“They didn’t focus on any particular person?”
“No. Well, me, for a moment, when they realized I was watching them.”
“How did they react when they realized that?”
“Nonchalantly. They continued to talk occasionally, eat, drink, and look around a bit more when they stopped talking.”
“You’re a beautiful wolf, Lelandi.”
“Why, thank you, Peter.”
Peter’s cheeks reddened. “If I visited the tavern and I didn’t know you, and you acted interested in me, watching me, I would have smiled or something. A woman who watches a man means she’s intrigued. Usually.”
“Unless they figured I was a pack leader and they knew I was only watching them to make sure they didn’t cause any trouble for our people. I wasn’t smiling at them. I was pack-leader serious.”
“True. What about Sarandon? Was he there?”
“No. I don’t remember who all might have been. Since I first thought the man was Sarandon, he couldn’t have been there already. I remember wanting to ask Darien if he knew the men, but they left before he had a chance to see them. We’re always wary when wolves we don’t know come through here.”
“What about this guy’s build?”
Lelandi looked at the sketch. “Yes, this looks like him, the best I can recollect. He was shorter than the other man, maybe by an inch, not much. And he was a little less muscled, wirier looking.”
“Anything else?” Peter had his pen ready to write.
“That’s it.”
“Okay, I’ll join the others and get this out as soon as I return to town.”
“I’d like to tag along when you ask Silva and Sam about the men,” Jenna said. “Sarandon will have to come along too, because I’m not letting him out of my sight.” She really wanted to hear any details Silva might have picked up about the man, if Lelandi was right about him looking like the one in the mug shot. Sam might give other details. Jenna wished the tavern sighting hadn’t happened so long ago so that Lelandi might have remembered everyone there that night.
Peter frowned at Jenna. He probably didn’t like her treating Sarandon as a suspect. Tough. He was, until she could clear his name with the police.
“She’s just doing her job,” Alicia told Peter.
Lelandi agreed. “Tell the guys what I told you, and see if it rings any bells with them, Peter.”
Peter inclined his head, cast Jenna a look that said he was watching her, despite what Lelandi and Alicia thought, and then headed outside.
Lelandi sighed. “Peter’s just protective of all of us. It’s nothing personal.”
“I completely understand. We’ve never been part of a pack, so seeing the dynamics is interesting. I envisioned what it might be like once I knew Sarandon was a wolf and Jake said we had to meet with you and Darien. Imagining and seeing the pack in action are two different things. I’m used to dealing with the human police in Colorado Springs. I never believed a pack would have their own law enforcement agency.”
“It helps to police our own.”
“No need for bounty hunters even,” Jenna said, thinking that she’d be out of a job here.
Chapter 5
While grilling the meal outside, Sarandon and the guys had been talking about the case, trying to figure out when his identity had been stolen and how to clear him of the charges. Jake had to tell all the guys how Sarandon had tackled Jenna before she’d tased him, and that had everyone but CJ smiling.
“I should have arrested her on the spot,” CJ said, frowning.
“She was just doing her job,” Sarandon said, trying to appease his brother. He wasn’t bothered by it. He didn’t want anyone else to see Jenna as the bad guy in all this.
“You know she believes you’re guilty,” CJ insisted.
“She’ll come around. As soon as the fingerprints and everything else clear me.”
“You think she’s hot. That’s the problem.” CJ still looked annoyed.
“Well, she is.” Sarandon was amused that his brother was so irritated about her. He knew that before long, they’d get it all sorted out.
“Only if she didn’t want to arrest you. That really takes the hotness factor to zero for me.”
Jake smiled as he held a platter for Darien so he could dish out the grilled steaks, shrimp, and grilled vegetables.
“At least Lelandi’s not trying to make a match between the two of you.” CJ leaned against a stone pillar and shoved his hands in his pockets.
“Oh, she’s trying. Believe me. She’s handling Jenna with kid gloves, but don’t think that will stop Lelandi from planning her next move.” Darien finished dishing up the food.
“What if I’m not interested in the little lady?” Sarandon asked.
Jake laughed. “All I can say is when I saw you take the she-wolf down, I thought you might have a secret lover. You weren’t keen on releasing her, and she wasn’t making a huge effort to unseat you or ask me for help when you both realized I was there. I was glad you took her down before she had the chance to shoot you with the Taser. I believe, once she realized you were a wolf, she began to have serious doubts about whether she had the right man.”
“And Sarandon thinks she’s hot,” Darien added. “In my book, that means there could be a lot more to it.”
“At least when Alicia was working as a bounty hunter, she was going after the genuine bad guy. I can’t believe anyone would have thought a man with a bunch of fraudulent IDs would show the police his real one. They should have assumed he was using one of the stolen IDs,” CJ said.
“They should have, but Sarandon and the suspect look enough alike that the police just assumed it was him,” Darien said.
“Hey, Eric said you were going to the Spring Fling with the rest of us, Sarandon,” Jake said. “Maybe you should ask Jenna to go with you.”
Sarandon chuckled. “She doesn’t live here. Colorado Springs is about six hours away, which makes Eric’s pack’s location ten hours away, so I don’t believe that’s a viable option.”
“See? You’re already considering it,” Jake said.
Sarandon hadn’t, not until his cousin brought it up. Sarandon and Jenna lived too far apart to consider courting each other. Still, taking her to the Spring Fling would have really made a difference, he thought. No one would be trying to fix him up with another she-wolf. And going with her would be more fun than going solo.
Peter cleared his throat. “We’ll run by the tavern and talk to Sam and Silva about these two men.” He showed the sketches to Darien and the others. “Lelandi was waiting for you to arrive at the tavern the day she saw the men, but she said they left before you got there. They did see her watching them.”
Darien looked over the two sketches. “I don’t recognize either of the men.”
Everyone else concurred.
“Silva’s got a pretty good memory, even if that was a few months back. She might remember something about them,” CJ said.
“Agreed. Jenna wants to come with us,” Peter warned CJ.
CJ grunted.
“And, Sarandon, she insisted you go too. I’m sure you would want to anyway. She said she’s not letting you out of her sight, no matter what.” Peter smiled a little. Then he grew serious. “Taking her to the Spring Fling might still be in the works.” He smiled again.
Sarandon shook his head. “Not unless Eric and Pepper moved the date up to this evening and I took her there by force. On accompanying her to your office? Fine by me. I’d just as soon stick close to her so she doesn’t decide to call for reinforcements from her agency or other law enforcement officials, in case she still believes I’m the real culprit. Besides, I want to learn what’s going on as much as she does.” Sarandon’s cell rang, and he pulled it out of his pocket. “Yeah, Eric?”
“Hell. Jake told me you’re in trouble. Why didn’
t you call me?”
Sarandon knew he should have. He just hadn’t thought of it at the time, not when he was concentrating on what they were going to do about this situation. Even though Eric was running his own pack and Sarandon was part of Darien’s, his older brother still felt everything the brothers did should be shared with him. Sarandon loved him for it, really.
“Hey, sorry, Brother. We’ve been working on where to go next with this. Lelandi thinks she’s seen the guy—whose mug shot we have—at the tavern. CJ’s going to send everyone an email and texts with the suspect’s picture and that of the man he was with. No one here recognizes him.”
“Okay, good. Let me know what you find out, and we’ll check into it from here too.”
“Thanks, Eric. I’ll let you know.”
Jake called out, “He might be bringing the wolf to the Spring Fling.”
“Hell, you’ve got some explaining to do. Call me when you can. I’ve got to chase off a bear at a campsite. Just call me with updates.” As a park ranger, Eric seemed to be doing a lot of that lately.
“I will. Good luck with the bear.”
“Pepper will be thrilled you’re bringing a date.” Then Eric ended the call.
Sarandon would have to straighten him out about the date issue later.
“Eric’s chasing off another bear at a campsite?” CJ asked.
“Yeah. They’re drawn to the food.” Sarandon’s phone rang again. He knew that it would be his other brother, Brett, the reporter in the family, wondering why Sarandon hadn’t called him too. “Yeah, Brett?”
“I’ve heard the news. I was thinking we could make an announcement in the paper about the identity theft. That way, everyone can check their financial records and make sure they haven’t also been victimized.”
“That’s a great idea. Peter drew sketches of the men who visited the tavern. One of them might be the guy. Maybe you could run those with the announcement. Someone who reads the paper might have seen these men. We also have a copy of the mug shot of the man who was arrested, claiming he was me.”
“I’ll clear it with my boss, but I’m sure it will be a go. Did Eric call you?”
“Yeah. He’s going to see if he can learn anything there.”
“Well, let me know what else I can do to help. Jake said the bounty hunter is a wolf and she’s a real knockout.”
“She is. But I don’t think she’s convinced I’m not the suspect.”
“We’ll convince her,” Brett assured him.
Peter got the door for Jake and carried the food inside.
“Thanks, Brett. We’re eating now. I’ll let you know if anything else comes up.”
“I’d sure like to know who did this to you.”
“We all would. Hey, I should have asked Eric, but… You don’t think we have a half sibling running around, do you?”
* * *
After the meal, Sarandon climbed into the driver’s seat of Jenna’s car to drive them to Silver Town Tavern, not trusting that she wouldn’t attempt to drive him to Colorado Springs. At least, that’s what she suspected when he wouldn’t let her drive her own vehicle. She couldn’t help but be highly irritated. What did he think? That she would chance having the whole pack of wolves come after her?
CJ and Peter had already gone ahead of them.
“By the way, do you have a brother named Eric?”
“Yeah, he’s a park ranger and leader of another pack. Why?”
“He’s the one who put up the collateral for your bond.”
“No way.”
“Well, whoever did it was impersonating him.”
“Well, hell.” Sarandon got on his Bluetooth and called Eric, but only got his voicemail. “He’s chasing a bear from a campsite.” He left a message telling Eric how his name had been used too.
If Jenna still suspected Sarandon was guilty, she’d slip off tonight with him, when he least expected it. The police would be looking for him too. She didn’t have anything to do with that. Since he—or rather, the guy they’d caught—had been wearing the court-ordered ankle monitor, the police were alerted when he cut it off.
“As easy as it was for me to find you, based on your driver’s license, you do understand it won’t take the police long to locate you here, right?”
“We all figured that,” Sarandon said.
Normally, Jenna had nothing to do with trying to learn whether a suspect was guilty. Her only job was returning the suspect to the police so the judge could determine whether to revoke his bond. If the judge did, the suspect would be incarcerated. Or the judge might apply more restrictions to ensure the suspect showed up for his court date. She didn’t want to take Sarandon to Colorado Springs and learn he wasn’t the right guy. She’d never had a case where she was in doubt.
“What’s the deal with your father?” she asked. “Every time he’s mentioned, there are a lot of negative vibes. If you don’t mind talking about it.”
Sarandon let out his breath. “Our dad was the sheriff, but when our mother died due to a hunter’s carelessness, Dad lost it. Suffice it to say, he went to the dark side. He murdered Lelandi’s twin sister, who was Darien’s first mate. As pack leader, Darien had to take him on and put him down. The pack is family and means everything to us, but we had to leave after that. What our father had done was unforgiveable. We were ashamed of him and what he’d done to the pack.
“At first, we didn’t believe he had any hand in it. When he confessed, we were devastated. Eric, our oldest brother, felt he was responsible. He had taken care of Brett, CJ, and me once our dad became an absentee father. Eric felt he should have known what Dad was up to. He couldn’t know that. No one had.
“My brothers and I left the pack for a while, but our youngest brother wanted to return.”
“CJ, the deputy sheriff?” Jenna asked.
“Yeah. We all did, really. We had to find a way to rejoin the pack that wouldn’t make us look like we had returned with our tails tucked between our legs. We knew someone was causing trouble for the pack, and we were trying to learn who.”
“You were trying to prove your worth to the pack.”
“Yeah. In the end, we returned, that case was solved, and we were glad we were back with the family. Eric found his mate, Pepper. That meant helping to run her pack. CJ and Brett also found mates, Laurel and Ellie. We needed to be here. Fortunately, no one blamed us for our father’s criminal behavior.”
“I’m so sorry. I know what family means to wolves. And to have to give up the rest of your family because of the sins of your father… I’m sorry.” For the first time, Jenna saw a man who had been really hurting. Yet despite that, the pack was completely galvanized to take care of him. “You seem to think you might have some unknown half siblings who could have stolen your identity.”
“It’s possible. I never thought it would be, but if a wolf who looks similar to me stole my identity, the possibility exists.”
“Your dad mated with another wolf?”
“He was seeing a wolf named Ritka, but she died. She never had any children that we know of, unless she gave one up for someone else to raise. It usually doesn’t happen, but that whole part of our lives should never have happened. Not as wolves.”
“Okay.”
“Since you insist on ‘sticking’ to me so I don’t sneak off, what are we going to do about tonight? Did you want to borrow some of CJ’s handcuffs so we can be handcuffed together?”
She smiled. “You’re so hilarious.”
“I’m serious. What are you going to do if the police show up to arrest me, and they discover you’re sleeping with me?”
She laughed. “I won’t be sleeping with you.”
“You know what I mean. We’ll be in the same house. Cohabitating. No telling what else.”
“We won’t be doing anything else.”
He smiled so charmingly that she felt her whole body warm. “Yeah, as wolves we know that. As humans, they won’t. You haven’t alerted them that you’ve caught me, have you? They’ll think you’ve fallen for the suspect and are trying to hide the fact that you’ve caught him because you have the hots for him.”
“Hots for you?” She laughed. “Are you trying to convince me to turn you in?” Or leave him here with his pack and pretend she hadn’t found him?
“I don’t want you to get in trouble over this.”
She studied him, surprised he’d feel that way when she had intended to turn him in pronto. Was he just kidding? He didn’t seem to be. “Okay, the truth of the matter is that I’ve never had a case where I was unsure whether the suspect was the right one. I certainly wouldn’t want to turn in an innocent man. It’s not my job to learn whether someone is guilty or not, but in your case, if you’re not the guy they already arrested and fingerprinted, maybe…maybe we can have Peter send your fingerprints to the police department in Colorado Springs and prove you’re not the one they’re looking for. That would clear you without you even having to go to Colorado Springs.”
“Are you sure that will suffice?”
“Well, as long as the sheriff’s department is contacting them. I’m not sure, but it’s worth a try. Peter can send them a copy of the sketch he did of the man Lelandi saw. And another thing. If you have an alibi for when the suspect was detained at the jail and while he was wearing the ankle monitor, you should have a truly verifiable, airtight defense.”
“You know I can come up with one. Or, for that much time, several alibis.”
“So, what are they?”
“I don’t know.”
Smiling, she shook her head.
“Off the top of my head? I wouldn’t venture a guess. I’ll have to look at my schedule to see what I was doing during that time. I had taken a tour group out right before that. That may have overlapped with when the police picked him up. If I was still running the tour, those on the tour would be witnesses. I’m with them all the time when I’m conducting one. After that, I would have been here. I didn’t go to Colorado Springs.”