Page 94 of Deadly Revenge

“That will give us two hours.”

“I better make sure the library has either copies of newspapers from that time or has them on microfilm.”

She looked up the number for the library and punched it in, putting the phone on speaker. When someone answered, she asked to speak to the head librarian. When he came on the line she asked if there were microfilm copies of the weekly newspaper during Harrison Carter’s tenure.

“Yes, but I can do you one better,” he said. “A couple of years ago, the local computer class at the high school scanned them into a website you can access.”

“Great. Can you text me the link?”

While they waited for the link, she said, “We can go straightto my house and do our research. You can take the laptop, and I’ll use my desktop.”

“I have my laptop—I’ll use it.”

Once they were at her house, Jenna walked around it with Max looking for signs of disturbance. Not that she expected to find anything. Whoever was breaking into her house was like a ghost.

“It doesn’t look as though anyone’s been here,” he said.

Jenna grunted and checked the tape she’d put across the door. No one had entered through this door and the other one had a chair under it. That didn’t stop her from wanting to draw her gun, but Max already thought she was paranoid, so she left it holstered and was glad she had when everything looked as it had before they left.

“My office is back here ... or we can set up in the kitchen.”

“Is it much trouble to use the kitchen? Coffee would be handier.”

She laughed. “Sounds good to me.”

While they waited for the computers to boot up, she made coffee. “What do you think is going on at the Armstrong place?” she asked as the machine gurgled.

“I didn’t see signs of a meth operation. They’re probably using the place to counterfeit opioids, possibly using heroin and even fentanyl, which is cheaper and easier to get than oxycodone.”

“I agree. Maybe we can discover something when we knock on the door tomorrow morning.”

She turned as the desktop screen asked for a password. Jenna typed it in. “I’ll search for information on the dam and reservoir.”

Max set up his laptop across the table from her. “And I’ll search for the weekly papers published during Harrison Carter’s years.”

Jenna poured them each a mug of coffee then started her search. The kitchen became quiet as they worked. She foundseveral articles, including one that detailed the history of the project with a timeline from applying for the grant to the completion of the dam. She printed it out. “Be right back.”

She walked to her office and returned with the printed pages and found Max leaned back in the chair.

“Find anything?”

He held up the notepad he’d been writing on. “Not a lot—there was a lot of opposition to the dam that was built during Carter’s twenty years.”

Jenna handed him the pages she’d printed. “You need to look at this. It confirms he applied for grant money a few years before he became mayor.”

Max scanned the document. “So he would have known that the dam and reservoir would be built before anyone else. Let’s say he formed a corporation—TerraQuest—and bought up what land he could.”

“That’s what I thought when I read the article, but we have no proof he owns TerraQuest.”

“Yet.” While he scanned it, Jenna checked her watch. Almost eight o’clock? She turned to Max. “Are you hungry?”

He glanced at his watch. “Where’d the time go? But sure ... want to grab something in town?”

“The only thing open is the pizza place, and I don’t think my stomach can take that. Let’s see what I have in the refrigerator.”

A minute later she opened her refrigerator and frowned. It was kind of bare. “I have eggs and bacon, maybe peppers if they haven’t dried up ... how about an omelet?”

“So you do cook?” His gaze ran over her, reminding her of their near kiss that seemed so long ago now.

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