Deadly Revenge (Pearl River #3)

Chapter 9

9

Jenna stopped at Wayne’s desk on her way out. “Thanks for doing the report.”

He looked up and grinned, deepening the wrinkles in his face. “Thank you for not making me stay out in that heat. And good job on finding that pin.”

She took a satisfying breath, expanding her lungs. “It feels good to be right for once.”

“I know what you mean.”

He stood, and she caught a whiff of his cologne. It was similar to whatever Max wore. Not that she’d noticed.

“What’s the name of your cologne?” The scent was familiar, but she couldn’t quite place it. “My dad’s birthday is coming up, and I hate the harsh stuff he’s using now.”

Wayne shrugged. “You’ll have to ask my wife—she always gives it to me at Christmas. You on your way out?”

She nodded.

“Me too—Sylvia wants me home early tonight. I’ll walk out with you.”

She waited while he grabbed a briefcase. “More paperwork?”

“Research. Alex pretty well let me know I’d be on the platform with Carter Saturday, so I pulled a few articles about him I found on the internet.”

Wayne was thorough, for sure. “Pass along anything you think I need to know for this case.”

“Will do. What do you think of our TBI agent?”

Jenna hesitated a half beat then said, “Max is a good investigator.”

“But?”

“No buts. Any negative feelings I have toward him has nothing to do with how he does his job.”

“So, you two were an item—bad breakup.”

“No.” How could she explain? Jenna rubbed the back of her neck.

“Professional jealousy?”

“It’s not like that either.” If she hadn’t worked so closely with the older detective since becoming a Russell County deputy, she would’ve been offended. But Wayne called things as he saw them. With everyone. “It’s complicated.”

“Well, you might want to get it uncomplicated since it looks like Alex will probably have you working with him.”

She sincerely hoped not.

They approached their vehicles, and Wayne opened his car door. “She’s like her grandfather, Sheriff Stone—she’ll do whatever it takes to solve a case.” He nodded. “See you tomorrow.”

With the thought of being paired with Max hanging over her, she climbed into her SUV and pulled out of the parking lot, pointing the vehicle toward the road out of town. She quickly dismissed any negative thoughts and focused on Alex’s approval. Approval had been sorely lacking at her job in Chattanooga.

Memories of those last months with the police department dimmed her enthusiasm. She shook off the dark thoughts. She was lead investigator on this case. Mark and his K-9 partner, Gem, had been lead on the case in April. Would Alex have given her this case if Mark and Gem were here? Maybe so. Jenna had found the critical clue.

She rubbed the scar on her shoulder that would always remind her of the bullet that got past the body armor. She’d never second-guessed herself before the shooting in Chattanooga. It wasn’t so much because of the shooting itself—every time she strapped on a gun, she knew there was a possibility of getting shot. Jenna also knew from experience that body armor didn’t cover everything, but the vest had protected her from five of the six shots Sebastian fired.

It was afterward that destroyed her confidence—the rumors that she was a dirty cop and then the way her superiors had consigned Jenna to a desk job even after the department psychologist released her to return to work. She blamed part of that on the fiasco with Phillip.

If only she’d known her camera and phone had been stolen before she reported to Billingsley that Phillip had been at the school, but Phillip denied it. And a cop buddy backed him up. Said he was watching a Braves game with them. Then, Phillip had painted a picture of her being a scorned and vindictive woman to anyone in the department who would listen.

There hadn’t been a thing she could do about it with the camera and her phone gone. If it weren’t for the blurry images she’d emailed to her computer, she couldn’t even prove to herself Phillip was there. Unfortunately, the phone photos didn’t have a time stamp or even the school on them, so she never showed them to anyone—Phillip would only use them to further his vindictive woman image.

He’d betrayed her, and not just her, but every honest cop out there. The inability to bring him to justice still gnawed at her.

But Jenna believed justice was important to God, and one day Phillip’s crimes would catch up with him. Until then, she had to take each day as it came. She’d been doing okay until Max showed up today and brought everything flooding back.

The shock of seeing Phillip with the drug dealer. The betrayal. The rumors she couldn’t prove started with him. Rumors that had no basis in truth—rumors like she’d set up a drug deal with Sebastian.

Jenna had been there for surveillance. But because it’d been last minute, and the information about Sebastian’s meeting with the Scorpions came from her CI, and because some officers tended to believe the worst, there’d been no way to defend herself against the rumors. People either believed her or the lies.

Since Max never reached out to her, she’d assumed that he’d landed on the side of the lies. But what if he hadn’t heard the rumors? He hadn’t been in Chattanooga when it happened...

She grunted. He’d heard . Max still had buddies at Chat PD, and they would have been sure to let him know one of his former detectives was suspected of being a dirty cop.

Ten minutes later, Jenna turned into the barn where she boarded her dressage horse. The barn was her safe place. The place she could leave the job, her past, everything behind, and lose herself in another world for an hour.

She grabbed a change of clothes and strode into the barn, glad it had a place for her to change.

“Hey, Kirk.” She ruffled the tween’s hair. Did you even call a twelve-year-old boy a tween, or was that reserved only for girls? “How’s it going?”

“It’ll be better when I get these stalls clean,” the boy grumbled. “Granddad said I could ride my four-wheeler then.”

She glanced around at the stalls. “Looks like you’re doing a good job.”

“Granddad won’t think so.”

Jenna turned so he wouldn’t see her smile. Bryan Bishop and his wife were doing a good job of raising Kirk after his parents died. “You’ll be thankful one day he cared enough to make you do it right.”

She ought to know—her dad had been the same way. If he’d just stay out of her business now.

Ace nickered, and she hurried to his stall. “Hey, big boy.” Jenna rubbed his nose. Since she was going hunting with her dad, she didn’t have time to ride today. She turned back to Kirk.

“Okay if I turn him out in the paddock?”

“I guess—no one’s coming to ride today.”

She put a halter on the black gelding and led him to the paddock, where she turned him loose. Ace pranced around the enclosed area bucking and jumping. Jenna chuckled at his antics. She loved watching him run free.

The horse knelt and laid in the soft dirt, rolling from one side to the other, then clambered to his feet and shook himself before he took off running again, only to abruptly stop. He snorted and stared toward the wooded area that bounded the small river at the back of the property.

Ace stamped his foot and tossed his head. She followed his gaze to the woods. A flash of light had her spidey-sense tingling. Jenna blinked, and the light was gone. Had she imagined it? She certainly hadn’t imagined Ace’s behavior. But why would anyone be watching her?

She shook the thought off, hating the paranoia she’d had since getting shot. Jenna scanned the woods again, seeing no sign of anyone. Ace trotted over, and she patted his neck. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

She halfway considered bringing him back to his stall and working around him as she cleaned it. Once again, she glanced toward the trees, seeing nothing unusual, and forced herself to return to the barn.

Jenna set to work cleaning the stall. The psychologist she’d seen after the shooting said most of the symptoms of her PTSD would leave, and they had. She no longer fainted at the sight of blood, which had been extremely embarrassing for a cop. And she didn’t freeze when she heard the sound of gunfire.

She hadn’t complained in the beginning when her superiors assigned her to a desk job. It was for the best, but once the psychologist cleared her, she didn’t understand why they hadn’t allowed her to resume her normal job. In the end, the desk job was the reason she’d moved home to Pearl Springs to create a new life for herself. Away from everything to do with her old life in Chattanooga.

Alex had believed in her when no one else did, and Jenna would do whatever it took to live up to the chief deputy’s expectations. She smiled to herself. Alex had been impressed when she found the pin, and she would be even more impressed when Jenna solved the case. Some of the excitement of getting the lead in the investigation returned, energizing her.

When she finished mucking the stall, she filled Ace’s water bucket and added feed and hay to the trough. The horse was waiting for her when she went to the paddock after him, and she whistled for him to come. He trotted to her while Jenna checked the woods again, feeling just a little foolish when everything looked normal.

Thirty minutes later she pulled into her driveway and parked in front of the garage she used more for storage than for her SUV. Her house wasn’t large, but it fit her. She liked to think it was cozy. Jenna climbed out of the SUV and entered her house through the kitchen, automatically checking to see if everything was the way she’d left it this morning.

Clearing her house each time she returned was another by-product of the shooting, a habit Jenna hadn’t been able to break yet. Tonight everything looked okay, but a lingering doubt trou bled her even after she checked the almost invisible strip of tape on the fake electrical outlet.

The overhead light flickered, and in her mind’s eye, she saw the flash of light in the woods from earlier. That explained her unease. She was still on edge.

Jenna turned to go back to the kitchen to make supper when she caught a faint whiff of ... She sniffed the air. An expensive men’s cologne, the same one she’d asked Wayne about.

Cold sweat popped out on her face. Now she remembered why it had seemed familiar. It was the same distinctive cologne she’d noticed Rick Sebastian wore the few times she’d been around him.

But that was impossible ... wasn’t it? Maybe not impossible, but Sebastian was in prison. He couldn’t be in Russell County and certainly not in her house. Wayne’s cologne must’ve transferred to her clothing someway.

A twinge shot through Jenna’s shoulder, and she rubbed the scar again. She hated the paranoia that sometimes controlled her emotions.

A text chimed, and she grabbed her phone, glad to focus on something besides her past.

Her eyes widened. Max. She’d known giving him her phone number was a bad idea. But it wasn’t like she’d had any choice. She opened the message.

It’s Max, in case you don’t recognize the number. Just trying to get my foot out of my mouth again. I shouldn’t have asked you if I could call tonight—any call could’ve waited until morning. It won’t happen a second time.

Three dots. He was typing something else.

It was great seeing you today.

Jenna stared at the message. How was she supposed to respond to that? She needed something to drink first. After laying her phone on the counter, she opened her cabinet to grab a glass.

Good grief . Reorganizing her cabinets had been on her weekend to-do list ... maybe next weekend. She wasn’t quite sure how she’d let her goblets and mugs get stuck on the same shelf with the plates ... or how she’d let the over-the-counter drugs get scattered on every shelf. If Granna saw this mess, she would scold her for sure.

Jenna grabbed a glass. Right now she needed tea so she could answer Max’s text and then change to go with her dad. She’d deal with her cabinets tomorrow ... Procrastination seemed to be her middle name lately and probably why the cabinets needed straightening.

She filled the glass with crushed ice and grabbed the pitcher of tea she’d made this morning, making it a point not to check out how bad her fridge looked. Jenna padded to her sofa and curled up at the end and took a long sip of the sugary drink. Everyone talked about comfort food, but there was nothing like sweet tea to make the world right.

She read the text again. Max was trying. Now Jenna felt kind of bad about blowing him off earlier.

He wasn’t going away anytime soon, at least not until after the political rally. She would be seeing him every day.

Why did that make her heart speed up?

She hesitated before she started typing.

No need to apologize. It was appreciated that you asked.

Jenna deleted the last sentence.

It was nice that you asked. And it was business.

That wasn’t quite as stiff. Her finger hovered over the send button, then she began typing again.

If you need help with the park security, let me know.

Jenna hit send.

She hadn’t added that last because she wanted to spend more time with him. It was just common courtesy.