Bring Me Flowers (Detectives Kane and Alton #2)(26)

“How bad can it be?” She gaped at him and came close to losing her hard-fought composure. “Look, Dave, it’s obvious you’re special forces. I’m not stupid.”

“It’s not pretty but I’ll give you an abridged version. Just for the record, I’m not in witness protection. I spent five years in DC’s Special Forces Investigation Command as a sharpshooter. Enemy agents placed a bomb under my car. The blast killed my wife and caved in my skull. To take me off the radar, I went off the grid and became Dave Kane, a retired homicide detective injured in the line of duty.”

The jigsaw fell into place. His superior skills, the way he handled trouble. Kane could think and act fast in a crisis. She bit back a moan. No wonder he had avoided her and other women. The poor man was mourning his wife. She reached across the table and squeezed his arm. “I’m so sorry for your loss. Why didn’t you tell me you’d lost your wife?”

“In Dave Kane’s life, she doesn’t exist.” Kane covered her hand. “If we intend to stay alive, we have to live the lie.”

“The problem is the hackers are getting smarter by the second.” He cleared his throat almost apologetically, then shrugged. “It may be years or weeks before or if anything happens but these people rarely give up. We need to watch each other’s backs.”

“Why are you here?” She withdrew her hand from Kane’s arm and turned to Wolfe.

“What you see is what you get.” Wolfe chuckled, and for the first time, his pale gray eyes sparkled. “I’m clean but I’m the ears and eyes the bad guys won’t be expecting. I’ll soon have a fail-safe on every device you use and we’ll know the moment anyone puts your names in a search engine.”

“I think you have quite a team at your disposal.” Kane leaned back in his chair and his blue eyes narrowed at her. “Unless working with me is a problem for you now, ma’am?”

She swallowed the lump in her throat. He had gone to hell and back yet been supportive and kind to her from the first day he arrived. He had become her rock and she had to say something, give him something in return. “I worked undercover for the DEA.”

“Okay, say no more.” Kane’s worried gaze moved over her face. “Now I know why you stuck a gun in my face the day we met.”

“She what?” Wolfe’s mouth gaped open.

“Leave it alone, Shane.” Kane drained his mug then flashed a white smile at her. “We are BFF’s now.”

“Right.” Jenna laughed.

“You don’t know, do you?” Wolfe looked from one to the other in amazement. “Viktor Carlos’s right-hand man turned informant and gave up the entire gang. The next day someone murdered Carlos in prison. It happened the day before I left home. I guess it didn’t make the news here. You are safe, Jenna. It’s over. He can’t hurt you.”

She gaped at him in disbelief. “So why am I still here?”

“Because you know too much.” Wolfe sighed. “It’s the way of things, I’m afraid. I guess you could ask to be reassigned?”

Suddenly feeling as if a great weight had lifted from her shoulders, she looked at the men. “I happen to like being the sheriff of Black Rock Falls.”

“So are we good?” Kane scratched his chin.

“Yeah and now we have cleared the air, are you ready to catch a killer?”

“Yes, ma’am.” Kane’s grin had not faded.

She stood and pulled out her notepad. “I’ll need my car keys.” Flipping open her notes, she looked at Kane. “I sent emails out to the other sheriff departments in the state requesting information on similar cases. I cc’d you in, Kane, so the emails will go straight to your cellphone.” She sucked in a breath. “I gather from your talk with Felicity’s parents, the boyfriend, Derick Smith, has a part-time job at Miller’s Garage on Saturdays and during summer break? I want you to interview him just to see if he is as squeaky clean as George thinks. He lives on Pine Forest Road, a block away from Felicity’s house, he could have driven past her on the way to work.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“After you’re done with Smith, pick up Wolfe and head back out to the crime scene and check out the other trail.” She glanced at her notes. “Something you said last night made me think. It wasn’t hot yesterday and yet I didn’t notice any pools of water at the scene. The victim’s hair was damp but the killer had taken the time to brush it. I studied the images as well and didn’t notice any muddy footsteps leading away from the rock in any direction as you mentioned. You were correct. All the footprints led away from the river. If the killer placed the body on the rock, cut her up, dried her hair and brushed it, then picked flowers before he left, somehow he left no trace of his movements in or around the clearing.”

“We’ll look closer.” Wolfe gave her a determined stare. “I’ll break down the area into a grid and we’ll search every damn inch. I’ll find something we can use.” He handed Jenna her car keys.

“Do you mind if I grab Rowley and take him with us?” Kane rubbed his chin. “As he’s lived here all his life, he’ll know all the tracks throughout the forest.”

Jenna nodded in agreement. “Good idea. I’ll be out of the office for an hour or so.” She headed for the door. “Maggie will have to manage for a short while. I’m going to visit Aimee Fox and see if she can shed some light on Felicity’s movements before her death. I’ll call first to make sure one of her parents is there before I question her.” She stopped walking and gave Kane a long look over one shoulder. “I’ll take Deputy Walters as backup.”