Follow Me Home_An unputdownable crime thriller that will have you hooked Page 13

  “I’m more worried about a bomb.” He scratched the dark stubble on his chin. “The blood could be a ploy to make us rush outside and take a look, in case someone is injured. They would expect us to follow duty of care protocol.” He glanced around. “It’s not safe here.”

  “Unless the bomb has a timer, it isn’t going to explode unless we trigger it, but I’m not taking any chances. We’ll wait in the barn just in case. You’d better bring Duke.” Jenna moved away from the door and followed Kane into the kitchen. “Get Wolfe and Rowley out here. Explain what happened. Tell them to proceed with caution and call me before they enter the property.” She headed to the back door.

  As they hurried toward the barn, Kane explained the situation to the deputies. She used the keypad on a side entrance to gain entrance to a door set into the side of the barn then turned on the lights. When Kane disconnected the call she led him through the steel door and down a flight of stairs to a fully furnished safe room. “I had hoped never to use this place but it has everything we need to hole up until the cavalry arrives.”

  “Nice. I thought it was a storage area.” He whistled and strolled around, looking in the bedrooms. “This place is almost as big as my cottage. How come you’ve never told me about it before?”

  She shrugged. “It’s a safe room, Kane. To keep me safe.”

  “Okay, I understand.” He dropped into a chair at the small kitchen table.

  Jenna busied herself by pulling out the coffee maker and fixings. It was promising to be a long night. She glanced at him over one shoulder. “I’m trying to figure out why my alarm didn’t activate the moment someone came through the gate. If you remember it was working fine when we arrived.”

  “Yeah, but you deactivated it when you went inside to get changed, didn’t you?” He shrugged. “Maybe you forgot to reset it?”

  Running her movements through her mind, she shook her head. She had forgotten once after a near-fatal accident and always double-checked since. “No, I clearly remember juggling a bottle of wine and punching in the code.”

  “Then why didn’t the intruder trigger the lights when they came onto the property?”

  A cold shiver ran down her spine. “They could have arrived before us. The lights have a delay and could have gone off again before we arrived. They didn’t get into the house because I disabled the alarm when I went inside.” She lifted her gaze to him. “We know whoever was here parked behind the old shed across the road.”

  “They could have slipped inside your house while you were changing and deactivated the alarm after you left.” Kane frowned.

  “How? The door locked behind me.”

  “There’s a hundred ways. You walk in and let the door swing shut behind you and someone could sneak up behind you and catch the door before it closes.”

  Dread made her heart race. “You’re saying they were inside the house watching me to get the code?” She met his gaze with a shudder. “I wonder what’s waiting for me when I get home.”

  “You’ll be fine because I’m the target. You haven’t received any threats.” Kane moved to her side and leaned his large frame against the kitchen counter. “They needed time to carry out their plan, and with your alarm and floodlights deactivated they would have had plenty of time to set things up.” His gaze slid over her. “Just as well they didn’t know about my silent alarm.”

  A wave of panic rushed over her and she pushed both hands through her hair. “How the hell did they know about my alarm?” She chewed on her bottom lip. “I installed it myself, and although it’s possible people might think I have sensor lights in the driveway, whoever came here tonight knew they are wired into the alarm.”

  “I have no idea.” Kane raised one eyebrow then turned away. “It’s going to be a long night.”

  She handed him a cup of coffee. “Really? We could be seconds away from being blown to pieces.”

  25

  Jenna’s cellphone rang and she directed Rowley to approach the house. “Aim your spotlights on the front door of the cottage but keep well back.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “What can you see?” Jenna put her cellphone on speaker and glanced at Kane, who had not stopped pacing up and down.

  “This is Wolfe, ma’am. I’m looking through binoculars and seeing a patch of red liquid and an upturned black plastic bucket. There seems to be pieces of paper floating in the puddle and a note on the front door. No other foreign objects in the immediate area and nothing I can see anywhere on the porch or any wires at all, but anything could be under the liquid.”

  “Keep your distance and put a few rounds into the ground in front of the step.” Kane moved to her side, towing Duke on a leash. “They may have planted a pressure plate; the blood would cover it.”

  Jenna listened as the SUV door opened and Wolfe used his rifle. Putt putt putt. Then silence.

  “All clear, ma’am.” Rowley’s voice came through the speaker.

  She heaved a sigh of relief. “Hold your position. We’re in the barn and we’re coming out.”

  After handing Kane one of her halogen flashlights, she led the way out of the safe room. They skirted the cottage and sprinted to meet Wolfe and Rowley. Jenna peered at Kane’s front door and looked at her deputies. “Suggestions?”

  “I’m familiar with explosives and tripwires. I’ll do a recon of the area.” Kane’s expression went deathly serious. “But I suggest we clear your house first, ma’am, as you believe someone has been inside.”

  Jenna appreciated the fact Kane changed from friend to deputy in front of the others, and nodded. “Yeah, good idea, but I doubt anyone had time to plant a bomb in my house.”

  “It would only take a few seconds to slip a device into your house, ma’am.” Wolfe strolled to the back of the SUV. “I’ll grab my kit.”

  The smell of putrid blood drifted toward her on the breeze. She glanced up at Kane. “Whatever happens here, you can’t stay in the cottage tonight. You will have to bunk with me. Unless you want to take a room in town?”

  “I’m not leaving you out here alone and I doubt the motel allows dogs.” Kane’s expression was unreadable in the dark. “I would rather be close by with a lunatic hanging around.” He rubbed his nose and grimaced. “Do you know a good cleaning service who works on Sundays?”

  Jenna chuckled. “You mean apart from Clean as a Wink?” She took the gloves Wolfe offered her and pulled them on. “Yeah, I know a cleanup crew. I’ll call them first thing in the morning.”

  “No need, ma’am.” Wolfe gave her a reassuring smile “Once we’ve checked out the area, bleach and a hosing-down will fix it. Plus I’m sure you don’t want to advertise the fact someone is stalking Kane.”

  “I’m not being stalked.” Kane gave him a reproachful glare. “Vandalized and threatened, maybe, but whoever did this is trying to make a point.”

  “Really?” Wolfe snorted. “Then why are we checking for bombs? If they wanted you to stop the pedophiles, they wouldn’t be trying to kill you or Sheriff Alton.” He glared at Kane. “This is the killer warning you off.”

  Jenna cleared her throat. “Stand down, the pair of you. We’ll do a sweep of the area just in case there are any explosives. In this situation, we can’t be too careful. Whatever the reason, my security was breached.” She glared at them. “Stay alert.”

  She turned to see Rowley looking at her with a wide-eyed, startled expression. Her young deputy was super-efficient but seemed to wilt if she barked at the older men. “Yes, what is it?”

  “We’ll need more vests, ma’am.” Rowley pulled two from the back of the SUV. He handed her one and gave the other to Kane.

  “I have two in the back of my car.” She tossed Kane the keys. “Don’t forget to check underneath for bombs before you open the door.”

  When he gave her a long, cold stare, she could have swallowed her tongue. How could she have forgotten Kane’s wife had died in a car bombing before she opened her big mouth? Her face grew hot. “I’m glad you�
��re an expert on explosive devices.”

  “So am I.” Kane’s mouth formed a thin line when he handed her Duke’s leash. “Better keep him here. He may trigger a tripwire.”

  She could sense the bad memories crushing down on him as she took the dog’s leash. “Okay.”

  “I’ll help Kane, ma’am.” Wolfe scooped the vest from her hands and shrugged into it. “Not that a vest will do much to stop an explosion.” He strode toward her SUV, flashlight in hand.

  She glanced at Rowley. “Don’t ask.”

  “I wouldn’t think of it, ma’am.” Rowley’s dark gaze narrowed. “Who do you think has it in for Deputy Kane?”

  Jenna kept her attention fixed on her deputies. She noticed the careful way both men surrounded her car, peering underneath and moving their flashlights in all directions. “He had a call earlier this evening warning him off. This might be a ploy by the killer to get him to stand down. They obviously don’t know him very well.”

  “The murders were all over the news this evening but nothing was leaked about the links to the girls you found.” Rowley tipped back his hat and scratched his head. “Why would they threaten Kane? His reputation is untouchable and the locals know it.”

  When Kane opened the back of her SUV and pulled out the vests, she heaved a sigh of relief. She shrugged and turned back to Rowley. “Most killers don’t think logically. Whoever is killing the pedophiles believes they are doing a community service and figure Kane is getting in their way. He was interviewing suspects today and maybe got close to the killer.” She headed toward her house with Duke following close to her side. “Problem is, some people think jail is too good for pedophiles and would turn a blind eye.”

  “I could see why there would be a split opinion.” Rowley walked beside her and gave her an uncomfortable stare. “People who were abused as kids and parents who lost kids to these creeps would be happy someone is killing them.” He cleared his throat. “We want to catch them and bring them to justice. I can see both sides of the argument.”

  Jenna stopped walking; she had to admit she could see both sides too, but her job was to enforce the law. “We follow the letter of the law and personal opinions don’t apply. Not ever.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  After waiting for Kane and Wolfe to clear her house, she headed up the steps in time to see Kane checking the alarm system. “Find anything interesting?”

  “You tell me.” Kane’s mouth twitched as he held up two wires torn from the main box. “The floodlights, I gather? It didn’t take a tech-head to work out the wiring. The label you stuck on the control panel is a dead giveaway.” He raised one eyebrow and his lips quivered as he attempted to smother a grin. “Give me a few seconds and I’ll have these reattached.”

  “What about prints?” She unhitched the dog’s leash then moved to Kane’s side.

  “Wiped down.” Wolfe came up the passageway and pointed to a small scuff on the floor outside the broom closet. “I would say they parked across the road behind the barn then walked here before you arrived. Kane mentioned he drove into his garage. You have a seven-minute turn off delay on the lights, so he had plenty of time to return to the house, is that correct?”

  “Yes, I jogged to the house, went inside, and disabled the alarm, got changed, re-set the alarm, and came back here. The lights were working fine then.”

  “They hid the bucket of blood somewhere close.” Wolfe sighed. “They followed you inside and hid in here.” He swung open the door of a small cupboard and shone his flashlight inside. There are a few smudges of soil but no footprints. When you went to Kane’s they disabled the floodlights and alarm.”

  “How did they know you planned to go over to Kane’s cottage tonight?” Rowley’s questioning gaze moved between them.

  “We went to dinner at the Cattleman’s Hotel. It was crowded—anyone could have seen us arrive in my vehicle. We chatted about watching a movie over dinner.” Kane rubbed his chin. “It’s possible someone overheard us. They would have had plenty of time to get here before us and set this up, or they just got lucky.”

  Jenna chewed on her fingernails, thinking. “We spend a lot of downtime together. If someone has been watching us, they would assume we’d spend some time together after going for a meal. We usually do.”

  “Just a minute.” Wolfe held up a finger then turned back to the front door. “Do you often use a wedge to keep the door open?”

  Jenna followed him. “No, never.”

  “I noticed this when I came up the steps.” Wolfe pointed to a small wedge of wood on the porch. “Come outside and close the door.” He led the way.

  Jenna complied and watched as he slid the wooden wedge near the door hinge and the floor.

  “Okay, I want you to go inside as you would normally.” Wolfe handed her the bunch of keys she had given him.

  She used the keys to open the door, strolled inside, and allowed the door to swing shut behind her. A few moments later, the door swung open and Wolfe smiled at her. “The wedge prevented the door from closing completely but not enough for you to notice.”

  “Oh my God.” Jenna shook her head in disbelief. “I wonder if the killer was seated beside us at dinner?”

  “I can’t believe you didn’t notice if a suspect was close by.” Wolfe’s astonished expression moved over Kane’s face. “Think. Did you notice anyone at all?”

  “People were coming and going all the time; nobody in particular registered with me. To be honest, I wasn’t looking for a threat. I was concentrating on discussing the case and eating.”

  Jenna sighed. “Mr. Davis was chatting to George Miller and his wife when we arrived but none of them are on our list of suspects.”

  “Yeah, I noticed them in the lobby.” Kane cleared his throat. “If we’re done here, I’d like to check out the cottage now, ma’am. With the floodlights, it should be easy enough to find any tripwires.” He patted Duke on the head. “Stay here, boy.” He picked up the flashlight and headed out the door.

  Jenna turned to the other deputies. “Don’t just stand there, let’s go.” She followed them out the door.

  “Ma’am.” Wolfe strode beside her. “Leave this to Kane and me. We have specialized training in this area.”

  They seem to be specialized in everything. She gave him a curt nod. “Okay, we’ll keep away from any potential blast zone. Be careful. Don’t forget you have kids at home.”

  “Not for a second.” Wolfe flashed her one of his rare smiles then jogged to Kane’s side.

  Her heart raced as her deputies checked the area. As they moved around, she heard Kane’s deep voice call out, “Clear.”

  When Wolfe crouched at the crimson pool at the front door and Kane bent to take photographs with his cellphone camera, she wanted to run over to them but kept her distance. If it was a crime scene, the fewer people stamping around the better. By the lowered voices, her deputies had found something significant and her heart pounded in anticipation. Moments later Kane waved her forward.

  “Clear.”

  Jenna took the face mask Kane held out to her and pushed it over her nose. The smell was disgusting. “What do we have?”

  “Wolfe is doing a test on the blood but he thinks it’s animal; it has fur in it, maybe from a cow.” Kane indicated to the puddle and his mouth turned down. “In the blood are photocopies of old newspapers. Wolfe will have to clean them up but from what we can see from the headlines, they all feature missing kids.”

  The sight of blood dripping from the innocent smiling faces depicted in the newspapers made Jenna’s stomach clench. She moved closer, trying to read the headlines. “Some of them look old, yellowed.”

  “Yeah, they’re all cut from old newspapers.” Kane moved his flashlight to a few Wolfe had laid in a line on the grass. “Some of the articles are more than ten years old. Wolfe will be able to get all the pertinent information and the names of the journalists.”

  “How many kids?”

  “Six, and all missing girls.
” Kane’s eyes searched her face then he moved his flashlight onto his front door. “Then there’s this.”

  Scrawled over the images of Amos Price and Ely Dorsey were the words: “Monsters kill kids”. Jenna turned to Kane and waved a hand at the newspaper articles. “Oh my God, do you think they mean Price and Dorsey killed these children?”

  “It sure looks that way.” Kane removed his gloves with a snap, and his troubled gaze moved to her face. “With both of them dead, we have no idea where they buried the bodies. We only have one option.”

  Jenna frowned at him. “Yeah, I know. We have to find the vigilante before they finish their killing spree.”

  26

  Parked in the bushes opposite the junction leading to Sheriff Alton’s ranch, she sat in her car tingling with excitement from her close encounter with the law and watched the road. Sweat soaked her shirt and her heart still raced from sprinting from the sheriff’s ranch. It had been a stroke of luck to be standing at the reception counter of the Cattleman’s Hotel when Deputy Kane called to make a reservation. It had given her plenty of time to work out a plan.

  Outwitting the sheriff would not be easy, and she actually admired her grit. Jenna Alton was one tough cookie and not easily swayed by emotion. She wondered how the sheriff would react when she called Kane to give him the next clue.

  She could never explain to Kane how she knew where to find the missing girls. She would send him to the isolated Craig’s Rock then down the mountain to Old Corkey’s place—a deserted cabin a short distance from where one of the monsters lived. That would keep the sheriff and her team occupied for at least one day.

  A wave of anticipation of what was to come thrummed through her as she stared into the darkness at the sheriff’s ranch. Some time had passed since a cruiser flew past with lights flashing, and in the distance, a halo of illumination emanated from the sheriff’s property. It sure looks like I have your attention now. Time for stage two.