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“I’ll have the same.” Kane grinned at her. “What? You look fit to draw down on me.”
“Why did you introduce me to her as your boss?” Jenna leaned back in her chair and waited.
“Respect.” Kane shrugged. “She uses people to get ahead. All that squeezing my arm was just testing your reaction, Jenna. When I ignored her at the last convention, she came right out and asked Carter and Jo if I had a girlfriend and both gave her a negative answer. She knows I’m your deputy and probably made the connection. She was using us and I don’t think it’s any of her business to know the reason we’re in town, or the status of our relationship, so I kept it professional.”
Shaking her head, Jenna dug into her pie. “She seems like a close friend. How come you haven’t mentioned her before?”
“I met her when I was staying here in Helena, before I went to Black Rock Falls, and I have no idea why I kept her phone number.” Kane met her gaze. “When I arrived in Helena, Wolfe s
ent me to the convention, mainly, I figure, to keep me focused. She just happened to sit next to me and pestered me until I talked to her. We had lunch together.” He opened his hands wide. “After being holed up in a hotel alone for so long, it was nice just talking to someone about normal things for a change. Before I came here, the conditioning was intense. Poppy was like being normal again, I guess.” He grinned. “I might be old-school when it comes to relationships but I do enjoy female company. I’m not a monk.”
Jenna swallowed a mouthful of pie. “I see.”
“I didn’t mention meeting up with her again at the convention because it wasn’t relevant.” Kane shrugged. “The last time we met, she had her sights set on Carter and every time she pulled me into a conversation, I talked about you.”
Placing her fork on the plate, she smiled. “So she said. I guess at that time we were keeping our relationship private, so you couldn’t tell her you were involved with me?”
“Trust me, keeping it secret makes life difficult.” Kane shook his head. “You know, anytime I’m out with Carter, we’re surrounded by women. It’s like they’re sucking me into a whirlpool… and I’m running out of excuses. I’m not too sure what it is about him, animal magnetism or whatever, but they follow him around like a fan club. There were so many, I can’t recall all of their names.”
Jenna laughed. “You remembered Poppy’s name just fine.”
“That one I remembered because we had history.” He grinned at her.
Jenna took a tissue from her pocket and wiped the lipstick from Kane’s cheek and dropped it into Poppy’s untouched coffee.
“I’m sorry she spoiled our lunch but she kinda invited herself, didn’t she? Like I said, she’s pushy.” Kane sighed. “I didn’t mention her for the deputy position because I didn’t consider her suitable.”
“If I receive an application from her, we’ll discuss her with the team as usual.” Jenna sipped her coffee and waited a beat. “She won’t be a problem if she’s chasing after Carter, will she?”
“Nope.” Kane snorted with laughter. “Although that may be over now too. You see, Carter offered her a way to get close to Jo. When Poppy mentioned seeing the posters—today's speaker: world-renowned behavioral analyst special agent jo wells—I told her that Carter was her partner, and Poppy suddenly became his best friend.” He grinned. “It didn’t get her far. Carter could read her like a book.”
“Hmm.” Jenna leaned back in her chair and smiled. “We have so few new people wanting to work with us. We’ll look at her file and maybe we can offer her a temporary position. We do need help, especially when the rodeo circuit hits town, which, added to the festivals all year… If another serial killer decides Black Rock Falls is an ideal hunting ground, we’re going to be calling on the other counties for help again this year.”
The phone vibrated in Jenna’s pocket and she stared at the screen. “It’s Rowley.” She accepted the call. “Anything wrong?”
“You need to get back here ASAP. We walked into a bloodbath out of Snowberry Way.”
THREE
Jenna looked at Kane and mouthed the word murder. She pulled her notepad from her purse, and Kane handed her a pen. “Okay, what have you got for me?”
“An elderly stabbing victim, we believe to be Agnes Wagner out of Snowberry Way. Multiple stab wounds, face and upper torso. There’s no sign of a murder weapon. Rio is capturing the scene. Webber and Emily are on their way.”
Mind spinning, Jenna took a calming breath. “Okay, follow procedure. Emily knows what to do with the victim. Make sure she bags the victim’s hands. Who found the body?”
“Rio and me.” Rowley cleared his throat. “It was really weird. When I arrived this morning to open up, there was an address scrawled on the glass door. I took a picture of it with my phone and when Rio showed we went to check it out. When we found the house, the front door was wide open. It’s secluded out here, so no neighbors close by. We cleared the ground floor and headed upstairs. She was in the bedroom—locked in a closet. We figure she was killed and then dragged in there.”
Chewing on her bottom lip, Jenna frowned. “Did you check the CCTV footage to see who wrote the message?”
“Yeah, and we made out a figure dressed in black. It looked like a kid, but whoever it was covered up and stuck to the shadows. No prints, zip. It’s impossible to make an ID.”
Checking her watch, Jenna nodded. “If someone paid a kid to write an address it wouldn’t seem like breaking the law. I’ll look at the feed when I get back to the office, but it will be hard to track them down.” She thought for a beat. “Okay. It sounds like you have it under control. Search around for the keys to the house. You’ll need to secure it before you leave. We’ll be back this afternoon and go out and take a look.”
“Copy that.” Rowley disconnected.
Jenna explained the situation to Kane. “We better go and find Wolfe. As soon as he’s out of his meeting, we’ll need to get back to town.”
“An elderly woman out at Snowberry Way?” Kane refilled his cup from the pot the server had left on the table. “Hmm, now that’s food for thought. Did Rowley mention if there was a robbery or any signs of a struggle?”
