“We're taking precautions,” Jenna said, touched by his concern.“Right now I think she’s handling it just fine.”
After ending the call, Jenna drove in silence for a few minutes, her mind working through the events of the day.
“You okay?”Jake asked quietly.
“Just thinking about Piper.Part of me wishes I could keep her far away from all this, but another part knows she might be the key to stopping this killer.”
“She handled herself well back there,” Jake observed.“And that brooch seems to help her.”
“Yeah,” Jenna agreed.“My sister's pretty amazing, isn't she?”
As they approached the station, Jenna felt the familiar weight of responsibility—for her sister, for the investigation, for the potential victim who might even now be in a killer's sights.But alongside that was a fierce pride in Piper, who had faced her terrifying visions and emerged stronger, determined to help.
Now they needed to find this killer before another victim's story ended in blood.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Jake leaned back against the headrest as Jenna's patrol car cut through the October darkness.Every interview, every dead end, every concerned face from Leith Walsh's book club—they all swirled in his mind.In spite of a very long and complicated day, he and Jenna hadn’t had any luck trying to use the Snow White story to lead them to the next potential victim.
“What do you think we’re missing?”he asked, breaking the silence that had settled between them as Jenna drove him home.
“I don't know.Every member of that book club seemed genuinely shocked about Claudia.”
Jake recalled the tearful faces of the women who gathered monthly to discuss literature over wine and cheese.They'd interviewed all four of the club members throughout the day, and each one seemed to be more distressed than the last.None had provided anything substantial beyond confirming that Claudia had seemed normal at their meeting three days ago—happy, even, despite her separation from Keir.
“What do you think about that Walsh woman now?”Jake asked.
“Leith sees the world through books, through all kinds of stories.”Jenna made a smooth turn onto Maple Street.“It's her way of processing just about everything.But I don't think she knows anything useful about Claudia’s murder.And I certainly don’t suspect her of being the killer.Like she said, she barely leaves the bookstore at all.Everybody in Trentville knows that.”
Jake silently agreed.He’d never meant Leith Walsh until today, but she seemed to live solely in a world of words.He just couldn’t imagine her committing a flesh-and-blood act of violence against anybody.And interviewing Claudia’s neighbors and just about everybody who knew her—including the principal of the school where she taught and her fellow teachers—hadn’t yielded any useful information.
The town of Trentville slept around them, storefronts dark and sidewalks empty.Jake studied Jenna's profile in the half-light.Fatigue showed in shadows beneath her eyes and he fought the urge to reach across the console and touch her arm.
“You should get some rest tonight,” he said instead.“We've exhausted every angle for now.”
“I'll try,” she replied, the weariness in her voice telling him she likely wouldn't.
The sudden trill of Jenna's phone cut through the car.Jake plucked it from the center console, glancing at the screen.
“It's Dr.Stark,” he told her, then answered and activated the speakerphone.“Dr.Stark, it's Deputy Hawkins.You're on speaker with Sheriff Graves.”
“Jake, Jenna,” Melissa Stark's voice came through, crisp despite the late hour.“I've completed the bloodwork on Claudia Kingsley and found something you both need to hear.”
“What did you find?”Jenna asked, keeping her eyes on the road.
“She was killed by an injection of what appears to be a home-made toxin—quite the cunning mixture.”Dr.Stark's voice carried the clinical precision that Jake had come to associate with her findings.“Foxglove, jimsonweed, and snake venom, combined in specific proportions.It would have caused almost immediate paralysis.Death would have followed within minutes, perhaps even seconds.”
Jake found the image horrific—Claudia in her final moments, unable to move, unable to call for help.
“Is this something traceable?”he asked.“Something that would require specialized knowledge?”
“Unfortunately not,” Dr.Stark replied, disappointment clear.“It's the kind of recipe that can be found on the internet with a simple search.Anyone with basic research skills and determination could concoct it.”
“So we're looking for someone methodical enough to research and create a poison, but who doesn't need a chemistry degree,” Jenna summarized, turning onto Jake's street.
“Precisely,” Dr.Stark confirmed.“I'll email you the complete report, but I wanted you to have this information tonight.”
“Thanks, Melissa,” Jenna said.“We appreciate it.”