Chapter 12
TWELVE
Heavy snowfall built up on the wipers as they drove back to Main.
It seemed that everyone in town had decided to go to Aunt Betty’s Café for lunch and parking outside was limited.
Kane turned the truck around and parked on the grass alongside the park.
He climbed out, his boots sinking into the deep snow, and went around the hood to assist Jenna across the road.
They both stamped their feet on the mat outside the café door and stepped inside.
Kane inhaled the delicious aromas of fresh-baked bread and coffee.
As they walked toward the counter, the distinct smell of chili wafted toward him and his stomach growled in appreciation.
Nothing better on a freezing cold day than Aunt Betty’s chili along with wedges of fresh bread.
They ordered at the counter as the servers were busy. The restaurant hummed with the sound of conversation and the clinking of silverware. Kane’s attention went to the fresh-baked pies in the display case and he ordered a wedge of pecan and one of peach. “I’ll have them à la mode.”
“I’ll have the same. I’m as hungry as a wolf.” Jenna grinned at him. “You can eat my leftovers if my eyes are bigger than my stomach.”
Kane chuckled. “Not a problem.” He took the pot of coffee Susie, the manager, had placed on the counter. “I’ll take that. You’re rushed off your feet.”
“Thanks.” Susie smiled and indicated toward another group of people coming through the door to join the line to the counter. “It’s been like this since six this morning.”
Kane headed toward the table reserved for the sheriff’s department at the back of the room.
Aunt Betty’s Café had always been good to the law enforcement in town.
They delivered take-out orders in record time, allowed them to jump the line when they were busy, and provided a reserved table.
All these considerations made their lives better because they could dive into the café and grab a quick meal during investigations without delay.
After placing the jug of coffee on the table, he removed his coat and hung it over the chair beside him and dropped his Stetson onto the seat.
He sat down and rested his hands on the table as Jenna poured the coffee and added the fixings.
Their table was situated up in a corner, so no one was actually sitting close by and they could talk freely without anyone overhearing them.
“I noticed that you were working on your tablet on the way here. Did you happen to contact Kalo and tell him what we’re up against? ”
“Yeah, I did and I sent him the files on the thumb drives.” Jenna pushed a cup of coffee toward him.
“It’s pretty quiet in Snakeskin Gully at the moment and he was glad of something to do.
He’s looking forward to coming to see us over Christmas.
Apparently his folks have gone to Australia for twelve months for his father’s work, so he’ll be glad of our company. ”
Kane sipped his coffee, wishing that his bowl of chili would arrive soon.
“This abduction case is complex, isn’t it?
Ellie McBride doesn’t seem the type of person who would try to hoodwink law enforcement.
To me, she seems like a typical teacher, but here is where I become concerned.
Her abductor has her purse and phone, he knows where she lives, and almost killed her, and yet when we spoke to her this morning, her main interest was for the safety of the students in her classroom.
When we mentioned taking her to the foundation to live for a few days, all she was concerned about was her cat.
I’ve seen many abducted people and they’re usually traumatized, and yet she carries on without a care in the world.
It’s as if it never happened. Do you find that unusual for someone who’s been abducted? ”
“All the people we’ve spoken to after a terrible tragedy or the death of someone close to them react differently.
” Jenna eyed him over the rim of her coffee cup.
“Classrooms filled with kids can be very difficult to control and it takes a special kind of person to remain cool and calm when all about you is going crazy. She did seem upset this morning when she mentioned the writing on the whiteboard. I figured that was a normal reaction. She didn’t mention anything about wanting to go home, so I believe she understands the gravity of the situation.
” Jenna took a long drink of her coffee and then refilled her cup from the pot on the table.
“The problem is there are too many things surrounding this case that bother me. There is no proof whatsoever that she was kidnapped. We have no CCTV camera footage apart from her going into the store to buy her groceries and then heading out the door. Her purchases are still in the back of her vehicle and there were no signs of a struggle in the snow around her SUV. We have no vision of her leaving the vehicle at the roadhouse. I know it was around eleven when she left the store, but we haven’t considered that she might have taken a cab to the roadhouse.
” She slowly added the fixings to her cup and stirred.
“Then we have the writing that is almost identical to her own on the whiteboard in the classroom. My problem here is, yes, there was someone going into that classroom this morning, so she could be telling the truth, although how do we know that the man entering the classroom wrote on the whiteboard? The other thing that’s bothering me is how did the man know that was her classroom? ”
Kane finished his coffee pondering what she said and then poured himself another.
“We’ll need to check to see if the janitor finally arrived at the school this morning.
If he did, we’ll know he got a replacement card and there are two cards out there with his name on them.
I would imagine that this person knows his way around the school, so either he’s worked there before or was a past student.
Teachers keep their own classrooms for many years, so it wouldn’t be too far of a reach to believe that that’s how he knew where Ellie McBride was teaching.
It would also account for how he knows about the janitor using his glovebox for his card and keys.
” He smiled as Susie came over with a tray carrying their bowls of chili and a plate piled high with buttered bread still hot from the oven. “Thanks, Susie.”
Kane watched her weave her way through the tables back to the counter.
“The other thing I find difficult to believe is why someone would hit themselves so hard on the head that they split the skin open. When did they do it? I doubt someone would pick them up in a cab with blood all over them like that.” He took a spoonful of chili, moaned with pleasure as the full flavor rushed over his taste buds, and then swallowed.
“I just can’t figure out a motive for why she would do such a thing. ”
“I’ve been trying to consider our next steps in this case and keep coming up empty.
” Jenna blew on a spoonful of chili. “We can send everything we have to Kalo but it’s going to be difficult to search for suspects as we’re not real sure if a crime has been committed.
I’m sitting on the fence with this one.” She ate the spoonful and sighed.
“We’ll offer her protection in the form of the foundation and I figure we wait and see what happens.
I don’t consider her to be in any great danger at the moment.
If someone does have her purse, knows where she lives, and plans to kill her, it’s not going to do him much good, if she is not staying there, is it?
We’ll have her escorted back and forth to work and soon it will be winter vacation and she doesn’t need to leave the foundation at all.
If Kalo comes up with anything we can use, we’ll take it from there, but right now, I figure we should consider the case that Rio and Rowley are working on. What do you say?”
Slowly Kane buttered a slice of bread considering what Jenna had said.
He shrugged. “I don’t think we have any other choice.
If we can determine that the handwriting doesn’t belong to her, I guess we will have to believe her story, but I agree the only option we have is to wait and see if this guy makes another move.
With the other case, if they do suspect that Bryce Withers is trafficking drugs, we should be bringing in the FBI.
We don’t have the resources to take down that many men.
I could go in and shoot them all, but we have no proof that they’re actually distributing drugs.
If they are and we storm Withers’ property even with a search warrant, those men are carrying AK-47s and someone is going to get hurt. ”
“Okay, if Rio gets the search warrant, I’ll call in the FBI to assist.” Jenna glanced out of the window. “Not that I believe they’ll be able to fly here in this weather.”
Kane nodded. “There also may be a delay with the deliveries. They come along like clockwork according to Rio, so it won’t be too difficult to set up a raid on another day. I don’t figure drug lords take vacations over the holidays. It will be business as usual.”
“Good, that’s the business out of the way.” Jenna grabbed a slice of bread and placed it on her side plate. “Now let’s eat before this gets cold.”