Page 11 of A Song for the Dead

“You know, we have a couple of hours free.” Kane leaned back in his chair making it groan. “I’d like to find out more about Freya Richardson. I’m guessing her truck is in Miller’s Garage. Maybe we should start there. Where else does she work? We’ll need to speak to the people she came in contact with on Friday and Saturday.”

Jenna stood and went to the coffeemaker and poured two cups. As she added the fixings, she looked over her shoulder at Kane. “I’d like to know why Lydia Ellis was in Black Rock Falls at the time of her death. Where was she living and how come we didn’t find anything in the newspapers about a bloody crime scene here in town, or a missing young woman?”

“I guess it’s possible the killer murdered her in Louan, dumped her body in his truck, and drove her to Stanton Forest.” Kane took the cup from Jenna with a smile. “I’ll call Kalo and ask him if he’s traced Freya’s phone and if he can do a background check on Lydia. I’ll put it on speaker.”

Sipping her coffee as Kane made the call, Jenna tried to discover any similarities between the crimes, or markers, to determine if the victims were murdered by the same killer. Did he prefer the same type of women or was it random?

She listened as Kane explained what he needed.

“It’s all good. I can look into that the moment you get a warrant, but I can’t legally trace Freya Richardson’s phone due to the privacy laws.”Kalo cleared his throat. “Give me a moment.”The sound of fingers flying over a keyboard came through the speaker. “Okay, I can tell you it last pinged in Black Rock Falls, but I don’t have an exact location. It’s been turned off from what I can see.”

“Okay, I understand.” Kane glanced at Jenna and rolled his eyes. “As soon as we find a body, I’ll call you.” He disconnected.

Jenna chuckled. “I wonder if the FBI director is in the office? Since when has by-the-book been Kalo’s creed?”

“You could be right, but he gave us a clue at least. The phone is here in town.” Kane turned back to his screen. “Okay, do you want to make calls or finish your coffee and we’ll go and speak to these people in person?”

Emptying her cup, Jenna stood. “We’ll go and see them. Download their details to my phone.”

“Okay.” Kane emptied his cup and collected the details. “Okay, Duke, walkies.” He stood and waved Jenna through the door. “First up, Miller’s Garage.”

FOURTEEN

I dropped by Aunt Betty’s Café just to catch Wendy working her shift. She moves from table to table like a butterfly as she carries a coffee pot, always happy, with a smile on her face. I need to finalize my master plan. I want three offerings in the graves. I’ve made excellent choices and all deserve to die. I’ve taken care of the one small problem at Wendy’s house and her dog will be at the vet for a long time. The slow-acting poison I use should have killed it outright, but for the intervention of the neighbors, who left a day late on their vacation. Although the poison would take a long time to leave the dog’s system and would give me the time I need. In truth, I’m doing the dog a favor. If I leave it to starve when I take Wendy, it will be a worse death. Yeah, I do have a heart, go figure. Although, come to think about it, I have no thoughts either way about animals. I hunt for meat and find no thrill in the killing. Nope, the only excitement I feel comes from frightening women and making them jump at their own shadow. By instilling the fact they have a vivid imagination, they believe their fright is overreaction, and then what happens? They try to convince themselves they’re overthinking small things and push concern out of their minds. When they’ve arrived at that stage, I can walk straight into the house and kill them. They ignore any small sounds because they’ve already made an excuse in their minds for the creak of floorboards or the slide of a window.

I give her my best smile as she comes toward me carrying a thick wedge of cherry pie in one hand and a pot of coffee in the other. As she lays it down, the smell of her hair sends a jolt straight through me. My hand trembles as I take the plate from her. Maybe she deserves one last chance? “You’re so good to me, Wendy. You sure you don’t want to come with me to the Halloween Ball? I hear the live band is something special.”

“Maybe next year.” She gives me a coy smile. “I’m going with Chance. He asked me on the first day of October. If I see you there, I’ll save you a dance.”

You won’t make it to the dance.I wait for her to fill my cup and my gaze drifts to the pool of cherry juice leaking from the pie and spilling over my plate in a familiar crimson rush. My heart pounds. I want to kill her now and see her hot sticky blood spill over white tile but I act nonchalant, and lean back in my chair. I can be anyone’s best friend, the nice guy. I can just turn it on anytime. “I’d say you’re worth waiting for and there are plenty of dances between now and next Halloween. You remind me of this fine pie. You smell good and inside you’re a sweet delight.”

“You say the nicest things.” Wendy turns and hurries back to the kitchen.

While Wendy finishes her shift, I’ll drop by her house and find a way inside. I need a place to park my truck where no one can see me or suspect me if they do. I slowly devour the delicious pie, savoring each mouthful. Digging graves makes me hungry.

FIFTEEN

Kane walked into the office at Miller’s Garage and smiled at George Miller. “Hey, George, we have a young woman missing. Her name is Freya Richardson and I believe she dropped her truck by for repairs. Can you recall the day she came by?”

“I do. You see, I usually offer one of our customer vehicles for people with repairs, but she was upfront telling me she couldn’t pay for the work. The customer vehicles are used for short-term, not weeks or months.” George rubbed a hand over his mouth. “I told her she could pay me a little each week but replacing the engine in her old truck with a new one was false economy. It would be better to buy something else. She wouldn’t hear of it, so I’ve been trying to source a decent replacement engine.”

Kane frowned. “You couldn’t patch it up?”

“Come see for yourself.” George led the way to the garage and indicated an old truck with the hood up. “I don’t figure anything is salvageable. There’s been no oil put in it for a long time. When I asked her why she hadn’t put oil in it when the light was flashing, she told me she didn’t know trucks needed oil. It’s never been serviced. When it blew, it’s as if a wrecking ball went through it.”

“Oh, that looks bad.” Jenna peered under the hood.

Nodding, Kane turned to George. “Poor kid. She was practically all alone in the world. From what I hear, she worked every job possible just to survive. I wish we’d known. The Broken Wings Foundation has funds for people in need.”

“She might not have taken a handout.” George met his gaze with a look of troubled concern. “She had a pride about her. Told me she’d work real hard to get the money and could walk or take the bus. She came by last Saturday and gave me one hundred dollars toward the new engine. I wrote it up in my book. She wanted to have the full amount before I started work. She was that kind of woman. She didn’t want to owe anyone anything.” He sighed. “Between you and me, I’d have only charged her the cost and done the labor myself. I could see she was trying to get by.”

Kane slapped him on the back. “I’m sure you did everything you could to help her. Did she mention anything about where she was heading when you last saw her?”

“Yeah, she mentioned working at the beauty parlor. She cleans it from top to bottom.” He thought for a beat. “I’ve seen her packing shelves at the general store. I’m not sure where else she worked.”

Looking along the line of mechanics working on vehicles, he nodded. “Did she talk to any of the other guys around here?”

“Not in my presence.” George shook his head. “We don’t allow customers back here.”

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