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“Aw, Jenna.” Kane hugged her close. “I know it’s just because you can’t be apart from me. You don’t have to make excuses.” He chuckled.
Laughing, Jenna pushed him away. “The truth is if I leave you alone in Aunt Betty’s, you’ll never leave.” She pushed him toward the house. “Go, we have work to do. All this talk about food is making me hungry.”
“Is that how married folk act all the time?” Carter followed behind them. “Or is it a new type of syndrome that affects newlyweds?”
“I have no idea.” Jo shook her head. “My ex was too busy having affairs. I figure they’re just in love.”
TWENTY-THREE
The house revealed no hidden clues to how the people were abducted and Jenna climbed back into the rental. “We’ve collected all the evidence that’s here. I figure we’re just wasting our time in Blackwater. Can we head back to the airport now?”
“Sure.” Carter slid behind the wheel. “Next stop, Black Rock Falls.”
They headed back to the chopper and less than fifteen minutes later Carter dropped them on top of the ME’s office and took off for the ranch. Jenna led the way downstairs to drop the evidence bags into Wolfe’s office. She was surprised to see him, still working. He looked exhausted. “I feel guilty bringing these to you today. You really need to take a break, Shane.”
“I’ll take one soon. I’ll need a DNA profile from Jenell Rickers’ next of kin, to establish if the hair and nails belong to her. Have the local doctor in Blackwater send them here by courier ASAP.” Wolfe’s face was etched in fatigue. “I’ll do a DNA profile as soon as they arrive.” He wiped a hand down his face. “It’s been a tough morning. Some of the victims were kids. We had two die in the hospital last night from their injuries.” He sighed. “It’s been a bonus having Norrell here. She’s been a great help.”
Jenna squeezed his arm. “I’m sorry to hear about the kids, Shane. That couldn’t have been easy.”
“Just doing my job. The kids’ parents shouldn’t have to wait. It’s hard enough losing a child as it is.” Wolfe covered her hand with his own warm palm. “I just need to get some rest. I’ll take a couple of hours after lunch.”
“You haven’t slept at all since yesterday?” Kane shook his head. “Mistakes happen when we’re exhausted. What happened to the two hours’ sleep you said you’d take this morning?”
“That’s when we heard about the kids’ deaths overnight.” Wolfe gave them a somber look. “I couldn’t sleep and I owed it to the parents to get the autopsies over and done with. Honestly, if it hadn’t been essential for the investigation and insurance purposes, I wouldn’t have bothered, but I owed it to the kids. They didn’t deserve to lose their lives because a driver was high on dope. Nor did any of the other casualties.” He cleared his throat. “I’m glad I was on scene to collect the drivers’ blood samples.”
Jenna glanced at Kane and then back to Wolfe. “Have you finished for now?”
“Yeah, I need to write up the findings, is all.” Wolfe yawned explosively. “I’m not sure about Norrell. She went home late and came back around ten this morning. She’s working in the other wing with her team.”
“Go home and get some rest.” Kane slapped him on the shoulder. “The reports can wait until the morning when you’re rested. The investigation will take forever to complete. There’s no rush for the autopsy reports.”
“Yeah, I will.” Wolfe locked the evidence bags inside a refrigerated drawer. “I’ll tell Webber I’m heading home. He can handle the store while I’m away.”
Jenna nodded. “Great!” She turned to Kane. “We’ll need to drop by the office so I can speak to Rio and Rowley. It will give you time to call Aunt Betty’s with your takeout order.”
“Okay.” Kane headed for the door. “Let’s hope we get home before it snows again.”
They hurried back to the office. Along the way, Jenna admired the Christmas decorations springing up all over town and laughed at a mechanical snowman singing “Jingle Bells.” They headed inside and she ran the day’s events past Rio and Rowley. They were processing information and handing it off to the forensics team, but no new leads had come in about their missing persons on the hotline.
“We’ve had the usual hoax calls. The current one is they saw Santa’s sleigh picking up stray elves on his way to the North Pole.” Rowley shook his head. “I’ve hunted down workmates, friends and family of Billy Stevens. I followed up and made a few calls to get more information on him.” He leaned back in his chair, twirling a pen in his fingers. “They all say the same thing. He never mentioned a girlfriend. The friends he had are the students he lived with. They all say he was a quiet guy. No one recalls him mentioning going anywhere or planning to meet anyone before he went missing.” He shrugged. “There’s nothing more on Maisy Jones at all.”
Happy the case was in the forefront of their minds, Jenna nodded. “We’ll be heading back to the ranch now. Kalo has set up a command center in the cottage, so we’ll be working from there for a couple of days. I’ll update you daily. With four cases of missing persons over two counties, we’re waiting for the bodies to show.” She pulled on a pair of warm gloves. “It’s so cold outside. Maybe if it snowed again, it would warm up some.”
“Yeah, and the trees are starting to crack. I keep thinking it’s gunshots. I’ve never known it to be so cold.” Rio stood and collected coffee cups from the desks. “If there are bodies dumped out there, they’ll be frozen solid. We won’t smell them and there won’t be much left after the critters get to them.”
“Ah, Maggie is waving at you.” Rowley nodded toward the front desk. “And there’s a man walking this way.”
Jenna turned slowly as a strikingly handsome man walked toward her, dark eyes twinkling and his smile just about blinded her. “Any idea who that is?”
“Never seen him before.” Rio placed the cups back on the desk and moved closer to Jenna. “FBI?”
Turning to face the visitor, Jenna smiled. “Are you looking for me? I’m Sheriff Jenna Alton.”
“It just happens I am.” The man pulled off his glove and held out a hand. “Troy Leman. I’m the anchorman for MVTVN, the new twenty-four-hour news channel. We’ve had some interesting footage of the explosion come in yesterday, and as you were involved, can you give me a story?”
Raising both eyebrows, Jenna shook her head. “Deputy Rio is our media person. I rarely have the time to do TV interviews.”
“Well, how about we go for a cup of coffee at Aunt Betty’s and you just give me the lowdown on how it happened? What it was like to be in the middle of the action. My viewers would love that.” Leman raised one eyebrow and cleared his throat. “If you’re too busy now, dinner perhaps at the Cattleman’s Hotel tonight? I’m staying there for a few days. Room twenty-three if you need to think it over. We could work out a suitable time and I’ll get the crew down here to record an interview. You don’t need to be nervous. I’ll look after you.”
