Chapter 42

FORTY-TWO

The media conference had been set for two and was to be held on the steps of the ME’s office, so with time to spare, Jenna and her deputies canvased every residence within a wide radius of the beauty parlor in the hope that someone might have noticed something unusual the previous night. Not one person had heard or seen anything. It seemed that everyone in town watched Friday Night Sports. The investigation ground to a standstill, and they’d need to wait until Wolfe processed the samples taken from the crime scene and conducted an autopsy.

Exhausted and her back a constant ache, Jenna and Kane headed for Aunt Betty’s Café. She lingered over lunch and noticed Kane’s gaze scanning the room. “What is it?”

“Did you notice Wyatt Twotrees when we arrived? He’s in the booth on the left with none other than Dustin Crawley.” Kane leaned back in his chair and raised his chin toward them. “For two people who insist they never see each other, this is a little suspicious.”

Acting nonchalant, Jenna dug into her peach pie. “It just got more interesting.” She flicked her gaze to the door. “Here comes Wasser and Hallon.”

“What do you think they’re up to?” Kane stared down at his plate. “Do you figure they’re meeting because we interviewed them all and then followed up with phone calls this morning?”

Lifting a forkful of pie to her lips, Jenna met his gaze. “Well, they know they’re on our radar. Oh, now look who’s here.”

“Josie Grady.” Kane reached for his coffee and took a sip. “That’s the lawyer Samuel J. Cross right behind her. Why aren’t they going to his office? It seems very strange to be meeting in Aunt Betty’s Café, although they have taken a booth and the one beside it has a reserved sign on it. Do you figure that Susie would do that to give them some privacy if they asked her?”

Jenna shrugged. “Maybe she’s heading there now to take their order. I’ll wave her down on the way back and ask her. None of them are short of money, so maybe they hired that booth for an hour.”

“Well, we have plenty of time before the press conference.” Kane checked his watch and then smiled at her. “I might have another slice of pie. I haven’t tried the cherry this week.”

Leaning back in her chair and resting one hand on her belly, Jenna smiled at him. “I’ll never complain about having a rest. The baby is kicking up a storm right now. It’s really weird. It starts as a flutter, and then suddenly as the weeks go by, it changes. I can actually feel it stretching. It puts its little feet down and pushes into my ribs.” She covered Kane’s hand on the table and squeezed. “Wolfe mentioned it was a big baby. If I hadn’t been checking every few weeks, I would have worried I’d made a mistake with the dates.” She frowned. “Did your mom ever mention having any problems having you? Do you know what birth weight you were?”

“I don’t want you to worry about this right now.” Kane turned his hand over and linked their fingers. “She never mentioned having any problems, but I was her second child. My sister was the eldest.”

As Kane was very good at shielding his emotions, his lowered lashes sent shivers down her spine. “You do know your birth weight, don’t you? Why aren’t you telling me?”

“Because it’s irrelevant. My mom was approximately the same size as you, but that doesn’t mean a thing. She had me thirty-six years ago, which might as well have been in the Stone Age to what doctors can do to ease the birthing process these days.” He met her gaze and gave a reluctant shrug. “I weighed in at ten-and-a-half pounds and I was too long for the regular newborn crib in the hospital. My dad was very proud. I’ve seen photographs of him holding me moments after birth grinning with a huge cigar in one side of his mouth. In the photographs I saw of my mom around the same time, she looked very happy. That’s all I can really tell you.”

Understanding that new mothers had a normal fear of giving birth, she’d pushed the idea of having a large baby to the back of her mind. Kane was right, she would be in the best place possible with people she trusted. She glanced away from him as Susie walked by and gave her a wave. “I’d like another glass of milk please, and Dave would love a slice of cherry pie. I couldn’t help noticing the reserved sign over there. Did Sam Cross ask you to do that so that group could have some privacy?”

“Why do you ask?” Susie looked uncomfortable by the question.

“Well, that group of people over there were the last ones to see Cole and Abby alive.” Kane gave her a long searching look. “They are the names of the two bodies that washed up in the river earlier this week. The people sitting over there told us that they haven’t socialized with each other since college, and we’ve been questioning them about the night Cole and Abby went missing. Now two of them have been murdered and they are having a meeting with a lawyer.”

“Oh, I see.” All the color drained from Susie’s face. “Do you figure one of them might be the killer?”

Nodding slowly, Jenna raised her chin to look at her. “One or all of them. Right now, it’s hard to tell.”

“It was Wyatt.” Susie turned her back on the group of people and started gathering the empty plates onto her tray. “He gave me fifty dollars to reserve the booth until two. We often take reservations, so it was no big deal.” She took a deep breath and looked at Kane. “Are they dangerous?”

“Not to you.” Kane leaned back in his chair and smiled at her with an open, friendly expression. “We figure they’re killing each other to prevent them talking to us. Just go about your business as if nothing is amiss. We don’t want them to believe we’ve been discussing them.”

“Okay. I’ll be right back with your pie.” Susie plastered a smile on her face and headed toward the kitchen.

About fifteen minutes later, Sam Cross came over to their table and asked if he could join them. Jenna looked at him and smiled. Although Sam Cross, being a defense attorney, was never on her side, she had no reason not to be cordial toward him. “Yes, of course. What’s on your mind?”

“I’m aware that you know the group of people sitting at the booth in the corner.” Cross gave her a long considering stare. “They’ve hired me as a group to represent them in a case against the sheriff’s department for harassment. It seems, as they were friends of the two deceased people you discovered in the river earlier this week, you’ve taken it upon yourself to go to their places of business and cause them considerable embarrassment by making it appear they’re involved in the murders. Then again, this morning, you not only called them to insist they verify their whereabouts for the previous evening but followed this up with calls to their families to verify the information. This is blatant harassment as you have absolutely no evidence whatsoever that this group of people was involved in the murders of their friends.”

Bristling, Jenna stared him down. “That group of people has admitted being with Cole and Abby on the night they disappeared. It is only natural we’d question them during our investigations. One of their group, Marissa Kendrick, was found brutally murdered at the Old Mitcham Ranch. Their other friend, Lily Jones, was decapitated behind the beauty parlor last night.” She took a steadying breath but didn’t break eye contact. “There are no other suspects for these crimes. We have reason to believe from the evidence we’ve gathered over the last week that one or all of these people were involved in the murders of Cole and Abby. You’re very welcome to lodge a complaint against us with the DA, but at no time did I or my deputies threaten any of them. In fact, each one we interviewed cooperated.”

“It seems to me that they’ve something to hide if they hired you.” Kane pushed his empty pie plate into the middle of the table. “It’s their prerogative to lawyer up and remain silent, but that won’t remove them from our suspects list.” He glanced at his watch. “We need to go. We’re attending a press conference.”

“Stay away from my clients.” Cross looked from one to the other.

Keeping her anger in check, Jenna stood and slid into her coat. She looked at him. “You’ll be the first one I call when we haul them in to charge them with murder.” She turned and followed Kane out of the café.