Chapter 21
TWENTY-ONE
Concern twisted in Jenna’s belly as she headed for her office.
She’d done everything within her power to protect Ellie McBride and she should have been safe in the school during daylight hours.
The principal informed her there would be maintenance men and teachers around her all day.
She took the Kevlar vest that Kane handed her and pulled it on over her head.
As she tightened up the Velcro on each side, she looked at him.
“This shouldn’t be happening. I left her in a safe environment.
No one gets in and out of that place without a card.
With all the problems we have in this town, the mayor went to a great deal of trouble to ensure that the school is safe.
It makes no sense at all that someone got in and strangled Ellie McBride. ”
“They have CCTV cameras everywhere.” Kane shrugged into his coat and then pulled on his thick leather gloves.
“The chances of the killer being unseen will be remote. It’s snowing and hasn’t stopped for days.
There should be footprints or evidence he’s left behind to show us how he’s getting in and out of the school.
I checked the place out thoroughly when we were last there and even the windows have alarms on them.
Only the windows that face the playgrounds can be opened during the day.
The others on the street side are protected by alarms. I’m mystified how anyone could have gotten inside without somebody knowing. ”
Slipping her weapon into the holster, Jenna met his gaze with a frown. “Now we have two murders, and from what they were saying, they’re both strangulations. What do these two women have in common? It seems to me this is the same killer.”
“Yeah, leaving notes to frighten the women and then strangling them seems to be his fantasy.” Kane slid his pistol into the holster and gave her a grim look.
“Ellie was murdered from behind like Laney Prescott. I figure it’s the same killer.
Wolfe will be able to determine that when he does his autopsy. ”
Jenna zipped up her coat, pulled on gloves, and headed toward the door.
“Ellie didn’t have anyone in town to stay with, I don’t even know if she has any next of kin close by.
” She sighed. “When we get into the truck, I’ll contact Father Derry and tell him not to go to the school this afternoon to give her a ride home.
He will be very upset that something has happened to her.
He went out of his way to keep her safe.
I feel that I’ve let her down. Half of the time I suspected her involvement.
That makes me feel like a heel.” As they walked along the hallway, she touched his arm.
“You were right all along. You never believed that she could be involved. So many things she said made me believe she’d made up stories to get attention.
All this time she was telling the truth. ”
“You can’t let this eat you up, Jenna.” Kane headed for the door and an arctic breeze buffeted them as they went outside.
“We couldn’t find a suspect and couldn’t verify anything she said.
The only indication that she’d been kidnapped was when she arrived at the Triple Z Roadhouse with a head injury—and we have no proof that she didn’t hit herself in the head.
There’s no CCTV camera footage of her arriving there and she claimed to have climbed out of the vehicle at the pumps.
The person on the footage is indistinguishable in the blizzard and they used her credit card.
It could have been her. She’d been bundled up and wearing similar clothes when we found her at the roadhouse.
The vehicle was the same make and model as her own.
I can see why you would believe that she’d been involved.
” He pulled down the rim of his Stetson.
“Add to that the writing on the whiteboard in the classroom being similar to hers, almost had me convinced as well.” He slid inside the vehicle and turned to look at her.
“To be honest, I’d started coming around to your way of thinking when Wolfe discovered her fingerprints on the lipstick used to write the message on Laney Prescott’s pillow.
” He sighed and started the engine. “My problem with her involvement in Laney Prescott’s murder came down to a motive to kill her.
We asked her if she knew Laney, and she’d never met her, but it wasn’t that.
It’s very unusual for a woman to strangle another woman.
It’s a very personal act. There’s usually a ton of emotion involved, like hate or jealousy, and I didn’t see any reason for Ellie to hate someone that much.
That was one of the reasons I dismissed the idea of Ellie being involved in Laney’s murder. ”
Jenna leaned back in her seat as the truck crunched through the thick coating of ice retardant.
Snow battered the windows like a swarm of angry white bees.
“I found it hard to believe that she didn’t know Laney Prescott.
As Laney worked in children’s services, she would be involved with the local teachers.
Especially around the age of Ellie’s students.
You would figure that Laney’s name would be known as she had been working there for a time.
” She sighed and pulled out her phone to call Father Derry.
“We can talk about this ’til the sun goes down, but the fact is, it seems she’s been murdered by the same person.
This means we’re dealing with someone who has involvement with a school and children’s services.
These two facts might give us a break in the case that we need.
The moment we get back to the office, I’ll get the search warrant for the Department of Social Services.
I figure there’s a connection between there and the school.
If necessary, I’ll ask Kalo to assist us.
I might run this case through Jo as well.
I can’t get my head around it and as we are having a behavioral analyst dropping by for Christmas, we might as well use her knowledge. ”
“Don’t forget you have Beth Katz coming as well.” Kane turned onto Stanton and headed toward the school. “We’ve hit the jackpot. You’ll have two of the top FBI IT specialists arriving in town shortly.”
Jenna stared out at the bleak white snowscape. “That’s good. We need all the help we can get.”