Rio rolled his eyes to the ceiling. “He obviously has you in his corner, doesn’t he? As far as I’m aware, Wolfe ordered a ton of scans and other tests for him and insisted he remained in the hospital overnight for observation. While he’s having all those tests, there’s really nothing we can do for him, is there? Which I gather is why you’re here yelling at me.”
“Hey, cool it.” Rowley stepped between them. “None of us will be able to go onto his property to feed his dogs. They’re all being trained as K-9s or personal protection animals. I already called Blackhawk. He’s Raven’s partner in the dog protection business. There’s a landslide near the res but he’s going to go farther up the mountain and across to get down to Raven’s place. He has a cabin close by, so will stay there until Raven is well enough to care for the animals.”
“Thanks, Jake.” Emily squeezed his arm. “I knew I could count on you.”
Rio lifted his chin. “See, Emily, we had Raven’s back all along.” He snorted. “It’s not a good look, you know. A big guy like him hiding behind a woman’s skirt.”
“You— You— ass.” Emily’s gray eyes drifted up and down his body and then landed on his face. “I sure made the right decision when I dumped you.” She turned in a twirl of long hair and headed for the door.
A few people waiting to be served at the counter sniggered and Rio turned to Rowley. “What are you standing around for? Write up your report.” He glanced at his watch. “We’ll be snowed under this afternoon. I’ll call the sheriff and reschedule the interviewing of suspects until the morning.” He turned back to the door as Sam Cross walked in carrying a briefcase under one arm. “Ah, Sam.” He gave him the details of the arrest. “I’ll take you down to speak with your clients.”
“You arrested them without a warrant?” Cross gave him a skeptical look. “Where’s the sheriff?”
Rio rubbed the back of his neck. It’s going to be one of those days. “Your clients were in the process of dragging Deputy Raven to a pigpen so the pigs could eat him alive. They had already rendered him unconscious and tied him up. They committed this crime in the presence of three deputies and the medical examiner. I believe probable cause for the arrest is more than warranted.”
“Okay.” Cross met his gaze. “Where are they?”
Rio pulled a face mask from his pocket and handed it to him. “I’ll take you down but you might need this.”
“Are they sick?” Cross stared at the face mask.
Rio wrinkled his nose. “Nope. They stink.”
Thirty-Five
As Carter negotiated the deep puddles on the road from Jenna’s ranch, his mind centered not on the Larkins but on the case Jenna still needed to solve before someone else was murdered. He glanced at Jo. “I figure it’s gonna be a long time before we get to the bottom of what the Larkins have been doing. Once he can get a search warrant, Wolfe is going to call in a forensics team to dig out the pigpen. It will be some job getting all the mud cleaned. I’d say they’d use some type of washing system to get the dirt from the undigested bones or teeth.”
“I don’t believe you’ll have to worry too much about them.” Jo wrinkled her nose. “They’ll be in prison for a long time for what they did to Raven. Discovering what makes them tick will be interesting. I’d say as Wolfe is married to a forensic anthropologist, he’ll be using Norrell’s team to do the dig. His other option is to call in a team from Helena and that’s counterproductive when Norrell is on site.”
Carter nodded. “My feelings exactly.” He cleared his throat. “I hope Jenna will be back on deck soon. Having both of them missing is slowing down the investigation into the three murders we’ve had this week. I’m saying three murders because we know the vehicle Roxanne Dunn drove was tampered with. I took a good look at the road leading to the bridge where she allegedly drove off the road. None of the fence leading up to the bridge has been broken, which means that her vehicle left the road earlier. When we arrived, the water in that area wasn’t deep enough to cause her to aquaplane. Unfortunately, it was impossible to see any tire tracks or anything as movement of the water had churned up the dirt all along that side of the road.”
“What about the person who called in the accident?” Jo turned in her seat to look at him. “What did they say?”
Carter shrugged. “I gather they came along after the event and just saw the car floating along in the river.”
“We should talk to Rio.” Jo turned back in her seat. “I figure his time will be taken up with the Larkins this afternoon. The interview shouldn’t last more than an hour. Maybe we can take up the slack and go and interview a couple of the suspects?”
Carter smiled at her. “That sounds like a plan.” He sighed. “Once we’re done, we’ll drop by the hospital to see Raven. He’s a smart guy. How the heck did he fall into a trap?”
“Smart, yes, but he doesn’t have your experience.” Jo smiled. “He’s really just a rookie. All this police work is new to him. He can read procedure in books, but it takes on-the-job instincts to survive out here alone.”
Carter pulled up outside the sheriff’s office. “You can say that again.” He opened the back door for Zorro to jump out and then followed Jo inside.
To say that Rio looked a little frazzled was an understatement. As chief deputy it was his job to stand in whenever Jenna was absent, but at the moment it seemed that too many things were vying for his attention. Carter walked up to his desk. “Jenna thought you might be snowed under and suggested that we interview the Larkins. Or we can split them. It’s your call. I’m just a visitor here.”
“Go right ahead.” Rio heaved a sigh of relief and leaned back in his chair, making it creak. “I’ve been trying to find a place to send the Larkins. The local flooding is causing problems with roads and I’ve been waiting for a weather report before I contact County and get someone to come out and collect them. I’ve already spoken to the DA, and once he has the statements from everyone who was on scene when we discovered Raven, they’ll be charged. I figure they’ll be held in custody until their hearings.” He looked at them bleary-eyed. “Then I need to write up a request for a warrant to search the pigpen, seize the animals, and have them destroyed.”
“It sounds to me like the work is just mounting up.” Jo gave him a compassionate stare. “Once we are done here, we can go and speak to the other suspects in the current homicide cases. We figured we would have time this afternoon and it might ease some of the burden from your shoulders.”
“I’d appreciate it.” Rio looked at them. “Sam Cross is in the break room grabbing a cup of coffee. He said he is ready to go with the interview. I was just letting them stew for a while, but now you’re here you might as well get it over and done with.” He rubbed under his nose. “They stink of pigs, so I’ve plugged in air fresheners. It might help. Here.” He pulled face masks from a box on his desk and handed them to Carter. “You might need these.”
Carter nodded. “Thanks. Jenna will be watching via Jo’s laptop. I’m interested to hear what they say about themselves.” He removed a toothpick from the corner of his mouth and dropped it into the garbage bin under Rio’s desk. He looked at Jo and smiled. “Let’s get this show on the road.”
Deciding to speak to Mrs. Larkin first, Carter made his way to interview room two. Once everyone was settled, Jo set up the video link with Jenna, and he started recording the interview. The date and all names in the room were given and Carter turned to Mrs. Larkin. “Can you tell me exactly what happened? I’d like to advise you at this point that it is an offense to lie to a federal officer.”
“A man came to our door saying he’s come by from the sheriff’s department and wanted to speak to Bill.” She glanced at Sam Cross, who gave her a nod to continue. “We don’t like no law enforcement officers poking their nose into our business. Lawmen are nothing but trouble. I didn’t want any trouble.”
“So what did you do?” Jo leaned forward in her seat with an interested expression.
