Deadly Revenge (Pearl River #3)

Chapter 3

3

Max climbed into Alex’s SUV. Jenna looked great. Maybe not happy to see him, but that was his fault—he should have called her right after he left Chattanooga. Once again he felt his neck heating up. Talk about bad mistakes ...

He brushed the memory aside and focused on his reason for being in Pearl Springs. He turned to the chief deputy. “How many people usually attend the Founders Day picnic?”

She flipped her signal on and turned onto the highway. “A couple thousand normally. With Harrison Carter here, maybe double.”

That was more than enough for a killer to blend in with. If there was a killer.

“How serious is the threat to Carter here in Pearl Springs?” Alex asked.

“My superiors are taking it very seriously after they learned someone tried to run him off the road between here and Chattanooga last week. Carter chalked it up to an impatient driver until he received a threatening letter two days ago. That was Saturday, and I got the case Sunday.”

“So it could be someone he upset while he was the Pearl Springs’s mayor,” she said and briefly glanced toward him. “But why wait this long? He hasn’t been mayor for several years.”

“Good question,” he replied as Alex turned into the parking lot at the sheriff’s office.

When they reached the chief deputy’s office, Nathan Landry was waiting for them. Alex took a seat behind her desk, and Max extended his hand to the Pearl Springs police chief. “Good to see you again.”

“You too.” Nathan Landry grasped Max’s hand firmly. “Sorry about having to delay our meeting.”

“No problem. Riding to the accident scene gave Alex time to fill me in on the security measures you have planned for this Saturday’s Founders Day picnic.” And gave him an opportunity to see Jenna Hart again.

Nathan sat in one of the wingback chairs across from Alex’s desk. “I’m not sure they’re adequate after reading your email. Are you certain someone’s going to try and take out Harrison Carter at the rally? Or could this be one of Carter’s stunts to get publicity?”

Max settled in the other chair. “We discussed that possibility, but Carter doesn’t want the fact that he’s been threatened to get out—he wants a big crowd at the rally. As for being certain whoever it is will try Saturday, there’s no way to know. The picnic seems like it could be a likely target—small police force. No offense intended.”

“None taken, plus the park where the picnic takes place is easily accessed,” Nathan added.

Alex nodded. “If I were going after our former mayor, it would be here—I’m two deputies short, and one of my best detectives is just past her introductory period. She’s still new to the job.”

His heart kicked up at the reference to Jenna. Focus. “How about your K-9 officer?” Alex had pulled him into a rescue operation for the K-9 officer and his dog a couple of months ago. What was the girl’s name who was involved ... “And the lovely Dani—how is she?”

“They’re great. Mark and Gem are in Kentucky at the dog trials along with my grandparents, and Dani and her grandmother are with them. She even took her dog. Something about seeing if Lizi might be trained as a rescue dog.”

“I heard Chattanooga PD used Dani’s drawing skills to help find a robbery suspect,” Max said as he took out a notepad and pen.

“They did,” Alex said. “She’s looking into taking a class on facial reconstruction, and with her sculpting talent, she’ll be good.”

“I’m glad she’s settling in.”

“What’s your plan, Max?” Nathan asked.

“As soon as we finish here, I’ll go to the park and see what we need,” Max replied.

“I’ll let the park director know you’re coming.” The police chief made himself a note.

Alex pulled out a pad. “Can you tell me how many officers we’ll need for Saturday? I’d like to assign positions.”

“I won’t know until I see the park and draw the layout,” Max said. “Then I’ll email it to the logistics team to identify points of weakness and where we might need more manpower. Once I hear back, I’ll email everything to you.”

“Sounds good,” Alex said. “I’ve called a briefing for this afternoon to discuss security at the picnic and go over what we know about the Slaters’ accident.”

“Do I need to be here?”

“Not necessarily. At this point I’ll only be advising my deputies that we are beefing up security. Once you have your report, I’d appreciate you filling everyone in.”

“Sounds good to me.” Alex and Nathan were easy to work with, something he didn’t always find to be true when working with local law enforcement. Sometimes a sheriff or chief of police resented it when TBI stepped into a case. He made a few notes and then looked up, smiling. “Didn’t I hear you two set your wedding date?”

Nathan grinned. “Yep. Two weeks and Alex Stone will be Alexis Landry.”

Alex grinned. “It was supposed to be this Sunday, but after Carter decided to hold his political rally, we postponed it a week.”

“Postponed it? Wasn’t that a lot of trouble?” Max had been involved with part of the wedding planning with his ex-fiancée, and doing something like moving the date would have been a logistical nightmare.

“Not so much,” Alex said. “It’s going to be really casual. We’re having the ceremony at a friend’s place on Eagle Ridge—Mae Richmond—and she and Gram are taking care of the food.”

When things were simple to start with, he guessed making changes wasn’t too hard. Max shifted in his chair. Talk of their wedding brought his ex-fiancée to mind. Shannon would’ve had a hard time rolling with the change. She liked events to be executed with precision. He straightened his shoulders and stood.

“In case I haven’t told you, congratulations.”

“Thank you.” Both spoke at the same time.

“There you go—you’re already on the same page.” They all chuckled, and then Max added, “Thanks for working with me. I’ll text you both when I finish at the park.”

After the meeting with Nathan Landry and Alex, Max spent the next two hours wandering around the Pearl Springs Park, making notes and sketching the layout. It was a nice place with kids playing on the swings and slides.

He stopped at the steps leading up to a treehouse. For a second, he was tempted to climb up in it. On the other side, a spiral slide served as the exit. Today two young boys used the slide to climb up to the treehouse. He waved and smiled when they caught him watching them.

He wished he had kids. He was a good uncle to his brother’s kids. But uncle wasn’t all he wanted to be. He wanted to be a dad. And husband ...

And why did Jenna pop into his mind?

Maybe because kissing her the night of his farewell party from the Chattanooga Police Department hadn’t been a mistake. The mistake had been in not calling her afterward. He didn’t blame her for being mad.

Either way, she wasn’t over it. Or maybe she just wasn’t interested. She was definitely different from the Jenna he remembered. He couldn’t quite pin it down ... sadder, maybe. Definitely softer than the brash detective he remembered.

Probably because of Phillip Ross. The homicide detective had been one reason he hadn’t called Jenna once he was in Nashville—he’d heard from some of his former coworkers that she’d gotten engaged to Phillip.

Later the same coworkers had told him Phillip had broken the engagement, and Max should have called her then. But it’d been about that time that he’d been thrust into the middle of a hot murder case in the eastern corner of Tennessee. Working day and night, he hadn’t even learned she’d been shot until weeks later. Max sighed. He wasn’t proud of the way he’d buried himself in his work, but he was trying to do better.

Someone called his name, and he looked around. Two men approached, both wearing city park uniforms. Good. Nathan had said he would have the park director meet him.

“Maxwell Anderson?” the taller of the men asked.

“That’s me.”

“I’m Dave Martin, the director of Pearl Springs Parks and Recreation, and this is my assistant, Derrick Holliday. The police chief said you were here.”

“Thanks for finding me.” He held up his drawings. “I’ve been sketching the layout. Maybe you can tell me if I’ve missed anything.” He nodded to a concrete picnic table a few feet away. “How about over there?”

He brushed off the table and showed them what he’d drawn. “I’ve marked where each security person will be. What do you think? Have I left anything out other than the roads?”

Both men studied the maps and nodded. “Looks good to me,” Martin said. His phone chimed, and he looked at it. “Excuse me a minute.”

He turned away from them, and Max snapped photos of the drawings while he waited for Martin to finish his conversation. He looked over and caught Holliday studying him with a question on his face. “Yeah?”

“I can’t understand why the TBI is interested in our little picnic,” Holliday said. “Unless someone’s made a threat against our illustrious former mayor.”

Information about the threat against Carter was on a need-to-know basis, and neither of the men qualified. Still, Max didn’t miss the sarcasm in the assistant director’s voice. “You don’t like Harrison Carter?”

“Didn’t like him when he was mayor, and he certainly won’t get my vote for senator.”

“Why don’t you like him?”

“He’s crooked for one thing, and another ...” His face turned red. “Let’s just leave it at he’s crooked.”

Nothing Max had read in the background report said anything about Harrison Carter doing anything illegal. The report hadn’t given any details of his tenure as mayor of Pearl Springs, only that he’d resigned from the office to run for the state senate four years ago. And now he was running for the US Senate. “Why do you say that?”

Holliday’s face hardened. “The state took my grandparents’ farm when Carter rammed that dam project through. He told everyone it would bring industry to this area, which was a lie.” He crossed his arms. “And my grandparents didn’t get near what the place was worth. You’ll find quite a few people around here still upset about the dam and reservoir.”

Max could understand people being upset about losing their land, but that didn’t make Carter crooked. Still, it raised the idea that maybe the person who sent the letter to Carter was homegrown.

“How long ago are you talking about?”

“Depends on when you’re talking about. Not many people know this, but our former mayor applied for a grant to build the dam while he was the city engineer. I know this because my aunt was his secretary, and that’d be ...”—Holliday rubbed his temple—“at least twenty-seven, twenty-eight years ago. But if you’re talking about the actual surveying and taking of the land, you’re looking at around fifteen to twenty years ago.”

Max dismissed what he’d been thinking. It was too long ago to have any bearing on the threats to Carter now. He was rolling up the maps to leave when Martin turned around, pocketing his phone. The man looked like he’d been sucker punched.

Martin blinked. “I can’t believe it.”

“What’s wrong?” Holliday asked.

“That was my wife—she was really upset.” He shook his head. “Joe Slater and his wife are dead. Killed this morning when his car went over a cliff just below their house.” He turned to Max. “Do you happen to know anything about the wreck?”

Max nodded. “I rode to the accident site with Alex Stone, but I don’t know any of the details, only that the bodies were sent to Chattanooga for autopsy.”

Stunned silence followed, then Holliday shrugged. “That’s really odd.”

“What’s that?” Martin said.

“We have a TBI agent interested in our little picnic where Carter is speaking, and now one of the men on the city council when he was mayor is dead ...” Holliday scratched his head. “And there’s Paul Nelson too.”

“Who’s Paul Nelson?” Max asked.

“He was a member of the city council same time Carter was mayor,” Martin said.

“I don’t understand.”

“He comes to Pete’s for morning coffee just like clockwork, sits in a corner by himself, and he didn’t show up today,” Holliday said. “Wonder if his car went off a cliff too?”