Chapter 31
Thirty-One
Heart pounding, Jenna stared out of the window. In the short time Jenna had been inside the cabin, the visibility had dropped to almost zero. Snow and the fog had created a whiteout. She jumped back in fright when the door flew open and Kane and Carter came in in a flurry of snowflakes.
“If the killer is out there, he’s well hidden.” Kane brushed the snow from his shoulders and pulled a woolen cap from his pocket. “The temperature is dropping fast.”
Relieved, she turned to Kane. “The crime scene will be buried with snow by now.”
“Maybe so, but we need to get those bodies out before the animals get to them.” Kane opened the door and went to stand on the porch.
He pulled the black woolen cap over his head and ears and then pushed on his Stetson over the top.
“The main problem will be getting turned around in this whiteout. I have the coordinates of each of the crime scenes and I’ll take them for the cabin before we leave so we know where we’ve left the truck. ”
Jenna stepped down from the porch with the others following close behind. “Everyone stay together. We’ll need to process the crime scene as quickly as possible. With the weather closing in like this, it’s going to be difficult to get off the mountain as it is.” She turned. “Come on, Duke.”
“Just a minute.” Raven removed his backpack and searched through it, pulling out a can of spray paint. “I’ll mark the trail as we go on the trees, just in case we get lost.”
“I didn’t notice any other vehicles in the vicinity when we drove here.” Rio pulled on thick warm gloves. “This makes me wonder if this guy has a cabin close by. No one would be stupid enough to stay outside in this weather.”
“I have a map of many of the cabins in this area.” Raven moved up behind Emily.
“I know who owns them and which ones are deserted. Many of them belong to me now. I purchased them from the forestry department and have been renovating them in my spare time. They are good for vacation or hunting rentals.”
“You wear a coat of many colors.” Wolfe nodded slowly. “I don’t figure you’ll ever let my Emily go hungry.”
“That’s very unlikely.” Raven frowned and pushed down his Stetson. “Let’s move. I’m getting cold standing around.”
As Kane moved ahead, Jenna could hear the sound of Raven spraying the trees every few feet as they went.
Kane led them immediately to the crime scene with the blood.
As Jenna had suspected, most of the evidence had been covered with a light covering of snow.
She turned to Wolfe. “I took photographs when we arrived. They should give you a better idea of what happened here.”
“It’s much the same as the last scene.” Wolfe peered around, staring at the trees and the blood splashed across the bark and leaves. “From the patches of blood on the ground I can see, one of the men was murdered and then some time went by before the second man died.”
“One of them must have remained in the cabin, maybe too scared to go outside.” Kane shot a look at Carter. “That’s a classic mistake. We see it all the time.”
“Yeah, anyone who watches a horror movie should know you stick together and don’t split up.” Carter slid a toothpick into his mouth. “I guess if these guys believed that there was a kid out here, maybe one stayed behind in case the kid came back?”
“Possible.” Rio shrugged and snow fell from his shoulders. “I like option number one best. One of them needed to go outside and prove that it was just the wind or whatever and the other one was scared. I guess we’ll never know the order of the murders.”
“Yeah, we will.” Emily turned to look at him as they walked deeper into the frozen forest. “I’ll take samples of the blood and match it to each victim.
We must assume that the first victim was murdered at the end of this trail and the second one over there.
” She pointed with her finger to the second pool of blood.
“It’s likely that we’ll find cross contamination of DNA in that blood.
There’s no reason to believe he cleaned the ax before each murder. ”
Jenna ran her gaze across her deputies and Carter. “Spread out around the crime scene and watch the forest for any movement, so Wolfe’s team can do their job and we can get out of here.”
She noticed the tension in the men’s shoulders as they moved out to spread around the clearing.
They were only a few feet away and already disappearing into the white haze.
She went to listen to what Wolfe had to say.
As they worked, the mist drifted around them like smoke, mixing with the curtain of snow that was becoming heavier by the second.
“I’m not seeing any defensive wounds.” Wolfe knelt beside the first body and pushed the stiff frozen clothing up the man’s arm. “There’s no bruising on the wrists or forearms.”
“Same here.” Emily was crouching beside the second victim. “They didn’t have time to fight.”
“I’d say if he was using a child’s voice to lure them, they would likely come running along the trail and he’d be waiting for them with the ax held high and ready to strike.
They wouldn’t have seen it coming.” Wolfe stood slowly and examined the neck wound.
“It’s clean-cut. He’s using a very sharp blade and a lot of strength.
He is managing it in one blow.” He glanced over at the other victim.
“That one looks exactly the same. This tells me he is very competent at using an ax and has the upper-body strength to swing it with great power.”
Listening with interest, Jenna ran through her list of suspects. “That particular attribute would cover most of the people we have on our suspects list.”
“If you ask me, he’s refining his methods.
” Wolfe stood and took body bags from his kit.
“Each one is getting cleaner and more brutal.” He indicated to the bodies.
“The way he’s placed them with their legs spread wide so they don’t topple over tells me he wants to get the best fright factor from anyone stumbling over them. ”
Chewing on her bottom lip, Jenna considered what he had said.
“What you’re saying makes me lean toward the men working at the Haunted House and the Old Mitcham Ranch even more because all of them would be able to create a terrifying experience.
It’s part of their job. The only thing that concerns me in this remote location is that the killer would have no idea how long it would be before a potential victim came by. ”
“Unless he was right there when Cherry and Connor requested the cabin at the warden’s station.” Kane glanced at her over one shoulder. “Once we’re through here, we’ll drop by and ask the warden on duty if he recalls seeing anyone loitering around yesterday.”
A soft crunch came from Jenna’s right. Kane had heard it too. “Rio and Rowley, stay here. The rest of you, follow me.” She looked at Kane. “Go.”
Ahead of her, Kane moved silent and fast, weaving between the pines. She ran after him and the cold bit into her face. In the distance, she made out a tall thin silhouette slipping between the trees. “See that?”
“Yeah.” Kane drew his weapon and sprinted away.
Jenna ran after him, and behind her Carter’s and Raven’s boots hammered the frozen ground.
The dark figure moved with amazing fluidity, as if he knew which way to go.
Cold air sliced into Jenna’s lungs with each gasp.
She ran faster as Carter bounded past her with Zorro and closed in behind Kane.
She could just make out the figure and then it vanished. “Where did he go?”
“It was an illusion.” Kane turned back to her. “Look, no footprints, no broken branches, nothing.” He spun around. “It was a trick to lure us away and leave the others alone.”
“Run.” Raven bounded off with Ben streaking behind him.