Epilogue
Four weeks later
Warm sun sparkled on the green leaves and made crazy patterns across the long table set up for lunch.
As Jenna carried plates of sides to the table, she inhaled the delicious aromas from the smoker.
Kane had been back and forth for days preparing a succulent meal of brisket and ribs.
He made his own special barbecue sauce for the ribs and had invited everyone over to help him eat them and the fall-apart brisket.
Carter had arrived the previous night, without Jo this time.
She wanted to spend some time with her daughter and they planned on doing mother-and-daughter things over her vacation, and she’d be finishing her next book.
Bobby Kalo had come along too and would be spending his vacation with Carter at Rhett’s ranch.
From what she’d heard, Rhett had employed a husband-and-wife team, along with their three grown daughters, to care for him and his large ranch house.
They’d been checked out by Sam Cross, and Carter had done a background check on them as well—just to be safe.
She had an army of helpers in the kitchen: Norrell Wolfe; Sandy, Rowley’s wife; Piper, Rio’s sister; and Emily and Julie Wolfe had prepared or supplied everything they’d need for a sumptuous meal.
After the bad weather and a very difficult case, she’d wanted to get the team together as soon as the weather permitted.
As luck would have it, blue skies were forecast for the next six weeks or so.
She smiled as she recalled Kane rubbing his hands together at the thought of pulling out his smoker again and creating delicious meats for them to eat.
He always made a stack of food and they had leftovers for days afterward.
The conversation around the table was loud, and the children running around were having the time of their lives.
They had their own table, and Tauri and Anna, Wolfe’s youngest, were in charge of the little ones: Jackson; Rowley’s twins, Cooper and Vannah; and his toddler, Mia.
Keeping one eye on them, Jenna sat down beside Norrell.
“Have you been able to excavate the pig farm yet?”
“Not yet.” Norrell sighed. “The problem is the Larkins will be out on bail soon. We’ve had a great deal of trouble getting a search warrant for their property.
The judge figures we have no proof that pigs have been eating people.
We’re only surmising that they did after trying to drag Raven to the pigpen. ”
Astonished, Jenna shook her head. “That hasn’t come through my desk yet. I figured that Shane would be able make enough noise to have them held while he pursued the evidence necessary to have them charged with a more serious crime.”
“Exactly.” Norrell opened a package of paper napkins and placed them in the middle of the table.
“The problem is their lawyer is Sam Cross. You know what he’s like.
He defends his clients like a pitbull. One of the main problems is Shane wants to have all the pigs euthanized so he can check their stomach contents.
The judge we came up against thought that was a little extreme and will only allow us to examine one pig—although by the time he gets his act together, the pig will have defecated.
The second application, to remove all the dirt from inside the pens, is still under consideration.
The problem we’re up against in this application is that the pens will need to be dismantled for us to get the heavy machinery inside.
No one is going to go in there and dig it out by hand.
All the soil will need to be trucked to a different location for us to examine it.
No one will be touching it until it has been through a cleansing process.
We should be able to remove all the feces from the soil and hopefully all that’s left is teeth, bones, and metal.
” She opened another packet of napkins and handed them to Cade, Piper’s twin, to pass along the table.
“Then the fun begins. We’ll be able to DNA-test any teeth, but unless we find any body parts, it will be difficult to determine the origin. ”
When Emily arrived with a tray of condiments, Jenna watched as she placed them in groups along the table, chatting with everyone as she went.
When she paused beside Raven and he slipped an arm around her waist, the look between them spoke volumes.
She smiled to herself and turned her attention back to Norrell.
“I figure we should ask Kane and Carter about this problem. There must be a way around it.” She stood and they walked together toward where Kane was basting the meat, with Carter, Wolfe, and Rhett discussing motorcycles.
Jenna put the question to them, and Wolfe just opened his hands and shook his head. She smiled at him. “I’ve never seen you give up on anything. There is a solution, we just need to look for it and then act just like we always do.”
“To keep them inside for a little longer you need to find evidence.” Carter chewed on his toothpick.
“Any small piece of evidence will give you an extension to discover more forensic evidence. Personally, I would use probable cause to get a search warrant for their house. We’re assuming that these are crazy people, and if so, they would likely be stripping the bodies of possessions they could sell or keep as trophies. ”
“Okay, that’s one idea.” Kane placed the basting brush back inside the pot and then swung his attention to Norrell. “What evidence do you need to get a search warrant to excavate the entire pig farm?”
“One tooth or a slice of human bone.” Norrell sighed. “We need to dig up a whole ton of stinking dirt to look through it.”
“Maybe not.” Kane’s mouth curled into a smile.
“I use a mini excavator for moving horse dung. Once the pile gets too big, we move it into a large trench that I dug some years ago. That would be small enough to get inside the pigpen. You could collect a sample of the soil to test. When we were there, I noticed that he keeps the pigs in different pens. The ones fattening for meat are in the pen at the front, and that was where he was heading when we caught them dragging Raven. I noticed the other pens are divided into sows with piglets and breeders in another. I figure if I collect the dirt from that first large pigpen, you might be lucky and find something.”
“It would be easier to get a search warrant for one pen.” Carter nodded thoughtfully. “You won’t be doing any damage, only skimming dirt off the top.” He flicked a glance at Wolfe. “How much would you need? The first foot or so?”
“I guess.” Wolfe stared into the distance thinking. “We really do need to get inside their house.”
“It’s all going to take time.” Kane lifted another rack of ribs onto the pile.
“Right now, we eat. On Monday, we’ll put in a request to keep the Larkins in County pending more forensic testing.
” He nodded to Wolfe. “The gang’s all here.
We’ll get this sorted, no worries. Today is for relaxing.
We can worry about all that tomorrow.” He handed the men a platter of ribs each to carry to the table and looked at Jenna.
“The brisket is perfect. I’ll plate it up now. ”
It had been a crazy few weeks. Maya Trent had recovered well and would stand as witness against Daphne Hurst. Her confession on video had sealed her fate, but a firsthand testimony by Maya would see her in prison for the rest of her life.
She felt sorry for Jolene. A victim of a dominant narcissistic mother, who only thought of herself, would be a wide shadow to crawl out from under, but the young woman was tough.
Jolene had no idea that her mother had murdered her friends and it had come as a massive shock.
Jenna had arranged counseling for her and the members of the self-defense group that remained had supported her.
Thinking over everything that had happened, Jenna shook her head.
How the case had played out surprised her.
All the suspects had seemed viable at the time and she still had her suspicions about Dr. Morrow.
He was someone she’d keep a close eye on in the future.
As Kane piled meat on a platter, she smiled as Atohi Blackhawk walked hand in hand with Tashina toward the table.
“Aw, look, Atohi’s come with his girlfriend.
Isn’t she beautiful? Her hair is like a silk scarf.
” She smiled up at Kane. “I’m so happy he’s found someone at last.”
“Me too.” Kane slipped his arms around her and peered at the couple over Jenna’s shoulder.
“When I look at everyone here sitting at our table and our boys playing with the other kids, I want to pinch myself to make sure I’m not dreaming.
” He kissed her cheek. “I was so alone when I came here. I had nothing left and all I really wanted to do was slip away and die. Then I met you, a feisty, strong-willed woman with a death wish—well, that’s how you appeared to me.
The way you attracted trouble like a magnet, I figured you needed me—and now here we are and our family gets bigger each year. I’m a very contented man.”
Happy, Jenna leaned into him and sighed. “It’s days like these I wish we could capture into a globe, to keep them safe forever.”
“You’re gonna need a ton of globes.” Kane squeezed her, laughing. “Our life together has only just begun.”