“We’ve seen psychopaths triggered by a lot less than being rejected by an agent.” Kane wiped his sunglasses and pushed them back on. “I could think of a ton of reasons to kill someone, jealousy being one. Authors seeing others getting agents and making money would be a bitter pill to take, especially if a writer believes their stories are superior. If it’s a psychopath, that alone would be something to consider because it slips right into their behavior pattern. They believe they’re better than everyone else and going down in history as the Book Convention Killer would be the type of notoriety they’d crave.”
As usual, Kane was already building a profile. “I agree, and we can rule out it being sexually motivated as her clothes seem to be intact. It will be interesting to watch the autopsy. I couldn’t see any defense wounds, but then someone tampered with the body after killing her. No one being strangled would keep their hands in their pockets.”
“I’d naturally consider looking for a male suspect first, but I couldn’t help noticing the majority of people in the lobby were women, many over sixty.” Kane pulled his woolen cap more snugly over his ears. “So, we could be looking at a female killer. She’d need to be of only average fitness to push the body into the pond. So I figure we can rule out anyone over seventy.” He turned to her. “Everything I see here is personal. The strangulation was committed in a frontal assault, face to face is just about as personal as it gets and the pen in the eye is symbolism. Someone who works in the publishing business committed this murder. Not a reader but one of the three main players: author, agent, or publisher.”
“Reviewers can be caustic as well.” Emily chewed on her bottom lip. “Although I can’t imagine how that involves agents.”
Jenna blew out a pu
ff of steam. “So, it could be anyone and we have two hundred people at the convention.”
“And a bus load from town arriving at eleven.” Wolfe fell into step beside them.
“Yeah, that’s right.” Emily peered over her scarf at Jenna. “Julie’s been talking about the convention for ages. She has a ticket for the book signing and will be riding on the bus organized by the library with a bunch of her friends.”
Jenna rubbed her temples. “More people? How are we going to keep track of everyone?”
“We know no one checked out last night or this morning, and if we discover no vehicles left the parking lot, we’ll have to assume the killer is on site.” Kane pushed his hands deep inside his coat pockets. “Remember we’re dealing with a group of people who either write, read, or publish crime novels. Unless it’s one of the staff, which is highly unlikely, whoever did this would be aware of police procedure, forensics, and the like.”
“And hiding in plain sight.” Emily shivered. “They could be watching us right now.”
“Yeah, and Julie will be in the thick of it. You know your sister, she can’t keep out of trouble.” Wolfe frowned. “Maybe I should take her home with me.”
“She won’t appreciate you ordering her home in front of her friends.” Emily glared at him. “Honestly, Dad, did you hear what Dave said before? He thinks it was personal. Julie doesn’t know any of the authors, agents, or publishers. She’s a reader. There’s no reason to believe she’d be targeted.”
“In fact, she’d be the best person to pick up scuttlebutt.” Kane flicked a glance at Wolfe. “The entire population of the ski lodge is a suspect, and right now we’ll need all the help we can get.”
“Well then I’ll need to arrange things so we can assist you.” Wolfe peered at Kane over his sunglasses. “I had planned to remain here for a time, but I’ll stay with Em to assist you. Colt is quite capable of taking the body to the morgue and setting it up to thaw without cross-contamination. We’ve done it enough times.” He heaved out a long cloud of steam. “You have a captive audience in there and, with all but two of them booked to stay for two weeks, you shouldn’t have a problem keeping them locked down. Like you said, all are interested in crime, most of them enjoy solving mysteries in books, and they may be more help than you believe.”
The list of procedures Jenna needed to complete for a homicide slid into her mind. “The resort will have a register of the guests. If Brightway refuses to give it to us, I’ll send Rio to ask the judge for a warrant. We’ll need to lock it down completely with no one leaving the mountain, except for the people arriving on the bus for the day trip. I figure we allow the convention to go ahead and get the people back on the bus and away from the area this afternoon. They’ll be one group we can rule out as possible suspects.” She looked at Kane. “It’s too cold to leave someone here to guard the scene and I doubt we’ll need to search it again but in case we do, we’ll need to block this pathway. It only leads to chalet number forty-eight, and once we tell Mr. Brightway it’s off limits, no one will have a reason to come this way.”
“Okay. Give me a second.” Kane turned around and headed back to the chalet with Duke tearing after him, his long ears flying in the wind.
Jenna stamped her feet and rubbed her arms against the bitter cold and waited for him to return. A few minutes later he came back dragging a large red and white sign with the words DANGER, FALLING ROCKS and set it across the pathway. She smiled at him. “Oh, that will work.”
“I noticed it in the maintenance shed.” Kane wrapped the wire attached to the sign around two pine trees. “No one will risk wandering up there now.”
Jenna met his gaze. “Unless the killer returns to the scene.”
“With us at the ski lodge, I doubt they’d risk it.” Kane led the way down the path. “We’ll need some help to interview everyone. You’ll have to call Rio in to stay overnight, someone needs to be on scene. We can’t expect Rowley to leave Sandy when she’s so close to her due date.”
“They’re staying in town with her folks, so it shouldn’t be an issue working here during the day. It’s what, half an hour to the hospital if anything happens.” Jenna followed Wolfe and Emily along the pathway. “We really need to stay here too but it’s impossible. We’ll need to tend the horses and Pumpkin.”
“That’s not a problem.” Kane turned to look at her walking backward. “We could drop the horses at the stables in town and ask Maggie if she’d care for Pumpkin for a couple of days. She loves her and the horses never seem to mind being away for a few days. With all the people we have to interview, being on scene would make life easier.” He bent to pat Duke. “Duke can stay here with us. The resort never minds him being here.”
Snowflakes brushed Jenna’s cheeks like butterfly wings and she brushed them away. “That would make sense.” She glanced at her watch. “But we don’t have the time to arrange everything and go home to collect the horses. We just can’t leave. Someone might try and slip away.”
“I’ll go alone. You have Wolfe and Emily to get the investigation rolling. If we don’t need a court order to see the register, then Rio will be here in no time. It will take me two hours max.”
Jenna considered his idea and nodded. “Okay, but the moment people hear about the murder they’ll be leaving in droves. I guess locking them in the building is out of the question?”
“We can’t lock the resort doors as people need to move back and forth to their chalets.” Kane looked at her. “But we can lock it down. There are two roads in and out of the resort, and with a blizzard forecast, no one will try and escape on foot. Many came here on buses, in rental cars, or their own vehicles. Once the bus has left, we’ll ask the guests to remain on site and suspend the cab and bus services until further notice. We’ll say there’s been an avalanche or something and the road is blocked. They’ll comply, and most of them are booked here for two weeks anyway, according to the manager.”
Jenna thought for a beat. “What about the staff?”
“Everyone who works here lives in the staff quarters on site. Even married couples. Nice work if you can get it.”
Jenna squeezed his arm and then moved away under Emily’s eagle stare. Keeping their relationship private was getting harder, especially when close friends were involved. “Okay, make the arrangements for the animals, and I’ll get the rooms organized and call the transport companies.” She pulled out her phone, attached the satellite sleeve, and glanced down at her wet jeans. “Can you pack me a bag? I’ll need a few changes of clothes and more pairs of boots. You’ll need to tell Rio to grab some clothes while he’s in town too. We’ll need him here.”