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When Duke sniffed the ground and then took off through the trees, Jenna stared after him in disbelief. She looked at Kane. “Give me the keys, he’s heading in the direction of the Triple Z Bar.”
She caught the keys he tossed her and she watched him dash into the woods with Carter on his heels and Zorro bounding along behind. She turned to Wolfe. “I doubt the killer is hanging around close by. Do you want us to meet you at the crime scene in Blackwater?”
“Yeah, I’ll tow the sedan back to my office, get the body on ice, and leave.” Wolfe shut the trunk. “I’ll work on her when we get back. I’ll ask Emily to contact the Blackwater Sheriff’s department to contact the next of kin and they’ll organize a time for her parents to do a viewing.”
Jenna nodded and headed to the Beast. She opened the door and adjusted the seat; the way Kane had it set, she couldn’t reach the pedals. Throwing a look at Jo, she smiled. “Duke picked up a scent, Kane and Carter are on it, and we’ll meet them on the other side of the woods.” With some degree of concern, she started the engine, turned the truck around. Not that she had any problem driving, but piloting Kane’s pride and joy did make her a little apprehensive. By the time they headed along Stanton, she made out Kane and Carter standing in the Triple Z parking lot. She pulled up beside them and leaving the engine running, pushed the seat right back and then climbed out from behind the wheel. “How did he go?”
“He came straight here and sat down.” Kane stared down at the ground. “There’s nothing here, not even a tire track but at least we know how he did it. He left his vehicle here, hidden in plain sight and found himself another ride. When he’d finished with the vehicle, he dumped it close by and walked here.”
Jenna waited for Kane to get the dogs settled in the back, climbed inside with the others, and fastened her seatbelt. “I didn’t see any cause of death on the body. Her neck looked untouched, no visible puncture wounds or blood.”
“The broken blood vessels in her eyes would make me think suffocation.” Kane headed toward Blackwater. “She was wearing her shoes and they were muddy, scratches on her legs. I’d say she’d been walking through the forest.”
“Something else.” Carter leaned forward. “Wolfe will be all over the mark on her cheek. I figure someone had his hand over her face. With any luck she’ll have picked up some DNA inside her mouth on her teeth maybe.” His eyes flashed with anger. “The government trained me to kill the bad guys without thinking about it. I carried out my orders no questions asked but being a cop is a completely different ballgame. I’ve had to change my attitude.” He dragged in a breath. “As a man, I want to take the killer down but as a cop I want to see him thrown in jail for the rest of his life.”
Jenna nodded. “The reason that keeps me focused is something Kane told me. He said it was easy to kill a person but you can’t give back a life if you make a mistake.”
“Mistakes happen all the time.” Kane glanced at her. “We’ve made mistakes, built up a case to find it was someone else.” He looked back to the highway. “Carter has the right attitude, a lifetime behind bars is at least some compensation to the families.”
Jenna hoped so because the memory of Kane’s anger when he’d found out the man who’d killed his wife walked free was still fresh in her mind. He’d wanted to tear him apart with his bare hands and yet she’d seen his cool detached combat face in times of great danger. When the time came, when they had absolute proof the man was the DC bomber and the perpetrator of the horrific crimes in the surrounding counties, which Kane would she be dealing with—the cool professional or the revengeful husband?
Forty-Nine
Wolfe towed the vehicle into his drive-through inspection area and once his van was unhitched, closed the doors at both ends. The removal of
the body took no time at all. Pamela was small for her age and after taking the normal precautions against contamination, he lifted her out onto a gurney and took her straight to the examination room. Conducting a preliminary examination at this time was crucial as trace evidence was easily lost by delaying. He’d taken the temperature of the body at the crime scene. With Emily and Carter watching on, he checked her body. He noticed the slight bruising on her cheek and immediately swabbed her tongue, lips, and front teeth for DNA evidence. He took samples from under her fingernails, while Emily bagged the girl’s sneakers and socks.
“Dad there’s a ligature mark on her ankle, not a zip-tie this time. It looks wider and it’s bruised her ankle.” Emily pulled down the magnifying lens and turned on the bright light. “It’s scraped the skin too.”
Wolfe moved closer. “She was shackled. I’ve seen the same damage from prisoners.”
“Are those burns on her thighs?” Webber frowned. “She has them on her lower torso as well.”
Wolfe peered at the marks and then rolled her over. “I’ll have to look closer at these but I don’t believe they’re burns in the true sense of the word. I’ve seen similar marks when clothes are torn off a victim and they present more like a rope burn.” He looked at Webber. “There’s no sign of any apparent injury, my initial guess would be suffocation. We’ll find out in the autopsy. The body temperature was the same as the trunk and going on rigor, she likely died twelve to twenty-four hours ago. As she was heated inside the trunk, it’s difficult to determine a closer TOD.”
“So, he took her somewhere overnight and killed her the following morning?” Emily looked at the corpse with compassion. “She must have been terrified.”
Wolfe covered the body with a sheet and gave the signal to Webber to slide the gurney into a drawer in the wall of the mortuary. He pulled off his gloves and turned to Emily. “We have to go and pull the bodies out of the housefire now. Do either of you need a break?”
“No, I’m fine.” Emily glanced at the stainless-steel wall of drawers. “She doesn’t look too bad but I’ll do what I can to make her look asleep for when her parents come to view her.” She looked at him. “Do you want me stay back to fix her up and conduct the viewing? It will save time if we get a positive ID.”
Pleased Emily was taking more responsibility, he nodded. “That would be a great help. Don’t answer any questions about cause of death. Just say it’s undetermined at this time.”
“I know the drill, Dad.” She patted him on the arm. “Go, I’ll be fine.”
Wolfe turned to Webber. “What about you? Need a break?”
“No, I’m good to go.” Webber shook his head. “Although seeing these young women murdered doesn’t get any easier.”
Wolfe slapped him on the back. “Without compassion we might as well walk away. It’s the drive we all need to find the answers. Remember we speak for the dead. We tell their stories and the truth will find their killers.”
Fifty
The house smelled of wet burned newspaper mingled with the stomach-turning odor of a recent cookout. The odor of fire still lingered in the air, and scattered swirls of smoke, filtered through Kane’s mask in an acrid aftertaste. He stared at the gutted ruins of a once beautiful old ranch house. Only a few of the structural beams had survived, the explosion and fire had rendered the residence into a pile of wet ashes. He waited outside, with Jenna and Jo staring at Wolfe’s meticulous gathering of evidence. With a fire, the less people inside the better until the scene had been documented, photographs and samples taken. Carter worked alongside the fire chief, Matt Thompson, sifting through ashes for parts of the explosive devices, and they walked out, gloved hands blackened to the wrists.
Kane took in the evidence bags in Carter’s hand. “Find anything?”
“Yeah, I’ll need to work in Wolfe’s lab to piece it together.” Carter handed over the evidence bags to Jenna. “I’ve taken scrapings from what’s left of the stove. There’s residue of an accelerant I’m not familiar with and I figure he used it in the cruiser bombing as well.”
