“Okay.” Olivia visibly pulled herself together. “So my mom could be here too?”
“Maybe.” He glanced at the door. “We need to find out. How many people work in this ward?”
“Only two but they talk about someone else. The nurse knows what Jim is doing to me. He jokes about it.” She bit her bottom lip. “I’m not hurt apart from a bump on the head, so why do you figure they’re keeping me here?”
From the quantity of drugs the nurse had pumped into them, he figured the hospital could be part of the sex-slave industry. Once hooked and under control they would be sold overseas to work as prostitutes. He glanced at Olivia’s frightened, ashen expression and shook his head. Right now, she didn’t need to know. “I’m not sure what’s going on but we need to get out of here.” He dashed a hand through his hair. “I know Jim is a medical student and I guess the other one is a nurse.”
“Yeah. He’s the one who administers the drugs and cares for us.” She avoided his gaze. “He does what Jim tells him to do. Jim is the creepy one. He has dead eyes. I’m terrified he’s going to kill me.” Olivia pushed into a sitting position and used the sheet to wipe away her tears. “I heard them talking but I don’t know why you’re here or how you came by that injury.”
Doug touched the dressing on his side. “I don’t remember being hurt at all.”
“I don’t know either but they mentioned you were here because of someone called Sky.”
Thirty-Five
Friday afternoon
Jenna slid the search warrant for the recycling yard into the pocket of her coat, collected her satellite phone and met up with Kane at the front counter. She could see Wolfe and Webber leaning against Wolfe’s new SUV in deep conversation and headed outside. The town resembled a frozen tundra, icicles as long as swords hung dangerously from the gutters and snowdrifts in some places came up to her waist. A blast of freezing wind filled with ice blasted her cheeks and she heard Kane’s moan of displeasure. The cold would be causing havoc with his head injury but if she suggested he should remain in the office, he would give her one of his disgruntled looks and shake his head. She flicked a glance over him, glad he had taken every precaution to keep warm. Not even the tip of his nose was showing under his sunglasses.
Snow fell in a constant relentless curtain, covering everything in minutes. The frozen trees creaked, threatening to snap in two and shed mini avalanches of snow onto the footpath and any unsuspecting people walking under them. The snowplows and salt-spreaders had been by during the day in their never-ending effort to keep the roads clear. She wrapped her scarf around her head but the woolen cap and hooded jacket did little to protect her face. After sliding her sunglasses on, she moved with caution over the ice-coated sidewalk to speak to Wolfe. “We’re meeting the owner, Bill Sawyer, at the yard. He did say no one has been there since the shutdown two weeks ago.”
“How did you manage to get a search warrant?” Wolfe straightened and indicated to Webber to get into the car. “We don’t have much in the way of probable cause.”
Jenna lifted her chin to look at him. “We do. Kane visited the yard on Tuesday and noticed someone had opened the gate after the blizzard. The owner states no one has been there, so I went with what we had, a witness saying an axman attacked Sky. Her car is missing and we have reason to believe the vehicle could be at that location. We need to find evidence Sky or her car was there.”
“One good thing about winter. The cold preserves DNA.” Wolfe pulled open the door to his truck and slid inside. “We’ll follow you.”
Jenna climbed into Kane’s black truck and noticed his usual supply of hot drinks and snacks piled into the center console but the bloodhound was missing. She waited for him to
slide behind the wheel. “Where’s Duke?”
“Believe it or not, he’s behind the front counter in his basket, with Maggie. She has a heater near her feet and feeds him treats all day long. I guess the clingy stage is over at last.” Kane pulled down his scarf and smiled at her. “I asked him to come with me and he pretended to be asleep.”
Jenna chuckled and unwound her scarf. “I don’t blame him; I’d rather be inside in this weather too.”
They headed downtown past the park, surprisingly filled with rosy-faced children playing around the gigantic decorated tree while others created snow angels in the new drifts. The giggling kids were such a contrast to the huddle of parents, hunched against the cold with their hands pushed deep in their pockets. The noise of laughter and screeches of delight as a small group pelted each other with snowballs filled her mind with fond memories of her own childhood. The holidays had been special, filled with warm hugs. She swallowed hard, at that moment realizing having her own kids was an empty dream. The day she’d walked away from being Agent Avril Parker and become Sheriff Jenna Alton, she’d given up everything. In truth, I don’t exist.
“It’s harder in the holidays.” Kane glanced at her as if he’d just read her mind. “The memories are a bitch. They blindside me at the strangest moments.”
“Me too.” She turned in her seat. “I think deep down I wanted to have kids but after my folks died I shut off my emotions. I didn’t really consider the future and what it meant to be an agent.”
“I knew the risks but I figured they’d be overseas, not here.” Kane slowed to take a bend and then, once on the interstate, increased speed. “Worse still was not being able to speak about it to anyone, or being able to do anything.” He wiped his hand down his face, then turned to smile at her. “Wolfe wants us to spend Christmas Day with him and the girls.”
Filling with a warm glow, Jenna grinned. “Really? I’d love that.”
“Me too.” Kane chuckled. “The girls told him it wouldn’t be Christmas without all the family. They wanted Rowley too, and Webber, but Rowley is spending the holidays with his folks and I hear Webber has a girlfriend.”
Jenna gaped at him. “Really? I thought he was interested in Emily and Wolfe was concerned because he was too old for her.”
“Long story.” Kane shrugged. “I gather Wolfe told him to keep his distance until Emily finished college and since she came home, it seems her crush on Webber is over.”
The radio crackled and Wolfe gave his call sign. Jenna picked it up. “Go to our safe channel. Over.”
Not that she considered any channel on the radio safe but she switched to channel two and waited for Wolfe to speak.
“As you are waiting on my findings for Mrs. Palmer’s cause of death, I checked her rate of thawing before I left and I should be able to conduct an autopsy on Sunday morning. Problem is our housekeeper likes to attend church and morning tea with her friends. Would you be able to watch my girls for a couple of hours? Emily could stay home with them but I would like her to observe the procedure if possible. Over.”
Jenna smiled and glanced at Kane’s grinning face. Wolfe had never asked a favor and she welcomed the chance to get closer to his family. “We’d love to. We’ll come pick them up first thing. What time is good for you? Over.”