Page 33 of Tears on Her Grave

Absorbing the cast-off blood knowledge and locking it away for future reference, Kane nodded. “We’ll do our best to find it for you.”

“I know you will.” Wolfe removed his face mask and smiled at them. “Once Webber has hosed down the sidewalk, I’m done here.” He looked at Jenna. “I figure I could narrow down the time of death if we knew when Lily left the beauty parlor. I recall that she kept the store open late on Friday nights. I’ve heard the girls talking about it. I could give you an approximate time going on rigor mortis and body temperature, but I believe the window is narrower. The evidence suggests she was attacked as she left work, which would put the time of death between nine and say midnight. That’s a very small window but it might catch you a killer.”

“Thanks. I’ll get onto it right away.” Jenna removed her mask and walked back to Rio and Rowley. “Take a break and grab breakfast. I’m heading into the office to make some calls. I need to know what our suspects were doing between nine and midnight last night.”

“Okay.” Rio headed for his truck with Rowley close behind.

Something didn’t seem right to Kane and he stood for a few moments scanning the alleyway. He turned when Jenna touched his arm. “Don’t you figure it seems strange for a woman alone to leave by the back door into a dark alleyway rather than goingout the front into the light?” He held up the evidence bags and opened the one with the keys. He still wore his examination gloves and headed out the alleyway and pointed the key fob at the few cars parked alongside Main. When one vehicle’s lights lit up, a few yards from the front of the beauty parlor, he turned to Jenna. “It doesn’t make sense why she would leave from the back door.”

“Maybe she needed to dump some garbage?” Jenna rubbed her temple, thinking. “We didn’t check to see if the back door of the beauty parlor is locked.”

Kane nodded. “I’ll look, but I figure it’s locked because why would she leave with her purse if she intended to go back inside? I’ll look inside the dumpster out back of the beauty parlor to see if there are any garbage bags in there filled with stuff from the store.”

After hooking out the two bags on the top of the garbage, Kane tore them open and turned to Jenna. “These are from the beauty parlor.” He tossed them back inside the dumpster. “I wonder if she makes a habit of dumping the garbage before she leaves on Fridays?”

“That looks like a ton of garbage.” Jenna stared at the dumpster. “I figure that would be enough for a week not a day. You’d think she would get one of the apprentices or the cleaner to dump the garbage. It seems an unusual thing for an owner to do.” She made a note in her notebook. “I’ll be sure to ask the staff. I believe Lily was in a partnership in the business. We’ll need to call the other owner and tell her what’s happened.” She headed toward the Beast.

Kane nodded. “I’ll do that. You’ll need to call the suspects and find out if they have alibis for last night. Getting a call from the sheriff will give them something to think about.”

“As long as they don’t come at me with an ax.” Jenna gave him a wary look.

Being able to outdraw anyone he’d ever met, Kane drew his weapon fast and Jenna took a step back eyes wide. “If anyone can swing an ax faster than I can draw down on them, I’ll quit my job.” He slowly reholstered his weapon. “Trust me, no one is getting near you with an ax.”

FORTY-ONE

They headed for the office, and once inside, Jenna pulled up the details of the male suspects. Unconcerned about the early hour, she called each of them and insisted they give her their whereabouts for the previous evening between nine and midnight. All four of them insisted they were watchingFriday Night Sportsat home. Hallon said his wife was over at his folks’ house baking pies with his mother and had been since three o’clock the previous afternoon. Crawley insisted his father was with him when he watched the games, but when Jenna followed up, Crawley’s mother said she went to bed early and usually her husband fell asleep in front of the TV just about the moment the game started. Wasser and Twotrees were alone all night. She ran a hand down her face in frustration. The phone calls had gotten her absolutely nowhere.

Her phone buzzed the moment she put it down. It was Norrell. “Hey, have you discovered anything interesting?” She put her phone on speaker so Kane could listen.

“Yeah, I have. The DNA under Abby’s fingernails has given us a result.”Norrell’s footsteps clattered over tile.“It’s not a match for Cole but is good enough to use as a comparison against the other suspects if you can get DNA samples for themlegally. Also, Wolfe has noticed a chip on the enamel of the fraternity pin. He called Kalo and asked him to find all the images of the members of the fraternity around the time of the murders and see if he can find someone wearing that pin.”

Excited, Jenna punched the air. “That’s fantastic. If he discovers who owned the pin, we have the killer.”

“It’s a very exciting discovery. I just hope it pans out.”Norrell sighed.“This wasn’t the main reason I called, although it’s very good news. I was considering doing another media conference. I believe it might be beneficial to your investigation if the killer believes we’re hot on his trail.”

Horrified by what had happened since the last media conference, Jenna frowned. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea. Are you aware that Lily Jones was found murdered this morning? She was with Abby and Cole the night they were murdered. I’m starting to believe that the killer is taking out anyone he believes is a threat.”

“Oh, my goodness. No, I didn’t know. I’ve been here since five, waiting for the DNA results to come through. You don’t believe my media conference triggered him, do you?”Norrell had stopped walking and was breathing heavily.

Pushing hair from her face and tucking it behind one ear, Jenna glanced at Kane and shook her head. He responded with a shrug. “No, I don’t believe it was your media conference. I figured it was because the bodies showed, and whoever was involved panicked. It’s been a long time since Cole and Abby were murdered, and maybe their trust in each other is growing a little thin.” She sighed. “I’m convinced that a group of people are involved, and we have a list of suspects. It will be only a matter of time before one of them breaks now that two of them have been brutally murdered. In all honesty, I don’t believe any of them would consider the murders to be a warning not to say anything. When people are running scared, they look for protection andthey’re not going to trust the person doing this. I figure you should go ahead with your press conference. Don’t give away too much information, just enough to let them know that we’re onto them. Maybe it will urge one of them to come forward. In fact, I might come along and mention that anyone who was involved in the murders twelve years ago might be eligible for immunity if they come clean about what really happened that Halloween.”

“Okay.”Norrell blew out a long breath. “I’ll write everything down first and run it past Wolfe. He’s very experienced in dealing with the media and will know what to tell them and what to withhold. When I’m done, I’ll send you a copy to approve.”

Relieved, Jenna leaned back in her chair. “Thank you. I’d appreciate it. I’ll speak to you later and we can arrange a time.”

“Not a problem.”Norrell disconnected.

“You do know the media conference could have triggered the killer.” Kane stared at her across his desk. “He might well believe someone is feeding information to us. We did, after all, go and interview Josie and Marissa soon after the bodies were discovered. Then we interview Lily and she turns up dead this morning.”

Jenna stood and stretched her aching back. “Did you manage to contact the owner of the beauty parlor and tell her about Lily?”

“Yeah, I did and she’s a close friend of Lily’s family. She wanted to be the one to speak to them about Lily’s death as her mother has a serious heart condition. The beauty parlor will remain closed today. It seems to me that she has everything under control. I told her to contact Wolfe to arrange a viewing of the body and positive ID.”

A knock on the door announced the arrival of Johnny Raven. The strikingly handsome, six-five, two hundred fifty pound chopper pilot and his K-9, Ben, were an asset to the team.At thirty-two, his military background meant that he slipped seamlessly into their way of doing things. A loner who’d lived off the grid until he’d discovered Wolfe’s daughter Julie as the only survivor of an air crash in the mountains over the winter and saved her life. He’d not only worked with Rio and Rowley honing his hand-to-hand and weapons skills but had enrolled in a law enforcement course at the college. Before offering him the position, Wolfe and Kalo had checked out his background and he’d passed with flying colors. Jenna looked up at him and smiled. “Hey, what brings you into town?”

“My sheriff’s department truck was delivered today.” Raven smiled broadly. “It’s been a very long time since I’ve driven anything like that. I came by to thank you.”

“If you’re going to be one of our deputies, you’re going to need reliable transport.” Kane stood to shake his hand. “It’s good to see you again and you too, Ben.” He held his knuckles out to the dog and received a friendly lick. Duke had actually got out of his basket to say hello and his thick tail was wagging at the sight of a friend.

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