Chapter 27
TWENTY-SEVEN
It was a little after two by the time Jenna had finished her lunch and headed for the door. Susie, the manager, came out from behind the counter carrying a large box. Jenna raised an eyebrow as she handed it to Kane. “Did you order more food?”
“Nope.” Kane peered into the box. “There’s enough here to feed an army.”
“It’s the order from your office. Apparently the FBI is in town.” Susie looked from one to the other. “The instructions are to take it to the conference room, but as you’re here, I’m sure you can deliver it for me?”
Glad to know that the agents had arrived, Jenna smiled. “That’s fine, thank you. We’re headed there now.”
She opened the door for Kane as he stepped out into the snow.
Behind her, Raven collected the bag of leftovers for the dogs.
His dog, Ben, waited for them at the office.
Jenna smiled and thanked Susie. Duke would know they’d been to Aunt Betty’s without him and would sulk if he didn’t get a snack.
Carter’s Doberman, Zorro, ignored everyone, but Carter could tempt him to eat the odd sausage now and then.
Bear, Styles’ Belgian Malinois, an overprotective K-9, guarded both Styles and Beth with a passion, but he’d eat if directed by Styles.
With all the dogs staying at the ranch, the boys would be thrilled.
The wonderful aroma of the food filled the Beast’s interior as they drove along Main.
Outside, snowflakes fell in spirals, spinning away as they caught in the wind.
The walls of snow from the snowplow had lost their white coating and resembled a gray wall made up of ice, sticks, and other debris.
Jenna appreciated the beauty in a snowscape, but the aftermath became dirty piles of slush.
Jenna sighed. More snow would be falling before long and she hoped they’d have the case sewn up before Christmas.
She turned to Kane and Raven. “I hope the others have had more luck in finding suspects.”
“I figure if you release a media report and set up the hotline again, we might find a few witnesses.” Kane shrugged.
“Someone out there might have seen something. The killer plans his kills. I figure he’s a stalker, so he’d be close by to the victims. People in town are more suspicious nowadays.
It’s worth a try. Also, Rio’s brother and sister are back from college on vacation.
They’ll be happy to man the phones. They love being involved. ”
Rio’s twin siblings, Cade and Piper, had lived with Rio since his parents died. They’d become like part of the family. Jenna nodded. “Yeah, good idea. Right now, we’re getting nowhere.”
She climbed from the Beast in time to see Maggie returning with Duke and Ben.
Both dogs shook themselves violently and Duke did a happy dance to see them.
Jenna took Duke’s leash and pushed through the door behind Kane.
Behind her, Raven entered with Ben stuck to his leg like glue.
That dog didn’t like going anywhere without Raven and often howled like a wolf at the moon if left behind.
Jenna smiled at Maggie. “Thanks for taking the dogs out.”
“I don’t mind two of them, but I don’t figure I’d manage four.” Maggie pulled off her thick coat. “The FBI agents will need to care for their own dogs.”
“I appreciate you taking Ben with you, Maggie.” Raven smiled warmly at her. “I’m glad he went with you. He can be sticky with some people.”
“He obeyed the signals you taught me and he needed to go outside.” Maggie chuckled. “It was me or a puddle on the floor and he chose me. I figure having Duke along helped.”
Jenna climbed the stairs, following Kane into the conference room. A cheer came from Carter as they arrived and Kane dropped the box of food on the table. Apparently, no one had stopped for lunch.
As everyone dove into the box for food. Jenna dropped into a chair and exchanged greetings with the agents.
It was good to see Jo again. They’d been friends for a long time.
Carter had become part of the family, and even Beth Katz and Styles seemed to be at home.
Kalo sat at the end of the table, his concentration on his laptop, an unopened packet of sandwiches in one hand.
She leaned back in her chair as everyone demolished the food. “Do you have anything for me?”
“Yeah, we do.” Kalo smiled at her over the top of his laptop. “Three possible suspects.”
“And we’ve planned out the takedown of the fentanyl distributor.” Carter hummed over a spoonful of chili. “It will be like taking candy from a baby.”
“Yeah.” Kane frowned. “But these babies carry MK-47s. It’s snowing and we’ll be spotted unless we’re very careful.”
Jenna held up a hand. “Suspects first.”
“Oh, you’re no fun at all, Jenna.” Carter tipped back his hat. “It’s the holidays. Where’s your ‘ho ho ho’ gone?”
Snorting, Jenna shook her head. “It will miraculously arrive when we’ve put these cases to bed. Now, what suspects?”
“Before we talk about suspects”—Jo waved a burger in one hand—“do you want to discuss the profile?”
Glad to have Jo’s expertise as a behavioral analyst on the case, Jenna nodded. “Yeah, I would. Give me the rundown.”
“We’re talking about someone who carries a deep-set resentment.
So I honestly don’t believe it’s someone who is young, for instance, under the age of twenty.
This would negate any of the current children at the school.
The reason I mentioned this is because a boy of fourteen is strong enough to strangle a woman.
” Jo placed her hamburger on a napkin. “In fact, this person could be any age from approximately twenty-five upward, which would again negate them being a student of Ellie McBride’s past or present. ”
“What would make them stand out to us and what are we looking for?” Kane walked to the table and pushed a cup of coffee in front of Jenna and placed another down before taking his seat.
“Resentment could have come from during their childhood or anytime during their life. Maybe something happened recently that triggered them.” Jo shrugged.
“We’re talking about a psychopathic brain.
The need to kill could have lain dormant for many years before something triggered it.
We all know that not every psychopath becomes a killer.
This man, I believe, saw a resemblance between Ellie McBride and Laney Prescott that isn’t evident to us.
From the evidence that you’ve presented, the notes in particular tell me that he stalks his victims and plans every move prior to his attacks.
He knew they would be alone and he likes to frighten them.
This would tell us something terrifying happened to him as a child and this is payback. ”
Absorbing everything that Jo said, Jenna took a long sip of her coffee. “Yes, so are we looking at a classic abused child?”
“That would be the first avenue to investigate but when young people step out into the world, even if they’ve come from a stable background, they can be bullied.
They might be pressured by people at work.
They might have married someone who controls them.
We could be talking about a married man who lost his children to the system through no fault of his own and maybe he blames a teacher and the social worker.
These are points of reference that I added to the profile so that Kalo and Beth could work their magic and try and cross-reference people who could possibly be suspects. ”
“A couple of things happened while you were at the autopsy that you should be aware of.” Rio stood and went to the whiteboard.
“The principal called to inform us that the janitor, Caleb Dorsey, is often on the grounds after hours. He isn’t sociable, especially since his divorce, and has become even more remote lately.
” He looked at Jenna. “I ran a background check on him. He has a minor criminal record for trespassing and a history of mental health issues. I’m wondering why he is employed at the school and near young children.
All these things would put him in the right place at the right time to have murdered Ellie McBride.
I looked into him a little more, and he and his wife went to Laney Prescott for marriage guidance.
” He sighed. “That was some time ago and another one of her roles as a social worker. She was qualified.”
Impressed, Jenna nodded as Rio added Dorsey’s name and the reasons for being a suspect to the whiteboard.
“I guess if he’s a little unbalanced and his wife divorced him, he might wonder what in the past caused all his problems. It seems to me psychopaths need an excuse to murder someone—as in, it wasn’t their fault.
They believe they’re either doing someone a favor or the person made them do it. ”
“I’m interested in a man by the name of Ethan Rourke.
” Kalo met Jenna’s gaze and smiled. “I’ve been centering my search on people who work with or are connected to local government facilities.
Rourke is a freelance IT technician. He has the opportunity to work under the radar fixing systems in schools and other government buildings.
This gives him access and anonymity. I dug a little deeper and discovered he attended the school, but they expelled him after a disturbing incident involving a teacher.
He left the county and finished his time at Louan. ”
“Why does this make him a suspect?” Raven rested both hands on the table. “Being expelled doesn’t make a serial killer.”