Page 26 of In Her Dreams
The professor leaned back, her expression distant, professorial.“But that’s mere anthropological theory.I doubt it has any relevance to actual events in Greenville.More likely, these are simply decorative items that happened to be present when these unfortunate people died of natural causes.I suppose it’s possible that some sort of attack was triggered by their existing phobias through entirely mundane means.But that’s a matter for a medical authority, not within my purview.”
Jenna studied Dr.Summers’ face, sensing the deliberate distancing in her words.“And you’ve never seen dreamcatchers with these specific design elements before?”
“No,” Dr.Summers replied.“And I think I’d recognized them if they were at all common.”
“Do you know where the two people might have acquired them?Or where anyone might go looking for this kind of object?”
“No idea at all.”She glanced at her watch.“I’m afraid I have a class beginning in twenty minutes, Sheriff.Was there anything else?”
The dismissal was polite but firm.Jenna put away her phone, hiding her disappointment.
“Thank you for your time, Dr.Summers,” she said, rising from her chair.“If you think of anything else about these dreamcatchers, I’d appreciate a call.”She placed her card on the desk.
The professor nodded, already turning her attention to a stack of papers.“Of course.Good luck with your investigation.”
As Jenna stepped out of the office, a nagging suspicion gnawed at her.Dr.Summers’ precise answers and scholarly evasions seemed almost like a shield, perhaps to keep Jenna at arm’s length.Maybe it was because she had come on Cassie’s urging—a new-age psychic who probably felt like an affront to someone of Dr.Summers’ academic stature.
The campus had grown quieter as Jenna made her way back to the parking lot.Inside her vehicle, she sat for a moment, replaying the conversation in her mind.
What had she expected?That the professor would take one look at the dreamcatchers and exclaim, “Aha!These are death traps!”? Jenna smiled ruefully at her own thoughts.
She started the engine and pulled out of the parking space.As she navigated the winding campus roads toward the highway that would take her back to Trentville, she reached for her phone and connected it to the car’s Bluetooth system.
Jake answered on the second ring.“Hey, boss.How’d it go with the professor?”
“Academically informative and practically useless,” Jenna replied, merging onto the highway.“What’s happening there?”
“Special Agent Cody packed up and left about an hour ago,” Jake said.“Apparently, he and his team are done with their investigation here in Trentville.They’re going to move on elsewhere.He said he’d keep us in the loop if anything new develops, but I got the impression we shouldn’t hold our breath.”
Jenna sighed.The slippery human trafficking group had left few clues and too many victims.
“Any progress on connections between Winters and Palmer?”she asked.
“Nothing solid yet.They used different doctors, different grocery stores, went to different churches, moved in different circles.They lived on opposite sides of town.If they knew each other, it wasn’t through obvious channels.”Jake’s voice held the mild frustration of dead ends.
She could hear Jake turning pages in his notebook.
“I paid another visit to both Anita’s roommate and Richard Winters’ daughter to see if I could get anything more from them.Winters’ daughter suggested I pay a visit to Bruce Autrey, the assistant branch manager at Riverbend Trust.He worked closely with Winters, might know something about his personal life we haven’t uncovered yet.I’m about to head over to the bank right now.”
“I’ll be back in about forty minutes,” Jenna said.“Let’s regroup at the office and go through everything again.There’s something we’re missing.And Jake?Thanks for holding down the fort.”
“Always,” he replied, the single word carrying the weight of their partnership.
Jenna ended the call and focused on the road ahead.Fields and forests blurred past her window as she drove toward Trentville, the setting sun painting the landscape in rich amber hues.
The professor’s sensible responses left Jenna feeling somehow unsettled.Her years as sheriff had taught her to heed that quiet alarm, the one that nudged her when things didn’t quite add up.She could appreciate Dr.Summers’ academic skepticism.Even so, Jenna couldn’t shake the notion that those peculiar dreamcatchers held the answer she sought.But how was she ever going to solve their riddle?
CHAPTER TEN
The conversation with Jenna still echoed in Jake’s mind as he navigated his patrol car through the familiar streets of Trentville.Two deaths by extreme terror in as many days wasn’t something his police academy training had prepared him for.Neither was the strange tightness in his chest whenever he thought about that impulsive moment last week when he’d kissed Jenna’s cheek.
He adjusted the air conditioning, the cool blast doing little to clear his head.Earlier today, he’d interviewed Anita Palmer’s roommate without learning anything new.Alice Bowen had mentioned that Anita had seen a local therapist for sleep issues and nightmares—a Dr.Walsh, she’d said.That was now on his list of leads that still had to be checked.
His visit to Richard Winters’ home to reinterview Rusty Galvin had also left him with more questions than answers, and her reaction still weighed on him.
“You’re telling me someone else died the same way?”Rusty had asked, her voice cracking.She’d been sorting through her father’s mail at the kitchen table, creating neat stacks that seemed designed to give her some small measure of control.
Jake had shifted his weight, uncomfortable with how little he could reveal.“We’re looking into similarities, yes.”
