Deadly Revenge (Pearl River #3)

Chapter 55

55

While Jenna waited for Max to change for the meeting with her uncle, she flipped through the new photos on her phone of Sebastian’s key men that Alex had emailed her. She hadn’t seen any of them in town, but that wasn’t surprising. It wasn’t like they would parade themselves down Main Street.

She rolled her shoulders. It’d been a long day, most of it spent at the Armstrong place ... or maybe she was just tired since it’d been several nights since she’d had a decent six hours of sleep. Even last night with Max in the house or maybe especially because he was there. He’d moved his things from the hotel and put them in her spare bedroom, although he’d indicated he planned to sleep on the sofa in case someone tried to break in.

Max was the one person she’d always thought would have her back, no matter what. But how could she trust him now when he didn’t believe anyone had been in the house? And that he thought she was having a PTSD breakdown? It was plain that’s why he was staying at the house. Jenna lifted her chin. Her mind had not fabricated the man in her bedroom. Was it going to take her death to prove it?

She laid her phone on the kitchen table and stared out the darkened window. What was taking Max so long? It hadn’t taken Jenna five minutes to change into jeans and a long-sleeve pullover to ward off mosquitos.

They needed to leave soon if they were going to connect with Sam and the men they planned to interview. She reached down and re-laced her high-top boots for whatever snakes might be around.

“Sorry if I kept you waiting,” he said, entering the kitchen. “Do we have time for me to make a cup of coffee? That apple pie I had with dinner is making me sleepy.”

“I warned you about the carbs.” Ouch. A little harsh, aren’t we? She pushed a smile to her lips to cushion her words. Jenna wished they could go back to the way it was before he didn’t believe her about the intruder. But she couldn’t unhear his doubt. She checked her watch.

“You do,” she said, softening her voice.

“Thanks.”

Silence fell between them while he put the pod adapter in the coffeemaker and popped in a pod. Once the coffee finished brewing, he put a lid on his insulated cup and opened the back door for her. Jenna climbed in on the driver’s side while Max rode shotgun.

He placed his coffee in the cupholder. “How do we want to handle tonight?”

“I say play it by ear, but remember these guys are highly suspicious of outsiders, even if my uncle did invite you.”

“Is your dad coming?”

“I had a text from him saying he’d see me later, so I’m assuming so.”

She glanced at her dad’s house when they passed, a little surprised his pickup was still in the drive. Maybe Sam had picked him up. A few minutes later she turned into the pasture road to their meeting place and drove to the edge of the woods where pickups were parked. “Looks like they’re all here.”

Once they joined the others, Sam introduced Max to the men. Jenna breathed easier when Junior Bledsoe responded with a friendly backslap. Todd Donelson was friendly as well, but Gordon Marsden, her father’s former coworker, stood off to the side. She didn’t see her father, and she caught Sam’s eye. “Where’s Dad?”

“I don’t know. He said he might be late. Something about being tired after finishing his route and catching a nap before he came. He’ll find us.”

Jenna stifled a yawn. A nap was something she wished she could’ve caught and hoped they wouldn’t be out too late. Sam opened three cages and put tracking collars on two of the dogs.

Before she could ask why he was using two trackers, he said, “I’m using Chief to train Watson, and I want to watch and see if they’re staying together.”

Jenna never would have thought of that, but then she’d never trained hunting dogs. She smiled as the dogs danced around, barking to be let free, then she frowned and looked toward the road. It wasn’t like her dad to miss a training run.

Sam hooked a leash on all three dogs and then handed one off to Max and another to Junior. When they reached their usual release spot, he cut them loose. “Go get ’em, boys!”

The other men did the same with their dogs. Sam sat on a downed tree the wind had toppled and took out his handheld receiver. After a few minutes, he said, “Watson is sticking right with Chief.”

Max peered at the receiver. “Think they’ll find a raccoon?”

Sam laughed. “They always find one.”

The other men agreed. “What we don’t want,” Gordon Marsden said soberly, “is for Jenna to find another body.”

“Hey—I didn’t find that one. The dogs did, but don’t worry. Finding another body isn’t on the agenda tonight.” She picked up a stick and poked it around a tree trunk to make sure no critters were burrowed under the leaves. Then she slapped at a mosquito feasting on her neck.

Sudden bugle-like barking grabbed everyone’s attention. “They’ve already got the scent,” her uncle said.

The men listened to the clamor, identifying which bark belonged to which dog. Once the men settled back to wait, Max nodded at her.

He wanted her to take point. Jenna cleared her throat, and they all looked toward her.

“All of you knew the Slaters and Paul Nelson,” she said and scanned the group. “Any of you know who might’ve had it in for them?”

Deadly silence filled the night air. She didn’t rush to fill it. A minute passed. Gordon cleared his throat. “Is that why you’re here? You think it was one of us who killed Nelson?”

She jerked her head around to Gordon. “What?”

“Why would she think that?” Max asked quietly.

“Well,” Todd spoke up, “every one of us thinks the Pearl Springs city council and mayor stole our family land. Me included.”

“Same here,” Junior said. “I mean, nobody died, but my daddy never was the same after they had to move off the land.”

“Losing land that’s been in the family for generations does something to a man,” Gordon said quietly.

“But you fought the case,” Jenna said to Gordon.

“I did, for all the good it did me. By the time I paid my lawyer, I didn’t end up with as much as the government offered the first time.”

“Why do you say the mayor and city council stole your land?” Max said.

“Because they’re the ones who came up with this dam and reservoir idea, and once the land was bought, Slater and Nelson suddenly had money to buy expensive cars and clothes,” Sam said, his voice flat.

“How about Carter?” Max asked.

Junior laughed. “He had sense enough not to start spending money. But we all knew he had it.”

“Have any of you ever heard of TerraQuest?” Max asked.

“That was the company that bought up a whole lot of our neighbors’ land before word got out that there was going to be a dam and reservoir,” Gordon said. “I heard they got top dollar from the government for their acreage—more than twice what any of us got.”

“Do you know who owns TerraQuest?” Jenna asked.

“I don’t,” Junior said.

Before anyone else could answer, excited barking captured the men’s attention, and they all jumped up, whooping.

“They found one!” Sam chortled. “And according to the tracker, it looked like Watson was the lead. Come on, let’s go see how big this raccoon is.” He elbowed Max. “Told you he was a good dog!”

Jenna groaned. They’d lost them. There would be no answers now.