Page 29 of Their Wicked Games

The blue sky stretched on forever and not a cloud interrupted the view from Jenna’s front porch to the Black Rock Falls mountain range. It was another beautiful day. A light breeze rustled the grass and Jenna leaned against the porch railing, watching the horses frolic in the corral. When Kane came up behind her, encircling her in his arms, she sighed with contentment. “The last thing I want to do right now is head into the office to try and solve a crime that seems to be spiraling out of control. After our discussion last night, with Jo and Carter even taking all the interviews into account and everyone’s opinion, we still really don’t have anything positive going forward. The only reason our suspects list has reduced is because one of them became the victim. Personally, I’m not convinced that Alicia Palmer wasn’t involved in the first murder. From what everyone was saying, she was more than capable.”

“Yeah, well Kalo is digging into her background a little more.” Kane rested his chin on her shoulder. “From what Davis said about her, my gut is telling me to take a closer look. She may well have been killed to keep her from running her mouth.” He blew out a breath, moving her hair. “Which is a complete turnaround for what I would normally consider, as her injuries are more like a crime of passion.”

Jenna leaned into him. “So what would make you change your mind?”

“I figure her killer is inexperienced.” Kane stared off into the distance. “He might be skilled with a crossbow, but he doesn’t know how to kill with a knife. Alicia had so many injuries it was as if he panicked. Most hunters, or anyone trained to kill, would be able to kill a person with one stab wound. She had her back to him, which gave him many choices. For instance, he could have stabbed her in the base of the skull by sliding the knife between the vertebrae to severe the spinal cord. Or stabbed her under the ribcage in one thrust and hit the liver, or an easy one would be under the arm.” He turned her to face him. “He stabbed her once or twice and she didn’t go down and he panicked. The only part of this kill that concerns me is the need to look into her eyes when he did the final blow. The cut throat was more like butchery. And from Wolfe’s account, the pennies were pushed under her eyelids with some force.”

Running the murder through her mind as Kane described sent a shiver down Jenna’s spine. “Do you think this is the same killer or these killers know each other? Maybe they have a thing for Jimmy Two Cents.”

“I’d like to know how they got the details of his murders.” Kane turned and followed her back inside the house. “I’ve read over the court transcripts and the details regarding the coins never made the press. This was to prevent copycats and to allow the investigation of similar crimes. How did they know about the coins?”

Jenna checked her watch. “I don’t know but we have to go. Carter and Jo left half an hour ago.” She buckled her weapon around her waist and then pulled on her jacket. “Jo mentioned that Jimmy Two Cents is allowed pen pals and visitors. I know that his mail is censored but who knows what they talk about during a visit.”

“As an inmate trustee, he has contact with other prisoners as well.” Kane pushed on his black Stetson and followed her out of the door. “It’s possible he told them about the coins, and the information was passed on through less supervised prisoners. There are two different types of visits: one is behind a screen and the other is in an open room with other prisoners and their families or whoever is visiting them at the time. Anything could be said during these visits and information passed on wouldn’t normally get out.”

Jenna climbed into the Beast and thought for a while as they headed for the office. “Jo would be able to get us into see Jimmy Two Cents. Maybe we need to go to the source. She has a way of extracting information from psychopathic serial killers.” She looked at Kane. “I know this is Serial Killer Central, but I don’t think we’re dealing with psychopathic serial killers. This feels different to me. A psychopath seems to follow a pattern of sorts, but these killings are random and different. Too different. Three neat murders, the body’s untouched apart from the coins, then a woman brutally stabbed to death. This can’t be the same person.”

“If our suspects had any connection to Jimmy Two Cents, they’d have shown up in Kalo’s report. He ran their names against the visitors books and the current list of pen pals, which is substantial, although there is a chance we missed someone. I’m sure not all of them use their real names.” Kane pulled into his slot outside the sheriff’s office. “It was the first search Kalo did for us.”

Unconvinced, Jenna gathered her things. “You always say to follow your gut instinct and mine is telling me we’ve missed something important. I’m going to go over everything again today and see if I can find out what it is.” She climbed out of the truck and waited for Kane to get Duke. “I’ll at least have a couple of hours before we go to the autopsy.”

She walked inside the office and at once noticed Atohi Blackhawk leaning on the counter chatting with Maggie. She smiled. Blackhawk was a good friend and she laughed as Duke did his happy dance at seeing him. Duke had been raised on the res and considered Blackhawk family. “It’s good to see you. Are you waiting for us?”

“Yeah.” Blackhawk shook Kane’s hand and gave Jenna a hug. “The puppies are almost three months old and will be ready to go soon, if you want to come and see them.” He pulled out his phone and proudly displayed a set of photographs.

Enthralled, Jenna looked at each one, enlarging the image with her fingers. “Oh, they are so pretty.” She sighed. “We can’t leave town until we’ve solved this case.”

“Oh, no rush.” Blackhawk nodded and took back his phone. “We like having them around.” He looked at Kane. “I just dropped by. I’m heading out today with Dr. Larsen. She is taking a team to look over one of the gravesites I found. She said it may take months to excavate and make a determination. I figure I’ve given her a few years’ work.” He dropped his voice to just above a whisper. “Has Wolfe found the woman of his dreams?”

“I think it’s a work in progress.” Kane grinned. “We all hope it works out for him. Norrell is a very special lady and perfect for him.”

“They sure look happy when they’re together.” Blackhawk slapped one hand on the counter. “I’ve gotta go. Call me when you’re ready to see the pups and bring Duke. He’ll need to accept the puppy before you take it home or he’ll believe it’s a replacement. You do know how intelligent he is, I’m sure.”

“I do indeed.” Kane grinned and waved as he walked out the door.

Jenna turned and headed for the stairs. “Come on, everyone’s going to believe we’ve taken a personal day.”

“Ah, don’t worry.” Kane followed close behind. “Maybe they’ve solved the case in our absence.”

“Sheriff!”

Jenna turned to see a man running toward her, his coat flying out behind him and face flushed. Before she could open her mouth to ask what was wrong. Kane had stepped in front of her.

“Whoa, hold up.” Kane held up a hand like a traffic cop. “You can’t come running at the sheriff like that. What seems to be the problem?”

“It’s terrible, I’ve seen something in the alleyway.” The man was grasping his chest and panting. “You must come.”

Stepping out from behind Kane, Jenna beckoned the man forward and then sat him down in Rowley’s cubicle. Concerned the man might be having a heart attack, she took his pulse, but he shook her hand away. “Take a few deep breaths and then explain what you saw in the alleyway.”

“I figure it’s a person with their guts hanging out. The light isn’t good in there and I didn’t get close enough to take a better look. I just turned around and ran to my friend’s house and they gave me a ride into town.”

“Okay, let’s start with your name and details.” Kane unfolded his notebook and took a pen from his pocket.

“John Forester.” Forester gave his details.

Cracking open a bottle of water and handing it to the man, Jenna sat at Rowley’s desk. “Where exactly is this alleyway? And what were you doing there?”

“I live on Maple and was taking the alleyway to get through to Stanton. I wanted to catch the bus into town.” Forester was shaking like Jell-O. “That’s when I seen it lying there with blood all around, black like tar. Flies buzzing around and stinking. I figure it’s been there for a time. I turned around and ran back to a friend’s place and ask him to drive me here.”

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