“Oh, goodie.” Kane pulled a disgusted face and then straightened. “Did I mention, we have received a ton of emails from other states on the tattoos. I’ve split the list with Rowley.”
No one had mentioned Kim Strickland’s name since her arrival. Jenna wondered if Kane was being overprotective again. She fingered the pens in her old chipped cup. “Why are you keeping me out of the loop on the Kim Strickland case?” She looked up at him. “I’m still the sheriff, I need to know.”
“Sure. The fingerprints on the envelope carrying the dead rat are a match and she’s being held in county. She’s been charged with kidnapping and attempted murder of a law officer. The DA is waiting for a statement from you about the kidnapping.” Kane pushed both his hands inside the front pockets of his jeans. “I’ve given a statement and Wolfe too.” He lifted his chin. “We have to stay out of it, Jenna, Rowley is taking the lead, he’s the only one of us not involved. Once he turns everything over to the DA, it will be out of our hands. She won’t get away with kidnapping you, we have too much evidence. You don’t need to worry, Jenna, the court will decide what happens to her. I’m sure she wasn’t involved with The Sculptor.”
Jenna nodded. “Okay and what about the man in the cabin?”
“He’s in the hospital in Blackwater, broken nose, ribs, and a concussion.” Kane looked chagrined. “He has a string of sexual assault charges against him. The sheriff wanted to charge him with assault but their judge is having none of it, says Wolfe and me assaulted him. The guy isn’t pressing charges, so unless you want to accuse him of attempted rape, he’s gonna walk.”
“It looks like you arrived just in time, doesn’t it? The disgusting animal.” Jenna shuddered and then thought for a moment as the vivid image of the beaten man drifted back into her mind. “None of The Sculptor’s victims have been sexually assaulted, so he can’t be involved. You must agree he doesn’t fit the profile? I agree with you, what happened to me was Kim Strickland acting alone. I’m going to let him slide with the proviso the sheriff keeps him in his sights.”
“Oh, I’m sure he will. He mentioned making him wear an ankle bracelet to keep track of him, so he’ll know if he leaves his house.” Kane straightened. “If that’s all, I’ll get back to the emails.”
Jenna held up a hand. “You can sleep anywhere, right?”
“Yeah, it was part of my training.” His brow furrowed. “Why?”
“I want you to forward me all the emails on your list and then go down to the cells and sleep for a couple of hours. I’ll take you to grab something to eat before we attend the autopsy at three.” Jenna noticed the slight upturn of his lips and a flash of amusement in his eyes. “Don’t tell me you don’t need sleep. I’m surprised you can see out of your eyes they’re so bloodshot. That’s an order, Deputy.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Kane touched his woolen cap and smiling headed out the door.
Jenna set about writing the statement for the DA. Once she’d finished, she sent it by attachment to his office with a note saying that she’d have Rowley drop by with the original before two. It would be months before Kim Strickland went to trial for kidnapping and attempted murder. It would be unlikely she’d be granted bail. When her trial date came around Jenna would be called as a witness but for now, she could put her out of her mind. She glanced out the window. Snow had started to fall, turning the gray slush on the side of the road to white again. She loved a winter wonderland and had to admit, the picturesque town did look amazing covered with snow, but the bitter cold brought so many accidents and often the elderly perished in the harsh conditions. She shook her head trying to concentrate on the contents of the emails. As she went through the list, she found nothing of significance and then she came across an email from a tattoo artist out of Colorado. He believed he could be the artist of the snake tattoo on victim number two and vaguely recalled the ink on victim number one. He’d left a number and Jenna called him, giving her name and why she had contacted him. “Do you record any of your artwork?”
“Yeah, and since I wrote that email, I’ve been searching through the shots. I inked both of those women last year but not both at my shop.” He cleared his throat. “The snake, yeah, but the butterfly was at a convention. I remember the girl was young-looking and I had to ask for ID. The butterfly is not my usual, it’s a red admiral from the UK. She said it would remind her of her grandma. I wrote their names and the amount I charged them in my records.”
Excited, Jenna made notes. “That’s great news. Can you give me the details?”
“Sure. The snake one was Charlotte Barnes out of Denver and the butterfly, Evelyn Ross out of Colorado Springs.” He sighed. “No addresses, I’m afraid, but I can send through copies of the photographs? I have headshots of these two as well.”
Jenna grinned into the empty room. “Yes, please that would be great. Send them directly to me.” She rattled off her email address. “Thank you for your help.”
“My pleasure.” He disconnected.
She waited impatiently for the images of the two smiling young women to drop into her inbox. She scanned the faces and compared the images on file. There was no doubt, they’d found the names of the victims. She called Wolfe. “I think I have the identity of victim number two, the possible is Charlotte Barnes out of Denver. I’ll forward you the images I received from the tattoo artist. They look like a match. I’ll have to hunt down where they’re from and notify their families.”
“That’s great news.” Wolfe cleared his throat. “If they’re both out of Colorado, it might save a ton of grunt work if you contact Jo and ask her IT whizz kid to see if he can chase down the victims’ last known addresses and then you’ll be able to deal with the correct law enforcement agency.”
Concerned, Jenna stared out the window. “We have spoken to her already and I don’t want Jo thinking I need to run to her for help every time I have a case.”
“As soon as the victims’ hometown law enforcement know you’ve found their missing persons, you’ll be working with them to solve the murders. The sooner this happens the better. You’re just using available resources.”
She pushed her bangs out of her eyes. “You’re right, a good leader delegates and uses all resources to hand. I’ll call her and then contact the victims’ local law enforcement. They might be able to lean on the local dentists to get you Charlotte Barnes’ dental records. I know you won’t give a positive ID without them.”
“You know me so well.” Wolfe chuckled. “Ask them to contact me.”
Jenna smiled. “Leave it with me, if we have the IDs, all I need now is the killer. See you at the autopsy.” She disconnected.
Standing, Jenna entered the current information onto the whiteboard. She printed the images and attached them. Looking into the fresh, young faces, she frowned. “Who killed you?”
Thirty-Three
Not having any viable suspects, Jenna stared at the whiteboard. With all the information to date laid out, still nothing gave her a clue where to find the killer. She had one person of interest, the strange man helping at the shelter, Claude Grady, and could include any number of long-haul truckers living in town. She tapped her bottom lip, considering the conversation they’d had with Jo and Carter. Although Grady didn’t appear to have a motive and being odd didn’t make him a killer, it had to be someone who moved around. She palm-smacked her head. Or usually went on vacation each winter to parts unknown. Now that would make sense. The killer maybe worked in a plant that closed over the holidays—some of them closed for six weeks or more once the snow came. If he went to another state to collect his victims and then brought them back to Black Rock Falls, he likely stored them for the entire year, taking them with him the following year to display in another town. It made perfect sense. The girls wouldn’t be missing in the town and classed as a Jane Doe. She needed more background information on the two frozen women they’d found. What were their circumstances? How did they become victims?