Dead finches. Jed shot a quick look at Hannah’s rounded eyes and gave a slight shake of his head. “Where did this happen? Where did the Keldorfs live?”
“Um.” Roaming Bear raised his dark eyes to the ceiling, as if looking for the answer up there. He found it. “On the other side of the falls—not too far from your old place, which I heard you’re fixing up.”
“W-were the two foster kids injured?” Hannah had such a tight grip on her wineglass, she looked close to snapping the stem.
“Don’t think so. Law enforcement whisked them right out of there.” Roaming Bear’s eyes softened as he looked at Hannah. “You really care about children, don’t you? Unfortunately, two other children did die in the melee. Two other foster kids. As I recall, the Keldorfs couldn’t have kids of their own and fostered several over the years.”
“CPS obviously didn’t do a great job of vetting Mr. Keldorf.” Hannah hunched her shoulders and finished off the dregs of her wine, looking like she needed more.
Roaming Bear held up one unsteady finger. “I think I just heard my number. I need to get this pizza home to my Rose.”
“I’ll grab it.” Jed pushed back his chair and strode toward the counter. By the time he returned to the table carrying the box, Hannah was standing next to Roaming Bear’s chair, helping him to his feet.
The old man patted her hand and whispered something in her ear, which made her smile.
Jed held out the pizza to Roaming Bear. “Do you need help with this out to your car?”
“No, no. Finish your meal. Rose will be pleased to hear I saw you out tonight. Nice to meet you, Hannah. Take care, boy.” He shuffled out of the restaurant, holding the pizza in front of him as someone held the door open.
Jed picked up his slice. “What did he say to you?”
“Told me I was nothing like my old man, which I take as a compliment.”
“Especially from Roaming Bear.” He took a big bite and chewed, waiting for Hannah to bring up the Keldorfs. By the time he swallowed, she was still staring into her empty glass.
He dragged a napkin across his face. “So, what do you think about the Keldorfs?”
“Just thinking about family annihilators and how we can see the signs.”
Roaming Bear’s story had engaged her psychology mind, but Jed needed her investigative mind. “But the finches. Don’t you think that’s a coincidence? Dead finches then, dead finches now.”
“That is strange, but Chet Keldorf is dead. He’s not killing women today and leaving dead birds.”
“Yeah, but it’s the first clue we’ve gotten about these finches. Maybe that crime inspired someone else. Maybe Keldorf has a relative still living in the area. Doesn’t psychopathy run in families?”
“There is a genetic component, usually passed down from the father.”
Jed hit the table. “There you go.”
“Didn’t you hear Roaming Bear? Chet Keldorf didn’t have any children. He didn’t pass his genes down to anyone.”
“Siblings, nephews, then.” He waved his crust at her. “I want to pursue this lead.”
“It’s the only one we have.” She pushed her plate away with a half-eaten piece of pizza on it. “Are we going to the police with this one?”
He answered, “Do you think they’d spend any time looking into it?”
“No. We’ll do it ourselves. They may already have the Keldorf crime on their radar. They have a lot more resources and access to a lot more databases than we do.” She crumpled up her napkin. “Are you done?”
“Are you kidding?” He lifted the basket with two garlic knots rolling in the bottom. “I have two of these bad boys left.”
“Put them in the to-go box I’m going to get for the rest of this pizza.”
“Do you want another glass of wine? I’m driving.”
“Actually, the wine made me tired. I’m ready to call it a night.” She rose from her seat and said over her shoulder, “I’ll get that to-go box.”
Jed kept his eyes on Hannah’s stiff back as she walked to the counter. She didn’t seem tired at all. She practically vibrated with energy.
He’d demolished one of the knots and was eyeing the second one before Hannah got back with the box.
As she loaded the leftover pizza into the box with quick movements, Jed circled her wrist with his fingers. “You wanna tell me what’s up? You’ve been distracted and jumpy at the same time ever since we heard Roaming Bear’s story about the Keldorfs.”
She adjusted the pizza in the box and secured the lid on the box. “It’s the name—Keldorf.”
“Yeah, you mentioned you’d heard it before. I have to confess the crime sounded familiar, but I don’t think I ever got the name because no Keldorfs remained on the island.”
“The name’s not on the island anymore—except in my attic.”
Jed tugged on his earlobe. “You mean among your old man’s things?”
“Exactly. When I was up there looking for info on your arrest, I saw the Keldorf name on a box—a very old-looking box.”
“I thought your father wasn’t the sheriff thirty years ago.”
“He wasn’t the sheriff, but he was a deputy. I’m sure that type of crime on the island would require the entire force to work it. My father must’ve been involved. He either kept notes at the time, or he took material from the station when he retired.”
“Why would he be interested in the Keldorf crime? Murder-suicide seems pretty straightforward to me.”
“I don’t know. I’m beginning to think I didn’t know my father at all.” She patted the pizza box. “But if we’re going to look into the Keldorfs and their dead finches, we have a place to start.”
“Now? You mean start now?” He cocked his head. “I thought the wine had made you tired.”
“I was just trying to get rid of you.” She brushed her hands together and hitched her purse over her shoulder.
Slapping a hand against his chest, he said, “Me? I thought we were in this together. Why would you cut me out?”
She drew her bottom lip between her teeth. “I wasn’t sure you’d want to have a look in those boxes. You seemed uninterested in the one for your own case.”
“Really? That was my case.” He sucked down the rest of his soda and slammed it on the table. “I’m all in for looking into someone else’s sorry life.”
JED BLEW OUT a breath as he pulled behind Hannah’s car and saw the porch lights still glowing brightly. “At least nobody has defaced your property tonight.”
Hannah screwed up her mouth on one side. “Not that we know of. This is a big property.”
“That’s what concerns me—you out here all alone at night.” He cut the engine and the silence around them confirmed his fears. “You ever learn how to shoot one of your daddy’s pistols?”
“I did, and I still have them...in storage.”
“Not doing much good there, are they?” He opened the door of his truck, and the sole of his shoe crunched the gravel. He made a beeline for the front door to check for dead birds and broken glass.
The curtain at the front window flicked and he stumbled back.
Hannah came up behind him and patted him on the shoulder. “That’s just Siggy the watch cat.”
“Too bad he didn’t scare off the intruder last night.” Jed snapped his fingers. “How about a dog?”
Shoving her key in the lock, Hannah clicked her tongue. “Siggy doesn’t like dogs.”
Jed’s muscles coiled as Hannah stepped into the foyer. The fixture burned brightly, high in the ceiling above them, casting a warm glow over the entryway. He swept past her, taking the two steps down to the family room, its large windows facing to the forest on the side of the house.
Leaving the lights off in the family room, he crept toward the plates of glass, feeling exposed, and peered at the dark trees huddled beyond the property line. He leaned his forehead against the cool glass. “Anybody could be out here staring inside. Where are those guns?”
“We’re in luck.” She jerked both thumbs at the ceiling. “The guns are in the same place as my father’s case files—the attic.”
“You get the Keldorf box, and I’ll grab those guns...or at least the one I think is most appropriate for you.”
“Most appropriate?” She wedged her hands on her curvy hips. “The pink one?”
He gave her a little shove. “The one you’ll be able to use to take out an intruder. I can’t imagine Mad Dog Maddox with a pink weapon.”
She crooked her finger at him. “Follow me. It’s one of those pull-down doors from the ceiling.”
“My favorite kind.” He traipsed up the staircase behind her.
She stopped beneath a square door and waved at the rope hanging down. “You probably don’t even need a step stool to grab it, do you?”
“Let’s see.” He sidled next to her, stood on his tiptoes and grabbed the rope. He gave it a yank, and the trapdoor opened, ejecting a set of accordion steps. “Is there a light up there?”
“I think there used to be, but it must be broken.” She opened the drawer of a side table in the hallway and pulled out a flashlight. “This isn’t my first trip up here, obviously.”
“Then, after you.” He made a flourish with his arm. Following her up also gave him the opportunity to appreciate her assets.
Hannah grabbed the sides of the ladder and started to ascend. She stopped suddenly about halfway up. “And stop eyeing my backside.”
“Don’t flatter yourself, Maddox.”
When she reached the gaping space, she leaned forward to climb into the attic.
His palms itched to give her an assist by placing them on the aforementioned backside, but she’d probably smack him. “You good?”
“Yeah.” She poked her head out, her hair hanging on either side of her face. “It’s a little dusty.”
“I’ve been in prison. What’s a little dust?”
She pulled back, probably not knowing whether to laugh or cry. With his arms level with the opening, he hoisted himself into the attic, Hannah’s bobbing flashlight creating a kaleidoscope of images.
Jed sniffed. “Was this his own private space, or what?”
“Mom made him move his stuff up here when it started cluttering the office, but I’ve never seen some of this stuff.” She hunched over and made her way to a stack of boxes that looked as if she’d disturbed it before.
“Where are the guns?” He pulled his phone from his pocket and turned on the flashlight.
“In the corner, near the snowboards.”
He also had to bend forward to move through the space. Crouching down in front of the snowboards, he ran his hand through the dusty lid of a gun safe. “These are locked up. Do you have the combination?”
“Zero, four, two, six.”
He looked up. “Significance?”
“My parents’ wedding anniversary—April 26. Basically, the day my father became a member of the moneyed class.”
Jed ran a thumb along the combo lock and entered the code. It clicked open, echoing in the space. Five guns gleamed against the plush red interior of the case. He feathered his fingertips across the Glock 17. “Hello, beautiful.”
“You talking to me or the gun?” Hannah puffed a lock of hair from her face.
He plucked the gun from its place and caressed it in his hands. “This little charmer.”
“You want me to leave you two alone up here?”
“This one’s perfect for you, Hannah. Do you know your gun safety, or should we go through that before I clean it up and load it?”
“We’re talking about my father here. Of course, he taught me gun safety, although he never actually gave me a gun of my own.”
“Maybe this was your mother’s. It’s definitely a piece for a feminine hold.”
“My mom?” She snorted and then sneezed. “No way.”
He closed the lid on the gun safe and scrambled the combination. “Did you find the Keldorf box?”
She rapped her knuckles on the lid of a cardboard box. “Right here. You wanna trade? That gun looks a lot lighter than this box.”
“Sure.” He checked the gun’s chamber. “Unloaded. I’ll buy you some ammo.”
He handed her the gun and bent down to test the heft of the box. As he couldn’t stretch to his full height in the attic, he elected to shove the box toward the opening with his feet. Peering over the edge, he said, “How’d you get that other box down from here?”
“Very carefully. Why don’t you get settled on the ladder, and then I’ll hand the box to you?”
He maneuvered down the steps and then dropped the box on the floor, amid a flurry of dust. Then he turned to help Hannah down the rest of the way, as she clutched the Glock in one hand.
She hopped off the last step and fell against his chest. His arms went around her as naturally as breathing.
He inhaled her scent, musty attic and all, before he released her.
She skirted around him. “I’ll clear a space on the coffee table. Let’s dig through this.”
He picked up the box and followed her to the family room. Her nervous hands fluttered around the table, moving items out of the way. He settled the box in the center and flipped off the lid.
Hannah sat on the floor, crossing her legs. “This stuff is old. I wonder why he kept it.”
“Maybe because it was the biggest case of his career on the island. We haven’t had too many murders here, and this one was horrific.” He tapped the side of the box.
They leafed through the box, skimming her father’s notes. “Doesn’t make much sense.” As she reached the bottom, she fanned out papers on the table and smoothed a map with her hand.
Jed leaned over her shoulder. “What’s that?”
“It’s a map of the Keldorf property.” She tapped the paper with her index finger. “I do know this house. It’s beyond the falls in Misty Hollow. Nobody has lived there for years. I just thought it had been someone’s second home that they let go to rot. Now it makes sense. Who’d want to live where a crime like that occurred?”
“The owner could always raze it and rebuild—kinda like I’m doing with my family home.” He traced his finger along the map, judging the distance to his place.
“What happened in your home doesn’t compare with this.” She flicked her finger at the paper in his hands. Rising to her knees, she snatched the map from him. “I have an idea.”
He eyed her over the top of the paper. “What?”
“Let’s check out this property. You know it’s not something the sheriff’s department or PD is going to do, but it’s something we can investigate.”
“What are we going to investigate?” Jed spread his hands. Maybe he never should’ve gotten Hannah involved in this case. She had her part to play, and he had his.
“I’m not sure, but my father thought something was amiss. He wouldn’t have saved this information. He wouldn’t have tagged and questioned aspects of it. And now we have dead finches at two murder scenes that mimic the dead birds at this one. I think it’s worth digging into.” She clambered to her feet, clutching the map in her hand.
Jed’s mouth dropped open. “Now? You don’t waste any time, do you?”
“Better to do it at night, undercover. We don’t want to signal to anyone that we’re looking at this thirty-year-old murder.”
“You mean signal the killer because I’m pretty sure Seattle PD couldn’t care less if we were sniffing around this property.”
“Maybe that is what I mean.” She waved the paper in the air. “Are you in, or what? Because I’m heading over there, with or without you.”
“I’ve created a monster.” He smacked his forehead with his palm, but he stood up and asked for a flashlight.
Jed didn’t need a map or GPS to find the old Keldorf place in Misty Hollow. His truck crawled across the bridge to the other side of the island, slowing down to take in the falls to their right. The island had been named for the falls, which fell dead straight from the swirling water above them. The adventurous could walk behind the falls on a narrow path, taking a peek from the other side, but the water would be close enough to touch. The linear drop of the falls with no arc didn’t allow a lot of space behind it and gave the falls its name.
The area had seen its fair share of deaths, both accidents and suicides. People did stupid stuff around nature, and hidden caves on either side of the falls attracted teens—attracted him and Hannah.
“Still takes my breath away.” Hannah touched the glass as a fine mist clouded the passenger window. “Looks even more magnificent at night.”
“With some moonlight.” He sped up and crossed the bridge, not willing to go down memory lane with Hannah right now.
When they’d first discovered their friendship and easy camaraderie had blossomed into something more exciting, they’d spend many nights on the shore of the river—her side of the river—gazing out at the falls and making childish promises to each other. Then they’d ventured to the caves next to the falls for a few make-out sessions. If he’d never fallen for Hannah like that, her old man never would’ve come after him—but he still didn’t spend one second regretting it.
His truck bounced as it exited the bridge, and he made a sharp right. “Nobody comes this way anymore. There aren’t many properties in Misty Hollow, so it’s not like people are driving past the Keldorf place on a daily basis as a reminder of what happened there.”
“It’s the kind of thing most small towns want to put behind them, isn’t it? Murder-suicide involving children. Lots of missed red flags for a lot of people and agencies.”
“Honestly, until Roaming Bear mentioned it tonight, I’d never even heard any of the Samish elders talk about it.”
“Out of sight, out of mind—for most people. The dead finches are too much of a coincidence for me to buy.”
“I don’t know what you expect to find out here.”
“I just see it as an opportunity to look at the place of the original dead finches before law enforcement descends and takes away our access to any evidence.”
He aimed the truck down a narrow access road. “You really believe LE is going to descend on this place?”
“If they can’t find the drug connection between the two crimes, they may very well look at other motives and scenarios, which may lead them right here.” She pulled her sweatshirt around her body. “I just want to get a jump on them. I’m sure their investigation will lead them here eventually, even though they didn’t seem very excited about the dead bird on my porch.”
“That definitely could’ve been a prank, Hannah. Why would the killer target you?” He slowed the truck as a dilapidated house came into view, lit up by his headlights. A structure that looked like a barn squatted to the right of the house, and a chicken coop had fallen over on its side.
“Well, this is creepy.” Hannah had the door of the truck open before it came to a full stop and had one leg dangling out before he cut the engine. “The constant mist from the falls doesn’t help.”
Jed left the lights on and transferred his gun from inside the center console to the pocket of his denim jacket. He didn’t like the looks of this place, even without its history of murder and mayhem.
He jumped from the truck and flicked on the flashlight Hannah had given him. She had her own aggressively thrust in front of her, as she stalked toward the house.
He grabbed the hood on her sweatshirt, and she stumbled backward. “Sorry. Where are you going in such a hurry?”
Tugging at her sweatshirt, she straightened it out. “I want to see where the finches were killed. The report said he reached into the cages and twisted their little necks and then left them where they dropped, so that there were a few cages containing dead birds. Why’d he do that? Why kill your pets?”
Jed said, “I’ve read about people who killed their dogs and cats before killing themselves. You’re the psychologist. Doesn’t it have something to do with not wanting to take that journey by yourself?”
“That’s one reason, but birds? You wanna take that journey with a bunch of birds?” She twisted a lock of hair around her finger. “Or maybe, like my dad’s notes indicated, someone else killed the birds. Chet Keldorf didn’t have any scratches on his hands. If you reached into a cage and started strangling birds, wouldn’t they peck at you or claw your hand with their feet trying to get away?”
“You’re asking me?” He thumped a hand on his chest. “I’m no bird expert.”
“But you are a PI.” She tugged on his sleeve. “Let’s go inside.”
They approached the house, its dark windows staring out at them, daring them to come inside. The door had an open slash down the front where the wood had rotted away from the constant moisture in the air, and it tilted to one side, favoring its good hinge.
He tapped the door with the toe of his shoe, and it gaped away from the frame. “At least we don’t have to bust in.” Holding it open, he said, “In this case, I’m going to break the code of chivalry and enter before you. Keep your flashlight trained in front of me.”
Jed turned sideways and squeezed his body through the opening. He swept his flashlight across the room, still furnished.
Hannah put one leg through the gap in the door and nudged him. “Move it.”
He took a few more steps into the room, the wood floor creaking beneath his feet. “Must’ve been a pretty nice place at one point.”
“I don’t think CPS would’ve allowed those foster kids in here if it weren’t. At least they got that part right. Should’ve been looking more closely at Mr. Keldorf.”
“How come we never came here as teenagers? Seems to me this would’ve been the perfect spot to party and make out.” He quirked his eyebrows up and down.
“We had our own places for that.” She tiptoed through the room as if fearful of waking the dead. Parking in front of a table pushed against the wall, she said, “This is it. The cages are still here.”
He came up behind her, flicking his light across the metal cages stationed on the table, the bars glinting in the darkness. “Roaming Bear seems to think Keldorf killed the birds after he murdered his family. I should’ve asked him how he knew that.”
“Probably a solid guess. The foster kids were old enough to realize something would be off if he killed all his birds. From all accounts, he surprised them. All the bodies were in different locations, so while they may have heard the gunshots, they wouldn’t have known the targets. Blasts from rifles aren’t all that uncommon, as you know.”
“And the other kids survived, how?”
“They hid in a hollowed-out log in the forest. They didn’t come out until a deputy arrived on a call about the Keldorf’s cow wandering in the road.”
“These were the older foster kids, right? So maybe they heard the gunshots and took cover. They were old enough to have figured out their foster dad wasn’t right in the head and put two and two together when they heard the rifle shots.”
“Ugh, so horrible for everyone.” Hannah took a turn around the room, her flashlight bobbing in front of her. “The murders of Zoey and Stephanie certainly aren’t reenactments of this crime, except for the presence of children. Their kids are about the same age as the dead foster children were.”
“So...motive?”
She chewed on her bottom lip. “Family of the murdered foster kids taking revenge on Dead Falls for not doing enough to protect them?”
“Seems like a stretch. Why pick on single moms?” He held up a hand as she opened her mouth. “But definitely worth looking into the identity of those children. You can use your connections with Maggie to dig further.”
They spent the next several minutes shuffling through the abandoned home, the beams from their flashlights crisscrossing each other. Jed didn’t know what else Hannah was looking for, but she seemed satisfied as she took one last look at the empty birdcages.
“I guess that’s it. Doesn’t look like anyone has been here for years.” Hannah jerked a thumb over her shoulder. “Do you want to take a quick peek in the barn? I didn’t realize the Keldorf place was a farm.”
“After you this time.” Jed pushed the broken door away from the frame for Hannah to slip through. When he clambered through, more wood cracked away from the frame. “Oops.”
By the time he’d put the pieces back in place, Hannah was halfway across the yard on her way to the barn. Swearing, he jogged after her. The snap of a stick from the woods beyond slowed his gait as he swung his flashlight in the direction of the noise and held his breath.
Night birds rustled in the trees, and Jed blew out the breath, following Hannah into the barn. This door still swung easily on its hinges, and he pulled it closed behind them.
Hannah, on her tiptoes and peering into a stall, called over her shoulder. “Looks like someone may have been sleeping here recently. The hay is fresh, and there’s a blanket.”
He sidled up next to her, draping an arm over her shoulders. “Homeless? Maybe some randy teenagers who don’t mind the creep factor.”
“The hinges on the door seemed oiled, too. I doubt teens would be that responsible.” She dropped down to her heels and ducked beneath his arm.
She went one direction in the small barn, and he went the other way. He said, “I don’t remember anything about the barn in that file, do you? I don’t think any of the victims were discovered here.”
“They were all in the house.”
Jed scuffed up to a small pen in the corner, about waist-high, covered with chicken wire. “What the hell is this?”
Hannah appeared next to him and crouched down to push at the door. “For chickens? A pig?”
Jed scanned the contents of the pen with his flashlight, zeroing in on grooves in the wood on the side. “Chicken scratches?”
“What?” Hannah had opened the door and crawled partially inside.
“To your left. Do you see the carvings in the wood?”
Hannah inched forward on her hands and knees and gasped. “They’re words that say, help me, save me.”
Jed spun around as the barn door clacked. Seconds later, a glass smashed against the walls, exploding in a fiery crash.