Kane pulled the light down and closely examined the mark. He glanced up at Wolfe. “That mark has to be bruising from his knuckles. He punched her in the temple and raped her. This one is up close and personal, not like the others.”
“Yeah, a short sharp jab to knock her out then used the ether to keep her subdued.” Wolfe covered Sara and turned his attention back to Kane. “He raped her, and then set the scene. Before he left, he gave her enough ether to kill her but she didn’t die. I found a fragment of cotton in her hair. It could be from work gloves but I’ll need more time to narrow down what brand.”
Kane grimaced. “Yeah, and if you do, no doubt all our suspects own work gloves and they’re the same as the darn boots – everyone wears the same cheap brand.”
“No doubt.” Wolfe moved to the next gurney. “Lindy Rosen. See the ligature marks on her neck, how they grazed her chin?”
“Yeah, I’ve seen that injury before; he hung her over his shoulder.” Kane shook his head. “She was disposable.”
“This one will interest you.” Wolfe moved on to Amanda Braxton. “Killed from behind in a move to snap her neck. Clean and quick.”
Kane nodded in agreement. “Yeah, again not as personal as when the killer uses his hands to strangle. In those cases they make the victim suffer; it takes some time to strangle a person.” He pulled off his gloves with a snap that sounded loud in the stark room. “He used the first two girls to get Jenna out on her own, but now he’s got a taste for killing teenagers. He craves watching their fear but dominates them by raping them.” He frowned. “This is an incredible turnaround. Not many killers change MO mid-stride. He’s getting the upper hand in his macabre game. If we can’t find him soon and his compulsion has changed, he could be miles away by now and we’ll never find him.”
Fifty-Five
By the time Kane arrived in Jenna’s office just after two with takeout from Aunt Betty’s Café, she wanted to scream. Sam Cross had found grounds to have all of the suspects released. He’d even accused her of provoking Kittredge to such an extent that he threw the chair out of frustration; then he’d raved on about the interviews until she wanted to pull her hair out by the roots. She leaned back in her chair and stared up at Kane. “Am I glad to see you. Shut the door.”
“You look like you need this.” Kane placed a go cup of coffee in front of her, and then arranged the packages of food on the desk. “Bad morning?”
Jenna sipped the coffee then sighed as the rich hot brew spilled over her tongue. “Oh yeah. The DA did a deal with Matt Miller and he’s walked – along with the other potential suspects. I was told to back off until I had something better than circumstantial evidence.” She threw one arm up in the air. “Now what?”
“They’re still suspects.” Kane opened a bag and pulled out a large wedge of apple pie. “If we remove Miller from the equation, we have at least three men with ample opportunity and they were all in the vicinity where the girls went missing.”
“Yeah, you’re preaching to the converted, Dave, but I didn’t win any brownie points from the DA. I figure if he had it his way, he’d have me fired.” Jenna opened a bag containing her usual bagel and cream cheese. Tucked inside was a bar of chocolate. She lifted her gaze to him. “You knew?”
“Nope, but I guessed Cross would give you a hard time.” Kane smiled at her. “I figure chocolate fixes most things.” He attacked the pie with a plastic fork. “Cross might be a brilliant lawyer but you had the notion that Sara Nelson’s murder was special to the Shadow Man. Her earrings are missing, Jenna. He kept a trophy.”
Excited and filled with a burst of energy, Jenna stared at him. “But none of you found anything unusual at the suspects’ homes. No secret hoard of trophies.”
“One is married and they’ve all had recent involvement with women. It’s normal to see a few female items left in a single guy’s home.” Kane took a sip of his coffee. “Most serial killers have a shrine of one kind or another and keep the trophies together, then there’s the ones who give them to women they’re close to, so they can relive the kill just by seeing the other woman wearing the object.”
A tingle of revulsion skittered up Jenna’s spine. “But they don’t kill their friends, do they? So how do they draw the line?”
“I wish I knew.” Kane frowned. “One study says they don’t have empathy and yet they must have some feelings. There’re some who don’t make friends and then there’s the man with his wife and six kids who murders prostitutes on the way home from work, washes up and sits down to eat dinner with his family.” He shrugged. “Go figure. One thing’s for sure, they don’t think the way we do and trying to make logical sense of criminal psychopathic behavior is a waste of time.”
Jenna considered his words and chewed her food. “You’re trained to kill and do it without a second thought. You’re not a psychopath and yet I’ve seen you turn off your emotions as if you have a switch.”
“I never killed without a second thought, Jenna.” Kane narrowed his gaze at her. “I received my orders, knew the target was a threat to our country, but I never for one moment failed to recognize I was taking a life.” He took another drink. “Snipers for special missions are put through vigorous psych training. We get one chance, maybe a window of a few minutes, to hit the target then escape out the country. Imagine how history would’ve changed and how many millions of lives would’ve been saved if someone like me had taken out the key instigators of the world wars?” He shrugged. “I’ve no regrets, I was doing my job.” He met her gaze. “Emotions, fear, anxiety have no place in a sniper’s world, so we learn to turn them off and drop into a special place where it’s ultimate calm. I know you’ve received the same type of training. I just had to be able to drop into my peaceful zone and endure waterboarding at the same time.”
Unable to control the burst of laughter, Jenna covered her mouth and took in his astonished expression. “They really did that to you?”
“Ah-huh.” Kane’s mouth twitched at the corners. “It wasn’t funny at the time.”
“I didn’t fig
ure it would be.” Jenna turned her attention to the whiteboard. “What if we look at the nightmare angle again?”
“Sara was in the drama club.” Kane placed his go cup on the table and turned to look at the whiteboard. “We did extensive checks on all the teachers these girls shared and they all came up squeaky clean. It’s not a teacher. The only people they all met was Mason Lancaster and the three tradesmen who worked at their homes. We’ve already cleared Lancaster, so he’s out the equation.” He let out a long sigh. “Problem is, the killer’s changing his MO and escalating at an extraordinary rate. I figure I’ve seen this before and it’s disturbing.”
Jenna turned to look at him. “How so?”
“Remember Ted Bundy? Good-looking, smooth talker, hung around campuses with a sling on one arm and pretended to have trouble opening his car door to get a girl to help him. Or he’d pretend to be someone in authority to get their trust. He’d kidnap and murder his victims and do things that would make your skin crawl. He never touched his close female friend then one day he went berserk, broke into a sorority house and bludgeoned girls to death with a hunk of wood.” He sighed. “Like I said before, they’re not normal and we can’t outthink them because there’s no logical steps to take. In his mind, he’s involved in an elaborate game with you, so we’ll have to wait until he makes his next move – if he has another move. For all we know, he could be over playing games with you. He’s changed his MO and might’ve found a different thrill to satisfy his urges.”
“You think? When the DA told me to release the suspects, I wanted to place a tracker on each of their vehicles but when I made the request, he told me I’d have as much chance of getting that approved as waking up as Tinker Bell in the morning.” Jenna pushed a hand through her hair, tucking it behind one ear. “Then he told me we can’t watch them around the clock because Cross made it quite clear he’s just waiting for a chance to make a complaint about police harassment.” She sighed. “The name Shadow Man fits this killer well – he’s like catching smoke and I’ve no idea what he’s going to do next.”
“I do.” Kane’s mouth turned down. “He’s not finished killing yet.”
Fifty-Six