Page 10 of Their Wicked Games

You have no idea.Amused, Kane nodded. “Thank you kindly.”

The meals arrived soon after Jenna sat at the table. Kane smiled at her. “Good as new.” He’d made up his mind to keep her occupied with the homicide, in the hope it would stop a slide into a PTSD episode. “We’ll need to concentrate on gathering a list of suspects. Whoever killed those kids practice regularly, so our first port of call should be the crossbow ranges. Do you want to go there after we visit the parents?”

“That sounds like a plan.” Jenna sipped her coffee and eyed him over the rim. “When we’ve eaten, I’ll give Rowley a call to give us an update.”

When she made the call, Kane listened with interest on one of Jenna’s wireless earbuds.

“Have you interviewed the driver of the cattle truck?”

“Yeah, he insisted that stalling his truck in front of Kane was an accident.”Rowley sounded amused.“The problem with this is, one of the men who Kane shot and the watchout we arrested out front of the meth lab are brothers. When I mentioned this to him, he clammed up and asked for a lawyer. Right now, he’s in interview room one with Sam Cross. Rio is going to interview him once we get the go-ahead from his lawyer.”He let out a long sigh.“I’ve just returned from visiting Ash Roger’s mother and giving her the bad news. I’ll never get used to doing that. She mentioned the kids were just going fishing, is all, and can’t believe what’s happened. I told her Wolfe would be contacting her about a viewing ASAP. I called Father Derry also and he’ll visit the families to offer his support. Carter dropped by before. He said the DA is reading over the statements on the shooting and will make a decision shortly. Apparently, he considered it a clean shoot, but Carter said he was just being thorough. Carter’s left already. He headed out with Jo to speak to Zoe Ward’s parents.”

“Okay, thanks, Jake. I knew I could count on you.” Jenna blew out a long sigh. “We’re heading out to Lilac Way to hopefully speak to Leo Kelly’s parents.”

“His mother should be home. She’s a stay-at-home mom. The three families are friends. I’ll keep you updated when we hear back from the DA.”He disconnected.

Kane squeezed her hand. “You’ve trained him well. He’s very reliable and so is Rio. The office runs like a well-oiled machine.”

“You’re not worried about the DA’s findings, are you?” Jenna pushed away her plate and reached for her refilled cup.

Shrugging, he met her gaze. “There’s always an inquiry. It’s part of the process, as you well know. He might ask for psych tests, but I figure he’ll speak to Wolfe first and you know what he’ll say. So no, I’m not overly worried. Taking them out has probably saved the county a fortune in legal and prison costs and taken millions of dollars’ worth of drugs off the street.” He took a forkful of the delicious pie, chewed, and swallowed. “It’s not like I had a choice.”

“I’ve seen you wound armed guys rather than kill them. Why was this different?” Jenna leaned forward in her chair. “Was it because they kidnapped me?”

It was a question he’d been expecting, and he shook his head. “Nope, if you’re referring to the bikers who attacked you some time ago, they were going for their guns, so I had time to wound their shooting arms to prevent them drawing down on me. The guys in the forest were already shooting at me and posed a deadly threat. I didn’t have the time to place my shots to give them a chance to try again. I had to take them down. It was me or them, like I said. What happened to you had nothing to do with my reasoning. I don’t like killing people, Jenna. I’d have rather taken them in for questioning and followed up on their drug distribution. Now that’s going to be difficult unless the DA cuts a deal with the truckdriver and he gives up information to save his hide.”

“Okay, I understand. It’s all good, Dave. With Rio on their tails, we’ll get the information and hand it off to the DEA.” Jenna emptied her cup. “When you’re done here, we’d better get at it. This sure has been a long day. I can’t believe it’s only ten after one.”

TEN

Devastated, Jenna sat in the Beast staring blankly into nothingness. Mrs. Kelly had clung to her, sobbing at the news of her son’s death. Her deep penetrating grief had overwhelmed Jenna and she had not been able to untangle herself from the weeping woman until her husband had arrived with Father Derry, the latter having visited Mr. Kelly at his office to break the tragic news. Although Father Derry had a calming effect on the poor woman, her grief at losing her only son was palpable. When Kane started the engine, the small flame that had ignited in her to find justice for the young victims burst into an inferno. She looked at Kane. “I’m never giving up until we find the men who killed those kids.”

“The first range isn’t far from here.” Kane regarded her closely. “Do you need a break? It was pretty intense back there.”

Mentally giving herself a shake, Jenna fastened her seatbelt. “No breaks. I’m not stopping until I have a list of suspects. I’m going to hunt these men down like they did those kids.” She turned to look at him. “No mercy.”

“Okay.” Kane turned the truck around and headed down Lilac.

At the end of the road, he turned into Stanton and accelerated. They drove past the Triple Z Roadhouse and took a sharp left into the Bullseye Archery Center and followed the blacktop to the store. Jenna pushed open her door and headed inside. She went straight to the front counter. The salesman turned from filling one of the displays and stared at her, mouth open. “I need some information and I need it now. Which of your members hang around in a group of three and are seriously good marksmen?”

The young man behind the counter just stared at her, wide eyed, his mouth opening and shutting like a landed trout. Anger rising, Jenna leaned on the counter. “Don’t just stand there gaping at me. Three crossbow shooters murdered three teenagers in the forest this morning. I need to speak to anyone who could be involved and I need this information yesterday.”

“I’m not sure I’m allowed to give you that type of information, Sheriff.” The man took a step backward and crossed his arms over his chest. “Don’t you need a warrant or something?”

Resting one hand on the handle of her M18, Jenna stared him down. “If you’re withholding information from me, I’ll charge you with obstruction of justice. You have five seconds to give me some names.”

“Well, most of them come here in twos or alone.” He rubbed his chin thinking. “There are only three who hunt together that I can recall, who are marksmen.”

“We need their names and any other information you can give us.” Kane stepped beside her, his notebook open in his hand. “Where they work for instance or their address, even a suburb would be helpful.”

Geoff Bannister is a bartender at the Cattleman’s Hotel. I believe he lives out at Alpine Ridge.” The young man’s hands shook as he looked up at Kane and make furtive glances toward Jenna. “Carl Harper, he works at the lumberyard, and Lonnie Barlow, he works at the general store and lives on Maple.”

Satisfied, Jenna nodded. “Is that everyone you can think of?”

“Yeah, like I said, not many hunt in threes, but they’ve hung around together for a time.” The young man swallowed hard. “That’s all I can think of right now.”

Jenna nodded and pulled out a card. “If you think of anyone else, call me, because if I discover you’re withholding evidence, I’ll be back with a warrant for your arrest.”

“Yes, ma’am.” The young man pushed the card into his top pocket with a shaky hand.

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