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“Oh, it’s not about the pony Kane planned to buy for Anna’s birthday, is it?” Jenna pushed open the door and slipped out of the truck. “We kind of forced your hand, I guess.”
“No, it’s not that at all, Jenna.” Wolfe looked down at her and smiled. “Having you guys involved with my girls is like having a real family. Julie and Anna are always chatting about Uncle Dave or Jake and Auntie Jenna.” He squeezed her arm. “It means a lot to me to see my girls smiling again, and Emily looks up to you like a big sister.”
Tears pricked the backs of Jenna’s eyes. To her, Wolfe and his girls, Kane, and Rowley had become the family she’d lost too. She patted his hand. “We feel the same, Shane. We’ve all been through so much horror since we arrived in Black Rock Falls, it’s nice to have some normality in our lives.”
“Which is why I don’t want you to put Emily in danger. Sure, there’s a slim chance the killer will grab the opportunity to take out Lyons and she won’t be involved, but what we do know for sure is that if Emily runs up the mountain this afternoon, Lyons will try to seduce her in some way or another. We don’t know if he plans to rape her. We can’t rule out he might be the killer who murdered three of his friends and possibly Chrissie. It’s pretty secluded up there, especially late in the afternoon, and you know the odds of something like this going wrong, Jenna.” Wolfe dropped his hand from her arm. “It’s past one and you’re in no shape to go running. I’ll call Emily and tell her to forget it and go straight home after class. I can’t believe she agreed to become involved in your plan. It goes way past crazy. I must have been off my head to allow her to consider it in the first place.”
Now Jenna understood Wolfe’s agitation. She looked up at him. “I’m fine. You’ve checked me over and know I didn’t receive a scratch. If you’re worried about me, don’t be. I’m functioning just fine.” She rested one hand on her weapon and took a relaxed pose. “Do you honestly believe I’d put Emily at risk?”
“Well, no, but the girls are all I have, Jenna.” Wolfe’s eyes narrowed. “If she was your daughter, would you allow her to do this?”
Jenna met his gaze. “She could run into Lyons any afternoon when she runs; in fact, she could encounter him any time at college or in Aunt Betty’s Café. This afternoon will be a controlled environment: I’ll be close by and so will Kane. Heck, why don’t you come along as well?”
“Having you and Kane will be enough to scare most people away. If I join in as well, the killer and Lyons will know something’s up.” Wolfe rubbed his chin. “I could wait in my van in the parking lot at the foot of the mountain. If I remove the ME signage magnet from the sides, no one will notice me.”
“That sounds like a plan.” Jenna climbed back into Kane’s truck. “If you’re done with the wreck, I’ll ask the Louan deputies to handle the clean-up. I’ll call a tow truck to collect my cruiser and we’ll be back in town by two at the latest. It will give us plenty of time to get cleaned up and changed.”
“Okay but if this is going to work, we’ll have to plan it down to the second. You’ll need to be close enough to protect her.” Wolfe gave her a long look. “I’ll hold off calling Emily for now but let me know the moment you hit town so we can get the timing right.”
“I’ll plan for a number of possible outcomes, don’t worry.” Jenna looked up at him. “I’ll put Rowley with you, and with Webber shadowing Lyons, we’ll have all the angles covered.”
“Promise me you’ll look after her, Jenna.” A worried expression moved over Wolfe’s face.
Jenna smiled. “You have my word.”
Forty-Four
A strong wind tossed the first fall leaves into the air and then danced them in spirals along the sidewalk as Kane and Jenna walked the few hundred yards to the sheriff’s office. He’d grabbed his duffel out the back of the truck along with his forensics kit when they’d dropped the truck at the carwash. He glanced at Jenna, walking beside him carrying the medical field kit. “I’m glad there’s a strong wind blowing. People are already looking at us and covering their noses. I hope the carwash will get the smell out of my truck.”
“It’s just as well we have a change of clothes at the office and a place to take a shower, but I don’t know why we couldn’t have gone straight home.” She gave him a sideways look as they split apart to let a mother and three young kids walk by. “We’ll have to go home and change into running gear anyhow and then be at the trail way before Emily is due to arrive.”
As Kane walked around a woman, her nose wrinkled with disgust and he increased his pace. “Trust me, if we’d got cleaned up then climbed back in my truck, we’d have gotten the stink all over us again. The seats need cleaning and the outside looks like it’s been sitting next to a barbecue.”
“Oh, Kane, that’s a terrible thing to say.” Jenna sidestepped a couple of kids with cotton candy blowing dangerously back and forth in the wind. “Even if the man tried to kill me, he didn’t have to die that way. Can you imagine being burned to death?”
“No, I can’t, but he didn’t need to hold up the ticket office at the showgrounds or run you off the road either.” Unable to understand her concern for the man who’d thought nothing about potentially killing her, Kane stared at her. “Or drive while talking on a cellphone.”
“I guess.” She glanced at him. “I wonder how many car wrecks are caused by sending messages.”
Kane huffed out a sigh, wishing he hadn’t looked up the numbers recently. “Last time I looked at the stats, 1.6 million car wrecks—or one in four—are caused by texting. Obviously sending or reading a message is more important than life.”
“Enough about that, Emily’s safety is my main concern right now.” Jenna appeared to shake herself mentally. “I need to work out a plan B for this afternoon, maybe a plan C as well. I’ll think on it in the shower.”
He led the way up the steps and into the office with Jenna close behind. As they walked past the people waiting at the counter, Deputy Walters waved to get their attention, but Jenna had already headed for the shower. He walked toward him. “Yeah?”
“I have Chrissie Lowe’s shoes.” Walters held up a plastic evidence bag. “A man walking his dog found them spread out alongside the road in the grass up near the college.” He gave Kane a knowing nod. “I went straight out. Nobody touched them and I put them straight in this here bag. All the details are in the report.”
Kane placed his bags on the floor and examined the shoes. Someone had likely tossed them out the car after dropping Chrissie back at her dorm. “Can you send them over to Wolfe? With luck, he might be able to lift some prints off them.” He looked at Walters. “Still no word on her phone?”
“Nope, it went offline around two forty-five the same morning the roommate found her dead.” Walters shrugged. “Maybe someone flushed it?”
“Yeah, you never know.” Kane shrugged. “I gotta go wash this stink off. Catch you later.” He picked up his bags and headed for the locker room.
When Kane came out the locker room, he found Duke curled up asleep under his desk, and on top, he found takeout bags from Aunt Betty’s
Café. From the wonderful aroma of fresh coffee, Maggie had ordered lunch, knowing they’d both been on the go since breakfast. He sat down and waited for Jenna with one eye firmly on the clock; he’d finished eating by the time she emerged from the shower, hair glossy and smelling of honeysuckle. “Maggie ordered you some lunch.”
“Great, I’ll eat it on the way home.” She snatched up the bags and headed for the door then paused and looked at him over one shoulder. “Coming?”
