Page 23 of Tears on Her Grave

“That was Kalo. He traced Marissa’s truck to the Old Mitcham Ranch.” Jenna gripped Kane’s arm. “She went from here to Aunt Betty’s Café, did a J-turn on Main, and drove to the Old Mitcham Ranch, and her truck is still there.”

The Old Mitcham Ranch held so many bad memories and Jenna had almost been killed there. One of the first murders he encountered after arriving in Black Rock Falls was the horrific homicide of a young woman whom he found mutilated in the root cellar. It had been particularly gruesome, and memorable as the young woman resembled his sister. It hadn’t been something he could easily forget. A year later over Halloween, they discovered an entire group of workers slaughtered by a maniac. That had been the day their cat, Pumpkin, arrived on their doorstep splattered with blood and insisting they follow her to the crime scene.

During his time on the battlefield, Kane had seen many gruesome injuries but nothing had prepared him for walking into a dark root cellar and finding a young woman brutally murdered. The idea of history repeating itself knotted his stomach, and from Jenna’s expression, she had the same concern. He sucked in a deep breath. Dealing with death and destruction was part of the job, but everything about the Old Mitcham Ranch posed a danger and he did not intend to walk into a trap. “Oh, that can’t be good.”

“I’ll call it in and get Rio and Rowley for backup.” Jenna reached for her phone and made the call. She spoke to Rio. “Wear your Kevlar vests. We have no idea what’s waiting for us out there. Marissa Kendrick’s disappearance could tie in withthe current cold case, and we can’t take any chances. Holding the press conferences might have flushed out the killer, so we need to be on our guard. This could be a setup. We’ll meet you at the end of Main in ten minutes.” She clicked off and stared at Kane, resting her hands on hips. “If there’s one place I’d prefer to avoid at all costs, it’s the Old Mitcham Ranch. I wish they’d razed it to the ground like they wanted to years ago. Why the local council stepped in and said it was of historical importance, I'll never understand, but I guess they make their bucks out of the visitors who go there over Halloween.”

Kane slipped an arm around her shoulder as they walked back to the Beast. “There is one redeeming feature about the Old Mitcham Ranch, Jenna. It was Halloween when Pumpkin came to our door to alert us about what had happened there. You have to admit that cat chose to live with us, and since she’s arrived, she couldn’t be a more loving and devoted companion. Even Duke loves her and he isn’t a fan of cats at all. So hang on to that one positive about the place.”

“Yeah, and when I see her, I don’t get flashbacks about that time at all.” Jenna leaned into him. “She has become part of the family now, and I think I would miss the little purring bump curled up at my feet each night.”

Kane smiled down at her. “Me too.” He opened the back door of the truck and handed Jenna her Kevlar vest. “Keep that happy thought in your mind when we go back to the Old Mitcham Ranch. It might help.”

“I’ll do my best.” Jenna pulled the liquid Kevlar vest over her head and put her jacket over the top. “It’s just that that place gives me the creeps.”

Sunlight peeped through the clouds in long streams, giving the blacktop ahead the appearance of being under spotlights. Shaftsof sun lit up patches of grass and reflected in the pools of muddy water still lingering in the fields. If the rain held off for a time, the land would dry and the awful smell that floods left behind would be blown away in the wind from the mountains. As they drove onto the highway, Rio’s truck fell in behind them and they proceeded to the Old Mitcham Ranch. The notorious ranch was situated on the same road as their home and maybe a couple of miles closer to the river. They drove by their ranch and the snowplow guy’s place. Twenty minutes or so after they’d left town, Kane took the driveway that led to the heavy metal gates that barred the way to the ranch. The gates had been installed by the company that had taken over the place as a Halloween attraction. He slowed the Beast and came to a stop at the open gate. He glanced at Jenna. “Wait here for a second. I’ll go and check how they got into this place.”

Outside the gate, Kane searched through the undergrowth for the length of chain and padlock that usually secured the gates. He found the damaged padlock. It had been cut using bolt cutters and casually tossed to one side. The length of chain still hung on a gate pressed hard into the bushes alongside the driveway. No distinguishing tire tracks showed on the overgrown gravel driveway. The only sign that anyone had been there was the bent-over vegetation along the center. He opened the heavy gates wide before heading back to the truck and climbing behind the wheel. “They used bolt cutters and that’s a very strong lock. It wouldn’t have been easy to cut through. The gate is heavy as well and rusted on the hinges, so I doubt Marissa opened the gate herself. She must have been meeting someone here.”

“That’s kinda obvious, going on what her friends say about not liking to travel anywhere alone.” Jenna frowned. “It also tells us that she met someone she could trust. No one in their right mind would come out here to meet a stranger.” She looked athim, her eyes filled with concern as she tapped her mic to relay a message to the deputies. “Keep scanning the property. We don’t know who might be out there.”

“Copy that.”Rio’s voice came through their earpieces.

Safe inside the Beast, nothing could touch them. Designed to protect Kane, the vehicle was virtually bombproof, but the second they stepped outside they’d be vulnerable. The Old Mitcham Ranch had a number of outbuildings and was surrounded by hillside, which a sniper could utilize. As they drove in, Kane considered every possible scenario. “The barn doors are open, and I don’t see a truck anywhere. That would be the logical place to park, especially if it had been raining when she arrived yesterday. I recall what it’s like inside. It has a wide-open space and stables along one end. In the middle is a trapdoor that leads down to a root cellar. The hayloft was in pieces the last time we came by, so I would doubt anyone would risk climbing up there to take a shot at us.”

“So inside the barn would be the safest place?” Jenna’s head swiveled from side to side as she scanned every angle as they drove past the ranch house.

Kane nodded and, flicking on his headlights, moved the truck into the huge barn. The powerful beams lit up a white truck on the far side, and as he swung the truck around, turning it to face the opening, the headlights picked up a line of red on the dusty floor. The long smear led from the stables to an open trapdoor. He turned to look at Jenna. “I see a blood trail from the stables to the root cellar.”

“Okay, let’s take a look.” Jenna rested one hand on the door handle and flicked him a glance. “Are you getting a feeling of déjà vu? Because I sure am.”

Pushing the memories to the back of his mind of the day he found the body in the root cellar, he climbed from the truck, constantly scanning the area for any movement but foundnothing. As he led Jenna to the parked white truck, Rio and Rowley parked in the barn and waited for instructions. He turned and looked at them. “Clear the barn and watch your backs.”

He peered inside the truck and, using his phone, took pictures of a bag of groceries and a purse sitting on the passenger seat beside a phone. The keys hung in the ignition and he found no sign of any disturbance. “It looks like she arrived here and climbed out of the vehicle. I figure you’re correct. She did know the person she met here. She didn’t even bother to take her phone with her.”

“There’s nothing of interest on this side of the vehicle. The dust has been disturbed but there are no distinguishing footprints.” Jenna pulled on examination gloves before opening the door. “Now this is interesting. Look what I found in the console.” She held up a cheap burner phone. “Why would a tax accountant require a burner phone? This case is getting more mysterious by the second.”

“We followed the blood trail and one of the stables is a bloodbath. There are footprints all over.” Rowley moved to Kane’s side. “Whatever happened here occurred in the stables, and from the blood trail, I figure we’ll find Marissa Kendrick at the bottom of the steps leading to the root cellar.”

TWENTY-SEVEN

Sick to her stomach, Jenna grabbed a flashlight from the Beast. The last thing she wanted to do was to go into a root cellar to hunt down a body. A cold wind blew across her face, making the hairs on the back of her neck rise. It was as if someone was watching them. She glanced at Kane. “Ready?” She turned to Rio and Rowley. “Watch our backs. Keep under cover. We could easily have a sniper out there. In this barn we’re sitting ducks.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Rio nodded. “Do you want me to call Wolfe? I figure there are body parts in the stables. They could be fingertips. If they belong to Marissa Kendrick, she fought for her life.”

A sickening wave rushed over Jenna at the terror the victim must have endured, and she swallowed hard.What will we find in the cellar?“Yeah, we’ll need him. Explain the dangers surrounding the situation and ask him to take precautions.”

Trying to gather her courage to follow Kane into the dark root cellar, Jenna took out a face mask from her pocket and pressed it to her nose. She looked into Kane’s suddenly unemotional expression and realized he’d fallen into the zone to protect his mind against what horrific sight he was going to encounter in the root cellar. She’d tried many times to emulatehim but memories of the dead they’d found over the years never left her. Although the flashbacks she’d suffered after her time as DEA Agent Avril Parker had subsided, the memories of murder scenes often played in her mind like a horror movie. Some very bad memories came back, triggered by similar events, and she couldn’t turn them off, and even flooding her head with happy thoughts didn’t distract them from tormenting her.

Following Kane down debris-strewn steps and into complete darkness took every ounce of her courage. She wrapped her fingers around a flashlight, the beam was powerful but didn’t deter the encroaching shadows trying to smother her. Making an effort to ignore the strong metallic scent of blood and the stale smell that arrives just before a body turns putrid, Jenna pushed down the need to run away. She sucked in a breath behind her face mask and nodded to Kane. “Let’s go.”

Drips of congealed blood coated the stairs down to the root cellar. No attempt had been made to disguise the footprints, although they were unremarkable in size and had the typical pattern of any rubber boots purchased from a number of stores in town. In fact, they could belong to anyone in the county and beyond, as everyone owned a pair of rubber boots and wore them frequently during wet weather. Ahead of her, Kane moved his powerful flashlight in a wide arc as he descended the steps. She followed in his footsteps, keeping to the outside to avoid the blood spatter and ducking away from the dead roots hanging down to clutch at her clothes and grab at her hair. When he stopped suddenly in front of her, she bumped into his back. “What is it?”

“What’s left of Marissa Kendrick.” Kane turned slowly to look at her, his wide frame shielding her from the sight. “Are you sure you want to see this? It’s what nightmares are made of.”

Of course, Jenna wanted to say no. Her heart pounded so hard in her chest she could hardly breathe as she moved theflashlight in a slow arc ahead of her. Old dusty cobwebs torn from their moorings hung like filthy lace curtains around the entrance. Thick grime covered the floor and animal skat, likely from the thousands of rats that roamed the property, crunched under her boots. She gave Kane a slight nod and he moved to one side to reveal the horror before him. Breath caught in her throat.

Her chest tightened and she wanted to turn and run away. The body of Marissa Kendrick resembled a broken storefront dummy, although nothing could disguise the open red lacerations covering her entire body. She hadn’t just been murdered. A monster had slowly dissected her and from the amount of blood, she’d lived through every second. Dizzy, Jenna swayed and put out one arm to steady herself against the brick wall. “How could anyone do that to a person?”

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