Chapter 34

34

Jenna slipped into the room with Max right behind her just as Alex started the briefing. They found chairs near the back.

"Good. You made it," Alex said. She directed her attention to Max. "Do you have the report on the castle nut?"

"No," he said, "but she promised it by late this afternoon. I forwarded you an email from the logistics team approving the plan for positioning security at the park, so we need to firm up those assignments."

"I'll send out a schedule later today," Alex said and then went on to discuss the letter found in Joe Slater's desk.

"How about Paul Nelson's place?" Jenna asked. "Was a letter found there?"

"No, but as soon as we finish here, Dylan and Taylor are going to process Nelson's insurance office. Any more questions?"

When there were none, Alex held up two photos. "On to another subject. These are the only photos we have of Rick Sebastian, a notorious gang leader in Chattanooga. One is before prison and the other is from intake when he was incarcerated. Unfortunately, Mr. Sebastian is camera shy, and we have nothing more recent."

Jenna froze and quickly averted her eyes. She'd known Alex planned to circulate the photos, and she thought she was prepared to see them. Evidently not prepared enough. Sweat beaded her face. Scenes of the night she was shot flashed in her mind.

Get a grip! She couldn't lose it in front of Alex and the other deputies. And certainly not Max—he already thought she was having PTSD. She forced her attention back to the chief deputy.

Alex continued. "He was released from prison a month ago. Jenna was part of the team that arrested him for cocaine possession and testified against him at his trial, and after he was found guilty and sentenced, he threatened her life.

"His hair could be any length or he could've shaved his head. I've requested any photos the prison might have on file, but until we hear from them, use the photos you have now. And don't just keep a watch out for him, show these around, see if anyone recognizes him."

Jenna hadn't scanned the documents in her folder, and she pulled them out, forcing herself to examine them. No matter if he had hair or no hair, she would always recognize him from his hard brown eyes and the arrogant smirk on his face. She stared at the photo with longer hair ... Had that been the man in her window?

"Any chance he could be connected to the murders of Slater and Nelson?" Wayne asked.

"It would be a far stretch to connect him to them," Alex said.

A timer went off on the chief deputy's watch. "That's all for right now. If you come across anyone who's seen Sebastian, call me or Jenna immediately."

She nodded to Max and Jenna. "My office?"

Jenna followed Alex, feeling much like she had when the principal summoned her in high school, which was absurd.

"Sorry to spring the earlier briefing on you," Alex said. She placed the files from the briefing beside her and sat on the corner of her desk. "But Harrison Carter has an appointment in Chattanooga and requested we meet at nine instead of ten—he has agreed to give us thirty minutes."

"Very generous of him," Max said.

"Yeah. The location is still the park since his security people want to check it out."

She turned her attention to Jenna. "Nathan is picking me up in a few minutes, but I wanted to make sure you were okay. You turned kind of pale when I showed Sebastian's photo."

"I'm fine—it reminded me of how slippery he is. I wish we had a photo of him since his release."

Alex glanced down at the photo on top of her files. "Me too. I'd like to get Dani Collins to do a drawing of what he'd look like if he beefed up in prison—a lot of inmates do since they have so much free time. But that will have to wait until she returns with Mark later this week."

A text dinged on Alex's phone. "Nathan's here. Do either of you have any questions?" When they didn't, she said, "See you at the park."

A few minutes later, Jenna followed Max to their vehicles.

"You sure you're okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine." She clenched her jaw. "Everyone acts like I'm this fragile porcelain doll." Jenna squared her shoulders. "See you at the park."