Zoe turned and looked into his cold soulless eyes and dread washed over her. A bench carried a bloody chainsaw and chest freezers lined the walls. She stumbled over her words. “I’m sorry, I’ll go back to my room.”
“No, that’s not possible.” Preacher was slowly pulling on a pair of leather gloves as he walked toward her. “I need you for my art.”
Thirty-Seven
It was anything but a lazy Sunday morning for Jenna. After helping with the horses and a brisk workout with Kane, she had just packed the dishwasher when the phone rang. It wasn’t the assigned ringtone of anyone in her team or a 911 emergency. She glanced at the time. Who was calling on a Sunday at seven in the morning? The caller ID said “private number” and a cold chill trickled down her spine. She glanced at Kane who sat at the kitchen table staring at his laptop. “Private number, maybe a burner. I’ll put it on speaker.” She answered the call. “Sheriff Alton.”
“Morning Sheriff, this is Bobby Kalo from the FBI field office, out of Snakeskin Gully.” Kalo waited a beat. “Sorry to bother you so early but Jo asked me to call you. We have found a match on both sets of fingerprints from the victims found in Black Rock Falls. They confirm the identities, both had juvi rap sheets in Colorado.”
Jenna heaved a sigh of relief. “That’s great, Bobby, can you send me the details and a copy to Wolfe? How come we missed them?”
“Ah, records of nonserious juvenile offenses are accessible only at the state and local levels but were recently incorporated into the FBI database.” Kalo cleared his throat. “I’ll send these now and hand you over to Jo.”
“Hi Jenna, is Kane with you?” Jo sounded all business this morning.
Jenna glanced at Kane and shrugged. “Yeah, he’s here. What’s up, Jo?”
“From Shane’s report and what we have established since yesterday, both victims were last seen in Colorado at a homeless shelter, over one year ago. The information I have is that both planned to hitchhike in different directions, neither were heading for Montana. It’s reasonable to believe the victims died in Colorado and as we have no specific location, it would be better if we took over the case.”
It was a blow and Jenna didn’t reply, allowing the implications to run through her mind. “Jo, we can’t be sure the women died in Colorado. If they were hitchhiking, the killer could’ve brought them here and then killed them.”
“Unlikely from Shane’s findings. He has evidence to suggest the victims were thawed and then refrozen.” Jo lowered her voice. “I’m not taking the case away from you, Jenna, but you have no authority in Colorado, and we do. There are reports of similar crimes coming into my office and I’ll need to use the FBI’s resources to hunt them down. It makes sense for you to concentrate on Black Rock Falls and leave the Colorado cases to us. We have the resources to hunt down the information on the victims. Together we can catch this killer, for as sure as the sun is rising tomorrow, The Sculptor is in Black Rock Falls.”
Jenna shrugged and her gaze fixed on the table. “Okay. We originally thought maybe a long-haul trucker was involved and we have one person of interest. If you believe The Sculptor is targeting homeless women with tattoos who hitchhike then we need to dig a bit deeper.”
“Carter here. We’re still snowed in, so useless right now but it’s usual for hitchhikers to hang around truck stops looking for a ride. Problem is after a year, nobody is gonna remember one of a hundred or so passing through. I’ll send out ‘Have you seen these women’ flyers but after so long the chances of anyone remembering them is slim.”
“Can we trace where the victims holed up?” Kane raised an eyebrow at Jenna. “If they were homeless as you say, they may have visited shelters.”
“The problem with that, Dave—” Carter sounded amused “—is that the majority of homeless are incognito, they don’t want to be found.”
“Well, you should know all about that, Carter.” Kane flashed Jenna a grin. “So we’ll need their last known point of contact for information? Can you hunt them down?”
“That’s what I do.” Carter snorted. “We have been working on this since five this morning.”
Jenna sat at the kitchen table and poured herself a coffee, she held up a hand to Kane. “Okay, so we’ll concentrate on possible persons of interest here. If The Sculptor is here in town, it’s logical to believe if he murdered, froze, and transported the victims to Black Rock Falls, he must have a residence in Colorado or here. He’d need privacy for storing and dismembering bodies, or keeping women prisoner, so we’re looking for a needle in a haystack. He could be living anywhere in Stanton Forest or in the Rocky Mountains.”
“Yeah, it will be a huge task to locate him, those off the grid are like ghosts, but I’d still be inclined to look at anyone involved with the homeless.” Jo yawned. “Sorry, I haven’t been getting much sleep and getting up every morning to dig out my vehicle is a nightmare. As soon as the melt comes, I’m building a garage.”
Jenna frowned. “There are usually people looking for work at this time of year, why not hire someone to help you? High-school kids needing a few extra bucks might be willing to dig out your vehicle.”
“Ha, when you visit us, you’ll understand. Those not on ranches run the stores in town. There aren’t too many kids looking for work here.” Jo chuckled. “I’m heading home now to spend some time with Jaime before she forgets she has a mother. We have done everything we can for today. We’ll pick up the investigation again in the morning. Let me know if you need anything.”
“Okay, thanks.” Jenna disconnected and looked at Kane. “What do you think?”
“One, the killer moves around, but he doesn’t have to be a trucker.” Kane turned his coffee cup in his large hands. “He could fit a woman in the trunk of his vehicle. Most truckers are drivers, they don’t own their eighteen or whatever wheelers. I can’t imagine them risking carrying a body along with their load—and they run on tight schedules, so wouldn’t have time to stop and dump a body.” He lifted his gaze to her. “Secondly, I agree with Jo, he could work with the homeless in some capacity and be able to gain his victim’s trust. A woman would most likely go with him if he offered her a ride. So we’re looking for a white male, maybe in his forties, who comes across as friendly but nonthreatening. We know he drugs them, so once they are asleep, he has free range to do what he wants and as they are as Carter put it ‘incognito’, when they vanish nobody cares.” He sipped his drink. “The biggest problem we have, is unless he kills someone here, we don’t have a starting point. So far, we have victims from Colorado with no clue to where they died or how they arrived here. This Sculptor guy could be just passing through town. He could be anywhere by now. We’re chasing shadows, Jenna.”
Thirty-Eight
Gripped with terror, Ava Price stumbled through the dense undergrowth and squeezed between black trunks packed so close together, no trail was evident. The snow-laden pines surrounded her as far as her eye could see. With each step, the heavy branches dripped icy water down her collar. Exhausted, she stopped to look behind her, but could see nothing but trees and snow. The temperature was so low each breath cut painfully into her lungs but she had to keep going. Stopping in this weather meant freezing to death. If she could just find her bearings or a trail leading to a road, she might have a chance to get help.