Page 9 of Their Haunted Hearts
Footsteps came along the hallway and Tauri burst into the kitchen. Jenna bent and gave him a hug. “Look at you, up and dressed. You are such a good boy.”
“I’ll get Jackson some toys.” Tauri gathered a few things from the toy box in the corner and dropped them on the tray of the highchair. He smiled at Jenna. “He likes toys in his highchair now. Nanny Raya says it’s okay.”
Putting the shower on the back burner for now, Jenna took the scrambled eggs Kane had just prepared and slid some onto a small plate. She buttered small fingers of toast. Jackson was starting to feed himself and, although messy, was getting better by the day. She would feed him the eggs and eat her own at the same time. The toast he could negotiate himself as well as a sippy cup. After breakfast, she checked the time, bathed Jackson, and had him dressed by the time Nanny Raya came through the connecting door from her apartment. She smiled at her. “I’m afraid I’m running late. The boys are ready. Jackson’s tooth is almost through. He’s been up since before dawn.”
“He’ll sleep later, don’t worry.” Raya held out her arms to Jackson who gave her a toothy grin. “Come on, we’ll take your brother to school and then we’ll go and visit your friends. Grab your bag, Tauri.” She headed back through the door with Tauri on her heels.
Separation anxiety gripped Jenna but Jackson had no worries at all. Their careful handling of easing back into the workforce had prepared the toddler for his parents’ long absences. She’d discovered not making a big thing out of leaving and having Raya as a constant person in both the boys’ lives meant her sons remained contented. She turned and looked at Kane. “I still hate leaving them.”
“Me too.” Kane held out his arms to her. “If we stayed home with Jackson, he wouldn’t get the social skills he gets when Raya takes him to playgroups. We spend as much time with them as possible. Allowing Rio to run the office, we’ve been part-time law enforcement officers for the last four months. It’s a compromise most parents don’t have. Jackson and Tauri are well adjusted. Now we have a homicide case, we need to spend the time at work. Once we catch this guy, we can spend more time with the boys. They’ll cope with the extra hours with Raya just fine. It’s all good.” He turned her around. “Go and get ready. I’ll clear the table.”
Loving the growing excitement of Halloween, Jenna peered out of the window as Kane drove the Beast, his tricked-out black truck, along Main. The displays and decorations set up outside the stores had reached a new level this year. She couldn’t remember seeing so many automated displays. The black and orange theme continued along the entire length of Main. “Slow down so we can look. Oh, that one is remarkable.” She pointed to a pair of gunslinger vampires, jumping from coffins to have a showdown, with stakes instead of guns.
“I don’t know where they come up with these ideas.” Kane buzzed down his window. “Can you hear them, Jenna? He’s saying, ‘Why are you coming at me with that stake?’” He grinned at her and crawled along the blacktop. “I figure the haunted house is going to be a hit with the locals.”
Jenna waved at a couple of townsfolk tying skeletons to the light posts. “I agree, they’ve been working on it for a long time. I’ve only heard gossip about it so far, but apparently, they completely gutted that old house so you can go in one door and move through rooms and have different terrifying experiences. I’d say it will be real spooky when it’s finished. It’s going to be a tourist attraction for sure. I heard it’s going to be open for all the festivals and the theme will change. I figured it would just be basically a haunted house.”
“I heard they’re going to be using the pumpkin patch beside the old graveyard for something this year.” Kane left Main and took the side street to the back of the sheriff’s office. “We’ll park here. I figure it’s going to rain again today.”
Jenna looked at him. “What about the pumpkin patch? Don’t leave me hanging here.”
“I’m not sure.” Kane smiled at her. “They’re having some stalls there selling stuff and apple-bobbing and other Halloweeny things, I guess.”
Snorting, Jenna climbed from the truck and waited for Kane to unclip Duke from his seatbelt. “Halloweeny things?” She slipped her arm through his. “I can’t wait to find out what they are.”
“You know, spooky things.” Kane leaned into the retinal scanner and the door clicked open.
The moment Jenna reached the counter, Rowley came over. “Morning.”
“I have good news.” Rowley held up a sheet of paper. “This just came in from Helena. The Jane Doe, we believe is Darlene Travis. Her parents caught the news report and called their local cops. They had a few things with her prints on and the local guys are running them against the set we took from her.”
So happy for a break in the case, Jenna smiled. “How long ago did they call?”
“Maybe ten minutes or so.” Rowley moved around the counter as Maggie, the receptionist, came through the front door. “I’ve just checked the server and Kalo uploaded a few video files. Do you want me to take a look?”
“Yeah, we’ll check it out as well.” She turned to go. “Let me know the moment Helena gets back to you.” She waved to Maggie and then headed up the stairs to her office.
The smell of freshly brewing coffee wafted toward her as she dropped into a chair behind her desk, turned on her computer, and looked at Kane. “We have an unconfirmed ID on the Jane Doe, and Kalo has sent some of the video files he collected from around Aunt Betty’s before and after the body was found. I hope he found something on the killer.”
“We need suspects.” Kane poured two cups of coffee and moved a chair beside her. “We have a body, with no idea where this poor woman came from or how she met her killer. For all we know, he could have brought her body here from anywhere and dumped it in town and then left.”
Jenna lifted her gaze to him. “Really? Since when have exhibitionists like this guy not hung around to watch the reaction to their kills? It is part of their thrill; they love terrifying people. Look at the response already. People are starting to believe in vampires.”
“I suppose, as many of them already believe in ghosts, it’s not a stretch of the imagination.” Kane made a whirling gesture with his fingers. “Okay, let’s see this footage. Did he send any notes?”
Opening the accompanying file, Jenna scanned the page. “Yeah, he mentions the same figure and vehicle in each of the examples. He has tried to clear up the images and has included them in a separate file. He estimates the figure is approximately six-three and two hundred and forty pounds.” She glanced at Kane. “What do you want to see first?”
“The footage.” Kane leaned forward on the desk. “Often, I can get a good idea of physical fitness by the way they walk or carry themselves.”
They sat in silence and watched the five video clips that Kalo had sent them. The street lighting cast deep shadows across the frames and the footage was grainy and jumped around. Jenna paused the footage and turned to Kane. “He knows about the camera. See how he walks keeping his chin down. He has the drop-off planned to the second, as if he made the automaton himself. One mannequin out and the body installed in minutes.” She watched for a few more frames. “He discarded the mannequin in the dumpster in the alleyway.” She shot a glance at Kane. “How come we didn’t find it?”
“They’re emptied at six. We missed it.” Kane rubbed the back of his neck. “It will be buried by now in the landfill.”
Next, she opened the enhanced images. “He’s wearing a balaclava, gloves, and a heavy winter jacket, all dark colors. Apart from his size, there’s not much here to go on.”
“I can’t see a weapon bulge.” Kane moved closer and used his fingers to enlarge the image on the touch screen. “See, the coat goes straight down, but when he lifts the body from the back of his truck, the jacket rises. There’s no holster belt and it would be clear from the back. That doesn’t discount the fact that he could have a shoulder holster.”
Searching the screen, Jenna moved her gaze over the man and then the vehicle. “No bumper stickers and the plate is unidentifiable. It’s difficult to know what make and model it is.”
