“Don’t forget, Mrs. Wood was raped. We have proof of that at least.” Jo pushed a hand through her hair. “Another violent act. Killing wasn’t good enough, he wanted to humiliate and dominate his victims.”
“Why didn’t you arrest him?” Carter tipped back his Stetson and narrowed his gaze at her. “Even if you can’t prove he had sex with a minor. He was living with an underage girl and statutory rape is a criminal offense in this state. I’m sure you could talk her around to testifying.”
Not fazed by Carter’s annoyance, Jenna turned to look at him. “I have three reasons to let this go for now: the first we were invited by Louan county to investigate the bombing, which leaves Dawn’s case under the jurisdiction of Sheriff Crenshaw. Secondly, because most of the town belongs to the same church and have the same beliefs… that is, taking a child and training her to be a wife is okay, so the chances are he won’t spend a second in custody. Thirdly, Dawn has been through enough, dragging her through a court case, when we all know she can’t win, will traumatize her even more. It’s her choice if she decides to go ahead if more women step forward later.” She looked at him. “I called my contact in the FBI Child Protection Agency and as she is over the age of twelve and now safe, they don’t have time to get involved.”
“I had to pull a lot of favors to have Dawn placed in my custody.” Jo went to the coffee machine and refilled her cup. “By rights, she should’ve been placed into the care of the Louan CFSD, but as Phelps, the director, is a member of the church as well, he’d return Dawn to her folks and they’ll give her back to Suffolk. They probably have an agreement or even a contract.”
“I don’t agree.” Carter stared at the ceiling for some moments and then lowered his gaze to her. “Because with Dawn’s testimony we have more than circumstantial evidence to charge him with the Woods’ murder.”
“I don’t think we can risk the case on one young woman’s testimony. The defense will tear her to shreds.” Kane joined Jo at the coffee machine. “I’d like to see more evidence or he’ll slide. He said that on Tuesday evening he was making a delivery at Miller’s Garage here in Black Rock Falls and didn’t get back until late. We could waste a whole lot of time hunting down someone who he spoke to, but if the bomb was set off by remote—”
“Dang!” Carter sprang from his chair and started pacing. “The family had the table set for dinner. What if our timeline is corrupted? Say Suffolk was at the Woods’ ranch earlier than we suspected. He subdued and restrained the family and set the bomb. He kidnapped Sophie and stashed her somewhere before he drove to Black Rock Falls to set up his alibi. It’s only half an hour’s drive from Louan to Miller’s Garage. He could’ve set off the bomb with a simple phone call while he was there.”
“Exactly.” Kane glanced over his shoulder at Carter. “He also admitted being in DC around the time of the earlier bombings, which is another strike against him. Here’s where I have a problem, and it suggests reasonable doubt. Suffolk is a big guy and him and his truck would be well known in Louan. How come nobody noticed him or his truck near the Woods’ ranch on the night of the bombing?” He filled his cup and returned to his seat. “We also don’t know if he has any knowledge of explosives.” He sighed. “We’ll need more information on Suffolk before we move on him. The underage dealing must be rife in Louan if it’s thought to be normal practice. I hate to say it but if Suffolk has been raised to believe that behavior is okay, it doesn’t make him a murderer.”
“I have to agree.” Jo stared at Jenna. “Without a direct link to Suffolk, like for instance, he used his own phone to call the burner to detonate the bomb, and with him establishing an iron-clad alibi, it’s not going to fly.”
Unconvinced, Jenna chewed on the end of the pen thinking. “What if he didn’t use his truck? Remember, we discussed the possibility of the blue Ford stolen by Harvey Haralson being involved in a crime?” She went back to her desk and scanned the files. “Haralson said he found the vehicle abandoned at the edge of the forest opposite The Triple Z Bar. Suffolk admits to being at the Triple Z bar on Tuesday evening. What if he parked his truck in the parking lot, took the Ford from Dotty Grace’s yard, and drove back to Louan to commit the crime? When he had Sophie holed up somewhere, he left the Ford in the forest and went back to the Triple Z Bar, collected his truck and went home?”
“Yeah, possible.” Kane scanned his notes. “The rancher, Jo Ranger recalls seeing a blue Ford in the vicinity of the Woods’ ranch before the explosion.”
“Okay.” Jenna added Jo Ranger to her to do list. “We’ll speak to him.”
“Has Wolfe done a forensic sweep of the vehicle?” Carter frowned. “I don’t see a report in the files, or a final report on the fire victims.”
Jenna shook her head and went back to the whiteboard. “Not yet, he’s been snowed under. He’ll give us a final report on the Wood family when we go for Sophie’s autopsy.”
“What else have we got on Suffolk?” Carter sat down and pulled a toothpick from his top pocket. “He’s on the top of my suspect list.”
Jenna made notes on the whiteboard. “Kane mentioned Suffolk was heading this way yesterday to make a delivery. It would be interesting to see if he is in the footage Rowley captured of the people hanging around the lake.”
“Yeah, killers often return to the scene of the crime or want to look at the bodies of the people they murdered.” Jo stirred sugar into her cup. “Some return over and over. We should get IDs on everyone watching.”
Jenna nodded. “I’ll ask Rowley to look into that for us.”
“If he doesn’t get hits in a few hours, hand it over to Bobby Kalo, he has face recognition software and way more databases to search.” Jo looked at her. “Some of the people could be tourists.”
“Sure.” Jenna smiled. “I keep forgetting about Kalo. I’ll send him a copy of the footage to do his magic.” She added it to her list. “Okay what do you have on Cleaves?”
“Our interview with him was interesting.” Carter placed one cowboy boot on the knee of his other leg. “We found C-4 in his broom closet and he had mud on his shoes. The samples are with Wolfe. He was on scene and took footage of the explosion, was also in DC around the time of the previous bombings.”
Jenna rested one hip on the corner of the desk. “Motive?”
“Well, he didn’t like Mrs. Wood. Apparently, she objected to him speaking to Sophie. Now we have a clearer understanding of the way of things in Louan, the Woods being outsiders would have upset many of the members of the same sect or whatever.” Carter snorted. “With C-4 in his possession, an attraction to Sophie, and being on scene, he is a possible as well.”
“Okay.” Jenna looked at Kane. “What about Simon Dexter out of Prairie View. Your notes mentioned he was the driver of the gray car captured on scene by Cleaves’ dashcam and a known firebug?”
“He has a motive as well, much the same as Cleaves.” Kane sipped his coffee and regarded her over the rim of the cup. “If fifteen is the age the girls are let’s say ‘trialed’ by potential husbands, we’re dealing with statutory rape. I’m guessing they marry at sixteen. Here that’s legal although we don’t see it happen very often in Black Rock Falls. Sophie would have become a contender in the eyes of many single men from the same congregation. From what we’re hearing, the Woods were getting angry at the local men for pestering them about Sophie. Who knows how many Isaac Wood threatened to shoot? This is a motive and from where I’m sitting, removing Sophie from her family meant she was available.” He sighed. “I figure, she escaped her kidnapper and her death was an accident. From what I’m seeing, there’s a shortage of fifteen-year-old girls in Louan.” He shot a glance at Carter. “I know the FBI can look into this practice. You’ll have to do something.”