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After waiting for Jenna to finish, he cleared his throat. “Mind if we check out upstairs?”
“Why?” Lyons folded his arms across his chest. “We haven’t broken any laws.”
Kane took a step closer to him. “I’d like to close this case up tonight. It’s late. We just want to establish that you’re the only members of the household.” He let out a long, seemingly exhausted sigh. “I don’t want permission to search, just look.”
“Sure, but I’m coming with you.” Lyons led the way to the stairs.
Kane headed after him; he’d caught Jenna’s confused gaze and given her a nod. As Lyons opened every door, Kane noticed a common theme running through the house: each room was dirty and littered with laundry until he came to the room at the end of the hall. When the door opened, the smell of bleach hit him in a wall of fumes. The bed had crisp, clean sheets and was made up in almost military-style precision; not one speck of dust covered the floor. “Who sleeps here?”
“I do, and Alex.” Lyons’ brow wrinkled into a frown. “I like things clean.”
Or he’s covering up trace evidence after raping Chrissie. Kane gave the room a cursory once-over then nodded. “So I see.”
“The house isn’t a mess all the time. The cleaner comes tomorrow. They come once a week but the guys live like pigs.” Lyons followed behind him. “What happened to Alex? The sheriff refused to tell me, and his mom will have questions.”
Kane stopped walking and turned to look down at him. “We’re not sure; accident most likely. We’ll know more after the autopsy. When did you last see him?”
“I already told the sheriff. We got off the bus and he headed to the gym.” Lyons shrugged. “He goes there late; he likes the quiet.”
Kane took in the man’s unusual demeanor. His best friend had died and he didn’t seem to care. “Didn’t you wonder why he hadn’t come home?”
“Alex?” Lyons gave him an incredulous look. “Nah, I figured he’d taken a ride down to the Triple Z, maybe had too many beers and decided to sleep in his truck.” He gave him a slow smile. “Or found a woman to spend the night with; he’s a big star on campus.”
Then why the need to drug and rape young women? Kane bit back a retort and nodded. “Okay, thanks.”
He made his way downstairs and heard Jenna telling the others she was sad for their loss. He followed her out the front door and they hurried through the shadows to his truck using his Maglite to find their way. The house was set back on the lot, offering Lyons and his friends a place far enough from the road to muffle any loud music—or the screams of the women he raped. Safely inside the truck, he headed down the driveway, turned onto Pine, and then headed for home. He glanced at Jenna. “I figure Lyons and his buddies raped Chrissie.”
“How so?” Jenna turned in her seat to look at him. “We don’t have any proof and they all said she was a no-show at the party.”
Kane gritted his teeth, wondering how many times they’d lured girls to their house. “The place is a mess but Lyons’ bedroom, which he shared with Alex Jacobs, was spotless and they’d used bleach to wash things down. Clean sheets, the works. It was one of the best clean-up jobs I’ve seen for a long time. They’re all very aware of DNA and leaving trace evidence.” He sighed. “Did you like his little speech when he came into the room to give his friends a heads-up?”
“Yeah, it was a bit hard to miss.” Jenna rubbed her temples and sighed. “Now he knows Chrissie is dead, they’ll all cover for each other, and by now, he’s likely coaching them not to say anything.”
Kane thought for a moment. “We need to get more information about what happened to Chrissie.”
“I’ll see if I can get it out to the media. We’ll need her parents’ blessing, but if we can get other rape victims to come forward, we could make a case. We’ll guarantee to protect their identities. I figure the DA will go along with the idea, and I could insist they hear the case in a closed court. I’ll speak with him later.” Jenna yawned. “Right now, I need to sleep. I’m having trouble staying awake.”
“I’m tired too.” Kane accelerated along Stanton Road, his headli
ghts picking out an owl flying into the forest and the reflections of many sets of eyes peeking out of the dark trees. “I have a bad feeling about Lyons—something about him is waving a red flag at me.”
“I figure I saw the evil in him earlier in the kitchen.” Jenna leaned back in her seat and looked at him. “It upset him that his best friend had died, but when I asked him about Chrissie it was like I’d flipped a switch. His personality changed and his eyes disturbed me; it was anger or as if he was just on the edge of losing it. Like a cat just before it pounces.”
Kane rubbed his chin. “Hmm, and he directed it toward you, huh?”
“Yeah, he didn’t like me being there, period.”
“Interesting. He likes to take his anger out on women.” Kane stared at the dark, winding road ahead. “Rape is never sexual, it’s violence. If Lyons planned to rape Chrissie all along, he could’ve encouraged his friends to participate.”
“I find it hard to believe all of them are violent rapists.” Jenna frowned. “You’re the expert on behavior, so just how did he encourage them to rape an unconscious girl?”
“It would’ve started off slowly.” Kane glanced at her. “He’d have used peer pressure, insisting they complete a ritual hazing before allowing them to live in the house. If one or two of them had concerns, the fact she was unconscious and couldn’t see them would’ve made a difference. To them it wouldn’t have appeared so violent. Once they’d agreed and Lyons had implicated them, he’d have gained their silence and an alibi.”
“How does he know the girls won’t go to the cops or tell someone?” Jenna didn’t sound convinced. “I sure would.”
Kane turned into their driveway. “I figure this isn’t his first time. Men like this gain control by threatening to hurt someone the victim knows, or they go after their reputation by making sure everyone in school knows they’re easy.” He pulled up outside the ranch house. “Or maybe they have pictures.”
“If they did this to Chrissie,” Jenna turned to face him, “I’ll take them all down.”
