“I’d sure like that.” Carter led the way to a bathroom on the ground floor. “This way, folks.”
“Did you discover anything of value?” A worried expression crossed Rhett’s face. “Any suspects?”
Jenna shook her head. “I’m sorry, no, we haven’t got anyone in particular, but then we’ve only spoken to a couple of people. We have footage of someone driving a Lawson’s Ridge truck to the bus station and leaving, but we can’t see who is driving or if anyone’s in the passenger seat. Bobby Kalo will be here by tomorrow. He has everything with him and has access to all types of databases to help us with our investigation.” She paused a beat. Giving him the information about his grandparents’ deaths could go both ways. “Rio was able to find information in police files about your grandparents’ deaths. It wasn’t murder and it wasn’t their fault. Do you need to know the details?”
“Not just now.” Sorrow crossed Rhett’s eyes and he nodded. “Thanks. What about my parents?”
Jenna met his gaze. “I haven’t given up on who murdered your parents, Rhett. It will just need to be moved to the back burner while we concentrate on the current threat.”
“Oh, I understand completely.” Rhett nodded slowly. “You have so much on your plate already. Maybe, if Dave can open the safe, we’ll have some answers? All this has been kinda mind-blowing for me. I feel like I’m walking on eggs. One mistake and someone’s gonna get killed.”
Seeing the confusion and hurt in his eyes, Jenna squeezed his arm. “When I became sheriff, I used to blame myself for every murder. I figured I wasn’t doing my job well enough to protect everyone in the town. The thing is, Rhett, we have no control over situations like this. There’s no way to anticipate when or if someone will kill again. All we can do is try and discover who they are. It might take a day or a lifetime. Dave always tells me that sooner or later they’ll make a mistake and we’ll find them. In the meantime, we’ll keep chipping away and collecting more pieces to the puzzle.”
“You can wash up down here if you like.” Rhett led the way down a separate passageway and flung open a door. “There are three bathrooms on the ground floor. The other one is at the foot of the stairs. I imagine when this place was built the owners had a very large family.” He gave her a wave and headed back toward the kitchen.
After washing her hands, Jenna made her way back to the kitchen. She could hear her boys chatting loudly to Julie and wondered what was happening. When she walked into the kitchen, Julie was wearing an apron and both her boys had dish towels wrapped around them and were industriously frosting cupcakes. From the amount of frosting on Jackson’s face, he’d eaten a good deal of it. “Have you been good boys?” Jenna sat down beside Jackson and smiled at them.
“Yes, we’ve been helping Julie make cupcakes.” Tauri spread a generous amount of frosting onto a chocolate cupcake. “They’re for you and Daddy. We had some already.”
“So, I can see.” Kane dropped into a chair opposite and grinned at them. He looked at Jenna. “The boys are going to help me do the chores this afternoon when we get home. It might help with the sugar rush. I figure they’ll be starving again by dinnertime.”
Jenna picked some frosting out of Jackson’s hair. “That cupcake looks delicious. Is that one for me?” She turned the broken cupcake around in her fingertips. “Do they taste good?”
“Yummy.” Jackson lifted the spoon he was using to frost the cupcake and pushed it into his mouth.
“I think you’ve had enough.” Kane stood and rinsed a wash rag under the kitchen tap and brought it back to the table to clean up his son. “Did you have fun with Julie today?”
“Good boy.” Jackson grinned and pointed to himself.
“We watched movies and played with the trains.” Tauri gave Kane a serious look. “Rhett says I’m big enough to have a train set. Can I get one for my birthday?”
“I’ll talk to Mommy about it.” Kane smiled. “They are best if they are set out and left so you can play with them right away when you feel like it. There is room in the basement for a games room. I’ve been thinking about building one for a time. As you grow, you’ll both need some extra space. It would be nice to have a place where you can keep your things, so you don’t trip over them in your bedroom all the time.”
“Wow! That would be great.” Tauri pushed a cupcake toward Kane. “This one is for you. Can we go back and play with the trains while you and Mommy are having coffee?”
“I’m sure you have things to discuss.” Julie raised both eyebrows. “I’ll watch them. They have been an absolute delight. If ever you need a babysitter, I’m your girl.”
Nodding, Jenna smiled at her. “Thanks, that would be brilliant. We shouldn’t be too long. Once we’ve had a cup of coffee, we’re going to tackle the safe. I also need a plan of action. Life is going to be pretty full-on for the next few weeks until we catch this guy.” She lifted Jackson down and watched him toddle after Tauri. “If they become too much trouble, just call me.”
“I will, but I doubt I’ll need to.” Julie smiled and removed the apron and hung it over the back of a chair. She pushed the plate of cupcakes into the middle of the table and then turned and took another plate of sandwiches from the refrigerator. “The housekeeper just made these. She figured you would be hungry when you came back.” She gave them all a wave and hurried after the children.
“I’ve a list of the employees.” Rhett handed over a thumb drive. “They’re listed as permanent, casual, and seasonal. I’m probably contravening privacy laws by giving them to you, but we need to catch the killer as soon as possible. If you believe there might be a problem, could you apply for a search warrant for these documents? I don’t want to find my ass in jail, especially as I want to work here.” He stopped talking for a beat, shook his head and then pushed both hands through his hair. “That sounds so stupid, doesn’t it? How many people would inherit a place like this, discover they’re a multimillionaire, and still want to get a job?”
“People who want to follow their dream.” Kane leaned back in his chair and licked the frosting from his fingers. “Money might be great to have but it doesn’t buy you happiness. If you keep that in mind, you won’t go wrong.”
“I appreciate that.” Rhett glanced at Jenna. “I understand if you want to keep the investigation quiet, but can you let me know what happens next?”
Jenna took the cup of coffee that Carter offered and sipped the rich brew. “First thing in the morning, I’ll apply for a search warrant for your records so that you will be kept in the clear. It is imperative that everything we do is within the law or when we get to trial the case will be thrown out on technicalities. In saying this, I do appreciate having that list early because it will save us a lot of time sorting out who are possible suspects.” She sighed. “Next, it’s hard work interviewing a ton of people, getting eyewitness statements where possible, and checking as much CCTV camera footage that we can get our hands on. Luckily Kalo has the capabilities to hack local feeds and he might be able to find more footage of the same truck at the same time.” She sipped her coffee. “One of the things puzzling us at the moment is, if the dead woman is Marie, and someone dropped her at the bus station, how did she end up back here, in a grave?”
“So how do you find the answer?” Rhett scratched his cheek. “Surely, it’s impossible.”
“This is why we need all the other footage that we can lay our hands on.” Kane sipped his coffee. “It might give us a second vehicle.”
“Really?” Rhett closed his hands around his cup of coffee and looked at them seriously. “It seems to me whoever drove her to the bus station knew about the cameras.” He eyed them over the rim of his cup. “If someone happened to see him leave with Marie and could identify him, he could have driven her to the bus station but stopped anywhere along the road to render her unconscious. He might have driven to the bus station and out of sight somewhere. Hidden her under a coat or whatever and then headed back to the ranch. It would be on CCTV that he left the bus station without her and drove in and out in a few minutes. By all accounts, it would have been dark by the time he got here, so he could have easily driven her body to the machinery shed, dumped it in the back, and then buried it. The chances of anyone seeing him would be remote. As everyone works from sunup to sundown, they’d probably all be asleep by the time he got back from the bus station. It would be a perfect alibi.”
“Holy moly. The man is a fine detective.” Carter leaned back in his chair and a broad grin crossed his face. “Welcome to the team, Rhett.”
Fourteen
