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“Okay, thanks for your help.” Jenna frowned with concern. “We’ll see you at three.” She disconnected and turned to Kane. “Wolfe is swamped and I’m worried about him. He just about bit my head off when I asked him about excavating the Jeffersons’ yard.”
“Wolfe doesn’t crack under pressure.” Kane pulled up outside the sheriff’s office. “His wife was dying when I was in danger in Syria and he was as cool as ice. It must be something else.” He snapped his fingers. “Oh, I bet I know.” He turned and grinned at her. “The Helena medical examiner’s department had a new professor join the team. She made quite an impression on Wolfe at the conference and I do believe he met with her for lunch when we went to Helena.” He chuckled. “I happened to mention it as they had gotten along so well and he brushed it off by saying that any thoughts of moving on were out of the question as his girls would never allow another woman in the house.”
Jenna gaped at him. “So, you’re saying if a team arrives, she’d be in charge and working hand in hand with him, and he doesn’t want to risk the girls finding out there’s an attraction between them?” She shook her head. “No wonder he’s cranky. Poor man.”
“Knowing Shane as I do, he’s the slow and steady type.” Kane slid out and then opened the back door and stuck his head in as he unclipped Duke. “He was probably trying a long-distance relationship to see how things went before he mentioned her to the girls.”
Jenna climbed out and went around the hood to meet him. “What would they have in common? You said she was a professor of forensic anthropology. He deals with the now and she deals with the past.”
“Yeah, that’s her specialty but she’s an ME as well.” Kane headed up the steps. “She’s a very smart woman. I spent some time chatting with her at the conference.”
Intrigued, Jenna stared at him. “What’s stopping him, apart from the girls? Is she married or something?”
“Nope.” Kane rubbed his chin. “Not that I asked her anything personal, but she did mention not having a man in her life because of her work. I think the problem might be her age.”
Shrugging, Jenna walked beside him up the steps. “You can’t just say that without validating it. Why, is she a hundred or something?”
“Nope. The opposite.” Kane opened the door. “She’s under thirty, I’d say. Attractive and her family is Scandinavian.” He shrugged. “She’d fit right in to the family with her blonde hair, but she has cornflower blue eyes.”
Jenna bit back a grin. “She sounds perfect and why didn’t you mention her before? You know, Dave, you’re hopeless at gossiping. I never get anything interesting from you.”
“That’s not what I do.” He grinned at her. “But I’m not sure why Jo didn’t tell you. Maybe she didn’t think it was interesting enough—or it slipped her mind.”
Jenna followed him inside. “I’ll be sure to ask her.”
She walked into the lower office, glad to see Rio and Rowley at their desks. “Did you get the cruiser set up in place outside Duffy’s house?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Rowley looked up from his screen. “I’ve been watching the feed. Nothing to report.”
Jenna nodded and moved her attention to Rio. “Did you get the trust accounts sorted?”
“Yeah, I was able to see the guy straight away and sign some paperwork to change things. It’s all good.”
Jenna explained what they’d discovered at Mrs. Jefferson’s house and Wolfe’s suggestion of using his drone. “Grab shovels and go get the drone. If you see anything suspicious, do a test hole. Be careful. If you find anything, bag and tag. Cover the ground and take what you have to Wolfe for identification.” She let out a long sigh. “And keep me in the loop. We’re heading out to an autopsy at three.”
Both men stood at once and Jenna headed down to the interview room and joined Kane outside. She looked at him. “Do you want to go inside?”
“No.” Kane’s gaze was fixed on Carson. “I think Carter is doing a fine job. Carson looks a little intimidated, which for us is a good thing. If he were acting calm and in control, I’d be more convinced he was involved in the murders.”
Jenna leaned against the wall. “You’ve taught me a ton of things about serial killers, but how do they react if they’re accused of something they didn’t do? Maybe the suggestion of being involved in a child’s murder is making him defensive. If he can’t be proud of what he’s done, then we might not see the usual bravado.”
“Yes, that’s true and you could be right.” Kane smiled at her. “I assumed they were still asking about the current murders. We’ll find out soon enough.” He indicated to the two-way mirror. “Carter has finished and stopped the recording.”
They waited until Jo and Carter left the room and shut the door behind them. Jenna straightened. “Get anything interesting?”
“Tons.” Carter pulled a toothpick from his top pocket and tossed it into his mouth. “I ran his whereabouts during the current murders and all but the one, where his wife told us she takes sleeping meds, check out. If he’s our killer, it would be a remote chance at best.”
“But he does remember the kids at Harriette Jefferson’s house.” Jo gave Jenna a triumphant smile. “And he got hostile when we suggested he was covering up something.” She turned to stare at Carson through the window. “He looks nervous.”
Jenna glanced at Kane. “I’m going to speak to him. Coming?” She looked back at Carter. “Did you read him his rights?”
“Yeah, and he waved his rights to an attorney.” Carter smiled around the toothpick. “I grilled him hard and he only started to get jumpy when we asked about the kids.”
“Okay.” Jenna nodded. “I’ll see what we can pry out of him.”
She flashed her card over the scanner and walked into the interview room with Kane close behind. She turned on the recording device and sat down. “This is Sheriff Jenna Alton. I’m continuing the interview with Bret Carson.” She gave the time and date.
