“It’s Jenna, we’ve found a body, a male we believe could be Jedidiah Longfellow out at the construction site. It’s a homicide. So you’ll need to ask the suspects where they were this morning as well.”
Rio nodded. “Sure. I’m on it. Do you need any help?”
“No, you’ll have to hold the fort there. Wolfe and his team will be heading our way as inconspicuously as possible. I’m leaving Emily there with you. Webber is bringing the van via a back service road. I’ll bring you up to speed when we get back.” Jenna disconnected.
Rio returned to his seat. “Anyone see you last night?”
“Not that I’m aware. I went straight to bed. I’m sure you’d see me on the CCTV cameras. They’re everywhere.” Grayson stared into space. “This morning, I ate breakfast in my room and then came downstairs to join in the conference. There were people milling around, but I don’t recall anyone in particular.”
“Okay.” Rio looked up from his notes. “And this morning, what have you been doing?”
“Ah… I went to the book signing and then to a reading.” Grayson shrugged. “I spoke to many people. I can’t remember all their names. Let me think. A young woman, blonde hair, oh, what was her name? Ah yes, Julie.” He glanced across the room to where Emily was talking to someone across a desk. “She looked a lot like her. We were in a line to get an autograph from the Black Rock Falls series author and chatted. There was someone else there too I’ve met on social media. He’s a bestselling author. Jedidiah Longfellow. Nice guy.”
Rio’s radar went on alert. “What time was this?”
“In the session before the lunch break.” Grayson sighed. “At least fifty people would have seen me at the book signing and the reading. The halls were packed.” He moved around irritated. “Is that all? I paid good money to enjoy this conference, not to sit around here talking to cops all darn day.”
Rio held up a fin
ger. “What time did you speak with Jedidiah Longfellow?”
“Oh, I don’t know, eleven maybe.” Grayson stood. “He had a few people around him, asking him about his book. He was in the hall when the author was reading her book as well.” He narrowed his gaze. “Is he missing too?”
Rio put down his pen and closed his notebook. “Not that I’m aware.” He stood and offered his hand. “Thank you for your time.”
Grayson seemed reluctant to shake his hand, but when he did his palm was ice-cold against Rio’s flesh. It was like shaking hands with a corpse. After the man’s touch lingered on his skin for an eternity, Rio used the hand sanitizer on the table, suddenly glad he’d had all his shots. He finished up his files and looked to see who was left to interview. He found the room empty apart from Emily, finishing up with Parker Rain, a literary agent out of Twisted Forest, Montana. When she’d finished entering her notes into the files and closed her laptop, he walked over. “Do you want to get out of here for a time?”
“Sure.” Emily stretched like a cat. “I’m stiff from being out so long in the snow this morning. I don’t figure I’ll ever be warm again.”
Rio smiled at her. “We have some time before Jenna gets back. I figure we deserve hot chocolate in front of the fire and maybe a snack. The diner in the foyer has some delicious cakes and pastries in the window.”
“That sounds wonderful.” She picked up her purse. “Do you have a card to get back in here? I don’t want to leave the door unlocked.”
Rio waved a keycard. “Yeah, we all have one. How did the interview go? Did you find a suspect?”
“I’m not sure.” Emily followed him out the door to the elevator. “I’ve never met people like this before. They’re really obsessed with their books. And they take everything so seriously, like it’s life or death. Honestly, from the stories I’ve heard today, if Dakota Storm had been one of the toxic reviewers they have to deal with, I wouldn’t be surprised if an author or agent murdered her just to get even.”
Sixteen
It was as if a calming breeze came over the murder scene when Wolfe appeared out of the snow. The big hulking figure carrying a forensics kit in one hand wasn’t recognizable, with a scarf over his mouth, sunglasses, and a fur-trimmed hoodie hiding his features. If it weren’t for the medical examiner logo on the front of his jacket, Jenna would have had one hand on her weapon. She stepped out into the snow to greet him. “Emily not coming?”
“No, she’s tied up with the suspect interviews. As you know, my daughters insisted on staying to help out even with a killer on site.” Wolfe removed his sunglasses and rolled his eyes. “Julie arranged for Webber to collect their things. My housekeeper packed bags for them.” He let out a long sigh. “Okay. What have we got?”
Jenna held out an evidence bag containing the victim’s wallet. “Driver’s license says Jedidiah Longfellow out of Wilderness, Wyoming. From the promotional cards we found on him, he’s an author.”
“Oh, this is interesting.” Wolfe’s eyebrows rose as he peered through the door to the chalet. “Just before I left, Rio spoke to a guy on our suspects’ list named Grayson and he mentioned speaking to Jed Longfellow at around eleven this morning.” He glanced at his watch. So what time did Sparks find the body?”
Jenna checked her notes. “He called at three-thirty. We were out hunting down the log that was used on the Dakota Storm homicide, and we found it.” She pointed to a plastic bag resting beside the front door. “We came here directly and the blood around the victim was frozen. Dave’s taken shots of everything. The nail gun appears to be the weapon of choice.”
“It’s pretty hard to kill someone with a nail gun unless you hit them over the head with it.” Wolfe looked skeptical. “On the bright side, the fact we have Grayson as a witness to the last time someone saw Longfellow alive is fortunate, because we can put the time of death between eleven and three-thirty. It’s a small window and better than I can calculate with science, especially in subzero temperatures.” He placed his kit inside the door and scanned the room. “Find anything of interest?”
“Not much. The matching earring to the one we found outside Dakota Storm’s chalet was just outside the door and there’s more blood over there.” Kane waved a hand toward the blood spatter on the wall. “I’d say the victim backed up against the wall to get away from the killer, but the whole scene looks way too amiable to me.”
Jenna nodded. “Yeah, no defense wounds we can see. I figure he knew the killer and could’ve come here to meet them.”
“A lovers’ meeting perhaps?” Wolfe glanced at her and approached the body. “Pointing a nail gun and pushing a woman into a pond doesn’t take much strength, so I’m not ruling out a woman suspect in these cases. Like Kane said, women of average fitness would be quite capable of sliding Dakota on the ice and into the pond.”
Jenna allowed Wolfe’s words to percolate through her mind. “Would an average woman know how to use a nail gun? It’s a noisy thing most women would avoid, I’d imagine.”