CHAPTER FIVE
Evening had drained most of the color from Eagleton by the time Selena returned to the old school.
The parking lot was empty. No contractor vans, no county vehicles, no sign that anyone had been inside since she left that morning.
A single security light burned above the main entrance, weak against the broad brick front.
Beyond the building, the town had begun settling for the night.
Storefronts along the main road were dark, and the upper windows of nearby houses held squares of warm light.
Selena unlocked the glass doors and stepped into the lobby.
The door clicked shut behind her.
Dusk pressed against the tall windows, turning the corridor beyond the entrance into a long passage of gray tile and dark classroom doors.
During the day, the old school merely appeared neglected.
At this hour, its size became harder to ignore.
The upper floors stood empty. Old pipes shifted inside the walls.
Somewhere near the stairwell, a loose vent gave a faint metallic rattle.
Selena switched on the nearest bank of lights. Two fixtures responded. A third flickered once and remained dark.
She started toward the rear wing.
Her footsteps followed her along the corridor.
The second set came a fraction later.
Selena slowed.
The sound behind her slowed, too.
Her hand moved toward the weapon beneath her jacket as she turned.
Nothing occupied the hall. The entrance doors remained shut, and the dark display case beside them held only the reflection of the working lights.
Selena took another step.
The sound returned from the stairwell, softened and delayed.
An echo.
She released a breath and continued walking.
“Very professional, Selena,” she muttered.
The teachers’ lounge was darker than the corridor.
Selena entered, switched on the ceiling light, and watched it pulse twice before deciding to work.
She crossed to her desk and turned on an old student lamp she had found in a supply closet.
Its green metal shade was dented near the rim, but it cast a steady circle across her notebook and the files from the sheriff’s department.
Three empty desks waited beyond it.
Selena hung her jacket over the back of the chair and sat. Karen Sloane’s name remained at the top of her notebook from the Gerry Tomes interview.
Storage unit broken into.
Papers possibly stolen.
Moved without telling ex-husband.
Rented Montgomery cabin for three months.
The storage burglary might explain why Karen had chosen an isolated property, but it did not explain why she had been killed there within days of arriving.
If the break-in and murder were connected, someone had followed her from Loyall or learned where she had gone.
If they were separate, Karen had suffered two violations in quick succession, one inconvenient and one fatal.
Selena found Hannah Montgomery’s number in the notes and placed the call through the office phone.
A woman answered after five rings.
“Hello?”
“Ms. Montgomery?”
“Yes.”
“This is Special Agent Selena Raven with the FBI. It’s important I speak with you. Is this a good time?”
“Oh… Selena Raven…”
She obviously knew the name.
“It’s fine,” Hannah said. “I’ve been waiting to hear from someone. Is this about Karen Sloane?”
“Yes. I need to ask you some questions about her rental.”
Hannah’s breath moved close to the receiver. “I still can’t believe it. That cabin’s been in our family longer than I’ve been alive. Nothing like that has ever happened there.”
“When did Karen first contact you?”
“About three weeks ago. She sent me a message through the rental listing. Asked whether I’d consider a three-month lease instead of weekly bookings.”
“Did she say why she wanted the cabin?”
“She said she was recently divorced and needed somewhere quiet to work. I understood she was writing a book.”
“Did you meet her before she moved in?”
“No. We spoke twice on the phone and handled the paperwork by email. I mailed the key after the deposit cleared.”
Selena wrote the dates as Hannah provided them.
“Was anyone else interested in renting the cabin during that period?”
“A couple from Ohio asked about a week in October. I told them it wasn’t available. A man messaged about hunting season, but he wanted the whole property, not just the cabin.”
“Do you have names and contact information?”
“The booking site will. I can send you screenshots.”
“Please do. Did you think the people who inquired about the place knew Karen had rented it?”
The line buzzed before Hannah answered. “I wouldn’t think so. I only said it was already rented to them. I wouldn’t give out names or anything like that.”
Selena thought for a moment. “Did anyone contact you outside the listing? Anyone asking about Karen?”
“No.”
Selena turned to a fresh page. She wondered if someone else attached to the cabin could have taken exception to Karen being there. “Have you had trouble with previous renters or guests?”
The line buzzed again. “Nothing serious,” Hannah said. “A family broke a kitchen chair last summer and tried to hide it in the shed. One guest complained about mice, but there weren’t any. I put traps down and never caught a thing.”
“No threats, disputes, or people refusing to leave?”
“No. Most folks go there because they want peace.”
“What about trespassers?” Selena asked.
“Hikers cross the upper part of the land sometimes. Hunters too, though they’re not supposed to. My uncle used to chase them off when he was alive.”
“Mr. Montgomery?”
“That’s right.”
Selena remembered the mounted bear and the stories that grew each time Mr. Montgomery told them.
Selena continued. “Who has keys to the cabin?”
“I have the spare,” Hannah said. “Karen had the other one.”
“Where do you keep yours?”
“In a locked drawer at my house.”
“Has it been there continuously since you mailed Karen’s key?”
“Yes. Deputy Shaw came by and collected it this afternoon. I showed him the drawer.”
“Could your uncle have made additional copies?”
“He could have done anything. He died six years ago, and I cleared the place out after that. I found two keys. One went with the cabin, and I kept one.”
“Any cleaners or maintenance workers go to the cabin regularly?” Selena asked.
“I clean it myself between renters,” Hannah said.
Selena thought through the crime scene again. “What about the utility door off the kitchen? It was easy to access.”
Hannah hesitated. “The latch has always been temperamental. I got it adjusted earlier in the year. I thought it was fixed. I got my cousin Dale to have a look at it. He doesn’t have a key, but he’s handy.”
“Forensics found it can be pushed open from outside without damaging the lock,” explained Selena.
“Oh, God. I didn’t know.”
“Did Dale enter the cabin after Karen took possession?”
“No. Nothing needed doing.”
“Can you give me Dale’s details?”
“Sure,” Hannah said. “But I can tell you right now he’s vacationing in Canada.”
Selena wrote down Dale’s full name and contact number.
“Did Karen mention any concerns before she arrived?”
“She asked whether the internet was reliable and whether the windows opened properly. I told her the router sometimes needed resetting and said I’d send Dale if anything gave her trouble.”
“Did she sound frightened or upset?”
Hannah’s voice filled with sadness. “No. She sounded excited.”
Selena tried not to feed that sadness. Experience told her that sometimes people clammed up or found it difficult to recall details when profound emotions took over.
“Hannah, did Karen ever mention anyone possibly visiting?”
“No.”
Now it was time to feed a little detail into the conversation. A tightrope to walk, as giving too much could always compromise the interviewee. “Did Gerry Tomes ever show up at the property or contact you about Karen?”
“Her ex-husband?”
She knew about him.
“Actually…” The line buzzed with anticipation. “Yes.”
“What did she tell you?” Selena asked.
Hannah paused before answering. “I never spoke to him. I wouldn’t have known him if he walked past me. But she did tell me that there had been some arguments post-divorce. Nothing specific, though. I don’t like getting too involved in my tenants’ lives.”
“Did Karen ask you to keep her location private?”
“Not in those words,” said Hannah. “She said she wanted somewhere quiet and out of the way, where she could be alone for a while. I took that to mean the divorce.”
Selena circled the sentence.
“Do you think she seemed scared of him?”
“I don’t know, Agent Raven,” she said. “I… I got the feeling she was just looking to the future more than running from something. More like he was an annoyance than anything else.”
This line of questioning was not bearing fruit. Selena scribbled down some more notes. “I see… Did you tell anyone else locally that Karen had rented the cabin? I mean by name?”
“No. Dale knew it was occupied, but not who the tenant was.”
The answers filled the page but did not move the case forward. No threatening renters. No known ex-husband at the cabin. No missing key. Nothing beyond a few people who knew the property was occupied.
Selena thought for a second. And that was when Hannah took the opportunity.
Hannah cleared her throat.
“Say, aren’t you Diane Raven’s sister?”
Selena paused. “Yes.”
“I thought I recognized the name. Diane and I were in Girl Scouts together. That must have been thirty years ago.”
“Probably closer to thirty-five.”
“Don’t say that. I’ve been avoiding the arithmetic.”
Selena smiled despite the fatigue pulling at her shoulders.
Hannah continued, “You came along a few times, didn’t you? I remember you sitting at the end of the table while we made those little woven key chains.”
“I didn’t stay long.”
“No, you didn’t. Diane loved it. She had all those badges sewn straight. Mine were always crooked.”
“It just wasn’t my thing.”
“You told the troop leader you didn’t see the point of earning a badge for setting a table when you already knew how. I always remembered that.”
Selena leaned back. “Oh dear.” She let out a short, tired laugh.
“You were about ten.”