Page 84 of Deadly Revenge

Jenna gave her a wary glance. “Why?”

“Just sit.”

They each took a wingback chair across from her desk and waited. Alex handed each a stapled copy of the report. Max opened his right away, but Jenna hesitated. Alex was acting strangely, and that couldn’t be good.

Her boss cleared her throat and said, “The accident was caused by a tie-rod coming loose.”

Jenna stared at her boss as blood drained from her face.A tie-rod ... just like Joe Slater.

Her grandfather was murdered? Bands gripped Jenna’s chest, making it hard to breathe as panic edged into her brain.Not now.She forced herself to breathe, but still the room closed in on her.

Beside her Max murmured something and Alex answered, but the noise in her head drowned out their words.

“Are you all right, Jenna?”

Alex’s words jolted her, and she focused on the chief deputy. “I’m fine. Are you sure? About the tie-rod?”

“I called my grandfather to make sure there hadn’t been a mistake, and he confirmed it,” she said. “Gramps and your grandfather were good friends.”

Jenna took a deep breath to clear her head. Had her grandfather been murdered for his land? “Did the sheriff ever consider it might not have been an accident?”

“It was an old farm truck, but he knew your granddaddy would’ve checked things like that. The sheriff’s office didn’t have a CSI team then, and Gramps had Junior check it out. He couldn’t find any evidence of tampering. Of course now we have better ways of checking that.”

Max glanced at Jenna. “Why didn’t Junior tell us that at lunch?”

“Good question.”

“Have you heard from your CSI on the nut you found?” Alex asked.

“No. I’ll call right now.” Max took out his phone and stepped out of the room.

“I’m sorry,” Alex said. “I know this is a shock.”

All Jenna could do was nod.Granna.How was she going to take this? She rubbed her forehead. “Can we keep this quiet until I figure out how to tell my grandmother?”

“The part about your grandfather’s truck, yes, but I’m afraid most people already know about the tie-rod on Joe’s Hummer and are speculating Joe and his wife were murdered. If anyone remembers what caused your grandfather’s accident—”

“I think Junior has already put it together.” Jenna dropped her gaze to the report. “Anything from the Hamilton County medical examiner?”

“Not yet, but I expect at least a preliminary report by morning.”

The door opened and they both turned and looked expectantly as Max entered the room.

“She said the microscope showed tiny scuff marks on the nutlike an open-end wrench would make. And the cotter pin you found on the road did not come from the Hummer. It was much too old.” He raised his eyebrows. “But the one you found in the garage did.”

“I can’t believe the killer used the same method twice,” she said.

“It happens more than you’d think,” Alex said. “Killers aren’t always the brightest bulb in the box. Often they think if something worked the first time, it’ll work again.”

Max nodded. “Like a case last year. A husband reported his wife died when she fell down their basement steps. When we looked into the husband’s history, we found that his first wife died the same way ten years ago. He’s awaiting trial now.”

“Whoever killed Joe and Katherine Slater figured we’d never put the two accidents together,” Jenna said.

“That’s a likely scenario.” Alex leaned back in her chair. “What do you two have for me?”

She let Max fill Alex in on the information they’d gotten at the registrar’s office. When he finished, Alex said, “I’ll put Dylan on TerraQuest’s trail—if anyone can find them, he can.”

Jenna stood. “We stopped by Harold Pipkin’s office before we came here.” Alex’s brows quirked up, questioning. “His grandfather wrote the deeds for the property TerraQuest bought before the dam was proposed.”

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