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Jenna listened to the list of items found with the body. “I see. Time of death? Cause?”
“Hard to determine the time of death from the body temperature. I’d say approximately forty-eight hours but someone turned up the heat, so I could be off by days. From the artificially heightened body temperature it would be a few hours ago but from the decomposition, it could be Tuesday afternoon. I’ll have to say undetermined. He is bloated so the cause will have to wait for the autopsy. Maybe a heart attack, but right now I’m not sure.” Wolfe pulled down his face mask and scratched his blond stubble. “I can’t rule out homicide at this time, so I’ll dust the entire house for prints and do a complete search. I’ll need the real estate agents’ prints as well as they both had access to the house.”
“Okay.” Jenna stared after the departing car. “I’ll call Rowley and get him to scan Stickler, Saunders and Davis.”
“I wonder if the battered truck parked down the road belongs to the victim.” Kane rolled his shoulders and strolled toward the vehicle. He pulled out his cellphone and ran the plate then turned to look at her. “Yeah, it’s his.”
Jenna turned to Wolfe. “Any keys on the body?”
“Yeah.” Wolfe dug into the evidence bag then held out the keys between two gloved fingers. ?
??I tried these in the front door lock. They don’t belong to the house. Do you have gloves?”
Jenna pulled two pairs out of her pocket and tossed one pair to Kane. “We’d better check the vehicle.” She strolled to the truck.
“Roger that.” As he kept pace beside her, Kane’s attention moved over her face. “I need to ask you something.”
“Sure.”
“You know, I was talking to Rowley about how hard it is to get to some of the more remote places around town. He suggested it would make sense for us to get a horse. You don’t use the stables at your place and the grass in the corral is a foot high.”
She nodded. “Sounds like a plan but the stables are a bit run-down.”
“It won’t take me long to fix them—a couple of new hinges and they’ll be fine. Do you ride?”
Jenna gave him a sideways glance. “I can ride; well, I did the horse-riding thing when I was a kid.”
She liked having Kane living in the cottage on her ranch and spent a lot of downtime with him. He was reliable and smart and always had her back. Often after viewing a nasty crime scene he would change the subject to lighten the mood and his diversions somehow kept her human. “It will be an added expense though, and I guess we could rent horses if we need them.”
“Then we’ll have the availability issue.” Kane shrugged. “I’ll pay for any upkeep because with the expanse of forest and mountains we have in our county, we might need them in a hurry. The last time we investigated a murder, we trekked for miles up trails looking for evidence. A horse would have made life easier. We know Amos Price lived up in the hills, and if he doesn’t have a family, we’ll have to check his property. Some of the ranches are in remote areas, and neighbors are few and far between.” Kane’s lips thinned. “His property could be miles up a trail.”
She considered his words then shrugged. “I doubt it. He has a truck and looks a little overweight to be walking miles, but if you want to buy a couple of horses, that’s fine by me.”
“I’ll go and see Gloria on Sunday and I’ll fix up the stables.” Kane’s mouth twitched at the corners as he opened the victim’s truck.
“Gloria?”
“Yeah, Rowley insisted Gloria Smithers is the best person in town to go to if you want to buy a horse. I’ve been in touch with her and she has a few mounts available at the moment.” Kane allowed a pile of garbage to fall out the door then pulled on a mask and slid his large body inside the old truck. “Man, this guy was a pig; there’s mold half an inch thick on the garbage in here.”
Jenna covered her nose. “How do people live like that?”
“What do we have here? Grab this, I’m going in again.” Kane peered over the mask at her as he tossed her a rifle then bent inside again. Moments later, he stood and peered into a paper sack. “Diazepam. Hmm, these must be what Wolfe found in his pocket. I wonder why he’d take tranquilizers on a date.”
Jenna stared at him in disbelief. “Ah… maybe to drug her. It seems feasible considering he was inside someone else’s house.”
“Yeah?” Kane’s brow furrowed. “If you discovered a guy trying to drug you, would you just leave or call the cops?”
“I wouldn’t get myself into that position with a total stranger in the first place.” Jenna rested one hand on the handle of her weapon and sighed. “Maybe she didn’t show and he died of boredom waiting for her.” She shrugged. “There was a bottle of bourbon on the counter—maybe it wasn’t a date after all. He could have committed suicide. Diazepam and booze would do it.”
“I’ve never heard of anyone taking condoms, lube and a box of chocolates to a suicide.” Kane’s eyes danced with mirth. “Have you?”
Jenna snorted back a laugh. “I guess there’s always a first time.”
Embarrassed, she glanced around. “Oh Lord, that’s not a professional thing to say. The poor man is dead. Probably murdered and we’re fooling around.”
“Nah, just stating facts.” Kane glanced at her over one shoulder. “Did you know it’s not unusual for people to laugh at murder scenes?”
She met his gaze. “No, I didn’t, but I’m sure you’re going to tell me the reason.”
