“So I didn’t need my tracker?” Jenna sat up and reached for her cup. “You should’ve told me.”
“Nah, it was better you didn’t know. For a while there you believed you were alone and it showed.” Kane shook his head at her. “You should’ve cleared the rooms when you arrived home. You knew Anderson was out to get you. He could’ve been inside already.”
Jenna sipped the hot brew, and then shook her head. “No need, I had Duke with me.” She stroked the head of the bloodhound, who was resting his chin close to her hand. The dog hadn’t left her side all night.
“Yeah, he nearly gave the game away. If you’d looked before you took a shower, you’d have found us hiding in the spare bedroom. I knew you’d use the tracker, so I turned off my cellphone.” He chuckled. “We could see Anderson heading down the driveway and I had to sneak out and lock Duke in the laundry. It was closer than you think.”
Jenna smiled at him and squeezed his arm. “I knew you wouldn’t put me in danger but when he came in with a weapon aimed at my head, I did have second thoughts.” She bit her bottom lip. “How did he get through my security? The front and back doors don’t even use keys anymore. Without the code, there’s no way he should’ve been able to get inside.”
“Wolfe.” Kane shrugged. “He disconnected a few things but they’re up and running again now. We had to make Anderson believe he’d won, so we made it easier for him to walk right in.”
Jenna shuddered. “I wonder if they’ll ever find the other twenty-five women he claims to have murdered.”
“That will depend if he talks.” Kane finished his coffee and stood. “But I doubt the DA will cut a deal with him. We’ve enough on tape to put him away. He’ll never be free.” He glanced down at her. “I’ll make a few sandwiches. We’ll have to hurry if you plan to see the end of the judging.”
Jenna threw back the blankets. “Yeah, I promised Julie we’d be there.” She dashed into the shower.
* * *
The number of townsfolk who came up to Jenna and shook her hand i
n gratitude for placing herself in danger to catch a serial killer surprised her, but she was even more so when Mayor Petersham stood up in front of the entire crowd and thanked her and her deputies. Seeing Wolfe and his three daughters chatting to Agent Martin, she eased through the crowd to join them. She squeezed Julie’s arm. “Are you excited?”
“I don’t expect to win a ribbon.” Julie smiled. “It’s wonderful just having my work in the town hall gallery.” She pointed to three landscapes some ways down from hers. “Those are Mr. Anderson’s. I’m surprised they allowed him to compete considering he tried to kill me.”
Jenna stared at the pictures, then grabbed Kane’s arm and dragged him closer. “That place is familiar and yet it doesn’t resemble Black Rock Falls.”
“I recognize it as well, especially the broken windmill.” Kane moved closer, then turned and beckoned Wolfe. “We recognize this place, do you?”
“Yeah.” Wolfe pulled out his cellphone and scanned his files. “Look, it’s from the crime scene photographs of Christine Pullman.” He moved to the next picture. “This is where he murdered Joy Coran.”
Jenna noticed a long hair curled in the paint in the right-hand corner of each canvas. Shocked by the implications, she swallowed hard, and then lowered her voice to just above a whisper. “Shane, look here.” She pointed. “Is that a hair?”
“It sure looks like it and from what I can see they’re different colors.” He leaned closer. “There’s a red flower on each of these three paintings and they resemble dried blood but I’d need to test it to be sure.”
Astonished, Jenna eased her way to Agent Martin’s side and explained. “He has pictures all over his walls. If he used the paintings as reminders of where he murdered or buried his victims and left blood and hair on each one, you’ll be able to tie him to all of them.”
“Wolfe will be able to check if that’s human blood in minutes.” Martin frowned. “That’s all I need to haul all the pictures into the FBI forensic labs.”
She didn’t need to ask Wolfe; he’d already dashed to his vehicle to collect a testing kit. They all stood waiting for him to complete the test. “Well?”
“It’s human blood.” Wolfe held up a test tube. “It’s overlaid on dry oil paint, so we’ll be able to collect viable DNA.” He squeezed Jenna’s shoulder. “If these match the missing women, you’ve just solved about twenty-five crimes.”
“I’ll confiscate these paintings now and have a forensics team out at Anderson’s home within the hour.” Agent Martin shook Jenna’s hand. “You can leave this to me now, Jenna, and take some downtime.”
Jenna grinned at him. “I think I might just do that.”
An announcement came over the loudspeakers.
“Ladies and gentlemen and fine young people of Black Rock Falls, the committee has made a decision. Second runner-up goes to Julie Wolfe for her picture titled Brutal Winter.”
The whoops and hollering that echoed around the hall as Julie mounted the stage to collect her ribbon continued on, drowning out the names of the other winners. Jenna reached for Kane’s hand and they linked fingers. She smiled up at him. “That’s our town. Perfect one day—”
“Crazy as hell the next.” Kane squeezed her fingers. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
* * *