A Very Jaguar Christmas

  “Okay, works for me.”

  He and Leidolf headed for the front door. The yard was well maintained, and there were colorful Christmas lights on the house and a sparkly Christmas tree in the front window.

  Leidolf rang the doorbell, and a woman answered the door after a few minutes. “Yes?”

  She looked like the woman Corey had described. Brown hair, brown eyes. And she smelled like chocolate chip cookies.

  “Ma’am, we work with the FBI and are trying to verify some information from you concerning this boy.” Everett showed her his badge and then pulled out the picture of the boy and showed it to her.

  “Oh?” Her eyes lit up.

  Everett took a deep breath of the air, like he always did to catalog someone’s scent. She was definitely human and terrified. “Can you tell me anything about this boy?”

  The woman looked at the picture and swallowed hard, tears filling her eyes, but she didn’t say anything.

  “Okay, here’s the deal. We know you dropped the boy off at the day-care facility. We have security tapes that show everything. That’s how we tracked you here so easily. We’re going to take you in for further questioning. Does a Mr. Paddy O’Leary live here?”

  “Yes. He’s my husband.”

  “We need to speak with him too.”

  “He’s not here.” She snorted. “Who knows when he’ll be home. He’s out drinking with his buddies. Or sleeping with his girlfriend. Could be middle of the night, tomorrow morning, or after work, if ever.”

  “Okay. Come with us. No need to cuff you. Unless you give us trouble.”

  “I–I didn’t steal the boy.” She sounded panicked.

  “You also didn’t let any law-enforcement agency know you had a child in your custody. Instead of informing someone, you just dropped him off at the day care and let them deal with it. What if they hadn’t called us? What if he had left the building and was nabbed by someone else?”

  She locked her door and walked with Everett to the vehicle. “I didn’t steal him. He got in the trailer. He was trespassing. That’s against the law.”

  “A four-year-old?”

  She twisted her mouth and got in the backseat.

  While Everett drove the rental car to JAG headquarters, Leidolf used Everett’s phone to text Demetria and Martin. Demetria followed behind them.

  When they arrived at headquarters, Everett parked and got out of the car, along with Leidolf and Belinda. Demetria parked in a distant section of the parking area, staying out of sight with Corey. Two more men in suits met up with Everett and escorted Belinda into the headquarters.

  Everett noticed that Leidolf was checking out the people in the area, smelling that they were all jaguars, and they were doing the same with him.

  Everett said to Leidolf, “Let me get Demetria and the boy. I’m sure they’ll take Belinda to a room with a two-way mirror so he can positively identify her.”

  Howard hurried to join them. “I ran her license plate. She’s got a few moving traffic violations. Her husband has been in a few fights at O’Flaherty’s Pub and has been arrested for it, but no other scrapes with the law. Neither has spent time in jail. He’s a construction worker, but also a middleweight boxer in his spare time. She is a homemaker.”

  “She said he might be out drinking with friends or with a mistress,” Everett said.

  “Okay, as soon as we know more, I’ll check it out.” Howard studied Leidolf for a moment and shook his head. “Since I was little, I always said there could be all kinds of different shifters out there—bear, cougar, fox.” He smiled. “Wolves.”

  Leidolf returned his smile. “Total shock to me.”

  Everett went to get Demetria and Corey while Belinda was escorted inside the building.

  “He’s sound asleep.” Demetria got out of the car and pulled open the back door.

  “I’ll get him.” Everett was certain Corey would wake, but he just snuggled up against Everett’s shoulder and continued to sleep. He was a cute kid.

  The agents were all smiling at the boy.

  “I can’t believe I was ever like that. Now if anything wakes me, I have a hard time getting back to sleep,” Demetria said.

  “Me too. I’m sure meeting all the new people, all the activities he’s been involved in, and the long trip here from the Houston area wore him out.” Everett led the way into the building. The whole place was lit up and several people were there. Normally at that hour, everyone was home with their families unless they were on a mission. He suspected the large turnout was because of having a red wolf and the little boy who was an Arctic wolf in their midst.

  “Exam room five.” Howard led them all into the viewing room.

  Belinda was sitting at a wooden table, the lights in the exam room bright and harsh. Everett’s boss was talking with her.

  “Corey,” Demetria said softly. “Wake up for just a minute, honey. We need you to tell us if that’s the woman who was taking care of you.”

  After much coaxing, Corey finally and reluctantly opened his eyes, stared at the woman, and nodded.

  “That’s Belinda? The woman who dropped you off at the day care?” Demetria asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “Okay, you can go back to sleep.”

  Corey snuggled again against Everett’s shoulder, and Everett smiled.

  Howard called Martin. “Corey identified the woman.”

  “Okay. Have Demetria and Everett talk to Mrs. O’Leary.” Then he said to Belinda, “Just tell the agents exactly what happened, and you’ll be free to go as soon as we can get your husband to corroborate your story.” Then Martin left the room.

  Howard said to Everett, “Do you want me to take the little tyke?”

  Demetria couldn’t believe he’d offer.

  “Yeah, sure.” Everett handed over Corey and then said, “Okay. Demetria, are you ready?”

  “Am I ever.”

  They walked into the exam room and shut the door. They believed Corey’s story, but since the O’Learys hadn’t contacted the police, they must have had something to hide.

  Tammy returned to the room carrying a poster that pictured Corey. She tacked it on a wall, and then she left.

  Belinda stared at the picture as if it were of some alien being, her eyes wide, her face ashen.

  “We’re investigating how this boy came to be in your possession,” Demetria said. “We want to know the whole story. But mostly, we want to know where you were when the boy climbed into your camper and you locked him in.”

  Demetria flashed her badge. “We’re with an agency of the federal government that specializes in child endangerment cases,” she said, her voice soft, trying to lull the woman into believing they didn’t really think she was a kidnapper. “Tell us what happened in your own words.” Demetria took a seat across from Belinda as if she were just a concerned friend.

  “I didn’t endanger any child.”

  “All right. We believe you. Just tell us how you ended up with Corey and then left him off at the day care.”

  Belinda clenched her hands together, so pale that she looked like she was ready to pass out. “All right. I didn’t do nothing wrong. Paddy, the bastard, had been sleeping with a mutual friend of ours.”

  Demetria wondered what that had to do with anything, but she knew to wait unless the woman was straying too far from the story. Everett leaned against the wall and folded his arms, staying out of the picture for the moment. Demetria wasn’t used to interrogating a suspect quite like this.

  “Well, I knew he was sleeping with her, and I was trying to get him to fess up. And he kept denying it and denying it. But I’m no dummy, and I knew he was sleeping with her. So I kept pushing. And he finally confessed. He got tired of me asking about his late-night phone calls from her. He’d said the call was from one of his poker buddies, who was upset about gett
ing a divorce. I asked him where he’d been because I’d gone to O’Flaherty’s looking for him and he wasn’t there.”

  “What has any of this to do with—”

  “I’m getting to it. You told me to tell my story in my own words, didn’t you?”

  “Go ahead.”

  “Okay, so he said he was seeing Millicent O’Brian. She’s a friend of mine from school. His too. And they’ve been sneaking off together and doing it. Well, I hit him with my fishing pole, and he got mad and said, ‘Fine. We’ll just go home. Can’t go anywhere without you making a fuss.’ Fuss? I wasn’t fooling around with a friend of his! So he started tearing things down and throwing everything mad-like onto the sled.”

  “Sled?” Demetria didn’t fish, but a sled sounded like snow to her. And there wasn’t any snow this time of year in this part of Texas, if ever.

  “Yeah, yeah, it’s the easiest way to haul all that stuff to the river.”

  “Snow? It was snowing there?”

  “No, it wasn’t snowing.”

  “But if you had a sled…”

  “Yeah, it was snowy, but it wasn’t snowing. Not until we left.”

  Demetria wanted to throw her hands up in exasperation. “Where were you?”

  “Minnesota, but don’t ask me where in Minnesota exactly. I don’t like to drive in snow, and if I’m not driving, I got to take motion sickness pills, so I was sleeping. He knows where he’s going, and he doesn’t need me to navigate for him. Well, most of the time.”

  “Minnesota. You said Paddy might be out drinking. Where?”

  “O’Flaherty’s Pub. He drinks and plays poker in a back room.”

  “What’s Millicent O’Brian’s address?”

  “Are you kidding? How would I know where that traitor lives? If I did, I’d have a knock-down, drag-out fight with her.”

  Everett was already on his phone. “Do whatever we have to so that we can locate Paddy O’Leary. Apparently, he’s the only one who knows where they picked up the boy.”

  The woman told them about how they’d driven home in a hurry, angry with each other over the whole mess with him and her friend. “We never heard the boy make a peep. Believe me, if I’d heard some kid in there crying or hollering to get out, I would’ve unlocked the door and checked it out.”

  “Why didn’t you stop at a campsite on the way home?”

  “Once we drove out of the snow, I took the wheel. We alternated between driving and sleeping. I just wanted to get home and kill him. When we got home, I went to grab the food out of the fridge in the camper. But when I unlocked the door and opened it, there was this little boy sitting on the bed, a half-melted chocolate bar in hand, taking a bite of it, and a mess everywhere. Took me days to clean it up too. I never seen such a mess.” She went on to explain in detail the mess, taking the boy to clean him up, buying him a couple of things, and then taking him to the day care. “Oh, I finally found his snow boots.”

  “Snow boots.” If they’d had those all along, they probably would have had a clue he’d been up north before he’d even shifted.

  “And I’ve got his coloring books and crayons. Which he can have.”

  “If you hadn’t done anything wrong, why didn’t you report this to the police so they could reunite him with his parents?”

  “I’ve been in trouble with the law before. Nothing much. Just petty stuff. But when you get in trouble, people look at you differently. I’ve never stole a kid before, but what if someone thought we had done that this time and then just chickened out and called the police?”

  “Corey told us how he was playing hide-and-seek with his brother and sister. You would have been exonerated. We want you to look at some maps and see if you can give us any direction, any idea of where you drove. Was the same route you took to Minnesota the same as the one on the way back?”

  “I don’t know. When I take that medicine, it makes me sleepy. But I get so nauseated, I have to take it. I can show you where I drove through on the way home. And on the way there. But once we hit snow, I didn’t drive. Paddy’s from Minnesota. He’s used to it. Not me. I was freezing. I’m from Texas. Never lived anywhere up north. I don’t travel well, so I don’t usually go anywhere but on really short drives. Paddy wanted to get away. I think he was mad at Millicent, because when he got mad at me and we returned home, he left and I thought he was staying with her, but he came home again.”

  “Where in Minnesota is he from?”

  “St. Paul, I think.”

  “St. Paul,” Everett said. “Big city, no help there. Family there still?”

  “No. Parents passed away. No brothers or sisters.”

  As if on cue, Tammy came in with a large map of the States and spread it out on the table in front of Belinda. “Leidolf wants to talk to the two of you, and Martin suggested I try to learn what I can from her about where they might have traveled while you take Corey home. Howard is going to look for this girlfriend of Paddy’s and check out the pub.”

  “All right. Thanks, Tammy,” Everett said.

  Demetria knew he wanted to stay and work the case, but they needed to get some sleep and take care of Corey.

  Chapter 15

  Everett took charge of Corey, thanking Howard for taking care of him. “Good luck on your search.”

  “A bunch of us are searching. I’m in charge of this part of the investigation until we can bring Paddy O’Leary in,” Howard said.

  Leidolf pocketed his phone. “I’ve got pack trouble at home. I need to take the next flight out of the Dallas area. Keep me in the loop on this, will you? And I’ll keep trying to track down the MacPhersons with my own resources.”

  “Absolutely,” Demetria said.

  “Sure thing. Appreciate you flying all the way out here to help us.” Everett balanced Corey and shook Leidolf’s hand.

  “I’m sure we’ll have more dealings with one another in the future.” Leidolf nodded to Demetria and Howard, then left the viewing room.

  “That’s the problem with being a pack leader,” Demetria said. “It might be neat to have a pack-run mini kingdom, but when the king is away…”

  “Yeah. Hope it isn’t anything too serious,” Everett said.

  Howard said, “I’ll let you know if I track Paddy down and get a location. Or find the girlfriend.”

  “Thanks, Howard.” Demetria took hold of Everett’s arm. “Come on. Let’s get Corey home to bed.”

  Everett smiled at her.

  “Yeah, yeah. If we come up with any ideas in the middle of the night, we can discuss them.” But Everett was still smiling, as if he knew that any ideas they came up with would have nothing to do with the case and wouldn’t lead to any discussion at all.

  Martin met with them before they left. “We’re keeping Belinda in a separate wing of a correctional facility for jaguars so our agents can continue to question her, promising she’ll be released without criminal prosecution as soon as the family is found. We can’t release her until then, in case she’s afraid she’ll be prosecuted for not turning the boy over to police and tries to disappear.”

  “Sound good,” Demetria said.

  “Are the two of you good with taking care of Corey while you’re still on the case? Do we need to call someone else to take care of him in the meantime?”

  “No, we’re good,” Everett said. “I don’t think it would be a good idea to keep handing him over to different families. We’re giving him a birthday party tomorrow, taking him to see Santa, and checking out the mall again. Though I suspect that since Corey’s family is in Minnesota, they have nothing to do with the woman and her children that smelled like wolves at the mall.”

  Martin glanced at Demetria. “Yeah, we’re good, sir. He loves us, so no problem with that. He’s been great,” she said.

  “Okay. We had a lot of offers to take the boy in, and even more tonight whe
n they saw him sound asleep in Everett’s arms, so just checking. It’s late. Why don’t you get some sleep and get to work on all of this in the morning.”

  “Yes, sir,” they both said.

  As she drove them to Everett’s home, Demetria made a detour and traveled through one of the more highly decorated home developments so she and Everett could enjoy the Christmas lights. Corey was in the car seat fast asleep.

  “Beautiful,” Everett said. “Haven’t done this in years.”

  “Me either. We’ll have to do it again when Corey’s still awake.”

  She parked at Everett’s town house shortly after that, but still no word from Howard.

  “Why don’t we put Corey to bed while we wait for Howard’s call?” Everett had every intention of having Demetria stay with him. “We can decide where everyone’s staying the night.” He carried Corey into a guest room while Demetria grabbed Corey’s bag. “We’ll just put him to bed in my spare bedroom, and we’ll have some decaf coffee or hot chocolate or eggnog.”

  “I have to warn you, I don’t do well with too little sleep.”

  He smiled. “I thought we did well last night. You can just doze, and I’ll wait for the call and wake you.”

  She sighed. “I wouldn’t be able to sleep. Hot chocolate sounds good to me.” Demetria began to undress Corey and put him in pajamas.

  Everett pulled her into a hug. “We’ll solve this one.” He kissed her tenderly, and she kissed him back. “And you and I need to talk. About us.”

  And about Matt. Everett wanted to clear the air with her, to tell her how he’d felt about her from the first moment he’d seen her. He wanted her to know the feelings he had for her were real, and he hoped she felt the same way about him.

  Everett left the room and made hot chocolate for them, turning on all the Christmas lights as he went.

  When she joined him, he still hadn’t heard from Howard. “This could take a while.”

  They sat close together on the couch, their legs touching, mugs of cocoa in hand.