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“Yeah but you had a few things on your mind at the time.” Kane cut into his steak. “The first few were reported when you were in Washington DC visiting me in the hospital, the others during the week you took off work to care for me, and the last one came through when you were too ill to speak to anyone. Rowley was in charge and he dealt with it.” He lifted his fork and paused it at his mouth. “All the paperwork is in order. The last person to go missing was Trudy Simmons, twenty years old, out of Glass Ridge. She was heading from Blackwater to a school reunion in her hometown. All the reports came from different counties. Rowley checked with the hospital, hotel and gas station in town and found no trace of her. He followed protocol and convinced Wolfe to use his new facial recognition software on the CCTV footage he collected from town, and came up with a big fat zero. Rowley handled all the cases in the same way, did the usual check
s and found no trace of them. It’s just like Sky and Doug Paul. They seem to have vanished without a trace.”
Jenna sipped her coffee and eyed him over the rim of her cup. “So Rowley filed the reports, sent copies to the relevant counties and didn’t bother me with them. I can see why in the circumstances—they didn’t concern our department.” She frowned. “But he should have brought them to my attention now.”
“He chased them down again today and you have all the details in your files.” Kane smiled. “As you spent the entire afternoon locked in your office on the phone, he informed me.”
Intrigued, Jenna considered the information. “What about the ages? There has to be something that ties these cases together.”
“All are between nineteen and twenty-two.” Kane went back to his meal and they sat in silence for a few minutes.
In an effort to come up with a suspect, Jenna allowed the information she had gathered earlier to percolate through her mind. She finished her meal and waited for the waitress to refill her coffee cup. “I’ve been going over a list of possible suspects.” She leaned back in her chair. “It has to be someone who uses that highway regularly and I have a list of people. Delivery drivers mostly, but I can’t help thinking the postal service van would be up and down that road daily. Mail comes into the post office, is sorted and then the local mailman delivers it, right?”
“Uh-huh.” Kane nodded and chewed slowly, then swallowed. “We would have to find out what time the usual delivery arrives. It could be overnight.”
Excitement thrummed through her. “Okay, we have at least one person to talk to.” She leaned forward in her seat. “Who else would come through overnight?”
“Milk maybe?” Kane pushed his plate to one side and reached for his coffee. “I’m not sure what perishables are delivered daily. I do know when I dropped by for the soup and sandwiches earlier today the waitresses were worried about supplies getting through from Blackwater.”
Jenna took out her notepad and looked up at Kane. “FedEx deliveries would be easy to hunt down but there must be other deliveries or truck drivers who pass through town on a regular basis.”
“Most will have logbooks but all these places will be closed now.” Kane smothered a yawn. “It’s been a long day and I still have to tend the horses.”
After so long at home, Jenna did not feel the least bit tired. “Oh, I’ll help with the horses. I have more to tell you. We’ll chat on the way home.” She paid the bill by credit card, stood, dragged on her coat and headed for the door.
As they made their way home, snow built up on the windshield wipers and, once they turned off the main highway onto the road leading to her ranch, the way became treacherous. She had faith in Kane’s driving but was aware of how slowly he was moving along the ice-covered road. She cleared her throat. “The other thing I wanted to mention is not all the factories shut down for the entire holiday season. Some of them open one day a week to keep supply available to the local stores.”
“Now that’s interesting because I patrolled the area and found no sign of anyone being there for at least a week.” He leaned forward, peering ahead as the snow pelted his truck. “The junkyard gave me the impression the gate could have been opened since the first blizzard but that place wouldn’t need to supply local stores.”
The back wheels of the truck slid sideways and Jenna’s heart picked up a beat. She gripped the seat and looked at Kane. His face was a mask of concentration. He turned and smiled. “It’s okay; we hit a patch of ice. Worst case we’ll slide into the ditch and at this speed we’ll be able to drive right out.”
Jenna barked out a laugh. “Oh, you’re filling me with confidence.”
“Trust the beast and the new snow tires.” He chuckled. “Not far now.”
Jenna breathed a sigh of relief. “Okay, so we have a few things to hunt down tomorrow. I’ll get Rowley and Walters to start looking for people we can interview. I figure we should check out the factories I know are open during the shutdown and see if there’s anyone we can speak to.”
“Okay.” Kane maneuvered his vehicle through the gate and floodlights lit up the property.
A beep sounded as the remote in Kane’s vehicle connected with the alarm system and he slowed at the house. She turned to him. “Give me five to change. I’ll meet you at the stables.” She grabbed her things and slipped from the car.
“I’ll come inside and make sure it’s safe.” Kane opened his door and stepped outside.
Jenna waved him away. “I’ll be fine.” She pulled out her weapon. “The new security system would have alerted me if anyone had stepped foot inside my gate but I’ll check anyway.”
“Then I’ll wait here until you give me the all-clear.” Kane leaned against his truck and watched her climb the steps.
Jenna went inside, dropped her belongings on the hall table and did a sweep of the house, then went to the door and waved at Kane. “All clear.”
She headed for the bedroom. At least she had a few leads to hunt down. Agreed, it was not many, but it was a start and if the man with the ax existed in her town, she would find him and discover what had happened to Sky and Doug Paul and Olivia Palmer.
Thirty-Two
Thursday night
It was late when Levi Holt passed through Black Rock Falls on his way to spend his vacation with his folks in Blackwater. The road report on the radio told him the highway was clear and rather than risking another blizzard blowing in, which would mean being stuck in Black Rock Falls for days while the snowplows did their job, he decided to drive through the night if necessary to get home.
The dark road wound ahead of him like a frosty black snake, cutting through the snow-covered landscape. The world had turned gray and black the moment the sun set. Trees and the odd buildings became murky and foreboding. His mother had warned him about the dangers of traveling at night and he’d heard the reports of people going missing, so he took his time, searching ahead for any sudden changes in road conditions. The sky was patchy with clouds and once in a while the full moon popped its head out between the heavy clouds. He turned up the radio and sang along to the tunes, or munched on a bag of beef jerky he’d placed within easy reach on the seat beside him.
