Deadly Revenge (Pearl River #3)

Chapter 4

4

The sun beat down even hotter as Jenna trudged back up the hill toward the house. She was second-guessing her offer to Wayne as she searched for the nut that may or may not have come off of the Hummer and landed on the side of the road.

She was also second-guessing her instincts. The accident was probably just that—an accident. She straightened up and stretched her back. Second-guessing wasn’t her only problem. Without Wayne as a distraction, her thoughts kept wandering to Max.

He’d looked hot today. And she wasn’t thinking about the temperature.

Where had that come from? She quickly squashed the thought and couldn’t believe she’d even had it. Not after the way he’d kissed her and then never called.

She focused on the side of the road, but her thoughts were soon back to Max. Next to Alex, he was the best boss she’d ever had. Even if he had expected more of her than others in their department. At the time she’d appreciated it, since she was on a fast track to make lieutenant.

And if Jenna was honest with herself, she would admit she’d been attracted to Max, and she’d trusted him ... until he didn’t call her. Just stop it! Max was in her past, a past she’d vowed to never repeat, especially after the disaster with her ex-fiancé, Phillip Ross.

She would be crazy to ever trust a man again . Just do your job. Find the castle nut if it’s here. Jenna renewed her search, and a few minutes later the sun glinted off something silver. She bent down for a closer look.

Yes! She’d found it! Jenna pulled on a pair of nitrile gloves and picked it up by the edges. She shaded her eyes and examined the nut. It didn’t look wallowed out and certainly not stripped, but she couldn’t tell if it’d been tampered with. They would have to send it off to a forensic lab to find that out.

She dropped it in a small evidence bag and turned to survey the road. When she worked with her dad on his old cars, sometimes they had to take a hammer to the tie-rod to get it loose. If the nut belonged to the Hummer, and this was where it worked loose, the tie-rod wouldn’t necessarily have come out of the wheel joint at this point. Her gaze landed on a pothole ten feet from where the vehicle veered off the road. That hole would do it.

“Okay,” she muttered out loud. The cotter pin would’ve come out first, so it should be between where she found the nut and the house.

She inched toward the house with renewed energy, scouring the limestone rock on the side of the road for metal. Her gaze landed on a thin piece of metal, and she stooped closer to the ground.

Just a nail. Jenna sighed. The pin could be anywhere ... or nowhere.

No. Her instincts whispered that the bolt on the tie-rod would’ve been stripped if the nut came off when the vehicle went over the cliff. She kept walking and searching.

A good eighth of a mile farther, she blinked and looked again. This time it wasn’t a nail. A dull gray pin lay on top of the gravel. She picked it up and examined it. It was a cotter pin all right, but it wasn’t shiny like the castle nut.

Red flags waved crazy in her head. Finding the pin and nut was too easy—it was like someone wanted them found. To cover up what actually happened? From the get-go the tie-rod coming loose on a practically new vehicle never made sense.

She turned and stared toward the house. Jenna had overheard one of the other deputies say he’d seen Slater in town yesterday. What if someone tampered with Joe Slater’s Hummer last night?

A car pulled into the Slaters’ drive. Alex had said the sister was coming to let her in the garage—maybe it was her. Jenna quickly texted Wayne, suggesting he return to the sheriff’s office, that she would see him there. That done, she picked up her pace. Jenna didn’t want the sister to leave before she got into the garage. What had Alex said her name was? Freeman. Emma Freeman.

She received a thumbs-up from Wayne just as she reached the drive. Good. As she approached, the woman stepped out of a white Lexus and stood, staring at the house. She turned as Jenna approached.

“Ms. Freeman. I’m Deputy Jenna Hart.” She pulled off the sweaty gloves.

The older woman dipped her head. “Call me Emma.”

“Thank you,” Jenna said. “I didn’t know your brother and sister-in-law, but I’m so sorry for your loss.”

Emma Freeman dabbed a tissue at her red eyes, smearing mascara on her cheek. “I still can’t believe they’re gone.” She took a deep breath and lifted her chin. “The wreck was an accident ... I don’t understand why you need to get into the house.”

“Actually, I need access to the garage as well.”

“The garage ... why?”

“In a case like this, it’s standard procedure.”

“Oh.”

When she didn’t move, Jenna said gently, “I know this is hard for you, but would you mind letting me into the garage so I can look around?”

“Oh, of course.” She fished a key from her purse. “This has just been such a shock.”

A steady stream of information about the Slaters poured from the sister as they walked to the garage. Nerves, Jenna surmised, but she learned that Katherine Slater had been an avid member of the Garden Club and Joe had been on the city council until a few years ago.

Emma took her to a side door, and Jenna waited while she entered the code for the alarm and unlocked the door.

“The garage is attached to the house by a breezeway,” Emma said, pointing to what looked like a long hallway to Jenna.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Please, call me Emma.” She pushed open the door. “You make me feel old saying ma’am.”

“Yes, ma—Emma. Thank you.” Jenna pulled on a new pair of nitrile gloves. “I’ll take it from here.”

“There’s a light switch just inside. While you look around, I’ll unlock the house.”

“Thank you,” Jenna said. “Do you want me to lock the garage when I leave?”

“I’ll take care of that.”

Jenna nodded and entered the garage. Light flooded the building when she flipped the light switch. She did a double take. She’d never seen a garage so organized.

What few items the building contained were grouped according to their use—gardening tools on a pegboard on the back wall, carpenter tools mounted over a wooden bench with power tools beside them, and the other wall contained a cabinet.

Not that Jenna’s garage looked like it was owned by a hoarder, but like most people she knew, if she didn’t know what to do with something, she tended to stick it in her garage. Which was the reason she rarely parked in it. Jenna noted the empty spot next to a black Escalade.

“That’s where he parked that monstrosity he owned, right next to Katherine’s Escalade.”

Jenna jumped. She thought Emma had gone to the house.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you, but I just had to ask you something.”

“Oh?” Jenna had been scanning the floor for the cotter pin and she looked up. She couldn’t read the look on Emma’s face, only that something wasn’t sitting well with her.

“Driving over here, I kept wondering how something like this could happen. Joe is a very careful driver, and he knew that curve was there. There’s no way he would have missed it.” Her voice broke, and she covered her mouth with her hand.

The poor woman was hurting. She wished ... Granna would know what to say ... but Jenna didn’t figure anything she said would help. So she waited.

After a minute Emma drew in a breath and released it. “He was so proud of that SUV—kept it in tiptop shape.”

“I know this has to be hard ...” Jenna always felt like she said the wrong thing—of course it was hard. But she really did mean it.

Emma wiped her eyes. “It is, and I guess I should let you get to whatever you need to do.”

The sister didn’t want to be alone. Not that Jenna blamed her, and there was really no need at this point to ask her to leave. Of course that would change if she found the cotter pin, but she would deal with that if and when.

“You can stay.”

“Thank you. I won’t bother you, I promise.”

Jenna used the light on her phone to sweep back and forth over the area.

“What are you looking for?”

Already Jenna regretted her decision to let Emma stay. “Just looking.”

There was nothing on the floor where Slater parked the Hummer. She tilted her head. If the pin came out here in the garage, it could’ve bounced.

She knelt and swept the light under the Cadillac. Jenna caught her breath when the light picked up a tiny object.

“Is something wrong?”

For a second she’d forgotten Emma. “No, but I’m going to crawl under the Cadillac.”

She dropped to her stomach and scooted under the Escalade. Seconds later she carefully picked up a familiar piece of steel and scooted out. Jenna held the pin by the ends with her finger and thumb, careful not to touch the rest of it.

It wasn’t broken. That meant someone pulled it out.

She’d been right all along!

“What did you find?” Emma asked.

Proof that someone murdered Joe Slater and his wife. Jenna raised her gaze to the hurting woman, and her elation dimmed. “Just something I need to show my boss.”