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“Has he lawyered up?” Jenna lifted her gaze from a stack of files and pushed her raven hair behind one ear.
“Nope. He insists he is a seventy-five-year-old woman by the name of Dotty Grace.” Kane smiled at her. “That’s all he said apart from insulting my intelligence.”
“I’ll go speak to him later.” Jenna stretched and yawned. “I’ll ask Rowley to run his prints. We’ll leave him to cool his heels in the cells until after lunch. Maybe then he’ll be more cooperative.”
Kane removed his black Stetson and ran his fingers over the rim. “You know, I don’t have the patience to be a traffic cop.” He chuckled. “The problem is they all pull over when I hit the siren and I don’t get to chase them down. It’s no fun at all. Can’t we hire a few rookies to do the grunt work?”
“I’ll swap you. I’d prefer sitting outside than dealing with the mayor’s office any day.” Jenna waved at the paperwork on her desk. “This is the inventory of everything here, for our insurance. I have to get builders in to increase the size of our evidence room because of the amount of work we’ve had over the last few years.” She pushed a set of plans across the table to him. “This is what the architect suggests. It’s a two-story extension, which will mean a bigger office for me and then you and Rowley will get this room. The evidence lock-up will be moved upstairs in a secured area along with our locker rooms. If we get the rookies I’ve requested, they can work out in the main office.”
Kane scanned the files. “Apart from Rowley’s wedding, it’s the most thrilling thing that’s happened here in the last six months.”
/> “Now that was a day or should I say a week to remember.” Jenna laughed. “I couldn’t believe it when the bride arrived in the cabin of a snowplow. Sandy wasn’t going to allow anything to spoil her day.”
“Yeah, of course, a blizzard had to hit that afternoon.” Kane met her gaze. “Thanks to your wedding planner skills, you had everyone except the bride holed up at the Cattleman’s Hotel and our horses boarded in town. I’m still not sure why she insisted on remaining at home with her parents.”
“It was because she lived close by but nothing would’ve happened if you hadn’t arrived in the Beast with Father Derry.” Jenna beamed at him. “It must have been a terrifying trip.”
Kane chuckled. “Nah, we were fine. Mind you, I don’t figure Rowley or Sandy really wanted us and their folks around for the first three days of their honeymoon.”
“Well, you sure didn’t get bored, playing cards and pool with the other guys.” Jenna rolled her eyes.
“As best man, I had to keep them occupied.” He grinned at her. “They all enjoyed themselves.”
“They sure did.” Jenna smiled. “When the blizzard was over, no one wanted to leave.” She sighed. “If you’re bored, you can help me take inventory in the evidence room.”
“That’s non-essential and everything is listed as it arrives.” Kane linked his fingers behind his head and stared at the ceiling. “So, this is what we’ve come to? From special agents to desk jockeys. This is what Maggie usually handles and you have a couple of interns helping her in the office. Why are you doing this, Jenna?”
“Oh, well I did hand out a fine to a man who allowed his dog to foul the footpath this morning. That was the highlight of my day.” She collected the papers, tapped them into neat piles, and placed them inside folders. “Maybe a foot patrol would be more interesting.”
“Oh, there was something.” Kane’s attention followed her across the room as she filed the folders. “The fire chief went by, lights and sirens about ten minutes ago. I gave the forest warden a call to ask if he knew about any fires. He said they’d seen smoke out toward Louan.”
“Hmm.” Jenna leaned against the filing cabinet and folded her arms. “They have volunteer fire fighters in Louan. It must have been a housefire and they needed him to verify the cause for insurance. If it’s anything to do with us, I’m sure he’ll let us know.” She straightened. “I need a break and something to eat. We could stop by Aunt Betty’s Café. Are you hungry?”
Kane stood. His stomach had been complaining for an hour or so. “I thought you’d never ask.” He pushed his hat on his head. “I’m sure the town won’t be invaded with Hell Hounds while we’re out of the office.”
“There you go again, tempting fate.” Jenna took her weapon out of the desk drawer and holstered it.
“Oh, come on, Jenna.” Kane grinned at her. “I don’t want a psychopath murdering people any more than you do but you have to admit, a nice drug bust, cattle rustling, or a bank hold up would break the monotony.”
“I figure an invasion by aliens would be more interesting.” Jenna chuckled and headed for the door. “Can you imagine what Wolfe would do with alien technology?”
Kane whistled Duke and followed her. “Oh, yeah. He’d be reverse engineering everything.” He laughed. “But with our luck the aliens won’t be little green men, they’ll be ax wielding psychopaths.”
Two
Snakeskin Gully
FBI Special Agent and behavioral analyst Jo Wells picked up the phone in her office. “Agent Wells.”
“Agent Wells, this is Tom Crenshaw. I’m the sheriff out of Louan, we had ourselves an explosion last night. The fire department was first on scene and found a mess of bodies. I notified the ME out of Black Rock Falls, Shane Wolfe. He arrived with his team and has ruled the explosion as homicide. He mentioned you have an explosives expert and I should bring you in on the case. We need someone to search for secondary devices before we can enter the premises.”
Jo made a few notes. “Yes, we have an explosives expert on our team. Give me the coordinates and names of the victims.”
“I can give you the name of the person who owns the property but the ME hasn’t identified anyone. No one has been allowed to step foot inside the house.”
“Okay, that’s good. Give me the property owner’s name.” Jo took down the details and then ran a list of things to ask the man through her head. “Is there a place to set down a chopper close by?”
“Yes, ma’am. There’s grassland adjacent to the ranch house. I’ll lay down some flares close to your ETA.”
