Be Mine Forever (Detectives Kane and Alton)

“Yeah, she’ll be okay.” Rowley sounded exhausted. “The babies too. She has a concussion and needed six stitches in the wound on her head and three above her eye.” He let out a long sigh. “I’m staying with her tonight. My folks brought me a change of clothes but I’ve sent them home now. Sandy can’t have visitors. They want her to rest here for a couple of days.”

Jenna nodded. “Take all the time you need, Jake.” She stared at the sandwich on her knee. “We’ll drop by anyway. I have a Thermos of hot coffee and sandwiches from Aunt Betty’s if you want them?”

“Oh, boy. I’m famished. Thank you. I’ll come down and meet you out front. I’m sure you want to get on home.”

Jenna glanced at Kane. “We’re leaving now, head on down.” She disconnected. “Thank God she’s okay.”

“Yeah.” Kane licked his fingers and then started the truck. “It’s just as well or we’d have had a vigilante deputy on our hands. I figure you’ll need to keep Jake on a short leash. Us guys don’t take too kindly to people hurting our womenfolk.”

Thirty-Six

Wednesday

Sleeping in just happened to be the one thing that never happened to Jenna. She sat bolt upright when a scrape came on her bedroom door, followed by a thump on the bed and a good face washing by Duke. “Yuk, how did you get out?” She pushed him away but couldn’t resist rubbing his ears before reaching for a packet of wipes on her bedside table and washing her face.

“You’ll hurt his feelings.” Kane’s voice sounded muffled.

“Dave?” She blinked into the dim light. “Is something wrong?”

“Nope, I’m just checking on you is all?” Kane poked his head around the door. “When you didn’t show for work by eight, I started to worry and let myself in. When I saw you were sound asleep, I put on a pot of coffee.”

Bewildered, Jenna stared at the bedside clock. Her usual morning workout started at six with Kane after they’d tended the horses. By eight-ten, she should be heading for the office. “Oh, darn. I’m sorry, I never oversleep.”

“It’s all good, Rio is at the office with Maggie. They both figured we had something to do this morning and anyway, I needed some spare time to update the files. We’re all squared away now.” Kane carried two cups of coffee into the room and placed them on the bedside table. “I called Rowley. Sandy is doing okay. She’s a bit battered and will b

e staying for a day or so. The doctor wants her to rest. Rowley’s father has offered to tend the animals and will stay on the ranch until Sandy is home.” He sighed. “I told Rowley to take all the time he needs. He can’t be involved in the investigation and might as well be with Sandy when she needs him.”

Relieved, Jenna nodded in agreement but her head hurt. “That’s good news about Sandy.” She patted the edge of the bed. “Sit down.” She leaned back in the pillows. “Why did you let me sleep so long?”

“You fell asleep on the drive home, Jenna. You haven’t recovered from the head injury. You’ve likely been walking around with concussion. Mr. Law belted you pretty hard.” Kane sat beside her and gently touched the bruise under her eye. “The bruise on your face is purple and I know it hurts. An extra hour or so isn’t going to make any difference to the investigation.” He handed her a cup. “We’re waiting on a formal ID on the last victim. Rio has already issued a media report—it’s generic and I approved it—so it will make the news. He did mention we are looking for a silver GMC truck and has asked the owner to come forward.”

Jenna sipped her coffee. “Good luck with that.” She took his hand and squeezed. “Thanks for covering for me. I guess I did need the rest. My face does hurt and my head aches some but I don’t feel concussed just exhausted. It’s been a grueling week so far.”

“With two murders to solve…” Kane smiled ruefully. “It’s only going to get worse before it gets better.”

“It seems Rio arrived just in time.” Jenna finished her coffee. “I’ll have him hunting down our suspects to discover where they were last night.”

“Hmm, well most of them would have been at the festival.” Kane sipped his coffee and stared at the wall thinking. “Wyatt Cooper seemed to vanish after the parade and I don’t recall seeing him with any of the groups of people hanging around town. I figure we should pick up where we left off and see how he reacts to knowing his DNA was at Laurie’s murder scene.”

Reluctantly Jenna released his hand and sighed. “We can’t tell him about the briefs, it’s a part of the evidence I want suppressed. It’s a signature. I don’t want any potential copycat killers getting in on the act.”

“So, we just tell him about his DNA and watch his reaction.” Kane stood and looked down at her. “I’ll cook, while you shower.” He lingered at the door. “I’m leaving Duke home today as we have the autopsy this afternoon and some follow-up interviews. I figure he’d appreciate time with Pumpkin and the horses rather than being stuck in the office all day.” He rubbed his shoulder and moved his arm around in circles as if it hurt. “Carter called earlier. He said Jo is taking Jaime out for the day and he’s going fishing. I figure it was his way of reminding us they’re on vacation.”

Jenna frowned. “Is there something wrong with your arm?”

“Maybe.” Kane thought for a beat as if deciding to tell her something. “I’ll ask Wolfe to check it when we go for the autopsy.” He stared at the ceiling as if contemplating what to say. “I’ll go make breakfast.”

Instead of leaving the room, he grabbed the notepad beside her bed and scribbled a note. A flash of annoyance moved over his face.

I’m sure I’ve been chipped and I figure it’s moved. I cut one out when I returned after my last assignment. I figure when I was shot, they replaced it somewhere I couldn’t reach it. The chips are not only used for location they can pick up every word. If it’s there, I want it out. If they can’t trust me by now, they never will.

Annoyed and astounded, Jenna swallowed hard and took the pen from his hands and wrote back.

If you have one, they don’t trust me either. I’ll ask Wolfe to check me too. How will he know?

Jenna passed the notepad back to Kane and rubbed her shoulder feeling all around for a lump.

Kane wrote fast.