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TWENTY-THREE
It took Kane all of ten minutes to hunt down Sam Bright. He checked out the paperwork that came from the jail and contacted his parole officer, who gave him all the details he needed. His phone buzzed and he smiled as Bright’s work schedule popped into his inbox. He glanced over it, noting Bright was in town around the time the bodies showed. He should be at home now as he’d just checked in with his parole officer when he’d called. The guy had mentioned Bright was going home and wasn’t due to head out again until Wednesday. Kane turned to Jenna. “I’ve located Sam Bright and we need to get there now.” He stood and grabbed his jacket from the back of the chair.
“I’ve found Tom Parsons.” Jenna let out a long sigh. “He’s married. I called the company he works with, and they said he loaded his truck and was due to leave on a long-haul trip late last night or early this morning. He’ll be away overnight and they expect him back late tomorrow or Wednesday morning.” She stood and took the jacket Kane handed her. “Let’s go.”
The moment Kane shrugged into his jacket, Duke was by his side. After the shock of someone kidnapping the dog from the back of his truck, Jenna had made sure, apart from the sheriff’s department badge hanging from his collar, the same insignia was prominent on all his coats. Everyone in Black Rock Falls understood Duke was a valuable part of the team, but Jenna wanted to be sure the criminals knew as well. Kidnapping or injuring a patrol dog was a serious offense. After rubbing Duke’s head, Kane hurried out of the communications room to catch up with Jenna. “As Parsons is away, we should drop by and speak to his wife. It’s a golden opportunity to find out exactly where he was and when.”
“Yeah. That works for me.” Jenna pulled open the glass door.
They headed out into the sunshine and climbed into the Beast. Kane turned to Jenna. “You said Tom Parsons lives on Pine. We go right by his place on the way to Long River. Do you want to drop by and see his wife now?”
“Sure.” Jenna smiled at him. “At last, things seem to be moving along in this case. I hope that Wolfe finds something we can use in the autopsy tomorrow. If this killer is getting careless, he might have made his first mistake. The fluid in the last victim’s ear sure looked like spittle to me. If it is and he is one of our parolees, then he’ll be easy to identify.”
Kane backed out his truck and headed down Main. “That sure would make life easier but somehow I don’t figure we’re that lucky.”
“We’ll have to get a break sooner or later in the case and I’m banking on Wolfe finding something.” Jenna leaned back in her seat. “This is the first time Wolfe has found anything under one of the victim’s nails. I hope it’s something we can identify, to pinpoint where this lunatic is keeping these women. The areas around town are so diverse it should be easy. I had a good look at the last victim’s hands and I’m sure I saw dirt and maybe grass under her nails.”
On Pine the houses spread out over their lots and sat back from the road with long driveways. The road was aptly named as brown and green pine needles covered the treelined blacktop. Kane pulled into the wide dirt driveway and followed it to the house. The ranch-style residence sprawled at odd angles, as if many additions had been added over the years. Some distance away at the end of a gravel track sat a tall wide garage. He assumed Parsons housed his truck there. The yard was wild and unkept, but the house had been freshly painted and it appeared that they had recently replaced the steps to the porch. He pulled his truck in beside a red Colorado and turned to Jenna. “How do you want to play this?”
“I’ll take the lead. We’ll keep it friendly and informal.” Jenna slid out the truck and walked toward the porch. “See what you can get from her body language.”
Kane went up the stairs and knocked on the door. A woman he assumed was in her mid-thirties with a two-year-old boy on her hip opened the door. The odor of wet diapers rushed out to meet them. “Mrs. Parsons? I’m Deputy Dave Kane and this is Sheriff Alton. Could we have a few minutes of your time?”
Mrs. Parsons leaned against the doorframe and frowned at them. “Is there a problem? Has something happened to my husband?” She ran a hand self-consciously through her untidy hair and smoothed her wrinkled floral dress.
“No, no, nothing’s happened to your husband.” Jenna stepped up to the front door. “We’re just looking for information. As your husband is a trucker, we figured he might have been in the area of Stanton early this morning or on Main yesterday morning. We’re hunting down witnesses for illegal dumping.” She pulled out her notebook and pen and looked at the woman expectantly. “Does he often go to the local landfill?”
“I have no idea where he goes. I don’t recall what time he left; it was dark outside. That’s the life of a trucker’s wife. We’re used to being alone.” Mrs. Parsons waved a hand behind her. “I have too much to do with the children to worry about where he is twenty-four hours a day. Yeah, he goes to the landfill, but everyone goes to the landfill. There is often a lot of packing material left in his truck when he comes home. So, he does often drop it there. The other days maybe he was there at those times. I wouldn’t know. You’d have to ask him when he gets back. I’m usually asleep when he leaves in the morning, so I can’t tell you when he left.”
Jenna made a few notes and then looked back at the woman. “When he’s away, does he stay away for one night or a few nights at a time?”
“He owns his truck, so it depends where the job takes him.” Mrs. Parsons eyes flashed with annoyance. “One thing for darn sure, he never dumps his litter on the side of the road. So, if you’re looking to pin this on him, you’ve got the wrong man.”
“I’m not trying to blame anyone, Mrs. Parsons.” Jenna folded her notebook and put it in her pocket. “I’m more interested in finding anyone who was passing through the area and might have seen a vehicle parked on the side of the road around the time of the dumping.”
A baby cried inside the house and Mrs. Parsons looked around and then back to them. “I have to go. My youngest is teething. Tom is due back tomorrow, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he stays out longer as we’re not getting any sleep lately. If you want to catch up with him, I would suggest that you drop by again tomorrow afternoon or maybe leave it until Wednesday. He’s not due out again until Friday morning.”
Kane pushed his hands into the front pocket of his jeans and leaned casually against the porch railing. “What type of goods does your husband carry?”
“Anything that doesn’t need refrigeration and he don’t carry animals.” Mrs. Parsons looked over her shoulder toward the wailing baby. “I can’t leave her crying. Give me a minute.” She hurried away down the hallway.
“What do you think?” Jenna had lowered her voice to a whisper. “Should I ask her about formaldehyde?”
Kane scanned the area, his attention fixing on the garage. “Maybe we won’t need to. Keep her busy.”
Bolting through the long grass, Kane ran into the garage. The smell of oil hit him in a wave of humidity. The building was massive, big enough to accommodate an eighteen-wheeler. Patches of oil stained the cracked cement floor and Kane bent down to inspect them. He ran his fingers through the oil. It was dry and had been there for some time. Straightening, he walked to the back of the garage and peered into the incinerator, finding only ashes. He moved on to a shed and peered in the window. A bench held a variety of tools and heads of various animals adorned the walls in rows. Out back in a lean-to, he discovered five plastic gallon bottles labeled formaldehyde and lifted each one to judge their contents. He pulled out his phone and took photographs of everything he’d found and then headed back to Jenna. As luck would have it, Mrs. Parsons hadn’t returned to the front door. Just as he climbed the steps, he could hear her footsteps coming down the hallway. He gave Jenna a slight nod.
As the woman came to the front door again, Kane smiled at her. “I hear your husband is quite the artist. I believe he has some fine taxidermy. Does he work in the house or does he have a place somewhere else? I guess it would be too stinky to do around kids.”
“He keeps all that garbage in the shed.” Mrs. Parsons grimaced. “I’m not a fan of taxidermy. All those dead eyes following me like I’m to blame for killing them, I won’t have them in the house.”
“I’m not a fan either.” Jenna smiled. “I prefer my animals alive and free. It’s an unusual hobby. I imagine you have to order all the formaldehyde that’s delivered here? Does Tom use it to clean the inside of his truck after consignments as well?”
“No, I don’t order anything for Tom. He handles everything to do with the business, all the books, the ordering, and the contracts. I have enough to do bringing up his kids and running the house.” She pushed a strand of long greasy hair behind one ear and stared at him. “Is that all? I need to get back to my children or the next thing you know we’ll have Child Protective Services knocking on my door.”
“I’m sorry we took up so much of your time.” Jenna smiled at her. “Children are a ton of work. You’ve been very helpful and we appreciate it.” She backed away from the door and then turned to look at the woman. “If we need more information, we’ll be sure to drop by when Tom is home.”
As they headed down the long dark winding driveway, Kane turned to Jenna. “There are three empty bottles of formaldehyde at the back of the garage, and two full ones.” He handed her his phone. “The oil on the floor of the garage is old. It’s unlikely that Parsons’ truck made the oil patches we found on Stanton near the body. It seems he’s using formaldehyde for his hobby. I did see a ton of taxidermy on the walls in a shed. There are tools and a bench. He’s the real deal. Although, formaldehyde is used as a disinfectant as well, but I don’t think he carries anything that would require that amount of cleaning. Most truckers would hose out the back of their trucks.”
“Unless he’s a clean freak.” Jenna flicked a glance at him and shrugged. “Although by looking at the yard and the smell coming from the house, I would hardly think so.” She chewed on her bottom lip; something she always seemed to do when she was working out a problem. “Formaldehyde and oil spills kind of make me suspicious, but then he does have a rock-solid alibi as he’s married. I honestly believe that most wives would protect their husbands. Maybe not after discovering that they’ve murdered three or four women. But in the initial investigation I would assume they would. Then again, she could be telling the truth and she’s so involved looking after her children that she doesn’t really know what he’s doing.”
Kane turned onto Stanton and headed for Long River. He shrugged. “It would be a perfect setup for a psychopath, wouldn’t it? Just think about it, Jenna. A guy who can be away from home at any time, and his wife wouldn’t become suspicious. If he’s aware of the more common psychopathic profile, he would know that the majority of them are single Caucasian males.” He stared at the blacktop winding through Stanton Forest and sighed. “If it is him, it will be very difficult to get a conviction. We would need absolute proof. Circumstantial evidence wouldn’t cut it with his wife as his alibi.”
“We’ll keep him on the list. I’m more interested in what Bright has to say for himself.” Jenna scrolled through her iPad. “This guy is at the top of my list at the moment. I think you should take the lead in the interview. It’s obvious to me he has a problem with women. Or he has no respect for them. Men who rape don’t respond well to a woman questioning them. You’re intimidating and might have a better chance of getting information out of him. If he’s on parole, there’s no way he’ll want to go back to jail. So, lean on him a bit and see what happens. I see from the GPS that there’s a lot of land around his property. I might leave you to it and make an excuse to take Duke for a walk. It will give me the opportunity to take a look around.”
Kane frowned. “Be careful. You know as well as I do that we don’t have permission to search the premises and without a search warrant anything we find wouldn’t be admissible in court.” He blew out a long breath. “If we can establish probable cause, we can get a search warrant and go back later.”
“I do know what to do, Dave.” Jenna laughed. “Is there something about this case? Is it spooking you more than usual?”
Kane looked at her and smiled. “You mean you don’t think I should worry about sending my wife into the potential clutches of a raping psychopath? We know Bright is suspicious, but what we don’t know is if he’s working alone. He could be living with an accomplice. You always need to be on your guard. Especially when you’re alone.”
“You shouldn’t worry.” Jenna squeezed his arm. “I wouldn’t think twice about defending myself if necessary. Once upon a time, I held the opinion that people could change but since we’ve been dealing with psychopaths, I understand it’s an out-of-control mental problem and there’s no cure.”
