Page 107 of Deadly Revenge

Jenna wandered toward the side of the room. “I’m going to check out this area.”

He examined the tables while Jenna walked the length of the room, her gaze examining every square inch. Kirk had said this building was where the “mean guys” had told him to stay away. What were they doing out here? Max picked up one of the cardboard boxes and lifted the flap in the bottom. Was that—

Metal screeched on concrete, raking his ears. He jerked his head up.

“Hey, Max! Come see what I found!”

Urgency in Jenna’s voice propelled him to the side room door.A much stronger musk scent hit him when he approached the opening.

Jenna grinned at him. “I think we better call Alex.”

He stared at the pots of marijuana and the system of lights, fans, dehumidifiers, and sprinklers. “I do believe you’re right.” He fished the small clear cap from the box and held it up. “And that’s not all they were doing.”

Jenna’s eyes widened. “You were right. They were filling capsules.”

“Probably with heroin or cocaine. Much easier to transport and sell than in bulk.”

“No wonder the men ran Kirk off.” Jenna shuddered. “He was lucky they didn’t kill him.”

54

Jenna was waiting outside the barn when her boss arrived with the CSI team and several other deputies.

“The marijuana plants are in an enclosed area inside,” Jenna said.

“I can’t believe someone was growing marijuana and packing pills right under our noses.” Alex scanned the room. “I should have listened to my instincts the first time we talked to Kirk and put a surveillance team on the place.”

“You couldn’t have known,” Max said. “And there have been quite a few ‘incidents’ this week that had you otherwise occupied.”

Jenna stared at the barn. “Do you suppose the murders have anything to do with this operation? Maybe as a distraction to keep us from focusing on it?”

“You could be right. Let’s see what you found.” Alex pulled on nitrile gloves and followed Jenna.

She opened the doors to the grow room and Max and Alex followed her inside. Her boss whistled. “This operation cost a lot of money, so why didn’t they take the plants with them?”

Max scanned the room. “They must have thought we were onto them and didn’t think they had time.”

“But how? We haven’t talked about this place to anyone or what we suspected.” Jenna turned to Max. “Have we?”

He shook his head. “It’s like someone tipped them off.”

Alex walked through the plants. “What’s this?”

She knelt and parted the leaves on one of the plants and pulled out something shiny.

When Alex held up a necklace, Jenna pressed her hand to her throat. She stared at the gold cross dangling from Alex’s hand. Her cross ... how did it get here?

No, it couldn’t be hers.

Alex turned a questioning gaze at Jenna. “Don’t you have a necklace like this?”

“I ... have a cross on a gold chain, but that can’t be mine.” Or could it? She hadn’t found it when she and Max straightened the house after someone broke in.

Thoughts flashed through her mind, like rapid-fire bullets. Everything that’d happened at her house had been smoke and mirrors, distractions so she wouldn’t pay attention to small details, like her necklace not being in the jewelry box. She’d honestly thought she’d misplaced it.

Her face heated. “If that’s mine, it was planted here. If I was part of this”—she swept her hand toward the marijuana plants—“I certainly would’ve steered you away from this building.”

“No one said anything about you being part of this,” Max said.

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