Page 17 of Deadly Revenge

“Professional jealousy?”

“It’s not like that either.” If she hadn’t worked so closely with the older detective since becoming a Russell County deputy, she would’ve been offended. But Wayne called things as he saw them. With everyone. “It’s complicated.”

“Well, you might want to get it uncomplicated since it looks like Alex will probably have you working with him.”

She sincerely hoped not.

They approached their vehicles, and Wayne opened his car door. “She’s like her grandfather, Sheriff Stone—she’ll do whatever it takes to solve a case.” He nodded. “See you tomorrow.”

With the thought of being paired with Max hanging over her, she climbed into her SUV and pulled out of the parking lot, pointing the vehicle toward the road out of town. She quickly dismissed any negative thoughts and focused on Alex’s approval. Approval had been sorely lacking at her job in Chattanooga.

Memories of those last months with the police department dimmed her enthusiasm. She shook off the dark thoughts. She was lead investigator on this case. Mark and his K-9 partner, Gem,had been lead on the case in April. Would Alex have given her this case if Mark and Gem were here? Maybe so. Jenna had found the critical clue.

She rubbed the scar on her shoulder that would always remind her of the bullet that got past the body armor. She’d never second-guessed herself before the shooting in Chattanooga. It wasn’t so much because of the shooting itself—every time she strapped on a gun, she knew there was a possibility of getting shot. Jenna also knew from experience that body armor didn’t cover everything, but the vest had protected her from five of the six shots Sebastian fired.

It was afterward that destroyed her confidence—the rumors that she was a dirty cop and then the way her superiors had consigned Jenna to a desk job even after the department psychologist released her to return to work. She blamed part of that on the fiasco with Phillip.

If only she’d known her camera and phone had been stolen before she reported to Billingsley that Phillip had been at the school, but Phillip denied it. And a cop buddy backed him up. Said he was watching a Braves game with them. Then, Phillip had painted a picture of her being a scorned and vindictive woman to anyone in the department who would listen.

There hadn’t been a thing she could do about it with the camera and her phone gone. If it weren’t for the blurry images she’d emailed to her computer, she couldn’t even prove to herself Phillip was there. Unfortunately, the phone photos didn’t have a time stamp or even the school on them, so she never showed them to anyone—Phillip would only use them to further his vindictive woman image.

He’d betrayed her, and not just her, but every honest cop out there. The inability to bring him to justice still gnawed at her.

But Jenna believed justice was important to God, and one day Phillip’s crimes would catch up with him. Until then, she had totake each day as it came. She’d been doing okay until Max showed up today and brought everything flooding back.

The shock of seeing Phillip with the drug dealer. The betrayal. The rumors she couldn’t prove started with him. Rumors that had no basis in truth—rumors like she’d set up a drug deal with Sebastian.

Jenna had been there for surveillance. But because it’d been last minute, and the information about Sebastian’s meeting with the Scorpions came from her CI, and because some officers tended to believe the worst, there’d been no way to defend herself against the rumors. People either believed her or the lies.

Since Max never reached out to her, she’d assumed that he’d landed on the side of the lies. But what if he hadn’t heard the rumors? He hadn’t been in Chattanooga when it happened...

She grunted.He’d heard. Max still had buddies at Chat PD, and they would have been sure to let him know one of his former detectives was suspected of being a dirty cop.

Ten minutes later, Jenna turned into the barn where she boarded her dressage horse. The barn was her safe place. The place she could leave the job, her past, everything behind, and lose herself in another world for an hour.

She grabbed a change of clothes and strode into the barn, glad it had a place for her to change.

“Hey, Kirk.” She ruffled the tween’s hair. Did you even call a twelve-year-old boy a tween, or was that reserved only for girls? “How’s it going?”

“It’ll be better when I get these stalls clean,” the boy grumbled. “Granddad said I could ride my four-wheeler then.”

She glanced around at the stalls. “Looks like you’re doing a good job.”

“Granddad won’t think so.”

Jenna turned so he wouldn’t see her smile. Bryan Bishop andhis wife were doing a good job of raising Kirk after his parents died. “You’ll be thankful one day he cared enough to make you do it right.”

She ought to know—her dad had been the same way. If he’d just stay out of her business now.

Ace nickered, and she hurried to his stall. “Hey, big boy.” Jenna rubbed his nose. Since she was going hunting with her dad, she didn’t have time to ride today. She turned back to Kirk.

“Okay if I turn him out in the paddock?”

“I guess—no one’s coming to ride today.”

She put a halter on the black gelding and led him to the paddock, where she turned him loose. Ace pranced around the enclosed area bucking and jumping. Jenna chuckled at his antics. She loved watching him run free.

The horse knelt and laid in the soft dirt, rolling from one side to the other, then clambered to his feet and shook himself before he took off running again, only to abruptly stop. He snorted and stared toward the wooded area that bounded the small river at the back of the property.

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