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Although she would value Carter’s insight, she worked with Kane and they were supposed to be consultants, which left her in limbo without any powers at all. Jenna glanced over the files and tried to be diplomatic. “As I have a small team, I usually delegate the work to the people with the most experience. As we’re all experienced in the field, I can’t see any reason to split up. It’s counterproductive at this stage of the investigation.” She looked at Jo and wondered why she’d left Bobby Kalo, their black hat hacker, behind at the field office. He was very useful at hunting down information. “What about Kalo? Is he available if we need him?”
“Yeah.” Jo nodded. “He works better from our office. He has everything he needs there.”
“You’re the highest-ranking officer, Jo, how do you want to play this?” Kane leaned back in his chair. “One of you has to take the lead or we’ll be running around bumping heads.”
“We’ll work together and pool resources. I’m happy to take charge of the office but I’m not a detective. What about you, Carter?” Jo glanced at Carter.
“I’d rather Jenna takes the lead.” Carter looked at Kane. “No offense but she is your boss. Jenna is known throughout the local counties and people trust her. I figure if the victims have any skeletons in their closets, the locals are more likely to open up to her than us. Her record for solving crimes is impressive.” He shrugged. “As far as I’m concerned, we’re all equals here. Let’s do as Jenna suggested and go with the most experienced in solving murder crimes.”
Jenna exchanged a look of bewilderment with Kane. “But you’re FBI Agents—we don’t have the power to arrest anyone outside Black Rock Falls.”
“When the time comes, Jo or I will make the collar.” Carter smiled. “So, it’s nice and legal but who we use as consultants to get to that point is at our discretion.”
“At this point we’re all working under the FBI umbrella.” Jo went into her briefcase and pulled out two cred packs and handed them to Jenna and Kane. “We have jackets for you as well, for in the field if there’s a situation.” She smiled at Jenna. “Take charge, Jenna. There’s a ton of information to sort through before we start a list of possible suspects. I’ll work on a profile and I’d appreciate Kane’s input but I agree with Carter, we’ll need to walk you through the crime scene. You’ll see things we might have missed.”
Confused no one seemed to be worried about the missing girl, Jenna drummed her fingers on the table. “Okay, I’ll take the lead because right now we’re running around in circles. We’ll visit the crime scene later, right now we need more boots on the ground to find the girl. What’s happening now, Carter? Do you know if Crenshaw organized a search of the Woods’ farm and surrounds?”
“Yeah, I called him just before and they’re searching the area now, along with some volunteers from town. There’s no sign of her, Jenna. I also called Kalo and told him to hunt down any firebugs in the area.”
Glad that the Louan sheriff had the search covered, she glanced at the statements on her screen. “We’ll start with the witnesses’ statements. Once we have an idea what happened prior, during, and after the explosion, we’ll head out to the crime scene.”
They all worked in silence for some time. Jenna made notes on a few points. The people who called in a crime, especially in a fire, were often involved. A firebug enjoyed watching the firetrucks as well as the blaze.
“Now this is interesting.” Carter scrolled through the statements. “I’ve found a report of an older model blue Ford sedan seen in the vicinity of the Woods’ ranch before the explosion.” He frowned. “They didn’t take down the plate number but the vehicle was parked alongside the road just before nightfall and then drove into the Woods’ ranch. The neighbor, Joe Ranger, noticed it as he was feeding his horses.” He continued scrolling through the information on his screen. “Ranger headed into town soon after and didn’t see the fire.”
The memory of yesterday morning’s conversation with Kane flashed through Jenna’s mind. “Kane picked up a stolen vehicle fitting that description on Stanton Road the day after the fire. It’s in the impound lot in town.” She scanned her files. “The driver, Harvey Haralson, is in custody. We have his statement. I’ll add it to the files.”
“I’ll call Wolfe.” Kane pulled out his phone. “That car may hold the clue you’re after.”
“As firebugs like to watch the fire—” Jo’s attention moved to Kane “—did you smell smoke on him? It would’ve been hard to miss if he’d been close.”
“No.” Kane’s brow furrowed. “The vehicle went missing on Tuesday, was used in a crime that night, and found abandoned in the forest opposite the Triple Z Bar, the following morning, so I doubt the eighteen-year-old I pulled out the car was the bomber. I’d like to know why he was at the Triple Z, he’s too young to drink. How did he get there and where was he coming from? We could stop by county and let Carter flash his creds to put the fear of death into him by threatening to charge him with murder one?”
“Yeah, good idea.” Carter smiled and pushed his toothpick to one side of his mouth. “But he seems a mite young to be our bomber, unless his daddy taught him.” He looked at Jenna. “It might be an idea to find out if the kid was related to the DC bomber?” He accessed a database and they all waited expectantly. “No, Harvey Haralson is not related and has lived here in town all his life.”
“I don’t think he’s involved but we shouldn’t discount him completely. These days, men of his age are volatile and some are easily led into crime.” Jo looked from one to the other. “I’ll contact county and inform them he’s a person of interest in the bombing. They’ll be able to hold him until we can get to interview him.”
“But why would he risk being caught in a stolen vehicle after the bombing?” Carter frowned.
Jenna nodded. “I agree. No one is that stupid. He’d have known someone could’ve seen him by the ranch. He was out there before dark in plain sight.”
“Yeah but remember, if we’re dealing with a psychopath, they never believe they can be caught.” Kane crossed his legs at the ankles. “The arrogance I witnessed is typical behavior.”
Jenna stood and added Harvey Haralson and the vehicle to the whiteboard. A thought grabbed her. “Has the Triple Z recently installed a CCTV in the parking lot?”
“Now that would be a first.” Carter snorted and grinned at her. “Trust me, none of the clientele in that place want a record of their comings and goings. This one is going to be tough.”
“No one said solving crimes was easy.” Jenna pushed both hands through her hair. “Kane, call the impound yar
d and make sure no one goes near the car before Wolfe collects it. Carter, get out another media statement asking for any information on the vehicle. Someone might have seen it after the explosion. If the fire had people out sightseeing someone might have passed it on the highway.” She frowned. “Let’s get to work, we have a missing girl out there and someone has to have seen that car.”
Eleven
The Whispering Caves
Deep inside the Whispering Caves, water trickled just out of Sophie’s reach. Trying to ignore the tantalizing drip into the small pool of crystal-clear water, she swiped her parched tongue over her cracked lips and picked up the small rock. Trying to concentrate as she dehydrated had become harder by the minute but determined to cut herself free, she used the sharp rock to keep up a relentless sawing across the zip-tie binding her ankle to the ring in the ground. Blood trickled from her palm making the stone slip and slide. She’d dropped it so many times and suffered waves of frustration when it blended into the rock bottom of the cave. Acutely aware of any sounds in the catacombs, she stopped to listen but the skitter scatter wasn’t the man returning, it was the critters that shared her hellhole. Right now, he couldn’t see what she was doing and she knew exactly what turned on the trail cam. If she moved, the red light came on, so she turned her back, covered herself with the blanket and waited. Once the whir of the camera stopped, she moved one hand carefully to avoid triggering the motion sensor. The camera had come on at other times as well, so she figured he must have a way of watching her at any time.
Time was non-existent inside the cave. It had become one endless night and she’d gone from her stomach reminding her she hadn’t eaten, to rolling in waves of pain. Her body ached and her brutal captor reminded her each time he visited how nobody missed her or cared if she lived or died. He’d described in detail how her family would have looked after the fire. The sound of his laughter at her suffering filled her head in an endless tormenting earwig. He wanted to watch her starve to death and no doubt would find the rats consuming her dead flesh entertainment. She had to get away.
