Chapter 23
Twenty-Three
Raven pressed the phone to his ear as George from Millers’ Garage spoke to him about the vehicle taken out of the river.
When he’d requested that George arrange it to be towed to his garage, he explained the seriousness of what was happening and that the vehicle might be classed as a crime scene.
He needed his expert opinion as soon as possible to discover if the vehicle had been tampered with and what caused it to veer from the road and into the swollen river.
“I know how Sheriff Alton is all about making sure procedure is followed, so the moment I noticed something amiss about the sedan I called Dr. Wolfe and explained the situation.” George raised his voice to be heard over the sounds inside his garage.
“He is fully aware of what had happened and had expected the vehicle to be towed to his office. He’s here now. I’ll pass the phone over to him.”
“Hi there, Raven.” Wolfe sounded his normal relaxed self.
“I appreciate you having the vehicle towed to a safe location and it was a great help having George to look over it with me. We’ve determined that the brake hose was loosened, allowing the brake fluid to leak out.
It’s not something that will be noticed immediately but I suggest that it was done to cause an accident.
That isn’t something that usually would come loose with normal wear and tear. ”
Scratching his head, Raven stared into space. “Would this indicate that our perpetrator is male?”
“Not at all.” Wolfe sounded highly amused.
“Y’all should be aware that the women living in Montana have skills in many areas.
Many work on the land and so it’s useful for them to understand the basics of vehicle maintenance.
The problem with this particular vehicle is that, as it’s been in the river, we won’t be able to find any trace evidence whatsoever.
I’ve taken photographs of the damage to the brakes and we’ve checked out everything else but found nothing unusual about the vehicle.
The fact that someone tampered with it and caused the death of the driver, we have to rule Roxanne Dunn’s death as homicide.
” He cleared his throat. “As her death was witnessed by Kane and Carter, I’ll rule it as asphyxiation by drowning, caused by a person or persons unknown.
In this case, with two law enforcement officers as witnesses, I won’t need to complete an autopsy.
The vehicle can stay here for a time until the victim’s next of kin decide what to do with it. I won’t need to see it again.”
Raven leaned back in his chair, realizing with a jolt he’d made a mistake by sending the vehicle to Millers’ Garage and not to the morgue.
However, Wolfe didn’t seem too upset and he appeared to be happy working alongside George.
“That’s good to know. I apologize for not calling you in on the inspection, but Kane gave me the orders just as he was leaving with Jenna.
I rushed to call George to make sure the vehicle was recovered. I won’t make that mistake again.”
“It’s all good.” Wolfe’s boots clattered on the floor of the garage as he walked to his vehicle.
“I’m going to take Norrell home now. The storm isn’t letting up at all.
I figure we should all hunker down for the night and hope that it blows through by tomorrow.
If you get stuck in town and can’t get back to your ranch, there’s always room at my place. ”
Raven smiled. “That’s very kind of you, but the fire roads I need to take should be above the flood level.
I’ve had mudslides around my area during the melt and storms, but so far, the place hasn’t flooded.
Jenna insisted that I set off before dark due to the floodwaters.
I was concerned about getting back to feed my dogs tonight, but Blackhawk insisted on dropping by and making sure everything was all right earlier.
He called me just before and he’s already fed the animals. ”
“That’s good to know.” Raven could hear Norrell’s voice as Wolfe opened a door. “I figure I’ll see you at the autopsy in the morning if the roads are still clear.”
Raven nodded to himself. “I’ll be there.” He disconnected.
At the other end of the conference table Rio and Rowley were chatting quietly to each other.
He stood and walked over to them to relay the information about the vehicle.
“So, we know the victim drowned in the river is Roxanne Dunn. Can you use your incredible memory to recall who she hung out with during classes?”
“Yeah, she was a loner, but I recall her sitting chatting with Jolene Hurst and Maya Trent during one of the classes.” Rio narrowed his gaze at him. “Where is this leading?”
Raven sat down beside them and rested his forearms on the table, his hands clasped together.
“They might have been the last two people to speak to her before she died. I figure we need to at least contact them and see what they have to say. I’m very concerned that whoever is killing these women is picking them off one by one.
” He looked from one to the other. “Why would someone have a problem with women learning self-defense?”
“The problem is, it’s likely this is another psychopath and we’re trying to reason why he does something, when, as Jo mentioned before, they don’t need a reason to kill.
They just feel the need and then do it.” Rio stood and went to the coffee pot to refill his cup.
“I figure we stick to Jenna’s plan and discover who’s been around these people in the past three months or so.
There must be someone who knows them all.
The problem is, I can recall Jolene and Maya speaking to the other victims as well—and I know they all go to Aunt Betty’s Café for coffee and pie after each session. ”
“Are you saying that Jolene Hurst and Maya Trent are in danger? That all the women are potential targets?” Rowley leaned forward in his chair with a worried expression on his face. “Maybe we should go and check on them.”
Raven shrugged. “There is no way of knowing for sure. I do know that Kane has been training women for some time but mostly they’re friends of his and Jenna. So whoever we’ve triggered by running these classes has a problem with women knowing how to defend themselves.”
“The first person who comes to mind is a man who expects his wife to be chained to the kitchen sink and not to have any friends or to socialize on any level.” Rio opened his hands wide and sighed.
“The problem we have with that scenario is that most of these women don’t have a man in their lives.
I haven’t even questioned them all closely enough to discover how many of them live alone or with their parents or someone else.
I do understand that they are all single, but we’re not aware if any of them have had a recent breakup with a possessive boyfriend.
This is something we need to know. Someone like that could possibly be taking it out on everyone else. ”
Raven nodded. “Or when his girlfriend fought back, he became so enraged that it triggered his psychopathy and he decided to murder them all. I figure we need to go back to the first victim and look into her background a little more. If she had a possessive boyfriend, then we’ll know we’re on the right track. ”
“That sounds like a good plan but I still believe we should call them all right away.” Rowley’s eyes flashed with concern.
“If we explain we’re looking into the deaths of their friends and ask them about their situation and if they have any idea who could be doing this, it would be a start.
Right now, we don’t seem to have many clues to go on and the only way we’re going to find out what’s happening is to do some old-fashioned legwork. ”
“Okay.” Rio looked from one to the other.
“We split the list and call them but once we’re done, we need to dig into the background of Dr. Caleb Morrow.
” He smiled suddenly and picked up his phone.
“I’ve just remembered the Snakeskin Gully field office is on the case now that Jo and Carter are here.
I’ll call Bobby Kalo and ask him to check out the doctor.
Then we can concentrate on the women in the group.
” He made the call, disconnected, and smiled. “Done.”