Her Broken Wings by D.K. Hood
Six
The last thing Jenna wanted to do in the middle of the night after a brutal murder was to climb down a dark staircase into the unknown. She exchanged a glance with Kane and he shrugged. The remoteness of the Robinsons’ home and the unusual noises had set her nerves on edge on arrival and the notion of opening the door to a cellar making noises straight from hell was sending her imagination into overdrive. She glanced at Rowley’s sheet-white face, pulled her weapon and walked past him. “Stay here and watch our backs. We’ll go and look.” She swallowed hard. “Wolfe would you mind watching Mrs. Robinson until we’re done?”
“Sure.” Wolfe holstered his weapon, turned and headed for the kitchen.
A loud whine and a thump came from behind the cellar door. She turned to Kane trying to ignore the apprehension cramping in her stomach. “Not the Four Horsemen at least.”
“Nah, maybe a hellhound or two.” Kane’s mouth twitched up at the corners. “Or an injured bear, whatever it is, men don’t make that kind of noise.”
Trust Kane to make light of the situation.“It’s just as well you don’t believe in ghosts or we’d be standing here all night. The door opens inward—pick a side.” She ignored the fight or flight response making her heart pound in her chest and took a deep breath. “Ready?”
“Sure.” Kane pulled his weapon, slid back the bolt, and glanced inside the pitch black. His voice boomed out in the dark space. “Sheriff’s department, is anyone down there?”
The whine and bump came again. Jenna repeated the question, and when no response came, she edged closer to the opening. The freezing air smelled of wet cement, as if the owner had only finished it recently, and it didn’t have the musty odor she usually associated with cellars. With the comforting warmth of her Glock in her palm, she eased one hand around the doorframe feeling for the light switch. She flicked it back and forth but nothing happened. Of course, the light didn’t work; it was almost as if she expected it. An awful sense of foreboding crept over her. They could be walking into a trap, and if they stood at the top of the steps, they’d make clear targets. She flattened against the wall outside the door and turned to Kane. “Why is it every time we go into a cellar the lights are out?”
She reached for her Maglite and it came on in a brilliant white stream. Aiming it around the door and into the cellar, she moved the light down a flight of stairs and over an open bag of cement with a shovel beside it, leaning against the wall. Long shadows seemed to fill every corner and she didn’t move until she’d checked out each one. Of course, the room was L-shaped and she couldn’t see around the corner. Never go into a dark cellar. The warning rattled around in her subconscious. “It’s as if it’s daring us to walk into the unknown.”
“At least the stairs are wide.” Kane’s flashlight came on beside her, and they stood side by side and scanned the area. “It looks empty but I guess we’d better take a look at what’s around the corner.”
The whine and bang came again, and the hairs on the back of Jenna’s neck prickled. “There it goes again. Where is it coming from?”
“Furnace maybe?” Kane slipped down the steps and moved along the wall with his flashlight aimed along his weapon.
The sound came again as he disappeared around the corner.
“Shit!” Kane barked a strangled laugh. “Now that scared the hell out of me.”
Heart pounding, Jenna rushed to his side. The darkness crept in behind her and an icy breeze seeped through her jeans. As she turned the corner, Kane’s wide shoulders blocked her view. “What is it?”
“It looks like they’re into taxidermy.” Kane’s light moved over a full-grown grizzly. Its glass eyes reflected the light back at them. “Funny place to keep it, down here in the damp.”
Knowing the bear was long dead didn’t prevent a rush of terror gripping Jenna as her light moved over the gaping mouth and outstretched paws. She took a step back and pushed down the need to run. After flicking her Maglite around the rest of the area, she sighed. “It’s empty.”
“It is apart from the bear and furnace but that’s not what’s making the noise.” He moved his flashlight to a window on ground level. “It’s that.”
Jenna stared up at a window propped open with a stick. The unfastened shutters whined and bumped against the side of the house with each gust of wind. She moved her flashlight to the floor. Leaves had fallen inside making a small pile and she made out indistinct footprints leading away. “I think we’ve found the point of entry.”
She moved closer to examine the window. “We’ll leave that for now and come back when it’s light to check for fingerprints and any footprints outside.”
“Sure.” Kane holstered his weapon. “I’ll get a few shots of the scene.” He pulled out his cellphone and took the pictures.
Jenna blinked from the flash but she turned and searched the floor. In one corner was a patch of drying cement. “Get a shot of that as well. I hope they’re not burying bodies in here.”
Once he’d finished, she headed back up the steps with Kane close behind. After locking the cellar door, she looked at Rowley’s anxious face. “Just an open window. The noise was the shutters. It looks like our point of entry. We’ll come back and check it out in daylight. Oh, and there’s a stuffed bear down there.” She smiled at him. “Go and take over from Wolfe. I’ll view the crime scene and then interview Mrs. Robinson if she’s talking. Does she have anyone she can stay with tonight?”
“No, ma’am.” Rowley frowned. “I already asked her.”
“Well, she can’t stay here.” Jenna frowned. “Call the hospital and make arrangements for her to be placed in our secure wing. I want her checked out by a doctor, and have them do a psych evaluation on her too. She’ll be safe locked in the ward but make sure hospital security keeps an eye on her until we can arrange for someone to stay with her. I’ll pack a bag for her as soon as Wolfe has cleared the crime scene.”
“Copy that.” Rowley turned and headed to the kitchen.
Jenna waited for Wolfe to return and they followed him single file up the stairs, avoiding the blood spatter on the carpet. The bedroom was off a landing at the top and its door stood wide open. Blood smeared the glossy white finish and frame as if someone had stumbled against it. The sight inside the room made Jenna gag. She’d witnessed many crimes from mutilated bodies to burn victims, but the smell of fresh blood seemed to surround her and crawl up her nose. Wanting to look away wasn’t an option, and she took the face mask Kane pushed into her hand and placed it over her nose. What she discovered here could be crucial to identifying the killer, and no matter how disturbing, it was her responsibility to find justice for the victim.
The ME took the lead in a crime scene, and Jenna listened to Wolfe’s running commentary. All around her, the house whined and moaned. She’d never experienced such wild weather since her arrival in Black Rock Falls, and as if seeing a blood-soaked victim wasn’t bad enough, the rattling windows made her glance over her shoulder more than once. She glanced at Kane, who had his usual mask of professionalism fixed in place. He had the unique ability, like Wolfe, to turn off his emotional side and concentrate on the crime scene as a whole. She could blank out emotion to some degree, due to her own training, but to see Wolfe and Kane in action was awe-inspiring. “What do we have, Shane?”
“The victim is male but that’s all I have so far, and I found a black feather in the bed. It might mean nothing but I’ve bagged it.” Wolfe took several photographs of the scene, moving around the room and aiming his camera at every possible angle before pulling back the blood-soaked sheets. “From the metal fragments embedded in the wall and mattress, I’d say two maybe three shots to the head, and Rowley was right, this damage is from hollow-points.” He sighed. “One would’ve sufficed, and two or three is way in excess. It’s the same as a stabbing in some ways: people can use one thrust to kill, but in anger they stab a person multiple times. From this, and considering no one has disturbed anything in the house, I’d say this is a crime of passion.”
“Or maybe a hit.” Jenna looked at Kane. “This is your field of expertise, what do you think?”
“Possible.” Kane leaned over the bed to examine the bullet fragments. “Using hollow-points tells me the intent to kill was there from the get-go. It’s a sure thing, and whoever did this hit his target without injuring this man’s wife.”
“Or the shooter is the wife.” Jenna pushed down nausea and moved to his side to examine the body. “It looks well planned. I didn’t see any signs of forced entry but we’ll have a better idea in the morning. We assume, he came in via the cellar and gained access through a conveniently unlocked door and then straight here, two maybe three shots before he walks out the front door leaving it open.”
“Yeah.” Kane straightened and turned to Jenna. “If they’d left the window open to maybe dry the patch of wet cement, I would’ve thought they’d have secured the shutters.”
Jenna nodded. “And locked the cellar door.” She shuddered. “I mean a bear could get through that opening. Why did they leave the door unlocked? I believe I need to have a chat with Mrs. Robinson.” She looked at Wolfe. “Rowley said she wasn’t talking. Did you coax anything out of her?”
“She told me someone shot her husband. I’ve collected samples and taken photographs of the blood spatter on her. It will prove where she was at the time of the shooting, and if she was involved, I’d expect to see gunshot residue.” Wolfe continued to collect pieces of metal from around the victim. “Take it easy with her, she’s fragile.”
“Fragile or a good actor?” Jenna turned away and headed to the door. “The open window and unlocked door seem like more than a coincidence. I wonder if she paid someone to kill her husband—and if so, why?”