“Great!” He grinned. “You hungry?”
“Famished. I’ve been waiting for you to get back. Once we’ve taken care of all the evidence you’ve collected, we can eat.” She turned to Wolfe. “I’ll send Rowley to give you a hand. Take the coffee and food into my office, we won’t be long.”
“We found a pair of cowboy boots, pink with sparkles. They fit the description of the pair Felicity was wearing the day she went missing. There is a scrap of blue material with a sequin, which might be a part of her top.”
She strolled beside Kane and they met Rowley outside the cage. The young deputy appeared a little frazzled. “Thanks, we’ll take it from here. Go and help Wolfe—Kane was kind enough to pick up our lunch so we might as well eat and discuss the case.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Rowley handed the box of evidence to Kane. “Thanks, I could eat a horse right now.”
She waited for him to go, and they used their keys to unlock the evidence room. As she entered a description of each article into the book then the computer, she glanced up at Kane. “I had the strangest feeling someone was following me today.”
“Did you see anyone?”
“Not following me but I went to pick up coffee from Aunt Betty’s and Lionel Provine was there with some kids. When I left, I had the same feeling. I turned around and looked straight into his eyes.”
“We have an inbuilt radar. Instinct or whatever.” Kane shrugged. “It may be nothing but we’ll keep an eye on him. I’m glad you told me.”
She sighed. “Okay, back to the job at hand. Any thoughts?”
“You mean apart from knowing this animal is a psychopathic, exhibitionist, murdering son of a bitch?”
“That would be the general consensus but you have a knack for figuring out how a killer’s mind works. How long do you think before he strikes again?” She closed the book and stared up at him.
“Right now I don’t have a clue.” Kane rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m hoping the emails I sent out last night to the sheriff’s departments of other counties might be able to shed some light on this monster.” He followed her from the cage and pulled the door shut behind them. “There have to be other murders with the same M.O. The murderer is making a distinctive statement and I’m sure will kill again. These crazies usually have a pattern: They start slow, as long as six months between kills, then the hunger gnaws at them and the distance between each murder becomes smaller. Think of killing to them as an addiction: Once they are hooked, they keep needing a bigger fix and crave it more often. So, with two on the same day, we can expect him to act again very soon.”
Jenna headed into her office and took her seat behind the desk piled high with takeout cartons of cakes and sandwiches. She lifted her gaze to Kane. “How much do I owe you? After the trek you did through the forest, this meal is on the department.”
“I’m good.” Kane slid into a chair. “There is nothing to spend my money on around here, is there?” He selected a packet of sandwiches. “I didn’t have to pay for the tickets to the dance on Friday night either. The guy gave me a bunch for nothing and said we were all welcome to attend.” He glanced at Wolfe. “As you requested, I arranged for four deputies from two other counties to help out Friday night and all this weekend, so we can be undercover at the heart of any trouble if you agree?”
Jenna shrugged. “Sure, but I want uniforms as well. Rowley and Walters can pull the night shift during and after the dance. The three of us will be at the dance, and I’m sure Shane would like to take his daughters out for the evening, or a part of it?” She glanced at Wolfe and smiled. “At least your seventeen-year-old will want to join in the fun.”
“Yeah, Emily has been harping about going since we got to town. Not the other two, they can stay at home with the nanny. I can’t watch all three at once, and we have a killer in town, in case it slipped your mind?”
“I’m not likely to forget seeing the bodies of Felicity Parker or Joanne Blunt anytime soon.” Jenna selected a sandwich and peered inside. “Aside from the articles we logged in the evidence locker, run me through what else you noticed on scene. So that we don’t get confused, just Felicity Parker’s crime scene for now.”
“First and most significant is I’m sure the killer murdered her in the river. The evidence tells me he lay in wait for her to arrive and had everything he needed on hand.” Wolfe placed his cup firmly on the desk. “He killed her then carried her to the rock to act out his fantasy.”
“First impressions on the evidence so far?” Jenna looked at Kane.
“I agree with Wolfe. The killer planned the murder. He had too much stuff with him for it to be a random thrill-kill. We found evidence of rope, condoms, not to mention the evidence proves he used more than one knife.” Kane took a bite from a sandwich, chewed, swallowed, then shrugged. “What I can’t get my head around is Felicity told her parents and her friend she was heading in the opposite direction. What happened around the time she left home to make her go into the forest alone?” He reached for his coffee, took a gulp, then cleared his throat. “The timeline we have for her movements makes no sense at all.”
“What do you mean?” Rowley leaned forward in his seat and frowned. “We know the time of death was between eight and ten. It has to be. Felicity was seen at eight and found just after ten.”
“No, you have me all wrong.” Kane placed his sandwich back in the box and looked at him. “We have to assume the killer planned the murder. People don’t carry all that equipment around just on the off chance a girl will wander into the forest alone. The killer had the scene set up to trap her if she tried to run. He was there well before she arrived and lay in wait.”
“That makes sense.” Wolfe scratched his blond buzz cut.
“Yeah, it makes a lot of sense.” Kane’s blue gaze moved from Wolfe to Jenna. “So how could he possibly know Felicity would be in the forest at that precise time?”
Jenna stared at her deputies across her desk and a cold shiver slid down her spine. “There is only one explanation. Felicity knew her killer. He might have arranged to meet her or maybe he bumped into her on the street and talked her into going to the river with him.” She glanced at Kane. “What do you think?”
“I’m sure he didn’t meet her accidentally. From the evidence at the crime scene we have to assume he set up the killing area well ahead of time.” Kane met her gaze and raised one dark eyebrow. “I would like to know how the killer knew what time she would be leaving the house. You mentioned Aimee usually drops by to give her a ride into town. So, if the killer had been watching Felicity, he wouldn’t be expecting her to walk to Aimee’s house.”
“You said she had an argument with her boyfriend.” Wolfe raised his ice-gray gaze to her. “Has anyone checked to see if he called her? Young women can be secretive about their boyfriends. If she planned to meet him at the river to make up after their argument, it would make sense she wouldn’t tell her parents and make an excuse to walk to Aimee’s house.”
Jenna swallowed her sandwich and nodded. “Yeah, that’s a possibility, but her mother mentioned she made a habit of telling her if she planned to meet him.”
“We don’t know what peer pressure she was under from her friends. Maybe going out with an older boy and then breaking up, she couldn’t take her friends ‘told you so’ attitude and kept the meeting to herself. What do we know about this boyfriend?”
“Not much.” Jenna picked up her notebook and flicked through the pages. “He is twenty, on the football team at college.”
“Would you like me to check the cellphone records and see if he called her at any other times, ma’am?” Wolfe shrugged. “That would be a place to start.”