Bring Me Flowers (Detectives Kane and Alton #2)(58)
“She is very independent and thinks for herself.” Wolfe gave her a worried look. “Good Lord, you’re not asking her to go undercover and report on her friends, are you? Absolutely not, she’ll have a hard enough time finishing her final year here without ratting out her friends.”
Jenna lifted the phone and asked Maggie to ask Emily to join them. When she stepped into the room, head high and confident, Jenna could certainly see her father in her. “Take a seat. I would like to ask you a few questions. I gather your father has informed you in confidence about the murders this week?”
“Yes, and I haven’t told anyone.” Emily shot a gray gaze at her father. “I do understand the meaning of confidential.”
Jenna folded her hands on the table and smiled at her. “I’m sure you do. If your father agrees, I wondered if during your time with your new friends, you would take note of any interaction you have with any of the men listed on the board over there.” She pointed to the whiteboard and the photographs of the suspects lined up under their names. “Lionel Provine is the man who owns the computer store, Derick Smith was Felicity Parker’s boyfriend, and Steve Rogers is the teacher at the high school. Lucky Briggs and Storm Crawley are local cowboys currently in town for the rodeo.” She raised an eyebrow. “I don’t want you to get involved other than making a note of the time and name of the person you notice hanging around or speaking to the girls, then report to your dad.”
“I can do that, no problem at all.” Emily’s attention moved to Wolfe. “If it’s okay with you, Dad?”
“Absolutely no interaction. Any one of those men could be the killer.” Wolfe narrowed his pale eyes. “Understand?”
“Yes.” Emily’s hair fell over one shoulder as she nodded in agreement. She took out her cellphone and snapped a picture of the suspects. “Don’t worry. I’ll crop the image so the other information is not visible, just in case I lose my cellphone.” She smiled and patted Wolfe on the arm. “I’ll message you if we go to Aunt Betty’s Café and when we leave and return to the computer store. As far as I know the girls are restricted to those areas the same as I am.” She frowned. “Since Kate’s murder they are scared but no one knows what happened to them. They are sticking together but no one seems to know anything about Joanne Blunt.”
Jenna leaned back in her chair. “Joanne was a visitor to town and we believe she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. She has no connection to the other victims or any of our suspects, which makes our killer all the more dangerous. Take care this afternoon and I will look forward to your report.”
She waited for Emily to leave the room and turned to Kane. “I want to keep a close eye on her. Is the new CCTV camera system installed near the computer store?”
“Yeah, it gives a clear view of the computer store and Aunt Betty’s Café and there are six others along the street. The interview room I converted into a command center also gives the ability to move the cameras, zoom in, et cetera.”
She tapped her pen on the table. “How long do the discs run? Do we have to change them or do they re-write every twelve hours or so?” She heard Wolfe make a strange sound halfway between a snort and a chuckle. She glared at him. “Okay, what’s so funny?”
“Everything is digital now, ma’am. We have terabytes of storage and keep them for six months, then if no crimes have been committed, we overwrite them.” Wolfe’s mouth twitched into a half smile. “The hard drives have approximately ten years’ life before we need to replace them but well before that no doubt they will be able to hold enough data for a year or more.” He raised one blond brow. “I can add an app to our cellphones to allow us to view the footage in real time. It might come in handy.”
She nodded. “Do it as soon as possible. I’ll get Rowley on phone interviews with our suspects but I gather we’ll have to chase up Lucky Briggs and Storm Crawley. It’s unlikely they will have their cellphones on hand if they are competing. The events at the rodeo did start today, I believe?”
“I can take a ride over there if you like?” Kane leaned nonchalantly back in his chair, his large hands resting on the arms. “I’ve organized four deputies from Blackwater to patrol the fairgrounds from Thursday through Sunday as we’ll be there undercover, so to speak. The new mayor is paying them so we don’t owe them our time.”
Annoyed he had taken charge again, she narrowed her gaze at him then a memory dropped into place. She had asked him to speak to the mayor about spending money on the town’s safety. He had informed her about funding for the CCTV cameras but not the extra help. The anger she had for him melted like last winter’s snow. “Yes, I remember asking you to speak to him. Thank you.”
“We can hire another full-time deputy as well, but a rookie. The mayor said the budget won’t stretch to another ex-marine.” Kane’s blue eyes searched her face. “Would you like me to place an advertisement once we have caught the killer or go ahead and start looking for someone now?”
She shook her head. “No, you have enough to do at the moment and a rookie to watch as well will be more trouble than he is worth. In any case, we have Maggie to do the grunt work. I can’t expect you to do her duties as well.”
Last night, he had let down his guard by showing her his gentler side. Rather than push him away she should encourage him to relax with her in their downtime. Their evening together had been natural as if they fit together, and the fact he cared enough to cuddle her all night meant a lot to her. She smiled and caught his relieved expression. “Thanks for handling the mayor, I find him a bit condescending. Then most of the old-school types in town think being a sheriff is a man’s job.”