“I didn’t have anything to do with the explosion. I made a complaint against Wood, which is my right.” Suffolk leaned back in his chair again and eyed her critically. “I could’ve taken him out back and had it out man to man but he was a puny guy and I’d have gained no satisfaction out of it. They say the pen is mightier than the sword and bruises fade but a black mark on a man’s work record stays forever.” He pushed to his feet. “Time’s up. I have work to do. People rely on me being punctual with their repairs.”
Jenna stood. “Thank you for the coffee.” She hurried out the door with Jo on her heels.
Aware of Suffolk crunching down the pathway behind them, they dashed to the safety of Jenna’s SUV. Taking a glance behind her, Jenna’s heart quickened as she stared into Suffolk’s eyes as he stood watching them, huge hands balled at his waist. He’d been in DC around the time of the bombings but so had thousands of people—but not all of them had conveniently lost their wives in a car wreck. Her gut was telling her there was more to Roger Suffolk than met the eye. She needed to find out what had happened to his wife and why she required frequent hospital visits. The accident seemed way too convenient. Had Suffolk tampered with the brakes on his wife’s vehicle?
When they reached the SUV, Jenna took off and once safely away from the property pulled into the curb. She searched her pocket for the scrap of paper Dawn had given her and stared at it. Panic for the girl’s safety shivered down her spine. She swallowed the lump in her throat and handed the note to Jo. On the edge of the newsprint was scrawled:
Help me.
Nineteen
It was unusual for Jenna to be concerned about interviewing a suspect. In fact, Kane found her to be confident and professional at all times. She’d spoken to dangerous men before and he wondered what she’d discovered about Roger Suffolk that had spooked her. He pushed his phone into his pocket and returned to Carter’s side. They’d spoken to two men with priors and both had solid alibies for the time of the explosion. The third, Simon Dexter out of Prairie View, was the driver of the gray car captured on scene by Cleaves’ dashcam and a known firebug.
“How was it you were out near the Woods’ ranch?” Carter inclined his head, and looked at Dexter, his pen hovering over his notepad.
“I was heading home after picking up six peach pies from Aunt Betty’s Café in Black Rock Falls. I freeze them and take them to work in my lunch pail. I live alone and don’t have a wife to fix my meals.” Dexter shrugged. “The ranch went up like a bomb and I stopped alongside the highway with some of the other drivers to watch the show.”
“You didn’t call it in or go to offer the residence assistance?” Carter looked down his nose at him, his green eyes flashing in annoyance. “A family die
d in that blaze, you may have been able to save them but you chose to stand by and watch ‘the show’ as you called it.”
“Well, yeah but I wasn’t the only one.” Dexter’s face had drained of color and his hands shook as he pushed a slick of greasy hair from his eyes. “And that’s not fair to say I don’t care about the Wood family. I had a hankering after Sophie, and asked her father if he’d put me on his list of men interested in taking her for their wife.”
“His what?” Carter leaned forward, looking incredulous. “Wood had a list of prospective husbands for his fifteen-year-old daughter?”
“Well, yeah, I guess.” Dexter frowned. “Although, when I asked him, he told me to get off his property.” His mouth turned down. “I had a right to ask.”
“Did you now?” Kane observed him closely. “Getting back to the night of the explosion, what did you hear and what did you see?”
“A boom or maybe two booms and then a scream.” Dexter stared into the distance as if thinking. “It could’ve been an echo and the scream could’ve been from the explosion. The fire burst out of the mushroom of dust.”
“Did you see anyone leave the ranch, or did any vehicles pass you?” Carter made notes.
“I don’t recall. I parked my car to watch the blaze, and then walked down to speak to John… John Cleaves. He has dashcam footage and sent me a copy. I have it here if you want to see it?” He reached for his phone.
Kane shook his head. “We’ve seen it. Thanks, and if you think of anything else, give me a call.” He handed Dexter his card and with a look indicated to Carter their need to leave.
“What’s the rush?” Carter fell into step beside him. “I wanted to lean on him a little harder. He could have set the explosion and set if off by remote as he drove by. We have no idea when the bomb was set, only when it was detonated. I’m keeping him on our persons of interest list.”
Kane lifted Duke into the back of his truck and then climbed behind the wheel. In seconds, Carter had Zorro settled and was in the passenger seat. He turned to him. “Jenna called and she’s concerned about a suspect they’re interviewing by the name of Roger Suffolk. She said he was acting strange. They’re heading into his house and I figure we should hightail it over to the Crazy Iron Forge and make sure they’re okay.” He tossed him his phone, started the engine and the Beast roared up the blacktop. “She just sent me his details.”
“I’ll enter the coordinates into the GPS.” Carter scanned the messages. “Got it. It’s on the outskirts of town. Head west.”
Kane accelerated but had only traveled a mile before he caught sight of Jenna’s SUV heading toward them. He flashed his lights and the SUV slowed and pulled onto the grass. He stopped opposite and Jenna climbed out and ran across the road toward him. He buzzed down his window. “Does this mean it’s time to head out to the diner?”
“No.” Jenna thrust a piece of paper toward him. “Suffolk is part of a sect or something that has peculiar ideas about women’s rights.” She pushed the hair from her eyes. “Long story but he has a fifteen-year-old living with him training to be his wife.”
Kane stared at the scrawled message and opened his mouth to say something but she glared at him.
“Let me finish.” Jenna pointed to the note. “She slipped me the note. This is a cry for help, we have FBI Agents with us so there’s no reason we can’t take her under our protection. I wanted to get her out of there without a fight and trust me, taking her from a three-hundred-pound blacksmith wasn’t going to be easy.”
Astonished by her reluctance to just take the girl, Kane nodded. “Okay, so two FBI agents drawing down on him didn’t faze him?” He couldn’t help grinning at her annoyed expression and just had to tease her. “Or did he pull an AK47 on you and tell you to leave?”
“Dave, it’s not funny. He could be the bomber and we don’t know where the girl came from, do we? They call her Dawn but what if she’s the missing girl? They look similar but it was difficult to tell with the cap the girl was wearing.” Jenna met his gaze. “If she isn’t Sophie Wood, I didn’t want to bring in Sheriff Crenshaw and compromise the investigation by tying him up with a case of underage dealing.” She snorted. “Not that it would stick. Crenshaw is a member of his church and already allowed Suffolk to walk after threatening Wood.”
Bemused, Kane scratched his cheek. “Hmm okay, follow us back to the forge, we’ll keep him busy and you go get the girl. He’ll never know who took her.”
“Yeah he will, his mother is there.” Jenna frowned. “There must be some way of getting her out unnoticed.”