Kane smiled. “Jenna is the same. It looks like we’re going to be taking a long lunchbreak.”
“Now that sounds like a plan.” Carter chuckled.
Twenty-Two
Rowley leaned back in his chair and read through the report that Matt Thompson, the fire chief, had delivered to the office. Curious why he hadn’t emailed the file straight to Jenna, he glanced over to the man sitting across the desk and cleared his throat. “I’m not sure why you brought this to me. This is an FBI investigation.”
“Yeah, I’m fully aware of the FBI throwing accusations at my department.” Thompson leaned forward and dug his index finger into the desk. “I wanted to speak to Sheriff Alton personally. She took it upon herself to blame me for not inspecting the upstairs of the Woods’ ranch.”
“Well—” Rowley opened his hands wide “—you can see she’s not here.” His hackles rose at the unwarranted complaints against Jenna. “I haven’t heard her complaining about you and I’m sure she would’ve taken into account the report you gave her was only the preliminary, after all you wouldn’t have had time to speak to the firefighters at Louan when you examined the scene.” He gave him a long stare. “Really, you need to talk to the sheriff. This isn’t my case.”
“Just make sure she reads the complete report.” Thompson snorted. “The Louan chief did send men to the second floor. His verbal report to me was it was clear and only smoke damaged. I had no need to go up there, my concern was on the bombing and subsequent fire. I also had to report on the structural integrity of the building.” He pushed his finger into the table again. “She shouldn’t jump to conclusions and make like I’m not doing my job.”
“Okay.” Although annoyed, Rowley kept his voice calm. “I’ll see that she gets the report.”
He needed to get Thompson out of the office before Jenna returned. She had enough to worry about without Thompson chewing her out. He opened his mouth to say something when Deputy Walters knocked on the open door. The old man’s face was grim. “What’s up?”
“A body has washed up, out on one of the lakes that’s fed by Black Rock Falls.” Walters let out a wheezing sigh. “The forest warden called it in. The corpse is caught in the rocks, you’ll need help to retrieve it.”
Rowley made a few notes. “Where exactly did he find the body?”
“He said some of the fishermen call the area ‘Dead Man’s Drop’.” Walters shrugged. “I’m not familiar with that part of the river but Atohi Blackhawk is in town, he came by before with something for Maggie. He’ll know where to find it for sure. Want me to call him?”
“Yeah, and he’ll know the quickest way to get there.” Rowley swallowed the acid crawling up his throat. “Did the warden say anything else, is it a male or female?”
“Didn’t say. He gave me the coordinates. You’ll be able to drive most of the way if you take the firebreaks. He’s staying there until you arrive. I’ll give you his number and you can talk to him yourself.” Walters rubbed the end of his nose. “Want me to call Jenna?”
Annoyed, Rowley stood. “No way. I’ll give Wolfe the heads up and we’ll go there as a team.” He reached for the phone.
“I’ll come with you.” Thompson cleared his throat. “I know my way around the forest too and have everything you need in my truck to pull a body out of the river.” He pushed to his feet. “I can call in the local squad if needs be?”
Rowley looked at him and nodded. “Yeah, come with us but I figure five of us will be enough, thanks.” He made the call to Wolfe.
Rowley drove through town. He planned to rendezvous with his team at the firebreak cut into the forest alongside Stanton Road. His fingers itched to call Jenna and apprise her of the situation but she’d given him the chance to prove he could run for sheriff one day. As a married man with plans to fill his home with kids, he needed to plan for his future. He’d show he could handle serious cases by following the procedure she’d drummed into him since he started working as a deputy, and by getting the job done. As he drove, he ran the mental list of things to do through his mind. He had everything covered and once they’d fished the body out of the lake, he could go to work hunting down missing people in the area. Often people didn’t report missing persons immediately but someone usually came forward before too long.
The drive along Stanton took him to the edge of the forest, a dense mass of pine trees that covered over a million acres and extended up to the black mountain range. The smell of fresh pine and mountain air filled the cabin of his truck. There was always something special about the beginning of summer and in the mountains, everything was bursting into color. Long walks in the forest with his wife, Sandy, had opened a whole new world to him. She reveled in the abundance of wildflowers in the forest and he found himself appreciating nature’s changes in Black Rock Falls each season. He pulled into the fire road and stopped beside a patch of mountain harebells, a splash of blue waving in a shaft of sunshine. Alongside the track, glacier lilies had created explosion of yellow and he wished he could be strolling hand in hand with Sandy along the forest trails instead of heading out to recover some poor soul’s decomposing body.
He sighed with relief as Atohi Blackhawk pulled his truck in behind him. His Native American friend was one of the best trackers around and knew the forest like the back of his hand. He valued his friend’s opinion and it was nice to have him along. Before he climbed out of his truck, he called the forest warden, Bob Chandler, to give him an update of their ETA. “Hey Bob, this is Deputy Rowley, we’ve arrived at the fire road on Stanton. I have the ME with me and the fire chief has offered to assist. What information can you give me on the body?”
“From what I can see, female. She’s naked and has long dark hair.” Bob sounded shaken. “It isn’t pretty. She was stuck between two rocks at first but the current washed her into a pool. Some of the people here assisted in damming up the edge of the pool. I haven’t attempted to haul her out the water, I was concerned about destroying evidence.”
Rowley slid from behind the wheel and after giving Blackhawk a wave, headed over to Wolfe’s ME’s van. “Okay that’s fine. We’re on our way.” He disconnected as Blackhawk jogged to his side.
“The fishing hole is not too far from here. Good fishing if you know where to find it. I can get you there in about ten minutes.” Blackhawk frowned at him. “The falls break up into many fingers, it is unusual for a body to have fallen into the water and end up there, unless she fell from the Whispering Caves. They come out halfway down Black Rock Falls. Water spills in from above and rushes out to join the falls. In time gone by, people who wandered inside the caves, thinking they’d found a way out, ended up in Dead Man’s Drop.”
Rowley slapped him on the back. “That’s good to know.”
The window buzzed down on Wolfe’s van and Rowley gave him an update.
“Have you called Jenna?” Wolfe raised one blond eyebrow. “They are chasing down a missing girl out of Louan.”
Rowley shook his head. “Nope, not yet. I figure we need eyes on the body first. I’ll get some images and send them to her.” He nodded to Colt Webber and Emily Wolfe inside the van.
“If it’s Sophie Wood I can do a visual ID based on photographs on file.” Wolfe frowned. “I’ll run a DNA profile when I get her back to the lab. I have her parents and sister on ice, they’re victims of the bombing Jenna and Kane are investigating with Jo and Carter.”
“Copy that.” Rowley indicated with his chin toward the fire chief’s truck. “He volunteered to help and Atohi will guide us to Dead Man’s Drop.”
“We’ll follow you.” Wolfe started his engine.