Page 22 of Their Wicked Games

“That sounds like a plan.” Kane pulled into his slot outside the office and, grabbing sandwiches, climbed out. “Get Duke. We’ll leave him with Maggie. He won’t be able to keep up with the dirt bikes. I’ll get the bikes gassed up.” He shouldered his way through the glass door.

Imagining the pain Kane would suffer riding a dirt bike, Jenna shook her head, grabbed Duke, and followed. After explaining the situation to Maggie and bringing Carter and Jo up to date, she listened with interest about the sighting of Alicia Palmer’s Jeep Cherokee. “Well, if it’s still there when you return from Mustang Creek, call me. If she was hunting, she’d have been seen by someone. You could call the forest warden’s station. I’ll give you the number. They’ll call whoever is in that region and ask if they’ve seen her.”

“Okay.” Carter stood. “Oh, and Kalo called. He found nothing on the parents of the college kids. They’re clean. So we have no motive for the murders.” He gathered his things from the desk. “Are you ready, Jo?” When she nodded, he turned back to Jenna. “We’ll head out now. When we get back, we’ll discuss the suspects we interviewed. Jo has some interesting theories.”

Jenna smiled at Jo. “I’ll look forward to it.” She headed to the locker room to change.

Fifteen minutes later, Wolfe arrived in his van with a trailer hitched behind carrying two dirt bikes. After Kane had added two and loaded another two onto Rio’s truck, they were ready to leave. They drove in a convoy to the edge of the forest, unloaded the dirt bikes and, pulling on helmets, headed out in the direction of Dead Man’s Drop. The wind was cold on Jenna’s face and she was glad of the Kevlar vest Kane insisted she wore. Lightweight, a liquid Kevlar vest would protect her from an arrow or bullet and had the added benefit of warmth. Under her jacket it served as a shield from the icy wind as they followed the trail through the darkening forest.

It was strange but whenever they visited a crime scene, she always had the feeling someone was watching her. She constantly scanned the deep shadows cast by the afternoon sun for movements. Trying to push away uncertainty, she inhaled the delicious scent of the forest. Although slightly tainted by exhaust fumes from the dirt bikes, she could still smell the snow on the mountains. She had the comfort of Kane in front and Rowley close behind to watch out for danger, but other things concerned her. Dirt bike riding was a new skill for her and she wasn’t as confident as she’d like to be. She’d been out riding many times now, but when her deputies jumped over obstacles, she took a slower approach. For them it was usually a crazy mud-splattered rush through the forest, but she preferred to take her time, gaining skills along the way. This time they moved at a more sedate pace due to the gear they carried to process the crime scene, but they still made good time bumping along the narrow trails. The way back would be slower dragging a travois, but the contraption Wolfe had pulled from his van at least had wheels. It folded into a saddlebag, which made carrying it a breeze.

They turned into the clearing surrounding the fishing hole known as Dead Man’s Drop, named because long ago many people exploring the mountain caves high above had fallen to their deaths into the water. Ahead, a man sat on one of the boulders with his back to the water, a blue cooler at his feet. Leaving her team to process the scene, she pulled up and approached him. “Jud Cole?”

“Yes, ma’am.” The man wore blue jeans, a sweater, and a cowboy hat, and long gray hair fell to his collar. He stood and a weathered face looked at her. “She’s out in the middle. My hook is still in her, caught on her arm. When she came to the surface, it scared the bejesus out of me.”

Removing her helmet, and leaving it on the dirt bike, Jenna picked up the cooler. She led him away from the fishing hole to a fallen log and sat him down. “What time was this?” She set the cooler down beside him.

“I’m not sure.” He scratched his head under his hat and stared at her. “I called 911 immediately, so there should be a record of the time, right?”

Pulling out her notebook, Jenna nodded. “Yeah, we’ll have the time you called it in. How long before that do you figure you were here?”

“Maybe twenty minutes or so, but I do recall hearing a splash as I came along the trail.” His brow furrowed. “It made me extra cautious in case it was a bear. They’re known to fish here as well. You see, fish get washed down here from the falls. If you’ve ever taken the time to see how the lakes are set out, they come down in graduated layers, each with its own small waterfall. Those waterfalls split up and spread out all over, some into small creeks like this fishing hole, others join the river that flows right through to Blackwater. Several of these small catchment areas make fine fishing holes.” He stared into the forest as if thinking. “Maybe she fell from the caves. Tourists take no heed to warning signs and they’re all over right now.”

Processing the information, Jenna made a note in her book about the splash. If this was suicide, the splash could indicate the time of death. If not, someone threw her into the waterfall and the time they did this would be crucial evidence. “Well, she didn’t fall from the caves. After an accident a year or so ago, the entrance to the cave that leads to a rock pool that drags people over the edge and into the falls was sealed with iron bars. She either jumped or was pushed from the edge of the falls.”

“Well, if she fell, Sheriff, wouldn’t she be screaming?” The old man raised both eyebrows. “All I heard was the splash, and when I got here, I took a long look around to make sure I didn’t have company. There was no sign of a bear, no scat or claw marks on trees.” He waved a hand to encompass the entire area. “I didn’t see anyone, man or beast.” He pointed upward. “The only possible way she fell into the water was from up there. If someone dumped her in the water from here, they wouldn’t have known I was coming, would they? For sure, I’d have seen them leaving the area and like I say, I was looking.”

Jenna turned to see Wolfe and his assistant Colt Webber lifting a body out of the water and onto a large rock on the side of the pool. Wolfe unhooked the fishing line, wound the reel, and handed the rod to Kane, who headed toward her. She kept Jud Cole’s attention away from the body retrieval. “My deputy has your fishing rod.” She pulled a card out of her pocket and handed it to him. “You’ve been very helpful. If anything else comes to mind, please give me a call. We have your details if we need to speak to you again. I would greatly appreciate it if you could keep this to yourself until we have time to notify the next of kin. It would be such a shock to the family to hear about a loved one’s death on the news.”

“I understand.” Cole nodded sagely. “I’ve been walking these forests since I was a boy. There aren’t many places a person could fall or be pushed over the falls above Dead Man’s Drop. Two places come to mind. One is the plateau at the top of the falls, the one that is accessed by the rope bridge. I see tourists up there all the time taking photographs, and the other is a small rock pool. I found it at the end of an animal track one day when I was hunting. The trail into the forest that leads there, I figure, was cut out by animals over the years. The rock pool makes a fine watering hole. The entrance to the trail is on Stanton opposite Pine.”

“Thanks.” Kane smiled and handed him the fishing rod. “That’s very useful information.”

“I’ll be on my way.” Cole bent to pick up his cooler and then vanished into the trees.

“He was a font of information.” Kane led the way back to the group surrounding the body. “We have another homicide and this one is vicious.”

Preparing herself to look at another murder victim, Jenna’s heart raced. She recognized the brutally murdered girl from the photograph of one of her suspects. She gripped Kane’s arm. “That’s Alicia Palmer, one of the suspects. When I spoke to Carter earlier, he said that they hadn’t been able to locate her. The dentist she works for said that it was her afternoon off and she usually went shopping.” She pulled out her phone and called Carter. “We’ve found Alicia Parker. She’s been murdered.”

“Dang. That’s a turnaround we hadn’t expected. When we noticed her Jeep Cherokee parked on the edge of the forest on Stanton opposite Pine, we stopped to check it out. Nothing seemed to be disturbed. We searched all around for signs of a struggle and found nothing. If she left that vehicle, she did it by her own free will. No footprints, scuff marks, zip.”Carter heaved a deep breath.“We’re coming up on Mustang Creek now to interview Jesse Davis. I’ll see you back at the office. It will be too late to search the forest for clues by the time we’re done. Maybe get Duke to follow her trail in the morning?”

Jenna stared at the body of the once vibrant young woman as Wolfe straightened and held up something to show her. “Yeah, sure. We’ll be here for a time yet. Just a minute.” She gaped in astonishment. “This case just got crazier. Wolfe just removed two pennies from her eyes.”

TWENTY

James Earl Stafford, aka Jimmy Two Cents, pushed a cart up and down the rows of books in the prison library. By all accounts, the prison staff believed him to be an exemplary prisoner. Since his conviction, he’d convinced a variety of shrinks and officials that he’d found God. To say his urges to murder had vanished was laughable. In fact, if he ever stepped out of prison again, he doubted there would be anyone left. He smiled to himself as he read detailed messages secreted inside the books he’d collected from other inmates. Each small scrap of paper had become an ongoing saga of the exploits of each of them. The notes being moved around the inmates via various volumes. The scheme had been easy enough to organize. Jimmy kept a detailed record of what books went to which prisoner, so everyone received each installment of a vicious crime in order. He often wondered if the prison guards knew what was going on and turned a blind eye, mainly because this form of communication kept them busy and subdued to some extent. Although, that didn’t stop the out-of-control crazies from killing each other.

Lifers in his wing of the prison had certain privileges for good behavior. These included paper and pen to write to their pen pals, which they obtained via a webpage. Restricted internet use gave them access to the site. Much like a dating app, a prisoner could post his profile and within a few days a ton of letters would appear. Some of these pen pals would become romantically involved with them and even go so far as to request visits. Jimmy had been lucky. It seemed the more vicious and brutal the killer, the more women he attracted, although he had his fair share of men too.

He arranged the books in order, ready to be delivered to the cells the following morning, and glanced at the clock on the wall. The wait for the phone call he knew would be coming sometime today was killing him. He needed to know what had happened and if Bear had met the end he’d designed for her. Had the boy come through? He had relived the hunt so many times in his head he could almost smell the blood on his hands. When the guard’s footfalls came along the row of books, Jimmy’s heart picked up a beat in anticipation. He pushed the cart to the end of the row and smiled at the guard. “Is it dinnertime already?”

“Nope. You have a phone call.” The guard waited for him to hold out his hands. “Someone called Eagle. He’s on your list. Third time he’s called in a month. You planning on a homosexual relationship with this guy? Want me to arrange a conjugal?” The guard chuckled and attached the chains.

Ignoring the guard’s usual coarse humor, Jimmy shook his head. “Nah, he’s just the son of a guy I used to go hunting with in the day. We talk about hunting, is all.”

Moving outside the library meant shackles, and he shuffled along beside the guard to the bank of phones in the hallway. He was only granted a few minutes and the caller understood the time limit. He lifted a receiver and gave his name. A familiar voice came down the line.

“You asked me to call the next time I hunted bear.”

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