Deadly Revenge (Pearl River #3)

Chapter 42

42

Alex was in her office, but before they could ask about the accident report, she said, “I found the file, but I’d like you to sit down before we discuss it.”

Jenna gave her a wary glance. “Why?”

“Just sit.”

They each took a wingback chair across from her desk and waited. Alex handed each a stapled copy of the report. Max opened his right away, but Jenna hesitated. Alex was acting strangely, and that couldn’t be good.

Her boss cleared her throat and said, “The accident was caused by a tie-rod coming loose.”

Jenna stared at her boss as blood drained from her face. A tie-rod ... just like Joe Slater.

Her grandfather was murdered? Bands gripped Jenna’s chest, making it hard to breathe as panic edged into her brain. Not now. She forced herself to breathe, but still the room closed in on her.

Beside her Max murmured something and Alex answered, but the noise in her head drowned out their words.

“Are you all right, Jenna?”

Alex’s words jolted her, and she focused on the chief deputy. “I’m fine. Are you sure? About the tie-rod?”

“I called my grandfather to make sure there hadn’t been a mistake, and he confirmed it,” she said. “Gramps and your grandfather were good friends.”

Jenna took a deep breath to clear her head. Had her grandfather been murdered for his land? “Did the sheriff ever consider it might not have been an accident?”

“It was an old farm truck, but he knew your granddaddy would’ve checked things like that. The sheriff’s office didn’t have a CSI team then, and Gramps had Junior check it out. He couldn’t find any evidence of tampering. Of course now we have better ways of checking that.”

Max glanced at Jenna. “Why didn’t Junior tell us that at lunch?”

“Good question.”

“Have you heard from your CSI on the nut you found?” Alex asked.

“No. I’ll call right now.” Max took out his phone and stepped out of the room.

“I’m sorry,” Alex said. “I know this is a shock.”

All Jenna could do was nod. Granna. How was she going to take this? She rubbed her forehead. “Can we keep this quiet until I figure out how to tell my grandmother?”

“The part about your grandfather’s truck, yes, but I’m afraid most people already know about the tie-rod on Joe’s Hummer and are speculating Joe and his wife were murdered. If anyone remembers what caused your grandfather’s accident—”

“I think Junior has already put it together.” Jenna dropped her gaze to the report. “Anything from the Hamilton County medical examiner?”

“Not yet, but I expect at least a preliminary report by morning.”

The door opened and they both turned and looked expectantly as Max entered the room.

“She said the microscope showed tiny scuff marks on the nut like an open-end wrench would make. And the cotter pin you found on the road did not come from the Hummer. It was much too old.” He raised his eyebrows. “But the one you found in the garage did.”

“I can’t believe the killer used the same method twice,” she said.

“It happens more than you’d think,” Alex said. “Killers aren’t always the brightest bulb in the box. Often they think if something worked the first time, it’ll work again.”

Max nodded. “Like a case last year. A husband reported his wife died when she fell down their basement steps. When we looked into the husband’s history, we found that his first wife died the same way ten years ago. He’s awaiting trial now.”

“Whoever killed Joe and Katherine Slater figured we’d never put the two accidents together,” Jenna said.

“That’s a likely scenario.” Alex leaned back in her chair. “What do you two have for me?”

She let Max fill Alex in on the information they’d gotten at the registrar’s office. When he finished, Alex said, “I’ll put Dylan on TerraQuest’s trail—if anyone can find them, he can.”

Jenna stood. “We stopped by Harold Pipkin’s office before we came here.” Alex’s brows quirked up, questioning. “His grandfather wrote the deeds for the property TerraQuest bought before the dam was proposed.”

“It’s hard to believe anyone would kill just to purchase land on the off chance the dam would actually be built.”

“Unless whoever owns TerraQuest was pretty certain the dam was a done deal, and they were going to reap a profit,” Jenna said.

“Still ...” Alex teepeed her fingers. “How much money do you think we’re talking about here?”

“I don’t know. I do know on the deeds we checked, the state offered TerraQuest more money for their property than they offered to those who held out, but we didn’t check them all.” Jenna took out her phone. “I’ll do that now.”

She brought up each deed and checked the purchase price. Wait a minute. “That can’t be right.”

Max looked up from his phone. “I think you’re seeing the same thing I am.”

“What are you two talking about?”

Jenna exchanged glances with Max. “You tell her while I double-check something.”

She opened her calculator app and entered numbers while Max continued.

“On the ones I checked, the government paid almost three times the price for the land they purchased from TerraQuest as they did from individual landowners.”

“You’re kidding. Maybe the acreage was different.”

Jenna shook her head. “The acreage varied, but in the ones I just calculated, TerraQuest received almost three times as much per acre.”

“Okay,” Alex said. “We need to find out just who owns TerraQuest.”

“And then locate and talk to the original property owners,” Max added. “I think I’ll text Harrison Carter to see if he’s familiar with the company.”

“Wait until we talk to him at the funeral,” Jenna said. “I’d like to read his body language when you bring it up.”

“You think—”

“I don’t think anything, Max,” she replied. “Except we shouldn’t rule out the possibility he’s involved.”

“You’re right.”

Jenna handed Alex a list of people who’d sold to TerraQuest. “Do you know any of these people? We wanted to talk to them.”

Alex looked over the list. “Some have died, but I’ll get you an address for those who haven’t.”

“Thanks. Just text it to us.” Jenna checked her watch and stood. “Granna is looking for us in twenty minutes.”

“What are you expecting to learn from her?” Alex asked.

Max had stood as well. “She started to tell us something about Carter when her son came over and she clammed up.”

“Interesting.” Alex tapped her fingers together. “She should know—Eva Hart has her finger on the pulse of almost everything going on in Pearl Springs.”

Jenna sighed. The problem would be in whether Granna would share what she knew.