Chapter 33

Relieved to see Nanny Raya waiting inside the kindergarten when they arrived with Tauri, Jenna took her to one side. “Are you carrying?”

“All the time.” Nanny Raya squeezed her arm. “What happened was out of your control. Don’t blame yourself, Jenna. All the intel Kane had going into this situation indicated the arrests had been made.”

Frowning, Jenna kept her voice to just above a whisper. “Styles called Dave this morning. He told him, as far as he was aware, Mateo was arrested in the raid. So someone took his place and his prints were switched. There’s a rotten apple in the sequence of events, and Dave’s not convinced we’re safe until he’s been identified.”

“Maybe not.” Nanny Raya raised an eyebrow. “The problem has been neutralized. The chances of any intruders are negligible. From what I understand, the FBI is running an investigation to find the mole. There is no reason to believe the cartel will cause you any more problems.”

Shaking her head, Jenna stared at her in disbelief. “The families of the cartel are spread out all over and they’re loyal. It would be impossible to find them all. If they have a vendetta against Dave, then we’ll never be safe.”

“As far as I know, only the men who took Kane were involved.” Nanny Raya gave her a long, concerned look. “Speak to Wolfe. He’s been working closely with Styles to get the information you need. Styles was a highly trained military investigator and he’s working on the problem. The FBI isn’t too happy about the leak either. If the information was passed using the dark web, he has the best cybercrime expert as a partner. Sometimes you must trust in the system.”

Not happy in the least, Jenna nodded. “Fine, but you watch Tauri like a hawk.”

“I’ll keep him safe, Jenna. You have my word.” Nanny Raya smiled at her. “Don’t worry.”

Turning and looking for Tauri in the mass of kids, she spotted him close to Kane. They walked along the display of paintings of Thanksgiving the kids had pinned to a board along one wall. That morning, although a little more clingy than normal, Tauri had spent the entire time over breakfast telling Jenna how Kane ripped the chains from the wall and roared like a great warrior. He had hidden, covering his head, and the gunshots had frightened him, but his daddy had curled up around him and saved him. He was so proud of Kane and kept on looking up at him and squeezing his hand. She went to them and smiled. “We need to go to work now. Nanny Raya would like to stay and help out today. Is that okay?”

“Yes, maybe she can tell us a story?” Tauri hugged Kane’s legs and then lifted his face to kiss Jenna’s cheek.

Jenna hugged him close. “I’m sure she will if you ask her in story time. We’ll be close by and come and get you and Nanny Raya this afternoon.”

“I’ll look after her.” Tauri smiled.

“See you later.” Kane ruffled his son’s hair and gave Jenna a meaningful stare. “Ready?”

Lingering would be unusual and Jenna wanted everything to be as normal as possible for Tauri. She gave him a wave and they hurried reluctantly from the room. She turned to Kane. “I hate leaving him. Are you sure this is our best option?”

“No one can get through the front gate.” Kane blew out a breath. “Nanny Raya is armed. Everything is as safe as we can make it right now. The FBI is on the job. I figure Styles is solid, and his military record is exemplary.”

Jenna climbed into the Beast. “So why did he leave? No one that overqualified ends up in Rattlesnake Creek.”

“Wolfe checked him out.” Kane started the engine and headed for the office. “Apparently, his wife tried to kill him. He needed to get away and went back to his roots. His great-grandfather was a miner there way back, and it seemed like a nice quiet place to settle.”

As they stopped outside the office, she looked at him. “You mean a nice quiet place like Black Rock Falls?” She snorted. “They sure made a mistake sending us here, didn’t they? I was supposed to blend into the local population and now we’re in books. So much for a quiet life.”

Beside them, Rowley slipped into a parking spot and nodded to Jenna. She turned to Kane. “I sure hope they’ve found something on the homicides. What with the cartel and everything that’s been happening, I don’t know which way is up right now.”

“Following the investigation will clear your head.” Kane gathered his things and climbed out, opened the back door, and helped Duke from the seat. “Has Wolfe mentioned anything about autopsies? We have three victims and need more information.”

Sighing, Jenna headed for the door. “I guess we’re going to find out once Wolfe gets organized, but I do know he has positive IDs on the victims. While we were busy, Emily found the next of kin and organized everything. They’ve all viewed the bodies and given DNA samples. I feel sorry for them. Seeing their loved ones like that would have been harrowing.” She caught Rowley’s and Rio’s attention and waved them toward her. “In my office ASAP.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Rowley tipped his hat and followed them inside.

In her office, Jenna surveyed the whiteboard. In her absence, Rio had added all the current information about each case. Complete with crime scene images and information they’d gathered about each victim. The suspects list included Carter, but he’d added nothing to his list. The other men, Dallas Strauss and Chase Holden, had information on each man and when they were spotted on CCTV cameras around town. She perused the information and then went to her computer to view all the recent uploaded files on the server. She found a file added by Agent Beth Katz out of Rattlesnake Creek and a message. She looked at Kane across her desk. “Agent Katz has requested the password for the surveillance array we have on Main. She’s going to collect footage from any CCTV cameras around town and run them through a face recognition program.”

“That would be just a formality.” Kane rubbed the back of his neck. “She’s like Kalo. She could hack into the Pentagon without leaving a sign. Give her what she needs. Until Kalo returns from vacation, she’s our go-to for assistance.” He leaned back in his chair, making it creak, and looked at her. “By now Kalo would have dredged up every dirty little secret he could find on our suspects and found the victim’s next of kin. I sure miss having him around.”

“Did you miss me too?” Carter walked into the office smiling around a toothpick, his Doberman, Zorro, at his heels. “I found a note stuck on my front door asking me to come by. What’s been happening?” He dropped into a chair in front of her desk. “Rio gave me the evil eye when I walked in before and Maggie ignored me.”

Jenna waited as Rio and Rowley came into the office and pulled up chairs to sit down. She moved her attention to Carter. “Three homicides and you just happen to match the description of the killer. You go MIA, leaving us to wonder if you’ve turned rogue.” She sucked in a breath, taking in his astonished expression. “So where the heck have you been?”