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Frowning and keeping her distance, Jenna turned to look at the prone man. Right now he was just a dark inert mass on the blacktop. “I guess we’ll find out soon enough.” She searched her pockets for a flashlight and turned to Kane. “Where are your goggles?”
“In the bushes. We’ll need to locate them before we leave.” Kane stared down at the man. He stood feet apart with one hand resting on his weapon. “Who is this clown? Can you aim your flashlight on him?” He pulled examination gloves from his pocket and snapped them on. “I’ll pat him down.”
Moving closer with caution, Jenna aimed the beam at the man’s face. A red welt had formed under one eye and bruising was evident where Kane had hit him. Scratches down his cheeks made it difficult to identify him in the dim light. His eyes were rolled back in his head, but she could see his chest rising and falling. She took another step toward him and ran the flashlight over him, fully expecting him to rise up and grab her by the throat. He was dressed like a Carter clone, same hat and jacket, and the blond hair was almost the same but not so much the face. This man had a short fat nose, but Carter’s was long and straight and he always had a tan. This guy’s face was sheet white under the bruising. She looked at Kane. “You sure he’s out cold?”
“I’m sure.” Kane met her gaze. “He’s not going anywhere anytime soon.”
Jenna moved the beam back to the man’s face and bent to stare a little closer at him and then looked at Kane. “I recognize him. The suspects all look alike but I’m certain that’s Dallas Strauss, the ranch hand. Well, I wonder what turned him into a killer?”
“Well, Dallas Strauss, it’s all over for you now.” Kane pulled a stun gun from Strauss’ jacket pocket and held it up to Carter. “Get a photo of this… Wait a minute. He has a Glock in a shoulder holster.” He checked him all over and then rolled him over and cuffed him.
Jenna held open an evidence bag and Kane tossed in the weapons and Strauss’ wallet and keys. “We caught him in the act, although following someone along the highway seems a little strange.”
“Maybe Piper triggered him?” Kane shrugged and straightened his hat.
“I’ll go and look for the goggles.” Carter used his phone light to search the bushes, coming back with both sets a few minutes later.
“He’s going to be out for a while.” Kane waved to Rio. “Help me get him off the road and I’ll go get my truck. We wouldn’t want him squashed by an eighteen-wheeler, duty of care and all.”
“It sure would save a long, drawn-out court case.” Carter shrugged. “Can we put it to a vote?”
Jenna glared at him. “Absolutely not.” Following Kane and Rio to the edge of the forest, she bent to check Strauss’ pulse. “He seems okay. You hit him real hard. You could have killed him.”
“Nah.” Kane smiled at her. “I know how much you and Jo want to get inside these guys’ heads. Although, if he’d bitten me, things might have gotten nasty.”
Jenna looked at Piper, the girl was hugging her chest, her face ashen. She turned back to Kane. “Where are we going to put him? We can’t transport him with Piper.”
“I’ll ride in the bed with him.” Carter shrugged. “If he wakes up, I might just hit him again.” He shook his head. “The trouble this jerk has caused me, he’d deserve it. Humph… he doesn’t look anything like me. Some people need their eyes tested.”
Jenna smiled at him. “I never had any doubt. I mean Thanksgiving and all the holidays wouldn’t be the same without you, Ty.”
“Yeah, sorry for giving you such a hard time.” Kane bent to secure Strauss’ ankles. “Walk with me. He’s not going anywhere.”
“While you’re doing that, I’ll call Wolfe and bring him up to speed.” Jenna pulled out her phone. “I’ll ask him to meet us at the office. We’ll need swabs from Piper and Strauss.”
“That man was in town today.” Piper indicated to Strauss and moved to Rio’s side. “He’s been following me all day, but he was driving a truck. He didn’t walk from town. He just suddenly showed up behind me.” She pointed toward town. “I heard footsteps back there about five hundred yards or so. I didn’t hear a vehicle, so he must have parked off road close by and then followed me.”
“Did he say anything to you in town?” Rio put his arm around her. “Did he threaten you or anything? When did you first see him?”
“No, he didn’t say a word until just before.” Piper explained her encounter with Strauss. “So, I guess I did provoke him. Although, I don’t figure he’d heard what I said and he didn’t buzz his window down until after. His eyes were like black bottomless pits. At first, he seemed to be there every time I turned around, but then when I headed to your office, he vanished and then showed up here.” She took in her brother’s worried expression and shrugged. “If he’d been following me when I got to the office, I’d have told you, but he’d gone by then and I figured it was okay.”
“If ever anyone is following you, I want you to call me right away.” Rio stared down at her. “Don’t wait. You came so close to dying tonight I don’t want you to ever take a chance like that again.”
“I won’t and next time I’ll take the loaner.” Piper blew out a long sigh. “I didn’t realize it would take so long to walk home.”
At her feet Strauss moaned and his eyes flicked open. Jenna pushed her phone back into her pocket and drew her M18 pistol and aimed it at his face. “Your day isn’t going so well, Mr. Strauss. Don’t give me an excuse to make it a whole lot worse.”
FIFTY-ONE
Wolfe arrived at the sheriff’s office with Emily and went straight to Jenna’s office. Inside, Piper sat on a chair, sipping hot chocolate awkwardly with plastic bags over each hand. Beside her, Rio was working on a report on his laptop. Keeping his tone casual, he smiled at Piper. “Hey, I hear you had a close call tonight?”
“Yeah, but I’m fine.” Piper frowned. “I’m not sure why I can’t just go home.”
Wolfe nodded. “Ah, that’s because I need to take a few swabs and check under your fingernails for skin samples. That’s why they bagged your hands. Criminals are slippery and will use any excuse to get away, so we use forensics to assist the DA to make a case against them. He attacked you and you fought back. You have three solid witnesses, but we won’t use Zac as a witness as he’s your brother.” He glanced at Emily. “You check the nails and I’ll do the preliminary.”
“Okay.” Emily placed a forensic kit on Jenna’s desk and went to work collecting skin samples from under Piper’s nails.
Wolfe rested one hip on the edge of the desk, keeping the situation as casual as possible. Piper had suffered a serious shock, and he didn’t want to add to the problem. “First of all, are you hurt? Did you suffer any injuries?”
