Page 28 of Good Girls Don't Cry

Jenna cleared her throat. “They sound wonderful. I wish I could see them. The reason I called is that Rowley has been injured in the line of duty and will be laid up for at least forty-eight hours, maybe more. We’re in the middle of a murder investigation and I really need your assistance if you can come into the office tomorrow.”

The agreement Jenna had with Raven was that he would be on call when she needed him, and in the meantime, he could carry on his profession of training dogs as well as being the local doctor in the forest community. He’d completed all his necessary training to be a deputy in her department and was very good at his job. He’d even taken a recent refresher course and renewed his chopper license. She considered them very lucky to have him on the team.

“Yeah, sure, I’ll be in at eight o’clock. Do you have any files available to get me up to speed? I can look over them tonight.”

Glad that she had someone else to rely on, Jenna smiled. “I’m heading back to the office now from a crime scene, and Wolfe will be conducting the autopsy in a couple of hours. I’ll have everything uploaded to the server ASAP. There are already files available from the previous two murders. The first one involved the limo with ten high school students inside on their way to the prom. You’ll recall we found it at the bottom of the river but only the male students were inside? We discovered that four of the males had been restrained but the girls are missing and we’ve been finding them murdered. Three so far and there’s still two missing and we don’t have a clue who’s doing this. Rio has a couple of suspects, which we are hunting down. This is why we need your assistance. Another set of eyes on the evidence or lack of it will be very helpful.”

“Okay, as soon as I get home, I’ll get onto it. I’ll see you in the morning.” Raven disconnected.

“You might as well call Kalo as well. If he’s come up with anything, we may be able to talk to someone this afternoon.” Kane drove into the Triple Z Roadhouse and pulled up at the pumps. “I need some gas. Do you want to stop at Aunt Betty’s for lunch before we get back to the office?” He checked his watch. “Unless you’d rather eat after the autopsy?”

Jenna shook her head. “Not really. I’ll call Kalo, and yeah, I’d like to stop at Aunt Betty’s for lunch. We’ll have at least an hour for our food to settle before we head into Wolfe’s office. From what I saw at the crime scene, I won’t feel much like eating afterward.”

As Kane pumped the gas, she called Kalo. “Hi, Bobby. I believe Rio contacted you earlier with a list of suspects. Do you have any information on them?”

“Yeah, I found two of them.” Kalo tapped away on his keyboard, “I found Jim Birch and Silas Thorne close by. Birch lives in the back room of the livery stable in Black Rock Falls and, as far as I can ascertain, works there with the horses. He also repairs saddles in the workshop. It’s his trade. The other one is Silas Thorne. He is a ranch hand over at the Silver Buckle, I believe that place is situated on the outskirts of Black Rock Falls and Blackwater. He is looking for accommodation and is apparently staying at the shelter in town. I was able to hunt him down at the shelter via Father Derry.” Kalo sighed. “I’m still trying to locate the other two. It seems to me when prisoners get out of jail they vanish into the smoke. None of these men were on probation. They had completed their sentences and were released. So finding them is going to prove difficult unless they open a bank account or obtain a legal document. If necessary, I could try facial recognition, but most of the images I was able to obtain are old and I would imagine they have changed their appearance since, but we can try if push comes to shove.”

Grateful for any help, Jenna made a few quick notes in her book. “It’s the start we need in this investigation. So far, we have zip. These men are not probable suspects. They are only possibles. All were released from jail in the last few months for sexual assault. We have absolutely no idea who is doing this as there are no clues and every single crime scene is different.”

She went on to tell him about the various murders and Carter’s involvement with the explosion. “It was good we had Carter here with Zorro to clear the scene for us. It would have taken us a few days to get the bomb squad in from Helena.” She paused for a beat. “Could you possibly update Jo on everything I’ve told you and ask her if she could please look over the files I’ll be uploading this afternoon? Dave would like to pick her mind about the murderer. This man is very different from anyone else who we’ve had to deal with and he seems to have an ax to grind with a copycat killer. The problem is we don’t know which copycat killer he’s talking about.”

“Yeah, I figure someone who cuts messages into the corpses is a new breed of psychopath.” Kalo whistled. “I’m sure glad I’m not living in Black Rock Falls right now, but if you need me, I’m right here on the end of the phone. I’ll be in touch as soon as I can discover information on Ben Holloway and Jasper Montgomery.” He disconnected.

A shiver ran down Jenna’s back as she stared out of the window and into the forest. Girls were dying and there wasn’t a thing she could do about it. I wonder who’s going to be next?

Thirty-Three

Black Rock Falls appeared almost sleepy as they glided through town. Jenna turned to Kane. “The livery stable is at the next crossroads. Why don’t we drop by now before we have lunch and at least we’ll have one interview out of the way?”

“That sounds like a plan as long as you’re okay.” Kane gave her a long look. “You’ve been going nonstop since we left this morning. You must be exhausted.”

Exhausted didn’t come close to Jenna’s energy level, but the opportunity to interview a suspect was more important right now. She shrugged and glanced at him. “It’s normal to be a little tired but it’s not something I can’t deal with. I’ll be sure to tell you when I need to take a break. I must admit though that sitting down in Aunt Betty’s Café and eating a nice lunch is something I’m looking forward to.”

Behind her, Duke gave a short bark. She turned to look at him and rubbed his silky head. “It seems that Duke agrees with me. We haven’t been into Aunt Betty’s Café for almost a week and I figure he’s getting withdrawal symptoms. He’s probably been dreaming about all the leftovers he hasn’t eaten.”

As Kane pulled the Beast into the parking lot outside the livery stable, Jenna glanced at her notes. “The man we’re looking for is Jim Birch. From what Kalo told me, he lives in the back room of the stables and works with the horses and repairs saddles.” She scrolled through the notes on her tablet. “This guy was arrested for indecent handling of a girl under the age of eleven. He has just finished serving a three-year term. Somehow, he hasn’t shown up on the sex offender registry in this county. There’s something dreadfully wrong with the system if people like this can slip into town without our knowledge. I’ve checked all the men on the list that Rio compiled and none of them have been registered as sexual offenders in Black Rock Falls.”

“This might be something we need to do manually.” Kane turned off the engine and looked at her. “It’s not difficult to sort through the released prisoners who might cause a problem if they happen to wander into our town. The way AI is moving so fast at the moment, I reckon Kalo could create a program that can do this for us.” He smiled at her. “That’s something you could ask him about. Anything that would make life easier would benefit us.”

Nodding, Jenna narrowed her gaze as she peered into the darkened stables. “This gives us a reason for being here and for interviewing any of the others who happen to wander into town. Offenders are required by law to register with local law enforcement agencies in their jurisdiction where they’re living. I found none of these men on the sex or violent offender registry, so knowing they’re living here, we have every right to question them.”

“Okay, let’s do this. I’m starving and Aunt Betty’s Café is calling my name.” Kane climbed out of the truck and waited for her.

The smell of warm horses, leather, and hay wafted out through the doors of the stables as they approached. The mingled aromas had a soothing effect on Jenna. The stables on her ranch were a place she liked to go just to sit and look at the horses. She pulled her mind back into the now as their boots clattered across the cobblestones. Inside was a child sex offender and maybe even a serial killer of the worst kind. She would need to bring her A game when dealing with him. She glanced at Kane as they approached the open doors. Moving from bright sunlight into a dim interior was dangerous. She nodded to Kane, who placed his back against the wall before turkey-peeking inside the stables. Heart pounding in her chest like a military tattoo, she waited until he’d slipped inside to clear the area before she followed.

The stables were larger than Jenna imagined. Rows of stalls faced each other over a center line of concrete flooring. Horses’ heads hung over doors watching them with interest as they walked toward them. A few of them snickered a greeting, and then a man came out of a small room on one side. This obviously wasn’t Jim Birch. His description was six-three and two-seventy pounds with dirty-blond hair and brown eyes. Birch also had a tattoo of a snake running around his neck. The man who came out to greet them was in his sixties, with rugged skin tanned like creased leather from years of working outside.

“Sheriff Alton, what brings you here?” The man came toward her, pushing his cowboy hat up at the front. “Are you looking for a mount?”

Keeping alert for any movement, Jenna shook her head. “No, thank you. I’m looking for Jim Birch. I was given reason to believe he works here.”

“I hope there isn’t a problem because I often employ men who’ve done their time.” The man rubbed the nose of a horse close by and looked at her with piercing black eyes. “Jim is a good worker and I needed an experienced saddler. Most people who stable their mounts here often need a quick tack repair and having someone on site makes it cheaper and easier for my clients.”

Wondering why he was giving her a rundown of his business, when all she needed was to speak to Jim Birch, surprised Jenna. It was as if he was making excuses for him already. She nodded, hoping to appear agreeable and no threat. “I’m not here to question the reason why you employed Jim Birch. I need a quiet word with him if he is available to speak with us. Is he here?”

“Yeah, I’m here.” A man wearing a plaid shirt, blue jeans, cowboy boots, and an old black Stetson stepped out from the room, wiping his hands on a rag. He gave Jenna the once-up-and-down look as if appraising her, and then his gaze fixed on Kane briefly before looking away. “What is it you need to speak to me about?” He indicated to the man beside him. “We can talk in front of Mr. Cotton. He knows everything about me. I’ve done my time and want to move forward with my life. Having you come here to question me makes it look as if I’ve been breaking the law again.”

“That’s because you have broken the law, Mr. Birch.” Kane rested the palm of his hand on the butt of his pistol. “You are a sexual offender and it’s required by law for you to report to us when entering our town. It came to our attention that you have not been put on the list.”

---