More private calls? Jenna frowned at him. This was so unlike Kane. “Go check out what’s buzzing in the conference room while you’re at it.” As Kane disappeared through the door, she looked at Rowley. “You should head off home and kiss those beautiful twins for me. Hopefully Rio will be back tomorrow to help, and we have a new deputy arriving sometime.” She’d been so annoyed at the mayor she’d forgotten to ask him when to expect the new deputy.
“Okay, I will, thanks.” Rowley smiled. “They’re growing so fast. They’ll be heading off to school before I know it.” He collected his things and headed for the door before turning back. “Do you want me to tell Maggie to go home?”
“Yeah, sure. I’ll lock up.” Jenna leaned back in her chair and twirled her pen in her fingers. She needed the assistance of the FBI’s IT whiz kid, Bobby Kalo, one of the team out of Snakeskin Gully. She moved her attention to Jo. “We need super-fast background checks on our suspects. Will Kalo mind if we call him this late in the afternoon?”
“I doubt it. He rarely goes home and has a cot in the interview room.” Jo chuckled. “He lives in a different world to us. He works very well but the rest of the time he’s in a game with a ton of people. It’s strange working with someone so young, but I admire what he does.” She pulled out her phone. “I’ll call him.”
“I’ll send him the files.” Carter pulled out his phone. “He lives for finding dirt on people.”
“Great, thanks.” Jenna made a few notes and emailed a press release to the local media. By the time she’d finished, Kane was still missing. She stood. “I’ll go and see if Kane needs any help in the conference room.” She headed out the door.
As she reached the bottom of the stairs, she couldn’t help overhearing Kane’s conversation. She kept on walking. What he was talking about was none of her business, but she didn’t intend to conceal the fact she’d overheard him.
“I’ll figure something out.” Kane’s back was to her. “It’s difficult to get away right now.” He spun around to look at her. “I’ve gotta go.” He disconnected and pointed to a blank screen. “The CCTV camera outside the office is out. The buzzing was a warning. I’ll call someone to look at it in the morning.”
Jenna stared at him for a long moment but he said nothing about the call. She met his gaze. “The mayor called me before. He’s sending us a new deputy. Transferred out of Cedar Canyon. It seems we have no choice. They’re coming and staying unless I fire them.”
“Yeah, I gathered as much from what you said in the truck.” He walked back to his desk and picked up his laptop. “Are you ready to go? I’ll wait for you down here.”
Jenna turned around and headed back to the stairs. “Sure, I’ll grab my things.”
Behind her, Kane hummed a tune. She turned to watch him bend and rub Duke’s ears, wondering what the heck he was up to.
TWENTY-FOUR
Over the years with Jenna, Kane had figured saying nothing was often the best thing for him to do to avoid a misunderstanding. Her silence on the drive home meant only one thing: she’d overheard part of his conversation and, knowing how her mind worked, she’d be conjuring up all types of scenarios. He gritted his teeth and went to work preparing a meal. Living with Jenna was certainly different. His wife, Annie, didn’t have a jealous streak but she wanted him close at all times. She enjoyed his protection; Jenna was the complete opposite, fiercely independent and hated him to coddle her, which bruised his need to keep her close many a time. He understood her better than she realized and would make her happy whatever the cost. As the smell of the savory biscuits he’d slipped into the oven filled the room, he tossed the salad and placed it on the table.
“How come someone hasn’t snapped you up yet?” Jo walked into the kitchen sniffing appreciatively. “Need any help?”
Kane dropped steaks into a pan. “Yeah, if you can set the table, it would be good.” He smiled at her over one shoulder. “You like your steak well done, right? Same as Jenna?”
“Yeah, thanks. Burned to a crisp for me. I’ve never been able to eat bloody steak.” She pulled plates from the shelf. “You’re obviously living with Jenna, so is there a relationship going on here or is it platonic? You both hide your emotions so well, but I pick up things. It’s part of my job.”
“Uh-huh.” Kane checked the potatoes in the oven with a fork and grinned at her. “Let’s say it’s a work in progress.”
“Well, I guess that’s better than saying ‘it’s complicated.’ That’s such a cop-out.” Jo chuckled. “Ah, here’s Jenna now.” She stared into the hallway. “Well, she was here. I guess she went to take a shower.” She laid out the silverware and looked at him. “Anything else?”
“There’s sour cream and coleslaw in the refrigerator.” He flipped the steaks. “We’ll sort out the drinks when everyone arrives, but I have a nice bottle of pinot noir breathing over there with glasses if you’d like a glass?”
“Oh, that smells like heaven.” Jenna came into the kitchen wearing her PJs and glanced at the table. “It looks like you have everything in hand.” The front door opened and closed, and footsteps echoed down the hallway with the unmistakable noise of Zorro’s claws. “Ah there’s Carter.”
Kane dropped two more steaks into a second pan. “I’ll have everything ready in a few minutes.” He looked over his shoulder at Jenna. “Can you get the drinks?”
“Sure.” Jenna stood and went about her task. When she sat down, she looked at Kane. “How did you do all this so fast? It takes me ages just to make toast.”
“Practice.” Kane, pulled the biscuits out of the oven, dropped them onto a plate, and placed them on the table. He went about filling plates with food and handing them around. He sat down and looked at Jenna. “Heard anything back from Kalo?”
“Yeah.” Jenna cut into her steak, took a bite, and hummed in contentment. “His first look-see gave no history of criminal behavior, so he’s digging deeper. Checking for sealed juvi files, and other states. He’ll send a report in the morning.”
“Let’s lay the cards on the table, Jenna.” Carter sipped from a bottle of beer. “I know these three guys are suspects and, looking at all of them, I agree any one of them could be our man. So why would you even consider Rio and his brother? Trust me, when Rio’s name came through our office, Kalo found out everything about him. He is solid. I read his file today. There’s nothing in his background to suggest he could turn rogue.”
Kane cleared his throat. “I figure he’s solid too, but we know he went through two traumatic events before coming here. His parents died and then his siblings vanished for months. He discovered that the step-grandma hadn’t been treating them very well. He probably blamed himself and I’ve seen people turn to crime for a lot less than that.”
“That’s true.” Jo took the glass of red wine that Kane handed her. “With a mind like his that never forgets anything, all the memories would be swimming around in endless torment. He can’t turn them off. I can’t imagine how difficult it would be not to have the defense mechanism that can block or compartmentalize disturbing memories.” She let her gaze rest on Kane and then shift to Carter. “Some can shut down emotion completely and not have any psychopathy at all. With Rio, unless I can speak to him and see what’s happening inside his head, we won’t know.”
“Man, you guys see psychopaths crawling out from under the beds.” Carter shook his head. “So what if Rio took some personal time to sort out the twins? So what if he let his phone run dry? He did what he had to do and put his family first.” He looked squarely at Jo. “You’d walk out in the middle of a case if Jamie was in trouble and don’t say you wouldn’t freak out some. Your daughter is your life and you know it. I figure we concentrate on the suspects, the guys who were in the vicinity of the murders at the time. All this speculation over Rio is just wasting energy.”
“Okay, okay.” Jenna let out a long sigh. “It’s not Rio.”