Work Text:
Jenny Hoyt felt the beginnings of a headache brought on by exhaustion. She had been going full speed since early yesterday morning starting with Cassie’s arson then to a homicide followed by the break-in at the Dewell & Hoyt offices which, in-turn, lead to a nearly twenty year old cold serial murder case. Jenny had gotten home and was just about to get into the shower when the call had come about a death at the Sunny Day Excursions campsite.
She glanced quickly around the site at the veritable army of law enforcement from multiple agencies. Deputies, FWP Wardens, and Forensics all scurried around every inch of the site photographing, sketching, taping off areas and setting up a temporary command center. There was still so much to do.
She looked over to the now empty space on the floor of the tent. The coroner had since taken the body away for examination. Jenny took a moment to mourn the woman. She’d been young, too young.
Jenny frowned and covered her eyes as she recalled the image of Beau Arlen when she’d met him at the station to ride out to the scene together. He had also managed to at least get in a change of clothes but she could practically feel his barely restrained anxiety. Her lighthearted quip about not getting a break in Helena this time of year died on her lips as his disposition reminded her that his daughter was currently vacationing at that campsite.
So she'd said nothing and he’d said nothing. The only thing she did know, as they headed for the secluded campsite, was that the body was not Emily’s and he needed to drive in order to focus on something to keep from panicking.
Beau had shown impressive control when they’d first arrived as Poppernak had given the first report, led them to Sunny Barnes and then listened to her give her statement. He’d somehow maintained that control as Emily had arrived, understandably distraught, and had managed to question her both as a father to a daughter and as a cop to a witness. But then Emily was unable to continue and Beau wrapped his arms around her tightly both to comfort her and to reassure himself that she was unhurt. Jenny took the moment to push away her own rising maternal feelings and turned to take over the questioning. This wasn’t how she wanted to meet Beau Arlen’s pride and joy.
Jenny knew his professional control had reached its limit when he suddenly excused himself and ushered his daughter away from the still uncovered body.
Jenny had then taken charge of the scene. She lost track of Beau and Emily in the few moments she walked the camp and took in the situation. The discovery that Tonya and Donno were also present at the camp was a shock and Jenny’s focus locked onto them as suspects number one and two. Donno had been part of the Bhuller drug cartel but she was still trying to find evidence to tie him to several murders in the area. Tonya had started out as a client of Dewell & Hoyt and somehow also got pulled into the cartel. Jenny still wasn’t quite sure how and what they’d had to do with Travis’s missing girlfriend and she was taking personal offense in knowing they were involved but unable to prove it. She did know, though, that both of them being here was anything but a coincidence. It was information that Beau needed, right now.
She found him not very far away with a man she assumed, and later confirmed, was Carla’s new husband, Avery. She didn’t hesitate though as she interrupted what appeared to be an intense conversation. Beau turned to her, clearly distracted as Avery left.
“Tonya and Donno are here,” Jenny said with urgent importance.
“What?” Beau looked off in the direction of the guest tents, his brain trying to catch up. Donno and Tonya sat with feigned boredom. Tonya waved sarcastically in greeting when she noticed Beau’s gaze.
“Yeah,” Jenny continued. “They obviously had something to do with this.”
Jenny Hoyt could be a freight train sometimes when it came to investigations and tracking down perpetrators. She was known to speed headlong down the tracks once she had an eye on a suspect and plowed through any obstacle that stood in the way. Tact and procedure were not high on her list of things to consider when a target was in sight, especially if that suspect thought they were above the law. She knew this about herself and while it tended to yield results, it also got her into trouble often. It was probably part of the reason Temporary Acting Sheriff Beau Arlen was here at all.
She watched with some guilt as an anxious look briefly crossed Beau’s face, realizing he was still trying to process whatever discussion he was having with Avery and the lingering concern over his daughter. Jenny realized he was overwhelmed and, in that moment, he was about to hop onto the Donno/Tonya runaway train track behind her before he stopped. It was an almost physical thing as his thought process skidded to a halt and his anxiety turned into frustration.
His eyes narrowed as he looked at her, “Did they confess?”
She drew in a breath and stopped. She’d never heard that tone from him.
He continued before she could answer, “If they didn’t confess, then we got to treat them like everybody else – possible suspects.”
His tone had shifted to almost a lecture and his eyes held an intensity that now bordered on anger. Jenny remembered the whistle-blower case and Beau’s laudable altruistic sense of service. We don’t get to choose who we help. Yet, he seemed to enjoy watching Jenny bulldog her way through an investigation. He even seemed to respect it and yet there was this line he was insisting she not cross. She was left wondering at the contradiction.
Jenny nodded, reigning in her own hyperfixation on the two as suspects and her desire to argue the point. She glanced back up to him and once more felt his distress. She watched him as he looked from the canopied tent where Avery had gone and back in the direction of the other guest tents where Donno and Tonya were still watching them. He needed her support now and not an argument. Besides, he was right. She had zero evidence and it could harm the investigation if she didn’t look at this objectively.
“Okay,” Jenny replied with a conciliatory tone. “What do you want to do?”
He seemed to respond immediately. His shoulders relaxed, relieved to not need to fight her on this, and he released a sigh that seemed to take the majority of his frustration with it. He looked once more over his shoulder to where Avery now sat with Carla and Emily at a table near the bar before turning again to Jenny. His eyes had softened with an unspoken apology as if realizing how much his agitation was controlling his actions.
“I’m gonna need to talk with Emily,” his voice was still strained. “But we also need to build a timeline for the victim.”
Jenny just nodded again, “Okay. I got it.” She suddenly felt an urgent need to offer him some kind of comfort and reached out before she could overthink it.
Her fingers wrapped around his forearm near his elbow and it seemed to surprise him. He looked down at the contact and then back at her. Something she couldn’t read shifted in his eyes as she gave him a soft smile and squeezed gently.
“She’s okay,” then she let him go and turned to get to work.
end.