Page 29 of A Song for the Dead

Cold crawled over Jenna and she shivered with the implications. “Yeah, if he murders three women a year at Halloween, we’re talking of a potential body count of twenty-one undiscovered bodies. If we add the current cold cases to the figures and the two new ones, he’ll make it to thirty this Halloween, unless we stop him.”

THIRTY-FIVE

Jenna found Jo and Carter laughing at a Halloween display not far from Aunt Betty’s Café. She walked up to them and smiled. “There are some awesome displays this year. The townsfolk’s imaginations are boundless. I love the witches cooking frogs in the bubbling cauldron.”

“I figured the skeleton gunslinger smoking a cigar is my favorite.” Carter followed Jenna into Aunt Betty’s Café. “Although this spider takes some beating. It really feels like the babies are going to crawl over my back.”

They ordered at the table and sat down. Once Susie had delivered two pots of coffee. Jenna leaned forward in her chair. “I called Rio and Rowley. They’re still out with the drones. They’ve found nothing of interest but it’s a huge forest. I figure the chances of finding anything would be slim but we must try.”

“There’s not too much for them to do right now.” Kane added cream and sugar to his cup and stirred slowly. “We have at least some interesting information.” He brought them up to date with the various deliveries linking both victims and the other information they’d collected.

“That’s not conclusive proof though, is it?” Carter removed his hat, ran a hand through his shaggy blond hair and dropped the hat onto a chair. “Seems to me, deliveries are happening all over town.”

“Yeah, maybe.” Jo sipped her coffee and sighed. “Knowing who is around town who hauls large bags and has been seen in the vicinity of the victims is something we can’t ignore. Frank Stark ticks most of the boxes. The fact he answered your questions doesn’t surprise me at all. Most serial killers come across as nice guys. He knows you have witnesses that saw him speaking to Freya and Daisy, so he can’t deny it without causing suspicion. It’s very typical of how a killer’s mind would work.”

“It won’t stop him killing.” Kane leaned back in his chair, with one hand wrapped around a cup. “I’m as convinced as you, Jo, that this is a ritual. He believes he can’t get caught.”

Looking from one to the other, Jenna nodded. “Yeah, anyone who has the guts to walk into a person’s home and clean it before murdering the owner isn’t our usual type of killer.”

“I figure he breaks in well before he plans the murder.” Carter’s green eyes became intent. “It’s all part of his game, like a stalker but he gets his kicks by walking around the house when no one is home. He likes to be in control of the situation so he familiarizes himself with the interior. He needs to know where to park his vehicle so he can remove the body.” He leaned closer. “He checks out the location of where the victim keeps the clean towels so he can soak up the blood and take a shower. This guy is so cool he scares me.”

Needing to keep everyone moving forward, Jenna glanced at Jo. “Did you have any luck finding Elliot Cummings?”

“Not at first as he’s not answering his phone.” Carter moved a toothpick across his lips. “I did discover he drives a Ram, so there’s more than enough room inside the covered cargo bed to hide a body.”

“We chased all over town hunting him down.” Jo placed her cup on the table, still gripping it with both hands. “I had a light bulb moment. If he’s a photographer, maybe the local newspaper knows him. We went there and discovered he is covering the Halloween festival and supplying the newspaper with shots of the local displays around town. We stopped every man we saw taking photographs and found him.”

“I spoke to him at length.” Carter smiled. “I flashed the badge to get his full attention and it worked. He didn’t act like a serial killer, more like a quivering bowl of Jell-O. Stuttering and his eyes were looking this way and that, as if he didn’t want to be seen with us.”

“Not that anyone would know. We look like regular people today.” Jo smiled. “He talked about Freya, said how lovely she is, and he’d wanted to pursue a relationship even as friends, but she cut him dead. He took the hint and asked for a different shift at work. He didn’t mention it to his boss though… about Freya. He figured backing off was the right thing to do.”

Jenna waited for the server to bring their meals and then looked at Jo. “Did you get any vibes from him at all?”

“Well, I figure the killer likes to dominate women. He is a control freak and plans every murder to the second.” Jo nibbled on her french fries and then added salt. “This guy was scared of me, and Carter intimidated him from the moment he asked his name, and I might add, Carter was being really nice.” She smiled. “I leaned on him, asked him his whereabouts on the nights of the crimes. He knew about Freya going missing Saturday night. He’d seen the media report on the news. He admitted to that, said he lived alone but was at home downloading his camera and sorting through shots both nights. He says he does that when he’s not working. He gets shots of anything interesting around town and then sends the good ones to the newspapers. They pick what they want and pay him for what they use.”

“He does wedding photography as well.” Carter bit into his burger and sighed.

“I figure we need to find Duane Warner and the witness who saw the white truck.” Kane dabbed at his lips with a napkin. “Hank Maxwell. He’s like smoke but if we can find his cabin, we’ll just wait for him to show.”

Jenna nodded. “Yeah, I guess next step is to call the Cattleman’s Laundry Service and find out where Duane Warner is heading this afternoon. Maybe we can meet him when he gets to his next stop.”

“It would be easier if we took Warner.” Carter took a long drink of coffee from his cup and set it down. “Dave mentioned needing Blackhawk to guide you, and if I take the cruiser into the forest, Maxwell will see it, and if he’s involved, he’ll head for the hills.”

What he said was logical. Jenna nodded in agreement. “Okay, we have satellite phones. There are two in the glovebox of the cruiser as well. If you travel between here and Blackwater, there are some places along the way where the phone signal drops out. Call me when you talk to him.”

“Any more info from Wolfe or Norrell?” Jo held a burger between both hands and eyed it closely. “I’m not sure I can get my mouth around this. It’s so big.”

“Here.” Carter handed her a knife. “Cut it in half.”

“Thanks.” Jo smiled at him. “Although I’ll probably wear more of this than I eat. It sounded so good when you ordered it, but it’s a week’s calories for me.”

Looking from one to the other, Jenna raised one eyebrow at Kane in a silent communication. It had been a struggle for Carter at first working with Jo. He’d been off the grid for a couple of years and had lost his social skills but now they acted like close friends. “No, we haven’t heard from Wolfe or Norrell. They’ll call when they have something. They know we’re up to our necks with the current caseload.”

“I’ll message Blackhawk and see if he can meet us in the forest.” Kane pulled out his phone and tapped away. A reply came in a few seconds. “We’re good to go. We’ll meet him in half an hour on Stanton opposite Pine.” He replaced his phone and pulled a large wedge of apple pie toward him with a sigh. “We’ll need coffee and sandwiches to take with us.” He glanced at Jenna. “We might be out there for a time.”

Frowning, Jenna nodded. “If it looks like we’re going past six, I’ll call Nanny Raya and talk to Tauri.” She pushed hair from her face. “He understands we need to work late sometimes, but it’s better if I can tell him myself, especially as we both disappeared for a few days not long ago.”

“He understands better than you think.” Jo smiled at her. “We can always collect him and take him back to the cabin.”

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