Jenna forced a laugh as she headed for her bedroom. “Yeah, nothing bothers him unless Duke is sick. He spoils him.”
Once they arrived at the office, Jenna delegated tasks to everyone. The large communications room they set up to view CCTV surveillance of the town was rearranged. Kane and Carter moved the screens to one wall and organized the long conference table to supply work areas for the four of them. Both of Jenna’s coffee makers were installed and by the time Rowley and Maggie arrived at eight, Jenna and Jo had entered every scrap of available information on the whiteboard and the team had a rough timeline.
Jenna took Rowley into her office. “How do you feel about running the office for a week, maybe two?”
“You planning on a vacation?” Rowley smiled at her. “About time. Sure, I can manage with Deputy Walters, he’s getting bored sitting around home, retirement isn’t his style and I can go to Wolfe if there’s a problem I can’t solve.”
Jenna nodded. “Oh, I’ll be here but not here. If you need me or Kane, we’ll be in the communications room, now the temporary FBI office until further notice. You’ll be working in my office. We’re consulting with the FBI on a case out of Louan, so we can’t run the office as well. The FBI room is off-limits for everyone.”
“Oh, sure.” Rowley touched his hat. “I’ll go and call Walters.” He turned to leave looking very pleased with himself.
Jenna hustled back to the others. “Okay, now we have this set up, what’s first on the list?”
“We should head out to Louan and I’ll walk you through the crime scene.” Carter moved his toothpick across his lips. “We need to find a clue to where this guy has taken the girl. Right now, the local sheriff is chasing his tail.”
Taking a seat at the table, Jenna stared at him. “What makes you think he’s left a clue?”
“There’s always a clue.” Carter leaned back in his chair and stretched like a cat. “We just have to find it. Are you going to partner with me on this case?”
Although she would value Carter’s insight, she worked with Kane and they were supposed to be consultants, which left her in limbo without any powers at all. Jenna glanced over the files and tried to be diplomatic. “As I have a small team, I usually delegate the work to the people with the most experience. As we’re all experienced in the field, I can’t see any reason to split up. It’s counterproductive at this stage of the investigation.” She looked at Jo and wondered why she’d left Bobby Kalo, their black hat hacker, behind at the field office. He was very useful at hunting down information. “What about Kalo? Is he available if we need him?”
“Yeah.” Jo nodded. “He works better from our office. He has everything he needs there.”
“You’re the highest-ranking officer, Jo, how do you want to play this?” Kane leaned back in his chair. “One of you has to take the lead or we’ll be running around bumping heads.”
“We’ll work together and pool resources. I’m happy to take charge of the office but I’m not a detective. What about you, Carter?” Jo glanced at Carter.
“I’d rather Jenna takes the lead.” Carter looked at Kane. “No offense but she is your boss. Jenna is known throughout the local counties and people trust her. I figure if the victims have any skeletons in their closets, the locals are more likely to open up to her than us. Her record for solving crimes is impressive.” He shrugged. “As far as I’m concerned, we’re all equals here. Let’s do as Jenna suggested and go with the most experienced in solving murder crimes.”
Jenna exchanged a look of bewilderment with Kane. “But you’re FBI Agents—we don’t have the power to arrest anyone outside Black Rock Falls.”
“When the time comes, Jo or I will make the collar.” Carter smiled. “So, it’s nice and legal but who we use as consultants to get to that point is at our discretion.”
“At this point we’re all working under the FBI umbrella.” Jo went into her briefcase and pulled out two cred packs and handed them to Jenna and Kane. “We have jackets for you as well, for in the field if there’s a situation.” She smiled at Jenna. “Take charge, Jenna. There’s a ton of information to sort through before we start a list of possible suspects. I’ll work on a profile and I’d appreciate Kane’s input but I agree with Carter, we’ll need to walk you through the crime scene. You’ll see things we might have missed.”
Confused no one seemed to be worried about the missing girl, Jenna drummed her fingers on the table. “Okay, I’ll take the lead because right now we’re running around in circles. We’ll visit the crime scene later, right now we need more boots on the ground to find the girl. What’s happening now, Carter? Do you know if Crenshaw organized a search of the Woods’ farm and surrounds?”
“Yeah, I called him just before and they’re searching the area now, along with some volunteers from town. There’s no sign of her, Jenna. I also called Kalo and told him to hunt down any firebugs in the area.”
Glad that the Louan sheriff had the search covered, she glanced at the statements on her screen. “We’ll start with the witnesses’ statements. Once we have an idea what happened prior, during, and after the explosion, we’ll head out to the crime scene.”
They all worked in silence for some time. Jenna made notes on a few points. The people who called in a crime, especially in a fire, were often involved. A firebug enjoyed watching the firetrucks as well as the blaze.
“Now this is interesting.” Carter scrolled through the statements. “I’ve found a report of an older model blue Ford sedan seen in the vicinity of the Woods’ ranch before the explosion.” He frowned. “They didn’t take down the plate number but the vehicle was parked alongside the road just before nightfall and then drove into the Woods’ ranch. The neighbor, Joe Ranger, noticed it as he was feeding his horses.” He continued scrolling through the information on his screen. “Ranger headed into town soon after and didn’t see the fire.”
The memory of yesterday morning’s conversation with Kane flashed through Jenna’s mind. “Kane picked up a stolen vehicle fitting that description on Stanton Road the day after the fire. It’s in the impound lot in town.” She scanned her files. “The driver, Harvey Haralson, is in custody. We have his statement. I’ll add it to the files.”
“I’ll call Wolfe.” Kane pulled out his phone. “That car may hold the clue you’re after.”
“As firebugs like to watch the fire—” Jo’s attention moved to Kane “—did you smell smoke on him? It would’ve been hard to miss if he’d been close.”
“No.” Kane’s brow furrowed. “The vehicle went missing on Tuesday, was used in a crime that night, and found abandoned in the forest opposite the Triple Z Bar, the following morning, so I doubt the eighteen-year-old I pulled out the car was the bomber. I’d like to know why he was at the Triple Z, he’s too young to drink. How did he get there and where was he coming from? We could stop by county and let Carter flash his creds to put the fear of death into him by threatening to charge him with murder one?”