Chapter 31

THIRTY-ONE

That morning at the kindergarten Jenna and Kane spent time admiring their son’s artwork. The theme this week in the class had been spring, and Tauri proudly described each painting in the display of his work. The little boy had proved to be talented in many ways. At five he could read and speak three languages and had an awe-inspiring intuition. In fact, Jenna’s son never ceased to amaze her. She’d been told being a mother would be difficult, especially raising a child who wasn’t her own. There would be things in Tauri’s past they would need to get through, but this didn’t seem to be the case. It seemed he’d been one of the lucky ones when it came to foster care. The little boy had always insisted that he’d been waiting for them to come for him, and the moment they’d arrived at Blackhawk’s ranch he’d recognized them as being his parents. The feeling had been mutual, and they had become an immediate family.

Tauri was tall and robust, and now five-and-a-half years old, he was head and shoulders above the other children of his age. There’d been no mistake about his date of birth or his heritage. His mother had died but had left as much information as she could gather with the baby as if she’d known the end was close. The only thing they didn’t know was his father’s name. The entire time he was in foster care, not one person had come forward to claim him until a DNA match had put him as a close relative to a Atohi Blackhawk and, way back on his mother’s side, a distant relative to Kane’s dead wife, Annie. Blackhawk had become his guardian and it was only fate that had brought them all together one day on the res. As if the planets had aligned, Tauri had completed Jenna and Kane’s world.

Impressed by the scenes of forest wildflowers and bright blue skies, Jenna hugged Tauri. “These are wonderful. I hope you’ll be able to bring them home so we can put them up in your room.” She pointed to a picture of the three of them outside their ranch house. “This one would look really good in the passageway beside the front door.”

“I’d like that.” Tauri beamed at her. “I’ll make sure not to crease it when I bring it home.” He looked at Kane. “See I made you bigger than all the other daddies in the class.”

“You included the motorcycle.” Kane bent to peer at the painting. “These are very good. I’m so proud of you.” He ruffled Tauri’s hair. “I wish we could stay a little longer but we must go to work now. You have fun and we’ll see you later.”

After a quick hug, Jenna reluctantly followed Kane to the door, turning to give Tauri a quick wave. The ache of leaving him at the kindergarten had eased since the first few weeks. Her little boy enjoyed the company of the other children and thrived with the input of knowledge. The school was very progressive and the curriculum covered a wide range of subjects. With the added security and Nanny Raya on hand, it assured that when they were working, Tauri had the best possible care available.

They headed to the office to find Rio and Rowley hard at work. After returning from the crime scene, they’d divided the list of potential suspects to hunt down their exact location. Kane had unlocked Marissa’s phones but found absolutely no reason why she went to the Old Mitcham Ranch after lunch at Aunt Betty’s Café. Jenna had refused to believe her death was a random act of violence. Someone had lured Marissa to the ranch and it must be someone she knew. The idea of an angry client did enter her mind, but as far as she could ascertain, Marissa’s clientele was more than happy with her work. In fact, when she’d called her client list, they all sang her praises.

The main problem Jenna faced was they didn’t have a valid reason to question the suspects. She might believe there were possible links to the death of Marissa Kendrick, but she had no proof or motive whatsoever. As everything had occurred since the discovery of Cole’s and Abby’s bodies, the probability that the cold case and Marissa’s murder were entwined had become more than coincidental. If the group with Cole and Abby on the night they’d died had something to hide, she’d do everything in her power to uncover the truth.

She scanned the whiteboard. Rio had painstakingly added all the information possible on the suspects and was currently adding photographs. She turned and looked at Rowley. “Do you have their current locations?”

“I have where they should be.” Rowley stared at his tablet. “Clint Wasser and Wyatt Twotrees own the vehicle dealership in town and both should be there, although Wasser does move around. He works in sales, so moves between franchises. Twotrees works mainly from the office, as far as I know.” He scrolled through the page on his tablet. “Dustin Crawley should be at his parents’ ranch. He is single and works the rodeo circuit every year, but the weather has held up everything this year so he should be at home. Jess Hallon is married to Dawn and they have a son. He works on his parents’ ranch and lives in a separate house on the property.”

Jenna made notes and then looked at her deputies. “Okay, we need to establish the men’s whereabouts when Marissa was murdered. I don’t have a time of death, so we’ll take it from when she had lunch with Josie Campbell and when we discovered her body. Rio and Rowley, you hunt down Crawley and Hallon. We have an autopsy at ten, so we’ll do the local suspects. It’s imperative we discover who fits into Marissa Kendrick’s timeline.”

“Copy that.” Rowley stood and gathered his things. He looked at Rio. “I’ll drive. I know where they live.” He headed out of the door.

Thinking ahead, Jenna stood and took her coat from Kane. “I figure I’ll start the questioning with what happened twelve years ago and then move on to their whereabouts when Marissa was murdered. It will be interesting to see their reaction.”

“That should work.” Kane pushed on his hat and zipped up his jacket. “The main problem I see is that if they’ve been keeping a secret for twelve years, they’ll be hard to break. After time a lie becomes the truth. I’ve seen people trick polygraphs with much the same.”

Jenna smiled at him. “It will work. You’ll be watching him and you don’t miss a thing.”