“So why did he lie?” I asked, going back to Eddie’s tail. “That’s question number one. Question number two is what was Ian doing out there in the first place? If it was to finalize the sale of a Conti, why wouldn’t Ian say so?”

I stopped abruptly, remembering. That day on the bookmobile, Pug had said he’d had an appointment with a conservation officer to talk about turkey poaching. Thomas? No, that had been the last name. Jenica Thomas, that was it.

Maybe the poacher Pug had reported on should be considered a murder suspect. Or maybe Officer Thomas had seen Ian, too, and didn’t realize the significance.

I shivered, because I’d thought of a question number three.

Should the conservation officer herself be considered a suspect?

Chapter 9

Rafe looked at me over the top of the popcorn bowl. His hand was frozen in midair and his mouth was slightly open. It wasn’t often that I saw him at a loss for words, but my brand-new theory that I was adding Conservation Officer Jenica Thomas to my mental suspect list had done the trick nicely.

“You’re kidding, right?” he asked.

I shook my head.

“Sure you are. You must be. Jenica is . . . well, she’s Jenica. You’ve met her, haven’t you?”

“Once. We barely said half a dozen sentences to each other.”

Rafe smiled and started digging into the popcorn. “That’s about all you’ll ever get out of her. Talking isn’t her thing. But obeying the law is. Even the ones everyone breaks.”

I frowned. “If there’s a law that everyone breaks, it must not be much of a law.”

“Speed limits.”

Oh, those. Technically, I supposed those really were laws. The bookmobile’s speedometer had never once needled over the limit, but I wasn’t going to swear on a stack of anything that I’d always driven my car at or below the posted numbers. “You’re telling me Jenica Thomas has never broken a speed limit?”

“What I’m saying. She sees things in black and white. There’s not a single shade of gray in her world.”

“Huh.” Eddie was on my legs and I wiggled my toes to make sure I still had circulation. So far, so good. “Does that make her an excellent law enforcement officer or a difficult one?”

Rafe went in for more popcorn. “Probably depends on the situation. She’s all about going by the book, but she’s also whip smart. Could probably be sheriff someday if she wanted.”

“I still think the sheriff’s office needs to know that Pug was talking to her just before he was killed.”

“Jenica being Jenica, she’s probably already told them. Do you want me to check?”

I did, and he pulled out his phone to text Ash. Seconds later, his phone dinged and he turned the screen so I could see the reply.