow with a tissue. “Her mother said she didn’t go to work today and she’s not at home.”
Kane scanned the area. “I doubt she’ll be sticking around.”
“I haven’t seen any trace of her at all. We checked the immediate area but found nothing of interest apart from bicycle tracks over there.” She pointed to the edge of the clearing. “The dirt is softer and it appears someone leaned their bicycle against a tree.”
Kane wandered over, pulled out his cellphone, and took photographs of the tire marks. “I don’t think this is Sandra’s bicycle; the marks are narrow and more like a racing bicycle.”
“So, it could belong to the killer?” Jenna’s cellphone blasted out a heavy rock ringtone and she pulled it out of her pocket. “Yes, Walters, what is it? Just one moment, I’ll put you on speaker.”
“Still no trace of Lizzy Harper but I’m still looking as she don’t know we’re looking for her. If she is in town, I’ll find her soon enough.”
“Get Maggie to help you. Call some of the local stores—someone must have seen her. Anything else?”
“I have found something of interest.”
“Go on.” Jenna’s brow wrinkled into a frown.
“I took the list of people working at the hospital and cross-referenced the names of those who live in the cabins up near Craig’s Rock. I found four people. Three checked out okay but one man, Bobby-Joe Brandon, works nights at the hospital and he has taken a couple of days off with the flu. He was supposed to be on duty the night Jane Stickler died but called in sick. Kinda convenient, don’t you think?” He paused for a few seconds. “I found his cellphone number and called him but all I got was his voicemail. I figure there’s a slim chance he might be one of the four men the girls’ mentioned in the pedophile ring, and if so, he could have abducted the girl. As he isn’t answering his phone the vigilante might have killed him already.”
Kane’s skin prickled. “Where exactly does he live?”
“Did you pass a private road with a lot of signs when you went up to Craig’s Rock?”
“Yes, I remember the place.” Jenna flashed Kane a look of concern.
“Well, ma’am, his cabin is about half a mile up that road. You would have to drive to the gate and go on foot. He has the property fenced, so I’m told.”
“Okay, thanks. He might be in the shower or something, keep trying his number.” Jenna worried her bottom lip. “Any relevant leads on the missing girl?”
“Not really. We’ve had quite a few calls, a few crackpots, and the others I’m checking out as they come in. Most are the same, as we know already; they last saw her heading in your direction. One person saw her riding along the road when he was coming into town. She was last seen after school in the area for sure.” He paused and she could hear a tapping on a keyboard. “Another thing: Mrs. Dempsy saw a late-model white sedan turning and heading to your position early yesterday afternoon. She didn’t take much notice who was driving.” He took a deep breath. “There are volunteers searching from the school, heading through the forest in your direction. The rangers have them well organized.”
“Okay, thanks. If anyone calls in with a positive sighting, call me, and keep looking for Lizzy Harper; someone must have seen her.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
After Jenna disconnected she stared up at Kane blankly as if thinking, then cleared her throat. “What if the vigilante killer set up this victim? You mentioned pedophiles groom kids online, and if she acted like a young girl, it’s possible this is how she is getting her victims alone.” She waved a hand around. “Look at this place: It’s a mile or more from town but not too far to come by bicycle, and it’s secluded.”
“Yeah.” Rowley blinked away the flies buzzing around his sweat-streaked face. “If the victims thought they were meeting a young girl, they wouldn’t be over-cautious—in fact, more likely to do whatever the kid wanted.”
“If we consider the vigilante is posing as a kid, yeah it makes perfect sense.” Jenna sighed. “If Bobby-Joe Brandon is part of this, he is probably dead already.”
A bolt of realization smacked Kane in the head. “We’re missing something. Let’s say the call I received about seeing the girl here was from the vigilante, and she didn’t disguise her voice this time to make me think it was legit.”
“She’s never done that before. Why now?” Jenna raised one eyebrow.
“I figure she’s been moving us around like pieces on a chess board. Think back. She blood-bombed my house and left the newspapers to justify her reason for murder, maybe in an effort to make us pull back the investigation. She wanted us out of town to give her time to kill Jenkins so she called and informed me about the graves at Craig’s Rock.”
“Then she lured Jenkins here.” Jenna was well ahead of him. “It’s obvious she knows the names of the men in the pedophile ring, and if Bobby-Joe Brandon is our fourth man, he would be next on her list. I figure Bobby-Joe planned to meet a girl here as well.” She glanced up at him, eyes flashing with excitement. “It’s possible she killed Chris then caught sight of Bobby-Joe with Sandra and followed him. We know someone else was here. Sandra’s trail vanishes so it proves a second vehicle picked her up.”
Kane rubbed the back of his neck. “The vigilante wouldn’t have picked up Sandra or she would have been home by now.”
“Yeah, she is using this murder scene as a decoy. I figure killing the fourth man is her ultimate prize.” Jenna stared into space then snapped her gaze back to him. “Craig’s Rock is close to Bobby-Joe’s cabin, so she calls you to tell you about seeing Sandra here. She would know I would call in all my resources to search for the missing girl, and when we found the body, I would call in the ME and give her a clear path to Bobby-Joe.”
