Hopeful of a lead, Jenna climbed the stairs to her office and inhaled the smell of brewing coffee. She could always trust Kane to go ahead and fill the coffee machine. Inside, she dropped wearily into her chair and stared at him across the desk. “Please tell me that’s good news.”
“Maybe.” Kane handed her the scribbled note in Rowley’s handwriting. “It says after the Howards left the Outdoors Store, one of the CCTV cameras in tow
n picked up them speaking to someone outside Aunt Betty’s Café. They’re hunting down the person right now.”
Jenna stood and took out cups and the fixings and then stared at the dripping liquid filling the jug. “So, no mention of the Stone surveillance tapes, and what about our suspects? Have they left town?”
“Nope, both have moved around town but not at the same time or places.” Kane scrolled through the files Rowley had uploaded. “They’ve both been working all day. The entries in the file track Adams’ and Long’s movements. They have watched a small portion of the footage from the prison but that’s going to take forever. It’s a long, tedious job, we all need to take turns or something will be missed.” He held up a finger before she could reply. “Nothing on June Harris either.”
After pouring the coffee and adding the fixings, Jenna slid a cup across the table to Kane and then noticed the yellow slip of paper under the old chipped mug on her desk that housed her pens. It was a note from Atohi Blackhawk. She glanced at it and lifted her head. “Ah, here’s a note from Atohi. He’s been searching the area around the Payton Harris murder scene again in the hope of finding which way June Harris went. He is concerned her trail wasn’t picked up by him earlier and is convinced she must be close by. He’ll be searching again tomorrow. He doesn’t give up easily.”
“There wouldn’t be much left of her now if she died in the forest.” Kane sipped his coffee and sighed. “Payton Harris’ murder, with his wife going missing and all, convinces me this is a copycat of Stone’s murders. I figure Payton Harris’ killer stashed June’s body in a cave up there somewhere.”
Jenna pushed a hand through her hair. “‘Somewhere’ is the operative word. There are thousands of caves up there. Many have entrances that are so overgrown no one would ever find them. So yeah, that’s a distinct possibility.”
Footsteps on the stairs interrupted their conversation. Jenna stared at the door. It was Rio.
“We’ve brought in a person of interest for the murders.” Rio was trying hard to control a smug smile. “I think you should come down and speak to him.”
Taking in his excited demeanor, Jenna held up one hand. “Slow it down, Zac. Give me the details, so I know what to ask this guy.”
“First up, we received a call on the hotline this morning from Morgan White out of Maple Way. He and his girlfriend, Fern, were out hiking in the forest on Monday and noticed a man following them. The guy kept off the trail but he was carrying a crossbow and wore a slicker and a cowboy hat. As luck would have it, they met up with a forest warden on horseback patrol and he escorted them back to their vehicle.” Rio frowned. “The man had vanished into the shadows and with the mist rising from the river, the warden didn’t want to risk hunting him down without backup. White gave me the warden’s name and I called him; he didn’t see anyone or any tracks but he made note of it in his report. He figured the couple were spooked because of the murders and the fact people act a little crazy around Halloween.”
“It gets better.” Rowley walked in the door. “We get back here and there’s a message from Wendy at Aunt Betty’s. Her curiosity got the better of her and she checked out the CCTV footage of the day Long said he met the Howards. She recalled they dropped by to pick up some supplies for the hike and wanted to see if they met anyone in the diner. When they left, she saw them speaking to another man, and Wendy knew him. She identified him as John Foster, he lives out on Pine, two doors down from Wendy. We dropped by and he was at home and only too happy to come down and answer some questions.”
Jenna exchanged a look with Kane and he raised one eyebrow. She looked up at her deputies. “Good work. Write it up and we’ll go and speak with Mr. Foster. Have you read him his rights?”
“Nope.” Rio shrugged. “We asked him if he’d mind coming in to talk to the sheriff and he agreed.”
“What is it with these suspects coming in willingly and talking?” Kane scratched his head. “Have I walked into another dimension, or is this one giant conspiracy? Nothing is making sense anymore.” He turned his attention to Rio. “Tell me you did this by the book. You did show White a six-pack?”
“Yeah, don’t worry, I made sure we had a photo lineup. I pulled Foster’s driver’s license and showed the image, along with five others selected at random, to White and his girlfriend and they made a positive ID on Foster.” Rio looked at Jenna. “Think about it. If Adams and Long were telling the truth about the couples they took into the forest, this guy might have been waiting somewhere along the trail for them. He could be our killer.”
Unconvinced, Jenna narrowed her gaze at him. “So, you figure Foster just hangs around the trails up at Bear Peak, the most isolated of areas, on the off-chance a couple might wander by so he can kill them?”
“He just happened to be hanging around the same places at the same time as both the couples who met with Adams and Long.” Rio shrugged. “We have him on CCTV footage and he was close by in both instances. It’s not unreasonable to assume he overheard the plans the victims made with Adams and Long and followed them… or headed out there before they arrived. He would have had time.”
“So, we brought him in for questioning.” Rowley straightened. “He’s in interview room one.”
Jenna waited for them to leave and blew out a long breath. “I’m with you on this one. Have we stumbled down a rabbit hole or something? Foster throws doubt on both our possible suspects. With the three of them admitting to being involved at least before the fact, we’ll never get a case to stick against any of them.” She glanced out the window at the gathering darkness and swirls of mist. It was as if the chill was creeping toward the windows with its long, fingerlike tendrils reaching out to her, and she hurriedly looked away. “This is the weirdest Halloween week ever. It’s like we’re living the same day over and over again. If this guy gives us the same story as the other two, pinch me good and hard, because as sure as hell I must be dreaming.”
Forty-Four
In the interview room, Foster appeared to be relaxed. He sat turning his to-go cup of coffee in his fingers, patiently waiting as if he had nothing else to do with his time. Jenna looked him over: he’d be in his mid-forties, rugged, with corded muscles in his forearms. The calluses on his hands and a weathered complexion would indicate he spent a lot of his time outside and likely did manual labor. There was an odor of freshly sawn wood around him, and she noticed a peppering of sawdust on the front of his T-shirt. He actually smiled as Jenna walked in and dropped a statement book beside her iPad on the table. She didn’t return the smile, turned on the recorder, and gave the date, time, and who was present. This interview would be by the book. “Mr. Foster, we’ll be interviewing you in relation to an investigation into the deaths of Payton Harris and Emmett and Patti Howard.” She read him his rights. “I believe when you spoke to my deputies, Zac Rio and Jake Rowley, you mentioned speaking to the Howards outside Aunt Betty’s Café on Tuesday morning. Is that correct?”
“Yeah, that’s right.” Foster clasped his hands on the table. “Nice couple.”
Jenna opened the statement pad and then raised her gaze back to him. “Tell me in your own words how this came about.”
“I was heading into Aunt Betty’s for a bite to eat and Patti bumped right into me.” Foster eyed her with an amused expression. “Feisty woman that one, she told me to mind where I was going. I apologized, and Emmett said there was no harm done and Patti had walked into me. So, we got talking about the weather and hunting and such. They mentioned their plans to head up to Bear Peak. I told them straight it’s not safe up there and they told me they were going with some guy who was heading that way.”
“How did you know their names?” Kane looked dubious. “I’m sure most folks don’t offer their details to people they bump into on the sidewalk.”
“Oh, yeah.” Foster’s eyes danced with amusement. “I offered to buy them a cup of coffee so we could talk some more about the trails, but they had to get along.”
Jenna made unnecess
ary notes to appear uninterested and casual. Everything she needed would be in a transcript of the tapes. “What took you to Stanton Forest today?”