“Because when I asked for assistance, he refused.” Jade eyed him critically. “You ignored me too when I informed you that people were watching me, and yet the moment Sierra asked you to escort her home because she’d heard someone trying to get into her home, you were off like a shot.” She sighed. “This is one of the reasons I left the group. I’m not pretty like the other women, so why would any of you want to help me? I know you only help the pretty ones.”
“That’s not true.” Rowley looked up from making notes. “We have discussed this situation and try to be as impartial as possible when working out with women. Offering the classes was to protect you, but some of the women tried to take advantage of us, and as law enforcement officers we are obliged to check out any problems that come along.”
“And yet you didn’t check out my problems, did you?” Jade snorted. “The moment I stepped in the hall I could feel people watching me. I figure you have surveillance cameras so that you can watch back the classes after we’ve gone to laugh at us.”
Shaking his head, Rio looked at her. “That is not true. There was no one watching you.” He cleared his throat. “We’re checking on where people were at certain times. Can you tell me your whereabouts on Thursday morning between the hours of six and eight?”
“I was here.” Jade clasped her hands in front of her on the table. “I don’t go out much at all now. I have everything delivered to the house.”
“Do you mind me asking what is your source of income?” Rowley glanced up at her. “Just for the record.”
“I own the house and my family left me an inheritance. I don’t need to work.” Jade smiled. “Wouldn’t you figure that I’d be a great catch?” She pushed a hand through her hair. “And yet I can’t even get a law enforcement officer to come to the house to check if there is someone watching me.”
Rio adjusted his hat and stared at her in disbelief. “I figure maybe you need to get out a little more and meet other people. There are plenty of different organizations you could get involved with and meet people.”
“Do you like to go for a walk in the forest?” Rowley gave her a direct stare. “The hiking trails along Bear Peak are close by and very popular at this time of year. They say the wildflowers are very beautiful. I’ve noticed flyers on the notice boards looking for groups of hikers.”
Biting back a smile at Rowley’s ingenuity, Rio waited expectantly for Jade’s reply. Instead, she screwed up her face and shook her head. He stared at her. “Is there a problem?”
“Did you come here because you figured I’d pushed Jan over the edge of the trail?” Jade moved her indignant gaze from one to the other. “Do you honestly believe I’d be stupid enough to walk that trail alone at this time of the year when the bears are out and hungry?” She stood and paced the room. “Have you considered that’s what probably happened to her if she was up there alone? Maybe she came across a bear, it came for her, and she stepped back from the trail and fell?”
Concerned she might pick up a utensil or knife and come at them, Rio stood. “All we are aware of is that she fell from the trail. We have no idea if she was pushed or not. That’s not for us to decide. The medical examiner makes that decision.” He waited for her to calm down. “Did you become friends with Sierra while you were at the classes and what about Roxanne? What can you tell me about them?”
“I figure you’d know them better than I do.” Jade barked out a laugh and gave them a contemptuous look. “They spoke to you and Deputy Raven more than they did to me. I went to Aunt Betty’s Café with them one time and they didn’t include me in their conversation, which was all about how they could lure you to their homes.” She laughed. “I can’t believe how naïve you all are. They weren’t going to the classes to learn about self-defense at all. They were looking for a man, but you were all too blind to see.” She threw her hands up in the air. “That’s one of the reasons I left. No one there was taking the classes seriously, apart from one or two of us. After a while you get sick of seeing them hitting on the instructors.” She shook her head. “Women like that give a bad name to us all.”
“I see.” Rowley folded his notebook and stood slowly. “There are two other questions I have for you. Were you at home on Friday evening?”
“Yes, and you can ask my neighbor.” Jade rolled her eyes. “Around dinnertime, she knocked on my door asking for a candle. That’s when the power was out for a time. What else?”
“You seem to be very self-sufficient.” Rowley smiled at her. “I see you have an old truck in the garage. Do you maintain that yourself as well?”
“I know where the oil and water go, if that’s what you mean.” Jade glared at him. “Now if you’re done. I have work to do.”
Rio pushed his hat more firmly on his head, not wanting to turn his back on her. “Do you still believe someone is watching you? Do you figure it’s one of your neighbors?”
“I haven’t caught any of them walking alongside the house scratching at the windows and shaking the doors, if that’s what you mean.” Jade hunched her shoulders. “It happens all the time at night, as if people are outside watching me through the cracks in the doors. I’m not going outside to face them. I don’t know what I might find.”
Leading the way outside, Rio hurried to the truck and slid behind the wheel with Rowley close on his heels. He fastened his seat belt and turned to look at his partner. “That woman is crazy.”
“You can say that again.” Rowley lifted a Thermos of coffee from a container at his feet and poured them each a cup. “But is she capable of murder?”
Thirty-Two
After sending a text to Kane to notify him of his new position, Raven climbed from his truck, which he’d left parked behind a row of trees some distance from Bill Larkin’s house. The strong smell of pigs wafted over to him as his boots sank into the mud alongside the blacktop. The first place he’d visited belonged to Larkin’s brother and was currently rented to a young couple who gave him Bill Larkin’s address, telling him that he’d asked them to forward his mail. Larkin didn’t live safely in town surrounded by neighbors as he’d surmised, but on a property hewn out of the forest at the end of a lonely winding road off Stanton.
Aware of the danger of approaching a house alone, Raven stared at the log cabin for a few moments taking in the unkempt look of the place and the outbuildings surrounding it. A dilapidated barn sat at the rear of the home, the open doors revealing a tractor and yet none of the cleared area around the house showed signs of cultivation. He wondered what Larkin used as a water source. As dead leaves overflowed from the gutters and from the green plants growing there, they hadn’t been cleaned for a very long time. Perhaps he had sunk a well because the house was too far away from town for a local water supply.
He scanned the area, not moving for some time. It was unusual for people not to own a dog. Beside him, Ben quivered as if wanting to go forward alone to check out the place. In two minds whether to approach the house with Ben, Raven rubbed his chin. A K-9 elicited two different responses when approaching a person’s home. Some would treat the dog with the respect it deserved, while others were petrified of them, expecting them to attack at a moment’s notice. The latter was a problem, as he didn’t want anyone drawing down on him or his dog.
Right now, the dog was concealed by a clump of bushes, and Raven gave him the command to stay. Ben would react immediately if anything happened to him. He’d been well trained and had great respect for his partner. Perhaps the best thing would be to keep him hidden as backup. Resting one hand on his weapon, he approached the front door, keeping a good distance away before announcing his arrival. He noticed the curtain beside the front door twitch. Whoever was inside had watched him approach. His heart pounded as the sound of arguing came from inside. He could clearly hear a man yelling at a woman and her screaming back. He stopped about six feet from the front porch. “Sheriff’s department. I’m here to have a word with Bill Larkin. No one is in trouble. I just need to ask him a few questions, is all.”
A door slammed and footsteps came toward him. The front door opened slowly and a woman in her mid-thirties, or maybe older by the lines etched in her face, stared at him with contempt. “Mrs. Larkin?”
“What business have you here?” The stout woman had muscular arms and her hands showed signs of a harsh life. “Lawmen never come to question people. They always come to make trouble. Now I’ll need to deal with my husband’s bad temper right through next week.”
Reevaluating the situation, Raven took a casual stance. “I didn’t come here to cause him any problems. I came here to ask for his help.”
“Did you now?” Mrs. Larkin studied him for a long time and her lips flattened into a thin line. She let out a long sigh and then stood to one side. “He’s out back. Come through the house, but make sure you wipe your feet. I don’t want you trekking mud through my hallway.”
