Deadly Revenge (Pearl River #3)

Chapter 13

13

Max flipped over in the hard hotel bed again and punched his pillow. It’d probably been a mistake to return to Pearl Springs from Nashville last night, but normally he didn’t have trouble sleeping when he was away from his own bed. The problem was more than likely due to a certain Russell County deputy.

Not that she was the reason he drove back from Nashville after leaving the castle nut with the TBI forensic tech. Yeah, right. He told Alex when they talked that he’d returned so he wouldn’t have to get up so early.

At least driving back had given him thinking time on the Carter case. From what Martin and Holliday said, Carter had made a lot of people mad in his tenure as mayor. Or at least at the beginning of it.

He dismissed the problems stemming from taxes and regulations—Max doubted anyone affected would hold a grudge for twenty years over a zoning issue. But the dam and reservoir were a different matter. People had lost land that had been in their families for generations.

And then there was the Slater accident—Joe Slater had served on the city council the same time Carter was mayor. That gave Max another reason to focus on Russell County and Pearl Springs for the person responsible for the threats against Carter.

Max flipped over on his other side again. He’d almost drifted off to sleep when his phone jerked him awake. He grabbed it and stared at the screen. Alex? “Anderson,” he answered.

“Just got a call from Jenna. She’s found a body, and since you’re here, I thought you might want to ride to the crime scene.”

A body? He shook his head to clear it. “Could it be the Nelson guy I told you about?”

“Don’t know. Apparently the body is covered by brush. Jenna is waiting for us to arrive before moving anything,” she said. “Nathan’s picking me up in ten minutes if you want to ride with us.”

“Text me your address.”

Seconds later he heard a message come in on his phone.

“Oh,” Alex said. “Wear high-top boots if you have them. The body is in the woods, and we might encounter copperheads and rattlesnakes.”

“Gotcha.”

Max quickly dressed in jeans and a pullover and slid his feet into sneakers since his boots were in his truck. He would change shoes on the way to the site.

The police chief’s truck sat idling in Alex’s drive when he arrived. Max parked to the side and grabbed his boots just as Alex jogged by.

Nathan opened the passenger door, and Max couldn’t help overhearing their conversation.

“Your carriage awaits,” Nathan’s voice teased.

“Thank you, kind knight. Sorry to get you out this time of night.”

“No problem.”

Max felt like an intruder and quickly looked away when it was obvious Nathan was going to kiss Alex. Their banter created a yearning in his chest. He didn’t want to think he was envious, and he wasn’t—it wasn’t Alex that Max wanted.

“Coming?” Alex called and climbed into the passenger seat.

“Yeah,” Max mumbled and climbed in the back seat of the truck.

Once they buckled up, Nathan pulled away from the drive. “Which way?”

“Razorback Ridge. I tagged her location in my GPS, and it should give us directions.”

Max laced the boots he’d pulled on. “How did she manage to find a body?”

Alex looked over her shoulder at him. “I don’t know. I thought I’d call her on the way.”

A few minutes later, he leaned forward and listened as Jenna filled them in on the details of finding the body.

“How many hunters are with you?” Alex asked.

“Six counting me. I’m afraid we trampled all over the crime scene, but we had no idea the dogs were barking at a body.”

“What’s done is done. Can you tell who it is?”

“No. Brush covers most of his torso. The only reason I’m pretty sure it’s a man is from the shoe and slacks on the victim. I’ll send you the photo I took.”

Seconds later a text chimed on Alex’s phone. She opened the app and held her phone where Max could see it. The photo showed a pile of brush, and at the bottom he barely made out the sole of a man’s shoe. No socks. White skin exposed between the shoe and pants leg.

Jenna sent another photo. It looked like she’d zoomed in with a closer view of the shoe. Nathan stopped at the only traffic light in town, and Alex showed them both the photos.

“That’s a Crockett & Jones logo,” Nathan said.

The company name rang a bell with Max. He whistled when he remembered why. “When I was head of Robbery and Burglary in Chattanooga, one of our cases involved the burglary of a shoe store, and that was one of the brands the owner reported stolen. I remember it because it’s an expensive shoe, like over five hundred dollars back then.”

Nathan turned off the highway onto a two-lane road. “I can’t think of anyone in Pearl Springs who spends that kind of money on shoes.”

“I can,” Alex said softly. “And we drove out to his house today to talk to him about Joe Slater’s death—Paul Nelson. He wasn’t home.”

Max’s brain went into overdrive. What were the odds of two city councilmen who served together dying on the same day? Especially with one murdered and the other dying in a supposed accident that was looking less and less like an accident by the minute?

“If it turns out to be Nelson,” Nathan said, “that puts a whole new light on the Slater deaths and the note Carter received.”

Max agreed. “So who did the mayor and city council make mad enough to kill?”

Nathan grunted. “Depends on how far back you want to go. Carter was gone by the time I became chief, but he was mayor while I was Sheriff Stone’s deputy, so I’m familiar with part of his tenure. I’ve heard the sheriff say more than once that Harrison Carter came into office and made changes too fast. Some people don’t like change even when it’s good for them.”

“Especially if it’s crammed down their throat,” Alex said. “I wasn’t in Pearl Springs as an adult much when Carter was mayor and don’t remember those changes.”

Nathan chuckled. “Count yourself fortunate. I remember the chief before me butting heads with him—Carter was frugal with the city treasury to put it nicely.”

A clearer picture of Harrison Carter was forming in Max’s head. “Anything that would warrant the three deaths and Carter receiving threats?”

“I’m not sure which one to start with.” Nathan tapped the steer ing wheel. “I guess the first thing he did was raise taxes to spruce up the city park. I thought that was a good move, but some people were furious because it was the same year we had a recession. Then he placed restrictive regulations on businesses and created controversial zoning rules. But the kicker was probably building the dam on the Pearl River.”

“I’ve heard about that,” Max said. “But would the people involved still carry a grudge?”

“Around here?” Alex said. “Yep. Even I remember that no one involved liked having their property taken for the project, even though it supposedly meant attracting industry to the area.”

“Which really hasn’t happened so far,” Nathan added.

“But all of these things are far in the past. Why now?”

“That’s a good question.” Alex rubbed the back of her neck. “Maybe the cases aren’t connected, and the body isn’t anyone we know.”

Max had a feeling the chief deputy was wrong. He looked out the window as dark shadows flew by in the gray moonlight. They wouldn’t be completely in the dark. “I’m glad Jenna was there when they found the body and was able to secure the scene.”

“We got lucky there.” Nathan made another turn, then he glanced toward Alex. “I’m glad Jenna is working out. Any signs of lingering PTSD?”

“Haven’t been any problems.”

“PTSD?” Max said.

Alex turned to where she could see Max. “You didn’t know?”

“No.” He should’ve checked on her, but he’d been so wrapped up in his work.

Alex hesitated, indecision playing on her face, then she nodded. “It’s nothing she’s tried to hide—before I hired her, Jenna was up-front about the shooting in Chattanooga that put her in the hospital and left her with PTSD. An internal investigation had found no fault with her actions in the death of a small-time drug dealer ... other than she was on a passive surveillance and not supposed to engage her targets.”

Then the chief deputy shrugged. “If it’d been me, I would’ve done the same thing. If Jenna had waited, a five-year-old boy would probably be dead. She’s still upset the head of the gang, Rick Sebastian, slipped through her fingers.”

He should’ve dug into the rumors more ... Jenna probably thought he’d heard and believed them. “So, she’s working out?”

“Absolutely. Chattanooga PD made a huge mistake relegating her to a desk after she was cleared by the department psychologist. I haven’t regretted hiring her for one minute.”

“She really was one of my best detectives,” Max said.

“What do you think about her working with you on security for Saturday ... and you maybe helping out with the Slater investigation?”

His heart jumped. “No objections at all.”

“Good. I’m sure she’ll tell you about her PTSD since you two will be working together—but don’t mention the part about you helping with her case until I have a chance to broach the subject with her.”

“Don’t worry—I won’t.” He doubted Jenna would be happy to learn they’d be working together.

Alex laughed. “She’ll be fine with it, once she has time to think about it.” The GPS beeped. “There’s a logging road just ahead. Turn there.”

Nathan turned where Alex indicated, and Max gripped the armrest as the SUV bumped over the ruts. Headlights flashed in the side mirror.

“That’s probably my CSI tech, Dylan,” she said before he could ask. About a mile in, a man stood at the edge of a clearing, holding a battery-powered lantern. Several trucks were parked in the small area, and they pulled in beside a gray Chevy. Max stepped out into the damp night as Dylan pulled in behind them.

“Alex, Chief,” the man holding the lantern said, nodding at them. He questioned Max’s presence with his eyebrows.

Alex nodded toward Max. “This is TBI agent Maxwell Anderson. Max, Jenna’s dad, Randy Hart.” She turned back to Randy. “Where’s the body?”

“It’s about half a mile from here. Jenna sent me to show you the way.”

Alex turned to the CSI tech. “Need help with your equipment?”

Dylan pushed his glasses up on his nose. “It would help if someone could carry one of the portable lights.”

“I got it.” Max took the folded tripod with two lamps attached and followed the others. He thought he was in good shape, but tramping through brush was a lot different than running on a treadmill.

By the time they reached the crime scene, his heart was doing a hundred plus when he set the lamps down, but he wasn’t certain that could be blamed on the hike. More likely because Jenna’s hand had closed over his when she grabbed the lamp pole.

“What are you doing here? I thought you were in Nashville.”

At least she sounded more curious than angry to see him. He grinned. “Couldn’t stay away, not with all this excitement.”

She shook her head and helped Dylan set up the lamps. An hour later, he removed the last branch covering the body.

“It’s Paul Nelson,” Alex said.

Max was glad he’d returned. Harrison Carter’s case just moved up from a four to a ten because, dollars to donuts, Joe Slater’s accident hadn’t been an accident at all.

He figured Carter was next.