Page 46 of In Her Fears
“Has anyone tried to enter the property?”Jenna asked.
“No, ma’am.Lots of shouting, but they’ve stayed off the porch.A guy with a shotgun left when I approached him.”
“Good work,” Jenna said, then turned to face the crowd.She raised her voice, projecting the authority she’d spent years cultivating.“Everyone, I need you to step back and lower your voices.This is an active investigation site.”
A murmur ran through the group, but no one moved.
“He killed Alexis!”someone shouted from the back.“Everyone knows it!”
“Why isn’t he in custody?”Ryan called out, his voice breaking.“Why are you protecting him?”
Jenna held up her hands, palms out.“I understand that you’re upset.Alexis was beloved in this community, and her death is a tragedy that touches all of us.But gathering here like this interferes with our investigation and could compromise our ability to bring the real killer to justice.”
“The real killer is in that house!”a woman cried, pointing toward Harrow’s darkened windows.
Jenna caught Jake’s eye, communicating silently.He gave a slight nod and moved to the side of the crowd, phone in hand, already calling specific officers for backup.She knew that Jake would have some of their team break off from work that could be postponed, or get into uniform if it was their day off.
She turned back to the protesters, focusing on Ryan, whose grief seemed to be fueling much of the group’s anger.“Ryan,” she said, “I know how much you’re hurting right now.But I need to understand something.How did you all come to believe that Elias Harrow is connected to Alexis’s death?”
“It’s all over town.Everyone at the café was talking about it.”
“And who told everyone in the café?”Jenna pressed.
The café owner stepped forward, her round face flushed with emotion.“That young man from the art gallery—the one with all the piercings.He came in for coffee around two o’clock and told us you were investigating Harrow for the murder.Said there was evidence linking him directly to Alexis, but that you hadn’t arrested him yet.”
Jenna felt a surge of frustration.“Did he give specifics about this supposed evidence?”
“He said it had to do with some weird paintings,” one of the waitresses chimed in.“Paintings that show murder scenes.He described one of them—a man with a stake through his heart, posed against a tree with a pentacle carved in its trunk.”
Jenna fought to keep her expression neutral.She remembered Jay asking, “Does this have anything to do with what happened to Alexis last night?”
She’d told him she wasn’t prepared to say, but now she wished she’d pushed back more strongly.If she hadn’t been so tired, maybe she would have handled it better.And now, based at least partly on her non-answer, Jay had apparently decided on his own that Alexis’s death was connected with Elias’s paintings.But why spread this information around town?
“Did Jay say anything else?”she asked.
The café owner frowned, thinking.“He seemed pretty worked up about it.Said it wasn’t right that ‘a creep like Harrow’ could just sit in his house painting death scenes while innocent people got hurt.Then he asked if we were going to do anything about it or just wait for someone else to die.”
So Jay was deliberately inciting action, Jenna realized.Was he stirring trouble out of genuine concern, or was there something more malicious at play?
“Listen to me,” she said, raising her voice to address the entire group again.“I know you’re all here because you cared about Alexis and want justice for her.I want that too.But what you’ve been told is incomplete information that’s just part of an ongoing investigation.By gathering here, you’re actually making it harder for us to do our jobs.”
She paused, letting that sink in before continuing."We haven't arrested Elias Harrow, because at this point we don't have evidence that he committed any crime.Being strange and reclusive, or painting disturbing images, isn't illegal."
“So why are you investigating him at all?”Ryan protested.
“It’s complicated,” Jenna replied, choosing her words carefully.“And I’m not at liberty to discuss details of an active investigation.What I can tell you is that we’re pursuing all leads, and if we determine that Mr.Harrow is responsible for Alexis’s death, we will make an arrest immediately.”
A murmur of discontent rippled through the crowd.Jenna could see that her words weren’t having the desired effect.These people wanted an immediate target for their grief and rage.She was about to try a different approach when the rumble of engines drew everyone’s attention to the road.
A white van with a satellite dish mounted on the roof pulled up alongside the patrol cars.The side door slid open, revealing a camera operator already hoisting equipment onto his shoulder.Behind him, a woman in a tailored blazer stepped out, her expression lighting up at the sight of the crowd.
“Channel 8 News,” Jake grumbled, returning to Jenna’s side.
The reporter—Jenna recognized her as Isabel Chen from the Springfield station—was already making her way toward them, microphone in hand, cameraman in tow.
“Sheriff Graves,” she called, “Isabel Chen, Channel 8.We received a tip about a protest related to the Alexis Downey murder case.Can you confirm that Elias Harrow is a suspect?”
Jenna stepped forward to intercept her before she could reach the crowd.“Ms.Chen, this is neither a protest nor an official police action.These are concerned citizens who have been misled by rumors.I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t inflame the situation.”
