Bring Me Flowers (Detectives Kane and Alton #2)(78)
“We can handle the exhumation, if you agree.” His full lips turned down at the edges. “Digging up Mrs. Rogers won’t be nice.”
A wave of revulsion clutched her. She shot a glance at the staring blank expression peering out of the grave then hurriedly looked away. “No, it won’t, but I expect Wolfe will find it more than a little interesting, since his interest in decomposition is his main topic of conversation of late. Carry on. I’ll make casts of the footprints.” She turned to head toward Wolfe’s bag of crime scene supplies and heard his voice behind her.
“Excuse me, ma’am.”
Glancing over one shoulder, she met Wolfe’s gaze. “Yes?”
“No one has reported Aimee missing, so her folks don’t know.” His steel-gray eyes narrowed. “They’ll be frantic once they find her gone.”
Jenna sighed. Being the bearer of bad tidings had become a nasty task of late. “I’ll go and speak to them but if I had a choice, I’d dig up the body.” She took the key fob Kane offered her. “Thanks, but I could walk, it’s not far.” She dragged off her protective gear and rolled it into a ball.
“Drive. We have potentially two killers roaming the immediate area.” Kane’s dark eyebrows met in the middle in a frown. “Either of them could be in the forest and waiting for their next victim.”
She straightened, unwilling to show the trepidation his words had produced. “Okay. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” Turning away from the gruesome sight before her, she headed along the narrow trail.
Icy fingers of dread walked a path up her spine. She glanced into the picturesque forest of tall, majestic pines. Packed so close together, their dark zebra shadows had become a backdrop for brutality and could hide a man or a bear from sight. The morning usually brought a cacophony of birdsong rejoicing in a new summer’s day, yet not one bird watched her from the branches, not even a crow waiting to pick at the rotting flesh. Stillness surrounded her as if nature mourned the loss of beauty.
Forty-Six
Jenna stood in the Foxes’ hallway, enclosed in a shroud of dread. It took every ounce of her strength not to break down at the sight of the faces contorted with grief in front of her. Aimee’s parents had returned from date night and, seeing their daughter’s door closed, had tiptoed to their bedroom without checking on her. Arriving at their front door at eight forty-five on a Friday morning, they stared at her in disbelief after discovering a monster had murdered their daughter.
“It can’t be true.” Mrs. Fox turned around and ran up the stairs. Moments later a scream of anguish echoed through the house. “She’s not here and hasn’t slept in her bed. Oh my God.” She stared down from the top of the stairs, her face pale and eyes wide with shock.
“Are you sure it’s Aimee?” Mr. Fox ran a shaking hand down his face.
Jenna laid one hand on his arm and guided him into the family room. “I’m sure. Please take a seat.”
“What happened to her?” Mrs. Fox stumbled into the room and collapsed on the sofa beside her husband. “I need to know. You have to tell me.” She burst into uncontrollable sobbing.
Wanting to be compassionate, Jenna pushed the images of mutilation to the back of her mind and fell back on the usual answer. “Cause of death is yet to be determined, although the M.E. at the scene has determined it is homicide. I am so sorry for your loss.”
“Who would kill Aimee?” Mr. Fox stared at her with a blank, unseeing expression. “I can’t understand why she left the house. I thought Lucas was coming to keep her company. I told them not to leave the house, not after the girls went missing.”
Jenna cleared her throat. “I take it you missed the news last night? We believe the same killer murdered Felicity, Kate, and Joanne Blunt.”
Two sheet-white faces stared at her in disbelief. She needed information and had to ask the questions. “When did you last see Aimee?”
“When we went out for dinner around six last night.” Mr. Fox looked at her bleakly. “We ate early then caught a movie. We dropped into Aunt Betty’s Café for coffee and cake around ten then came home close to eleven, I guess.”
“What was she doing at the time?”
“Online with the new girl, what’s her name?” Mr. Fox wiped at the tear streaming down his cheeks and glanced at his distraught wife.
“Emily, the new deputy’s daughter.” Mrs. Fox pleated her skirt with trembling fingers. “You should call Lucas, he might have asked her to meet him somewhere.”
Assuming Chad would have informed his best friend about finding Kate’s body after the news story aired, Jenna shook her head. “I doubt he would risk asking her to leave home alone. He is a friend of Chad, isn’t he? Kate’s boyfriend?”
“Yes, but what does that have to do with anything?” Mr. Fox gave her a puzzled look then reached for a cellphone on the coffee table. “I’m calling Lucas now.” He leaned back on the sofa. “Lucas, this is Mr. Fox. Did you drop by to see Aimee last night? No? Oh, she mentioned you planned to keep her company.” He stared into space, listening. “Okay, thanks.” He disconnected and met Jenna’s eyes. “He received a bonus game card and played online until way past midnight. He forgot about calling Aimee to tell her he wouldn’t be coming, and asked me to tell her he’d call her later.”