Wanting to be compassionate, Jenna pushed the images of mutilation to the back of her mind and fell back on the usual answer. “Cause of death is yet to be determined, although the M.E. at the scene has determined it is homicide. I am so sorry for your loss.”
“Who would kill Aimee?” Mr. Fox stared at her with a blank, unseeing expression. “I can’t understand why she left the house. I thought Lucas was coming to keep her company. I told them not to leave the house, not after the girls went missing.”
Jenna cleared her throat. “I take it you missed the news last night? We believe the same killer murdered Felicity, Kate, and Joanne Blunt.”
Two sheet-white faces stared at her in disbelief. She needed information and had to ask the questions. “When did you last see Aimee?”
“When we went out for dinner around six last night.” Mr. Fox looked at her bleakly. “We ate early then caught a movie. We dropped into Aunt Betty’s Café for coffee and cake around ten then came home close to eleven, I guess.”
“What was she doing at the time?”
“Online with the new girl, what’s her name?” Mr. Fox wiped at the tear streaming down his cheeks and glanced at his distraught wife.
“Emily, the new deputy’s daughter.” Mrs. Fox pleated her skirt with trembling fingers. “You should call Lucas, he might have asked her to meet him somewhere.”
Assuming Chad would have informed his best friend about finding Kate’s body after the news story aired, Jenna shook her head. “I doubt he would risk asking her to leave home alone. He is a friend of Chad, isn’t he? Kate’s boyfriend?”
“Yes, but what does that have to do with anything?” Mr. Fox gave her a puzzled look then reached for a cellphone on the coffee table. “I’m calling Lucas now.” He leaned back on the sofa. “Lucas, this is Mr. Fox. Did you drop by to see Aimee last night? No? Oh, she mentioned you planned to keep her company.” He stared into space, listening. “Okay, thanks.” He disconnected and met Jenna’s eyes. “He received a bonus game card and played online until way past midnight. He forgot about calling Aimee to tell her he wouldn’t be coming, and asked me to tell her he’d call her later.”
“Would Emily have asked her to come over?” Mrs. Fox wiped her wet cheeks with a tissue then straightened.
Jenna pushed to her feet. “No, she is aware of the danger but I’ll go and speak to her now. The M.E. will contact you if you wish to see Aimee. Is there anyone I can call?”
“No, no thank you.” Mr. Fox pushed unsteadily to his feet. “I’ll contact our family. When will we be able to see her? She is all alone, we should be there.”
“Later today, perhaps tomorrow morning.” Jenna walked with him to the front door. “She is in safe hands, Mr. Fox. I promise I will find the person who did this and bring him to justice.”
* * *
Out in the open, Jenna took in a few deep breaths to steady her nerves then walked toward Kane’s SUV and reached inside her pocket for the keys. The idea of returning to the crime scene churned her guts. She fired up the engine, swung the powerful SUV around, and headed back to the crime scene. The K-9 team had left by the time she arrived and paramedics were loading the bodies into the back of two ambulances. She pulled to the curb and met Kane walking out of the forest. “Find any evidence at all?”
“Yeah, a few fibers and a couple of hairs.” A trickle of sweat ran down Kane’s face. He appeared hot and exhausted. Mud caked his coveralls. “It looks like Mrs. Rogers was hit over the head then strangled.” He pulled off the booties, unzipped the coveralls, and rolled them into a ball. “Wolfe is convinced we are dealing with two different killers.”
Unease slid over her. “Dammit, two killers and we let one walk right out of the door yesterday.” She walked around in circles. “We look like incompetent fools. I don’t suppose Rogers is waiting at home for us to arrest him again either?”
“Nope. I sent Rowley to his house to look. Steve Rogers is on the run. His car is in the garage but we have to assume his wife’s car is missing, and it looks like he left in a hurry. He must have hidden her car close by but we have the license plate. I’ve contacted the state police and put out a BOLO plus told Maggie to give his photograph to the media and inform them he is wanted on suspicion of murder.” He gave her a long, compassionate look. “It’s not our fault. At the time, we had no evidence to keep him in custody. Think about the evidence. We didn’t have a missing person, only blood smears and a missing carpet. No judge is going to allow us to keep a suspect under arrest without proof of a crime.” He squeezed her shoulder in his large palm. “If it makes you feel any better, I doubt he’ll murder again. I think by the number of blows he inflicted, it was a crime of passion. Nothing like what happened to the other victims.”
Her stomach rolled and she stared up at him. “What about Aimee? Did she suffer like Kate?”
“Wolfe will be able to tell us more after the autopsy. Her murder was close to the street and he would worry about someone hearing her screams. The blow to the back of her head would have knocked her out cold. It looks like the killer uses the same method to subdue his victims each time. He attacks from behind, stuns the victims with a blunt object, then rapes them.” Kane’s mouth turned down in a grimace. “It seems too much of a coincidence he stumbled over Mrs. Rogers’ grave as he was killing Aimee. I’ve been wondering if he was hiding in the forest after killing Kate and saw Rogers bury his wife.”
Trying hard to concentrate, Jenna rubbed her temples. “Going on what we know, Rogers was in the forest at the time of Kate’s death, and it’s more than likely Kate’s killer was as well, so it’s possible. Why uncover Mrs. Rogers’ face? It seems so macabre.”
“Not if you look into the mind of a psychopath.” Kane removed his hat and massaged his head as if he had a headache. “When he knocked Aimee out, he didn’t have the thrill of the fight, so I think he uncovered Mrs. Rogers’ face to watch him.”
Sick to her stomach at the memory of Mrs. Rogers’ blue face surrounded by blood-stained carpet, she gaped up at him. “That is so gross. What kind of human being does such a thing?”
“You can’t think logically when dealing with a psychopathic mind. They don’t have emotions like we do; they are narcissistic and have no compassion, so trying to talk them out of murder never works. You can’t reason with them because they see a victim as an object not a person.” Kane’s forehead wrinkled into a frown. “It’s all about them, their needs, and their desires. As an example, think how we would regard soda in a can—once consumed, we toss away the can, it has no value. That’s how a psychopathic killer regards their victims.”
“So why display them, what does he get out of the shock value?”
“It’s a ‘look at me’ syndrome in the narcissistic part of their personality. I would say he feeds off the girl’s terror and gets some sort of extra thrill with the shock value he generates. This killer is making a point.” Kane’s blue eyes settled on her face. “It all goes with the makeup on the face and the mutilation. Each girl he kills is a symbol of the person who damaged him so bad it triggered his behavior. He is punishing a woman and sending a message to others. It’s not over, he is escalating, but it looks like he is sticking to the same group of friends. We have to figure out which one of them will be next.”
The interview with Aimee’s parents slammed into her brain. “Oh, Jesus—she was speaking to Emily online last night.”
Forty-Seven
Kane met Wolfe coming out of the forest. “Is Emily at home? Jenna told me she was talking to Aimee online last night around six. As this lunatic seems to be moving through a group of friends, we need to be worried about her safety.”
“I’ll call her.” Wolfe tore off his face mask, displaying a grim expression. “Not that she would go out again alone.” He removed his protective gear and pushed it into a plastic bag Jenna held out for him.