Page 71

70

Jenna rose from where she’d been kneeling beside Darby and sat in the chair across from him. “You don’t know for sure that Todd Donelson killed the Slaters and Nelson.”

Darby’s mouth twitched. “Maybe not in the sense that I have proof.” He touched his heart. “But I know here.”

Just like she would’ve known if her dad had been dead.

The older man straightened in the chair. “Just like I know Todd’s going to try and kill Harrison Carter today at the picnic.”

Max checked his watch. “We don’t have much time. It’s almost six—not quite ten hours before Carter arrives for the rally.”

Jenna agreed. “We need a complete workup on Todd Donelson. Like how proficient is he with rifles? That’s the only way he could get to him at the picnic.”

“And what other talents does he have that we aren’t aware of?” Max added.

Bear rose from where he’d been lying at Darby’s feet and trotted over to the door. The dog scratched at the wood and gave Darby a plaintive look.

The old man stood. “While you two try and figure this out, I’m going to take Bear out.”

“Just don’t leave.”

“Gotcha.”

Max let them out with the key, and Jenna took out her phone. “I’ll call Alex. She can get Dylan working on a background check on Donelson.”

Alex answered on the second ring. “What’s up?”

“Max is here and you’re on speaker,” Jenna said. “I hope we didn’t wake you up, but—”

“I’ve been up half an hour. What’s going on?”

Jenna started at the beginning and repeated the story they’d heard from Eric Darby. Before she’d gone very far, Alex said, “Hold on a second while I grab a notebook and make a few notes.”

She had Jenna repeat some of the information, then said, “Go ahead.”

Alex stopped her again when she came to the part about the meat left out for Bear. “Bring the meat when you come in today—I’ll have one of the deputies run it up to the Tennessee Poison Center in Nashville. I know the administrator, and he’ll put a rush on it. Where is Eric Darby and the dog now?”

“He was in my kitchen, but right now he’s taken Bear outside.”

“Good. Don’t let him leave. If what he says is true, Donelson may view Darby as a loose end. And if Harrison Carter thinks Darby knows something that will derail his political career, he might go to great lengths to shut Darby up. What else did he say?”

Jenna finished filling her in on everything Eric Darby had told them, including his opinion that what he told Todd Donelson had sent him over the edge.

“I’ll call Dylan and get him started on a background check for Todd.” Alex was quiet for a minute, and Jenna heard her tapping on something. “I think Todd Donelson served in the reserves with Sam ... I’ll call him as soon as we hang up.”

“How should we handle Harrison Carter?” Max asked. “He’ll be here by four.”

“We don’t have enough to charge him with a crime,” Alex said. “Right now it would be a ‘he said, she said’ situation. And while Dylan found a link between TerraQuest and Harrison Carter, it’s not enough for an arrest.”

That didn’t surprise Jenna. Shell companies were notorious for hiding the partners involved.

“But it is enough to interest the FBI—agents will be here the first of the week to go over what we’ve found,” Alex said. “They’ll nail him.”