Chapter 37
Thirty-Seven
“Hi Jenna, Dave.” Rhett met them on the porch. “We’re going to have a very late breakfast. I’m sure you’ve been up since daybreak, so please join us. I took Julie home last night, as she has an interview today. She’ll be back later.” He headed off along the hallway in the direction of the kitchen.
Jenna led the way inside. The smell of hotcakes and bacon wafting from the kitchen made her hungry, even though she’d enjoyed a quick breakfast before they’d left this morning. She glanced at Kane and smiled. “Hungry?”
“Always.” He rested his hand on her shoulder. “I figure this is really difficult for Rhett, but he handles everything so well. He’d make a great deputy.”
Jenna looked at him and raised one eyebrow. “You know, I believe if I employ another deputy with a name beginning with R, it would be more than a little strange. I say we allow him to work with kids. It will make life easier.”
They dropped by the bathroom to wash their hands and then sat down at the table alongside Carter and opposite Beth and Styles.
Rhett sat beside Kane with Kalo next to him.
The housekeeper placed piled plates in the middle of the table, along with pots of coffee, and then left, closing the door behind her.
Jenna explained her theory. “There are so many people involved in this case or cases. We need to try and narrow it down. Without discovering past victims, we have no real proof that Lawson saw anything. Talbot could be our killer. He had a motive and was there the day they died.”
“I know how to find old gravesites.” Beth explained her theory. “It’s easy to make out land disturbance from hundreds of years ago by flying over the land. I figure we do the same, not too close to the ranch, but away where a killer could bury a body without coming under scrutiny.”
“Not a problem.” Styles nodded. “I can take you up today. If we find anything, we’ll take the coordinates and then arrange for an excavation of the site.”
Jenna’s phone buzzed as a message arrived.
She checked the screen and held up a finger to halt the buzz of conversation.
“It’s from Rio. The two women we know who went missing prior to the Lawsons’ deaths, Bonnie Jacques and Paloma Cortes, were pronounced dead by the courts seven and eight years after their disappearances.
Mitochondrial DNA is on file for both women.
” She glanced around the table. “Okay, so we have our victims. We have evidence to link them to Lawson’s Ridge.
Paloma Cortes’s driver’s license was discovered by Rhett’s father.
If we can discover any photographs of Bonnie Jacques, we might be able to link the earrings or hair to her.
” She sipped coffee and ate some eggs. “I’ll call Wolfe and bring him up to date. ”
Jenna finished her breakfast and they all walked down to the command center. She made the call and gave Wolfe and Norrell the information and told him about Beth’s plan.
“It sounds to me that y’all are working on the Lawson case, but I have evidence against the Larkins.
” Wolfe’s chair creaked as he rolled it across the floor.
“I was just finishing a report to upload to the server about the teeth we found in the pigpen. Apart from the bone fragments, we’ve discovered over forty teeth.
They’re all female, apart from one set. The time they’ve been buried varies considerably and a time of death estimate is difficult as pigs typically churn up the bottom of the pen.
We believe the time span covers at least twenty years.
It seems the Larkins have been very busy.
In an effort to identify some of these people, I extracted DNA samples from all of them.
So far I can identify eight different individuals. Seven of them are female.”
“Over a span of twenty years and none of them were reported missing?” Kane shot a look at Jenna. “If these aren’t illegal cremations, what if they’re seasonal workers?”
“I figure you should get the mitochondrial DNA from the two missing seasonal workers over to Wolfe ASAP.” Carter narrowed his gaze. “We need to see if we can connect the Larkins to someone on the Lawsons’ ranch. What if Larkin was disposing of the bodies of the serial killer’s victims?”
“You certainly need to eliminate that possibility.” Wolfe cleared his throat. “But why would Larkin do that for someone?”
“He could be involved.” Beth leaned forward on the desk. “He’s old enough to be the killer we’re looking for and agile enough to still be murdering. He also has a sympathetic wife. Maybe she lures the victims into her vehicle. I’ve known of many couples that commit heinous crimes.”
“The problem is I can’t see why he would want to murder my parents. I don’t know if he even knew them.” Rhett shook his head slowly. “If Larkin’s name appeared on the payroll, I’d consider it, but he doesn’t. He held up his tablet. I just searched for him on Bobby’s list.”
Jenna nodded. “This might prove that Talbot murdered your parents. He seemed very shocked when we mentioned murder. He had a motive, but your father didn’t suspect him.
” She checked her notes. “Raven and Rio are speaking to Dr. Wyatt Hale, the veterinarian, today. He’s been involved with Lawson’s Ridge since before Chris Lawson died.
From the reports I have of him, he keeps meticulous records.
There are two more people on the ranch we need to speak to: Hank and Bobby Lister.
They are fence riders. They would know every inch of this place and will remember seeing anything unusual around the time Marie Reyes went missing. ”
“Okay, I’ll take the chopper up and see if we can discover any burial sites.” Styles glanced at Beth. “I can have the bird ready in fifteen.” He stood and left the room.
Considering her next move, Jenna thought for a beat.
“Kalo, could you contact Rio and get him to send everything he has over to Wolfe? Then, if you could hunt down any connection with Larkin and this ranch, I’d appreciate it.
” She turned to Carter and Rhett. “We need to find the fence riders. I guess we go and see Bowman and ask him what area they should be in today, saddle up, and head out.”
“We’re going to be vulnerable out there.” Kane looked from one to the other. “I have Kevlar vests in my truck. It’s better to be safe than sorry.”
“I’ll let y’all go. I’ll call as soon as I get a result.” Wolfe disconnected.
Jenna stood. “Okay, let’s get at it.” She looked at Rhett. “We’ll need water. I’ll grab energy bars from the truck.”
“Not a problem.” Rhett headed to the kitchen.
At last, the case was coming together. Jenna headed to the front door with Kane and Duke close behind. She smiled at him. “We have a great team.”
“You can say that again.” Kane opened the door and peered outside. “Just don’t forget, there’s a killer out there who knows this place like the back of his hand.”