Deadly Revenge, page 21
Sam sat on the tailgate. “Nope. And Randy didn’t either.”
His voice hadn’t wavered, and his body language indicated he was telling the truth. Watson placed a paw on Max’s knee, and he knelt beside the dog and ran his hand over his back and sides. “Good muscle tone. How much you asking for him?”
“He’s not for sale, at least not yet. Just thought you might want to take a look at him for the future.”
“How much when he is ready?”
“Twenty-five.”
“Hundred?”
“You don’t think I meant twenty-five dollars, do you?”
“Of course not.” Max ran the prices his brother got for his young dogs through his mind. Comparable. He pulled a card from his wallet and handed it to Jenna’s uncle. “Call me when you’re ready to sell.”
Sam stuck the card in a wallet bulging with other cards. “Sure,” he said and checked his watch. “Tell my mother I’ll drop by later this afternoon.”
“What time tomorrow night?”
“Ten. Jenna will know where.”
Another short night of sleep, but they couldn’t miss this opportunity to talk to the ones displaced by the dam and reservoir in a relaxed setting.
45
“We’re doing what?” Jenna braked at the end of her grandmother’s drive and stared at Max.
“Your uncle invited me—us—to join him and his buddies on a dog training session tomorrow night.”
“How . . .” She looked to see if somehow Max had sprouted two heads—that was the only way she knew he could’ve elicited an invitation from Sam like that. “How in the world did that come about?”
Jenna pulled out of the drive and followed the GPS directions as he related the conversation about Sam knowing Max’s brother who was a dog trainer and Max showing an interest in one of her uncle’s dogs. It made sense in a convoluted way. “Good. It’ll save us some time running down some of the landowners, and with Sam’s invitation, they’ll come nearer accepting you.”
“My thoughts exactly. And Sam said neither he nor your dad killed Paul Nelson.”
“You asked him that and he answered?”
“Yes and yes. Seemed to be telling the truth.”
Jenna turned the words over in her mind, amazed her uncle hadn’t blown up. “Are you really interested in Sam’s dog?”
“Actually, I am. My brother has been trying to get me involved since I moved back home—it’s a hobby that would give us an opportunity to spend time together,” he said. “Oh, and I sort of let Sam think my brother and I have a rivalry.”
“Gotcha,” Jenna said with a laugh. “How is Lewis?”
“Good. Between training his dogs and his job and my job, I don’t see much of him—it’s one reason he wants me to hunt with him.”
She’d met Lewis when she worked with Max in robbery, and he was one of the most laid-back men she knew. Jenna checked her phone. Alex had sent the address of one of the families TerraQuest had bought out, and it wasn’t too far from the Bishop farm. “Ready to check on Ace and talk to Kirk and his grandfather? See if any more of those rough characters have shown up next door?”
“Sure. I hope the boy has stayed away from the river. I’d hate for him to tangle with the person who attacked me.”
“Me too.” The memory of finding Max unconscious sent a chill through her. “While we’re in that area, we could stop by and see if Eric Darby will give us a little more information.”
“That’ll be a waste of time. Darby will come to us if he decides to talk. Our time would be better spent researching the newspaper archives.”
Max was probably right. Jenna followed the GPS directions, and soon they turned into a drive with a modest, ranch-style house. A tricycle and jungle gym in the side yard indicated a family with small children. “I don’t see any vehicles.”
“I’ll go see if anyone is home and leave a note on the door if they’re not.”
She watched as he jogged to the house and left a note when no one answered his knock.
“Maybe they’ll call when they read the note,” he said. “Although whoever lives here is probably young—I doubt they can tell us much about TerraQuest.”
That’s the way it went with investigations. A lot of time spent knocking on doors with zero results. Maybe the Bishops had seen something at the farm next to them. She backed out of the drive and drove to the barn, where they found Kirk at the stables, cleaning bridles. “Miss Jenna! Are you going to ride?”
She tousled the boy’s red hair. “I don’t have time to ride today. How much do I owe you for taking care of Ace?”
He named a figure that Jenna thought was too low and added twenty dollars to the check she was writing while Max talked to Kirk.
“You been staying away from the river?” he asked.
“Yes, sir. Granddad won’t let me go there anymore.”
“Good.”
Jenna handed him the check, and the boy’s eyes grew big. “Thanks, Miss Jenna. You want me to keep doing what I’m doing?”
“If you don’t mind. We have a big case we’re working on.” She glanced toward the woods, then opened her phone and scrolled to the photos of Sebastian. “Before, when you saw people, did any of them look like this person?” She showed him the photos.
Kirk studied one of the pictures. “Can you make it bigger?”
She tapped on the photo so that it filled her screen.
“When I first saw that one”—he pointed at the photo of Sebastian taken during intake at the prison—“I thought he might’ve been the one who had the creepy grin, but the guy in the picture is too skinny.”
“And the creepy guy isn’t?”
His eyes widened and he shook his head. “He’s got these huge muscles.”
Jenna turned her phone where she could see the photo, trying to imagine what Sebastian would look like if he’d pumped up. “Is your granddad around?”
“He’s putting a new fan up in the hall by Ace’s stable.”
“Good. I think I’ll check on my horse.”
“I’ll come with you,” Max said.
They walked the short distance to the other barn and found Bryan Bishop on a ladder about to hang a fan from the ceiling. “Here,” Max said. “Let me help you.”
While Max helped hang the fan, Jenna walked to the refrigerator in a small alcove and grabbed a carrot she’d stashed for treats. She loved the smell of the barn, a mixture of hay and grain and horse. She wished she had time to ride this afternoon. The ebony horse stuck his head over the stall door and nickered, and she gave him the carrot.
“How are you, boy?” She smoothed her hand down his neck. “I sure miss riding you, but this case will be over soon.”
She turned toward the fan when she felt the air circulating through the hallway. “That feels good,” Jenna said when Bryan crawled down from the ladder.
“Wanted to get these up before it turned hot.” He turned to Max. “Thank you. Made it a lot easier.”
“Glad to help.” Max tilted his head. “You didn’t happen to find out who owns the place next to you or who’s renting it, did you?”
“Afraid not. I have seen Tom Weaver there, and I figure he’s seeing after the place.”
“He said he was,” Jenna said. “We’re meeting with him in the morning.”
“Okay if we drive down to the edge of woods?” Max asked.
“No problem.”
Jenna patted Ace’s neck. “Okay, boy. I’ll see you later.”
The horse nickered, and Max laughed. “I swear, I think he understood what you said.”
Jenna grinned at him. “Better believe it.”
They walked back to the SUV, and Max opened the gate to the access road to the woods and river. After he closed it, he hopped in the SUV. “Do you think Sebastian rented the place next door?”
“I don’t know,” Jenna said. “Mr. Weaver didn’t recognize the photos, but maybe Sebastian wasn’t the one he dealt with. Hopefully tomorrow we can find out.”
A shadow raced across the dirt road, sending a shiver through Jenna. What if Sebastian was here, living right next to where she kept her horse?
46
Was it possible Sebastian had rented the place next door? Max hoped they got more information from Weaver in the morning. Regardless, they needed a more recent picture of Sebastian. And if he was in Russell County, could he have somehow gotten into Jenna’s house?
But how? Deadbolts that required keyed entry were on both doors, and the windows were all locked. He’d meant to walk around the house to see if anyone had trampled the grass outside any of the windows. He’d do that as soon as they returned to her house.
Jenna glanced toward the Armstrong place. “That’s a perfect place to set up and make meth or grow marijuana—we’re short on deputies, and people around here tend to mind their own business.”
Jenna had a point. He took out his notepad and looked back over the notes he’d taken Tuesday. “Kirk said the men came on Thursday or Friday—maybe to pick up a shipment of drugs?”
“It wouldn’t have to be meth,” Jenna said. She pulled the SUV close to the edge of the woods and killed the motor. “They could be making pills with heroin and fentanyl. And they could be taking it out in canoes or kayaks to a location on the lake.”
“Good point.” He climbed out of the SUV and waited for Jenna to join him at the tree line. “We’re searching for anything that might look like a path.”
“They could go a different way each time.”
“True. Maybe we need to walk to the river and see if they tie up their boats at the same place each time.”
She agreed with him, and they hiked through the woods to the riverbank. “The best place to tie up a boat is the sandbar.”
Ten minutes later they approached the river. “Looks like there’s been traffic through here.” Max pointed at trampled grass near the bank.
Jenna hopped down to the sandy bar and pointed upriver. “Shoe prints! And a lot of them.”
Yes! Max joined her and carefully skirted the prints. “Do you have any of that plaster casting material with you?”
“No, but Dylan and Taylor do. Do you want me to ask Alex to send them here?”
He slapped at a deer fly hovering around his face. “We don’t actually have a crime here, so maybe we should just photograph the prints.”
“Let me see what they’re involved in.” Jenna punched in Alex’s number, and when she answered, Jenna put the phone on speaker and explained what they wanted.
“You think something is going on at the old Armstrong place?”
Max spoke up. “Yes, possibly drug action, but we don’t have anything to base a warrant on. We’ve taken photos of the shoe prints, but casts would be better—just in case it turns out our suspicions are correct.”
“Is there any chance this could be tied to Nelson’s and Slater’s deaths?”
“That’s hard to say,” Jenna said. “More likely it’d be tied to Rick Sebastian.”
“Good enough. Dylan is busy right now, but I’ll send Taylor.”
“Good deal,” Max said. “We’ll see what other information we can gather. Tell Taylor to text when she gets to the woods and one of us will come get her.”
“I will. Oh, and Jenna, we got more photos of Sebastian’s key players in Chattanooga. I’ll send them to you—email or text?”
Jenna turned to Max, her expression questioning.
“Text would be easier to access.”
“Got it,” Alex said. “You’ll get them shortly.”
Jenna disconnected. “I’d like to get inside the barn where Kirk said the mean guys scared him,” she said.
“Without a warrant, anything we found couldn’t be used in court.”
“I know, but this is highly suspicious.”
“I agree,” Max said. “Once we get the photos of Sebastian’s allies, we’ll show them to Kirk and Bryan Bishop. Maybe they’ll recognize one of Sebastian’s men in the photos.”
Max and Jenna searched the narrow beach until a text popped up on Jenna’s phone. “Taylor’s here. I’ll go get her.”
“I’ll come with you.”
Once Taylor made the casts, they followed her out of the woods, stopping once again at the barn where Jenna downloaded the photos Alex had sent and showed them to Kirk. He couldn’t match any of the photos with the men he’d seen at the farm next door. “But there were some new cars over there today.”
Max arched an eye at the boy. “I hope you didn’t disobey your grandfather and drive your four-wheeler to the property.”
“I didn’t. I promise,” he said, shooting his grandfather a quick glance before shifting back to Max. “But if you take that path, you can see the cars from over by the trees.”
“Where?” Jenna asked.
“There’s a path on the other side of the house. I can show you.”
They followed Kirk to the back side of the house where a narrow path led toward the neighbors’. “Just follow this and it’ll take you to the edge of their property.”
“Is this how you saw the cars?”
Kirk kicked at a clod of dirt. “They didn’t see me, I promise. There’re trees you can hide behind.”
“Promise you won’t do that again,” Jenna said. “At least not until the people who are there move.”
“But—”
“No buts,” Max said. “It could be dangerous.”
The boy’s shoulders drooped. “Okay. But I could sneak in there.”
“Kirk, you have to promise us you won’t go near this property again,” Jenna said. When he nodded, she said, “I want to hear you say it.”
“I promise.”
“Good. Now go back to the barn with your grandfather.”
They waited until Kirk disappeared inside the barn. Max chuckled. “He’ll probably make a good deputy one day.”
“Probably—if he doesn’t get into trouble before that.”
Max led the way to the farmhouse next door as they followed the path until the trees thinned except for a row of cedar trees. Probably the property line. Through the breaks in the trees a plank house came into view. Several cars were parked in the drive, all backed in where they couldn’t see the license plate.
“Too bad Tennessee doesn’t have a plate on the front,” Max muttered.
“I’ve wished that more than once,” Jenna replied.
“Any chance Alex might assign deputies to watch the house on the off chance the occupants might do something that would justify getting a warrant?”
“If the county had enough deputies, she would, but we’re stretched thin as it is, especially with Mark Lassiter at the field trials and Alex’s latest hire, Hayes Smithfield, at the police academy. Besides, we don’t have a crime—just our intuition that something is wrong.”
They watched the house for a good half hour, and nothing moved, not even a grasshopper. Even so, his gut told him something was going on at the old farm place, and it wasn’t good.
47
Max offered to drive, and as they neared town, she said, “The library used to have old copies of our local newspaper on microfilm. Maybe we can access information about what went on during Carter’s tenure as mayor.”
He checked his watch. “It’s almost six. What time do they close?”
“Eight, I believe.”
“That will give us two hours.”
“I better make sure the library has either copies of newspapers from that time or has them on microfilm.”
She looked up the number for the library and punched it in, putting the phone on speaker. When someone answered, she asked to speak to the head librarian. When he came on the line she asked if there were microfilm copies of the weekly newspaper during Harrison Carter’s tenure.
“Yes, but I can do you one better,” he said. “A couple of years ago, the local computer class at the high school scanned them into a website you can access.”
“Great. Can you text me the link?”
While they waited for the link, she said, “We can go straight to my house and do our research. You can take the laptop, and I’ll use my desktop.”
“I have my laptop—I’ll use it.”
Once they were at her house, Jenna walked around it with Max looking for signs of disturbance. Not that she expected to find anything. Whoever was breaking into her house was like a ghost.
“It doesn’t look as though anyone’s been here,” he said.
Jenna grunted and checked the tape she’d put across the door. No one had entered through this door and the other one had a chair under it. That didn’t stop her from wanting to draw her gun, but Max already thought she was paranoid, so she left it holstered and was glad she had when everything looked as it had before they left.
“My office is back here . . . or we can set up in the kitchen.”
“Is it much trouble to use the kitchen? Coffee would be handier.”
She laughed. “Sounds good to me.”
While they waited for the computers to boot up, she made coffee. “What do you think is going on at the Armstrong place?” she asked as the machine gurgled.
“I didn’t see signs of a meth operation. They’re probably using the place to counterfeit opioids, possibly using heroin and even fentanyl, which is cheaper and easier to get than oxycodone.”
“I agree. Maybe we can discover something when we knock on the door tomorrow morning.”
She turned as the desktop screen asked for a password. Jenna typed it in. “I’ll search for information on the dam and reservoir.”
Max set up his laptop across the table from her. “And I’ll search for the weekly papers published during Harrison Carter’s years.”
Jenna poured them each a mug of coffee then started her search. The kitchen became quiet as they worked. She found several articles, including one that detailed the history of the project with a timeline from applying for the grant to the completion of the dam. She printed it out. “Be right back.”
She walked to her office and returned with the printed pages and found Max leaned back in the chair.
“Find anything?”
He held up the notepad he’d been writing on. “Not a lot—there was a lot of opposition to the dam that was built during Carter’s twenty years.”
