Chapter 13

Fighting her instincts to hunt down Kane and forget about everything else, Jenna ran the current murder cases through her mind. There must be a clue to the person who took him. It was impossible that a terrorist faction had discovered his whereabouts. Her mind went to his recent mission. He hadn’t mentioned why he’d been reactivated and she hadn’t pressed him for information, but if there’d been the slightest chance of him being compromised, Wolfe would know. She had to put her trust in him, and trust was all she had at the moment. Trust in Wolfe’s judgment and her deep conviction that Kane had the experience to get himself out of trouble—but he was just a man and men could be shot dead. That thought alone gripped her chest so hard it hurt. Fighting for each breath and trying desperately to remain calm, Jenna parked beside Rowley’s truck outside the victim’s house and walked up to her deputies. “What have you got for me?”

“Same MO as before.” Rio moved to her side. “Only difference is that the back door is open. No sign of forced entry, no sign of anything. Nothing is disturbed. We looked around the house but didn’t touch anything, apart from opening the front door. It stinks in there.” He wiped at the tip of his nose. “Real bad and it was overbearingly hot.”

“The victim has the same two burn marks on the back of her neck. Same with the eyes. It’s a replica of the other murder.” Rowley’s face was sheet white. “The TV was blaring, so I turned it off using the remote. I was wearing gloves.”

Dragging her professionalism from the depths of despair and pulling it around her in a protective shield, she thought of Kane. How many times had he used his combat mode to block out emotion? She’d try and do the same. Two poor innocent women had become the targets of a deranged predator with a modified stun gun and the only person who stood between him and the next victim was her. She pulled on a mask and examination gloves, lifted her chin, and walked into the house. “You’ve called Wolfe?” She glanced at Rio, who directed her along a passageway and into a family room.

“Yeah, he should be here shortly.” Rio walked into the room and stood to one side.

The smell of death seeped through Jenna’s face mask, but she took her time to scan the room. The body was upright and the victim’s long brown hair swept to one side to display two distinct burn marks. She’d seen stun gun marks and cattle prod burns and these were similar. She understood the entry and exit wounds for electric shock and moved slowly around the body readying herself for the gruesome sight. It was the same as before but this woman’s mouth hung open in almost a surprised expression. She bent and lifted one of her feet, the burn mark had traveled through the victim’s body to exit through the moccasin-style slipper to ground. As Rio had said, it was the same MO.

A crunch of gravel announced the arrival of Wolfe’s team, and Jenna led the way from the house to greet him. She walked to his side, glad to see Emily Wolfe with him. She had become a close friend and right now she needed a shoulder to lean on. For a young woman, Wolfe’s daughter was worldly beyond her years, and Jenna welcomed the comforting hug from her. “Thanks for coming.”

“Don’t worry about a thing.” Emily’s face filled with concern. “We’ll process the scene.”

“Yeah, why don’t you head back to the office and concentrate on finding who might have a beef with Dave?” Wolfe pulled out his forensic kit and looked at her. “I can’t find Carter. I sent him a 911 message, told him about the abduction, but he’s gone dark. Jo and Kalo won’t be back for a week.” He straightened. “Blackhawk has been out searching the forest. There’s not so much as a footprint out there. He found a spot where he believes Kane slid across the road and hit a tree. There’s nothing to indicate he stood and walked away unless he went along the blacktop. If that had been the case, Duke would have picked up his scent. As you said before, he wouldn’t remove his helmet. Whoever took him removed it and threw it into the bushes.” He shook his head. “And now two homicides.” He gave her a long look. “Leave the autopsies to me and Webber. You’ll need all your time. I’ll give you a report as soon as I’m done.”

Biting her bottom lip, Jenna nodded. “I’ll need all the time I can get with two homicide investigations and Dave’s kidnapping. I have no evidence in any of the cases and with Carter MIA, I have only Rio and Rowley with me to work them. Dave could be in mortal danger for all we know and the clock is ticking. This killer is escalating, if he’s killed twice already.”

“Y’all don’t have a choice, Jenna. Kane is law enforcement and we need assistance to locate him.” Wolfe met her gaze. “You must call in Agent Dax Styles from Rattlesnake Creek. His partner, if you recall, was with cybercrime. She’ll be able to do everything Kalo could do. Styles will be able to access a wide spectrum of information and might be able to narrow down the field in Kane’s disappearance.” He gave her a long look. “He was a highly decorated MP before settling in Rattlesnake Creek. He has the experience you need right now.”

Swallowing the lump in her throat, Jenna nodded. “Who I need is Carter. He’s part of our family. He understands how we work.” She rubbed both hands down her face trying to focus. “This Agent Styles, is there anything he needs to know about Dave?”

“Absolutely not for the reasons I’ve already given you.” Wolfe squeezed her shoulder. “Leave the dead to me, Jenna, and I’ll see if I can find answers. Use your resources and delegate the work the same as always. You’re strong and resourceful. I have faith you’ll solve these cases.”

A tremble went through her, but she nodded. “Okay. Call me if you have anything and I’ll do the same.”

“If you discover where Kane is, I’ll come with you. You’ll need extra backup.” Wolfe gave her a long look. “He’s like a brother to me, Jenna.”

Nodding, Jenna headed for the Beast. Heartache dragged at her, but as the engine roared into life, she could almost feel Kane surrounding her. He was alive, she could feel him inside her heart, but where the heck was he?

Once Jenna arrived at the office, she called Rio and Rowley upstairs. “Rio, I want you to run a background check on the latest victim. We believe her name is Jennifer Kriss. Do the usual checks and see if she has any next of kin. Problem boyfriends, estranged family members, you know the deal. Who would do this to her? Rowley, you keep on checking out the first victim, Dakota Slade, and see if you can find anything at all that might link these victims.” She sucked in a deep breath. “If we can’t find Carter, I’ll call in a local FBI agent by the name of Dax Styles to assist me with finding Dave. His partner is in cybercrime and will be working from their office if we need her. For now I’ll be scanning the case files to hunt down anyone who might have had a reason to kidnap Dave.” She looked from one to the other. “It might be payback and he could be in danger, but we have nothing else to go on. There was nothing on scene to indicate another vehicle was involved but we found a wire cable tied across the road. Wolfe has it and will check it for any evidence. From what we can estimate, the cable knocked him from his Harley at chest height. The force would have thrown him backward. At some time he was injured, as we found a drop of blood on the blacktop.”

“I’ve seen someone hit a tree branch and come off a motorcycle. They are thrown back and tumble before sliding to a stop. If he was knocked unconscious, he could have been abducted without a fight. There’s no way Kane would go easy and he’s never unarmed, is he?” Rio raised both eyebrows. “It would be an easy way to incapacitate him. The worst-case scenario would be he landed on his head and broke his neck.” He held up a hand. “That’s not what happened, Jenna. Kidnapping a corpse would be worthless. So he must be alive.”

Nausea gripped Jenna and she stood to grab a bottle of water from the refrigerator. She leaned against the counter and took long deep breaths. “Thanks for the visual. No, he wouldn’t go easy. He can handle six guys and more likely he’d shoot them. Incapacitate them, not kill them, to find out what the heck they wanted.” She swallowed hard. “We haven’t got Kalo to help out with the searches, so we do the grunt work until Styles arrives.” She looked from one to the other. “There must be someone who joins the two murders. I want the names and whereabouts of anyone you figure is suspicious.” Running a hand down her face, she looked at them. “We’ll run both cases at the same time.”

“Why Agent Styles and not Carter? He must be around town somewhere.” Rio frowned. “We know nothing about this other guy.”

“Carter told me his phone would be switched off for the entire week.” Rowley met her gaze. “I figure the only chance of finding him is to go to his cabin. If he’s not around, we’ll leave a note on the door. He and Kane are close. He’ll want to be out hunting him down.”

Jenna reached for her phone. “Good idea. I’ll call Blackhawk. He goes close by Carter’s cabin on his way home and he was out at the ranch assisting me when this happened.” She made the call. When she disconnected, she looked from one to the other. “Get to work. We need to find this killer before he strikes again.”

“We’ll find him, Jenna.” Rowley touched his hat and headed for the door.

Jenna stared after them and then dropped into her chair. Who had a grudge against Kane? So many cases over the years it could be any one of them. Fighting back tears, she pressed her face in her hands. She needed to be strong and trust in her team. Lifting her head, she turned to her computer and accessed the files. A mental list formed in her mind. Recently released, due for parole, and a list of relatives of anyone they’d killed in the line of duty. Sometimes people waited a long time, planned and schemed to get revenge. Kane’s abduction had been well planned and whoever had taken him wasn’t alone. Just lifting him unconscious would be difficult for two men. She ran the cases through her mind, trying to recall the trials and who was there to support the defendant. Without any other choice, she’d start there and, taking out a pen and notebook, made a list of names.