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Authors: Terry Spear

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BOOK: SEAL Wolf In Too Deep
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He glanced around the lobby and, seeing it was empty, said to her, “I heard you were here by yourself and wondered where your partner had gone.”

She shrugged it off. “He had a minor family crisis.”

Rowdy raised his brows.

She suspected then that he knew something she didn't and that it wasn't good news.
Especially
since he was a homicide detective. But if someone in Allan's family had been murdered, she was certain Allan would have told her. “Well, spill.”

“Allan's twin sister and Paul's wife were hiking in the woods when they came across a body near Paul's cabin. Didn't he tell you?”

Chapter 4

Debbie couldn't believe Allan hadn't told her what had happened to his sister and her friend. Was Allan so upset that he felt he couldn't discuss it with her? She knew whatever he'd been worried about had to be bad, the way that he had been so distracted. Allan had to know she would hear about it eventually.

“Thanks, Rowdy. Can you fill me in on the details?” Debbie asked him.

After he did, he told her about an earlier case that he hadn't worked—bank robbers found dead at the scene—but he had reviewed it and found it disquieting. “One man was found floating in the lake, naked, dead, near the jumping cliff. And another man had been torn up by a wild animal—confirmed wolf saliva. Not only that, but the tires of one of their vehicles had been bitten into.”

“By…? Wait, the wolf did it.”

Rowdy shrugged. “Any canine could have done it. Since one man had been bitten by a wolf, I assume a wolf also tore up the tires at the crime scene. I read about a case where car tires were regularly being punctured along a stretch of street in front of a housing development. Police tried to catch the culprit for months and finally put up cameras to see who the vandals were, figuring they were kids. But a dog? No one in a million years would have believed it. Seems the owners would walk the dog off leash, and the dog would bite into the tires and puncture them.”

“That's weird.”

“A couple of months earlier, the dog had been hit by a car.”

Debbie was glad the dog was fine after being hit and could hardly believe it had been attacking tires in revenge. She didn't blame the dog, and she imagined how the police had felt when they discovered the culprit. “So why would a dog—or should I say, wolf—do that to the perp's vehicle?”

“To keep the criminals from escaping.”

“So the wolf had been trained to sabotage tires.” She couldn't believe what Rowdy could come up with. “Wolves don't normally attack humans.”

“Not usually.”

“Okay, so another scenario?”

“The wolf wasn't a wolf. And that same wolf or part of its pack killed the one bank robber.”

“Wolves don't do that. Not normally,” she repeated.

“You're right. They don't. But what if they were werewolves?”

“Ah, come on, Rowdy. So the naked man was a werewolf too?” She knew he loved paranormal shows, but this was going a bit far.

“Makes sense. Too many unanswered questions in the case. I would have figured okay, so wolves were involved in this other case too, but a lot of shooting went on.”

“No silver rounds, right?” She wasn't buying this werewolf business, but if silver bullets had been used, then, yes, she would believe a connection existed between the two cases.

“Correct. No silver rounds. But guess who was involved in the shoot-out.”

“Lori and Rose?” Debbie asked, unable to keep the surprise from her voice. Now
that
would be a weird coincidence.

“Lori, Paul, Everett, and Allan.”

“They weren't involved in the killing of this woman.” No way did she believe anything bad about Allan and his friends.

“No, I doubt it. But don't you think it's a bit odd that two strange cases that have some similarities come up only a few months apart? First, some of the same people were involved in both, but in any case, they're all related in one way or another. And second, we have two unexplained naked bodies.”

Debbie folded her arms. “But there were silver bullets in this one and none in the other.” She had been known to come up with some fairly far-fetched notions herself in trying to solve crimes, but this line of reasoning was going way out of the ballpark.

“True enough. So what if in this case, we have werewolf hunters armed with silver rounds, and in the other, they were all wolves, so no one was using silver rounds.”

“Okay, so if they're all werewolves, why wouldn't they use silver? They can't be killed by regular bullets, can they?”

“Maybe they can. And the only ones that don't know that are the werewolf hunters.”

Debbie shook her head and patted Rowdy on the chest in an appeasing way. “You need to be working with the detectives on
The X-Files
.”

“I'm just saying you need to watch yourself.”

“Wait. You're saying that Allan, Paul, and the rest of their family could be werewolves?”

Rowdy glanced at the receptionist, then turned his attention to Debbie again. “You never know. Just…keep your eyes open, consider what I've said, and if anything seems…unusual, let me know. I've got to run. Take care.”

Werewolves.

Debbie couldn't believe how Rowdy teased her, though she suspected that making light of something dark sometimes helped him keep from becoming totally numb to the killings he investigated.

Now she had a choice: call Allan and ask if she could do anything for him or his family after learning the horrific news, or let it go and give him time to deal with this on his own.

She still couldn't believe it. To think poor Rose and Lori had found the dead body when Lori was pregnant with twins and Rose with triplets. And Rose was near term, Debbie thought. They had to have been terrified that the maniac might still be in the woods. She frowned as she got into her Escort. She hoped Allan wouldn't try to locate the guy and take him down on his own.

Before she hit the road, she punched in Allan's number.

“Yeah?” Allan answered right away, sounding concerned.

Which she appreciated, considering the frame of mind he had to be in. “I heard about the murder near Paul's cabin. Are your sister and Lori all right?” She wanted to ask if
he
was all right. He had to be distressed over the whole situation, but she suspected he wouldn't appreciate her asking him that.

“Yeah, thanks, Debbie. I really didn't want to talk about it.”

“I understand. Were you digging around at the crime scene?”

“Yeah, but I didn't find anything else.”

“The guy has to be some sick bastard.”

“I agree.”

“Can I do anything for Rose and Lori? I'd like to help, if you think they'd appreciate it.”

“No, thanks. We're good.”

Well, maybe Allan was “good” with it, but Debbie had met both ladies and really liked them. She would have to see what she could do to make them feel better. She'd had all kinds of police psychology training on dealing with issues like this. Paul and Allan probably had some training, but they were too close to the situation. She could imagine how upset they both were.

“Do you have any plans for supper?” Allan asked out of the blue.

Debbie didn't say anything for a moment because she was so surprised. “Um, no. Do you want to grab some of that pizza?”

He chuckled. “You really had your heart set on having some, didn't you?”

“Yeah, I did. Would six be too early?”

“That'll be fine. Can we meet at the pizzeria?”

She hesitated to respond. If he was trying to tell her this wasn't a date, she wanted him to know she hadn't viewed it as such, as much as she wouldn't mind if the dynamics changed between them. Maybe he was worried that his family might need him, and he wanted to be free to run off and take care of them without worrying about taking her along.

She shouldn't be overanalyzing this so much. If she were a guy, just a partner, she wouldn't be. Which made her realize how much she wanted to be more than just his partner.

“Okay, sure. Works for me.” In the meantime, she would check on Lori and Rose. They had to be more than distraught over the whole business. If they didn't want to talk about it, that was fine, but she wasn't letting Allan speak for them.

As soon as they ended the call, she headed over to the ranching community of Cottage Grove where Rose's house, a new two-story log home, had been recently built on an acre of her mother's property behind her home. Rose's husband, Everett Johnston, had actually built it and Debbie loved how beautiful and remarkable it was.

She really liked how much the family stayed together. She imagined how helpful it would be for Rose's mom to live right there. When Rose needed help with the triplets, she would have it.

On the drive to Rose's place, Debbie mulled over all that Rowdy had told her, wondering what really had happened.

* * *

Allan was glad to learn from the receptionist at the clinic that Debbie had left twenty minutes earlier. He needed to speak with Franny in private and didn't want to have to make excuses about that to Debbie.

At the reception desk, Yvonne Messner frowned at him when he arrived, and he wondered what was wrong now.

“That homicide detective, Rowdy Sanderson, was here, talking to your dive partner in private. She seemed surprised and then upset. I tried to listen in, but I was fielding calls about Franny and the baby and missed out on it. I did overhear him telling her about Lori and Rose discovering the body.”

“Thanks, Yvonne. She just told me.” Allan liked Rowdy. He was a friendly sort, but Rowdy really liked Debbie. Allan couldn't help feeling a little possessive about her in a wolf way, which he had no right feeling.

“Franny is with her baby in room three. She's expecting you.”

“Thanks.”

When he reached the room, he found Franny lying in bed with Stacy, both sound asleep. He hated to disturb them, but being a wolf, Franny instantly smelled his scent and opened her eyes.

“You'll keep what I have to say private?” she asked before he could inquire about how she was feeling.

“If the person who forced you into the culvert did so on purpose and I'm investigating it, I can't guarantee the word won't get out. I'll be discreet, and Lori and Paul will have to be kept informed, but otherwise, we'll try to keep it between ourselves.”

“I…I don't want my husband knowing.”

Allan raised his brows marginally, then took a seat next to the hospital bed so he didn't tower over her and appear intimidating.

“We can have lovers—human lovers, I mean—before we're mated to a wolf, you know,” Franny said. “So I saw this guy for a while, too long really. Not just for a few times, but we dated seriously for a couple of months. I even had the notion of turning him. I know it was foolish. His name is Cleveland Hawkins. Then I met my mate and knew he was the one for me. That was about a year and a half ago. We found your pack and the perfect job opportunity for Gary as the chef at the new Italian restaurant. And we wanted to raise our baby with the pack.

“Cleveland was angry when I called it quits with him and started stalking me. He threatened Gary. He drove a red Camaro. I mean, I can't be one hundred percent positive, but it looked like his car. I saw the guy's camo cap. I really couldn't get a good look at more than that, but I'm fairly certain it was him. My gut reaction when I saw the car was that it
was
him.”

“And he swerved his vehicle at yours, causing you to lose control?”

“Yeah. If I'd hit him, I probably would have totaled his car, but I automatically swerved to miss his vehicle and lost control.”

“Are you certain the driver's car didn't just slip on ice? When I was in the vicinity, my hatchback did.”

Franny took a deep breath and nodded. “It's possible. But what if it is him?”

“I'll definitely check into it. When was the last time you saw him?”

“Stalking me? Before we moved here, which was four months ago. I thought that was the end of seeing him.”

“And you came here from Boise, Idaho?”

“Yes.”

“Did you ever meet his family?”

“No.”

“Friends?”

“Just one. Some guy who was a hunter like him. They'd been in the military and were best friends. The two of them loved playing paintball, and they both loved to hunt and fish.”

“Job?”

“He worked in a pawn shop. I don't want Gary to know about it because he'd kill him. And then get himself into all kinds of hot water.”

“If this truly is a case of Cleveland Hawkins stalking you, then Gary and everyone in the pack needs to know—for your protection, Gary's, and Stacy's. We'll talk to Gary. Make sure he knows how important it is for us to handle matters the best we can. But if this guy comes after you, Gary needs to be there to protect you and the baby too.”

Looking sad, Franny nodded.

“We'll call a meeting between you, Gary, Paul, Lori, and me. We'll all come up with some plans to handle different scenarios.”

“Okay.”

After reassuring Franny that they'd take care of this if the guy was still stalking her, Allan left the clinic and called Lori to tell her what was up.

“I'll make arrangements for a meeting as soon as she and the baby are released from the clinic,” Lori said. “We need to get on this right away if what she suspects is true.”

“Agreed.” Allan couldn't believe all the trouble their pack was having with the new members who had joined them, but he was glad he and the original pack members could help out.

He hoped Franny was wrong and the other driver had just slipped on ice and was an ass for not checking her and the baby's welfare. But he was prepared to take harsher measures against the guy if what Franny suspected was really true.

* * *

When Debbie arrived at Rose's house, she saw someone peek through the blinds. Debbie got out of the car and headed for the door.

Rose opened the front door with her mother, Catherine Rappaport, standing just behind her. Debbie was glad Rose's mother was there for her. Rose's face was so pale, she had to still be reeling from the frightening experience. “Hi, it's me, Debbie Renaud. I came to see you after hearing what you witnessed. Can we talk?”

“Thanks for dropping by.” Rose quickly ushered Debbie inside.

Catherine looked just as shaken.

BOOK: SEAL Wolf In Too Deep
5.38Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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