She explained about the shootings near the jumping cliff. “You have to admit it sounds rather peculiar.”
Allan was quiet for some time, but then he let out his breath as if relieved. “He didn’t see me shift then.”
Debbie chuckled, loving that Allan could play along. “Besides, you are the one with close family ties. Rowdy has none. So he couldn’t be a wolf. But he told me to watch out where you’re concerned.”
“All that means is that he’s a lone wolf and not associated with a pack.”
“I’ll tell him what you said next time.”
“So what do you think?”
“Oh, you’re a wolf all right.”
He smiled.
“He told me about the shoot-out you had with bank robbers. Rowdy thought a pack of wolves was involved. But wolves don’t go after humans like that. Unless they were rabid, maybe, but then the victims would have tested positive for rabies. He said you witnessed that attack.”
“No, I was shot and couldn’t do a whole lot.”
“Where were you shot?” she asked, surprised. She didn’t remember seeing any mark on his beautiful skin, except for some cute freckles on his shoulders. But she hadn’t witnessed any scars due to a bullet wound.
“Minor scratch, and it’s all healed up. No scar even.”
“You must have been in a bad way. They took you away in an ambulance, Rowdy said.”
“Just as a precautionary measure.”
“You wouldn’t have been lying around when armed men were shooting at you and the others.” Then she frowned a little. “Do wolves heal miraculously like vampires? No wounds left behind?”
“Absolutely.”
“Thought so. I’ll have to let Rowdy know. Did Paul see any of the ‘wolves’?”
“He was too busy trying to rescue Lori. She’d struggled with one robber and then both fell off the cliff. You know she was pregnant at the time, right? So Paul was concerned about her condition and was trying to reach her right away.”
“Yes, that was so awful. I was glad to hear she was fine. I realize she knows martial arts, but she’s seen these two bad criminal cases that must have really shaken her up. So in the bank robber case, she had been struggling with a naked man?”
“The police found his clothes in his vehicle. Maybe he was planning to dump them, afraid he’d been identified, or maybe he had blood splatter on them from shooting me. Anyway, we thought maybe he was high on something, but nothing showed up in his system during the autopsy.”
“That leaves only one real plausible explanation. He removed his clothes, shifted, and chased after Lori as a wolf.”
“She wouldn’t have been able to fight off a wolf.”
“Unless she had been a wolf too.”
“A female fighting against a male?” Allan shook his head. “I doubt a female would have survived a vicious male’s attack.”
“Unless Paul came to rescue her as a wolf. And then there would have been two wolves against one.”
“I see you have all this well thought out. Have you asked Paul about his role as a wolf?”
“Heavens no. I figure you and I are friends, and you’ll keep the others from turning me.”
Allan raised his brows a little. “What if I wanted to turn you to make you my mate?”
She smiled as if she rather liked the idea. “I might just bite you right back.”
“That’s all part of being a wolf.” Then he let out his breath. “About tonight…”
She knew before he said it that he wasn’t staying with her tonight. He was backing off from getting too involved, and she couldn’t help but be disappointed. “Yeah?”
“I need to stay closer to home, but I’m calling the sheriff’s office to make sure someone drives by to check on you every once in a while.”
“I’ll be fine, Allan. Really.” But she knew he’d call it in anyway. And she had to like that he still worried about her, even if things were cooling off between them again.
* * *
After ensuring some of his law enforcement friends would check on Debbie periodically, Allan drove to Paul and Lori’s cabin on the lake. He really hated leaving Debbie alone, partly because he wanted to be the one protecting her and partly because he wanted to just plain be with her. But despite how he wanted it, he knew this was the best for all concerned.
When he arrived at Paul and Lori’s cabin, Lori fixed them dinner.
“Rowdy told Debbie we were part of a werewolf pack,” Allan told them.
“How did he come to that conclusion?” Lori asked.
Allan knew Paul and Lori would take Rowdy’s claim seriously, even if most people would think he was just having some lighthearted, storytelling fun. If Rowdy mentioned it to the police, they’d rib him mercilessly. But it was still a concern for the pack. Allan explained all that Debbie had told him.
“He told Debbie, not you though,” Paul said thoughtfully, setting the table.
“Maybe he thought I’d turn all wolf and that would be the end of him.” Not that Allan was being serious about it.
“He had to know she’d tell you. He must have figured she’d get a kick out of it,” Paul said.
“Right, just what I had assumed. Which means he wants to see how we react to Debbie’s claim.”
“I wonder if he’s armed with silver bullets.” Lori served up the rolls while Paul dished up the bowls of chicken and dumplings.
Allan stoked the fire, thinking how nice it would be to have one going at his place while Debbie sat with him on the couch. “Ah, but he believes any bullets will kill us.”
Paul set beers on the table for him and Allan, then returned to the kitchen to get a glass of milk for Lori. “True. Just like silver bullets can kill humans. Your reaction to Debbie was fine. As far as Rowdy goes, I’d just ignore it. Just be your normal self around him and Debbie. There’s not much else we can do for now.”
Allan joined them at the table. “I agree. I was just a little surprised. Not often does someone believe the evidence points to werewolves.”
“I’m sure he’s just pulling our legs. Coming up with bizarre explanations for bizarre circumstances. But even if he did believe we’re werewolves, I’m sure he realizes we’re some of the good guys.” Lori took a roll and passed around the platter.
“True. I just wanted to make you aware of it to alert the pack members, in case we have any trouble with him. I can see him putting surveillance on us.” Allan eyed the roll. “Fresh baked.”
“Only for you,” Lori said.
Paul grunted and began to coat his roll with gobs of butter. “She made them for me.”
She was watching Paul, then pointed her knife at his roll. “Do you have enough butter on your roll?”
When Allan had shared meals with Paul, they always had to get an extra tub of butter—the large variety.
“He’d have us under surveillance during the full moon especially.” Lori peered into the empty butter container.
Before she got up from the table, Allan said, “Do you have another tub of butter?”
“In the fridge, thanks.”
He went to get it. “Wouldn’t Rowdy be surprised to learn we don’t have to shift during the full moon but can do it at any time.”
Lori shook her head. “He may be rethinking the lore, if he truly does believe we’re wolves.”
“So if he truly believes, what then?” Allan set the new tub of butter on the table in front of Lori.
She opened the lid, giving Paul a look that said this tub was hers, and he smiled back. “We’ll take care of Rowdy if it becomes a problem.”
“Turn him, right? We could use someone like him on the force and on our side.” Allan thought it could work, particularly since Rowdy had no family to speak of.
“Yes. I agree.” Paul winked at Lori, and she relen
ted, giving him the new tub of butter. At least it was for his second roll.
Chapter 9
For three weeks, nothing happened. It was as if nothing had ever happened. No black sedan had been spotted. No more wolf killings. Maybe the killer had been disconcerted when he killed the wolves and they hadn’t turned into humans. Maybe he hadn’t realized the Cunningham wolf pack was located here and had just followed the dead woman.
As to the business with the man driving the red Camaro, no sign of it either, though everyone had been diligent about watching for it.
Allan was trying to be careful around Debbie, and he didn’t like it. He couldn’t tell her why he was backing away. Despite his behavior, Debbie was being really upbeat and good-natured about it, and trying to show it was no big deal. And that made the situation all the harder to deal with.
He could tell it did bother her, as evidenced by the way she averted her gaze at times when he caught her watching him, or when their hands touched or their bodies brushed against each other, and she’d pull away as if he’d burned her. It was killing him to treat her like she wasn’t important to him, except as a partner. He knew kissing her had been a mistake, because that little kiss and everything that had led up to it had made him fantasize more than once about what becoming intimately involved would be like.
She’d invited him over a few times and he’d skillfully declined, sometimes because he had other commitments and sometimes because he was trying to put some distance between them. The problem was that he couldn’t see her as just his partner or a human that he had no business getting involved with. He’d been short-tempered with Paul and his family too. They had tried to reassure him it was for the best, but he didn’t need them telling him anything where Debbie was concerned.
It was time to meet her and Rowdy at the pizzeria for another Friday night “date.” For three weeks, they’d done this, and he’d hoped to dispel any notion that he and Debbie were an item.
He tried to think about the case, but the way this was going, he was afraid it would end up in the cold-case files before long. Unless the killer struck again. Although they certainly didn’t want that either.
When Allan arrived at the pizzeria, he saw both Debbie’s and Rowdy’s vehicles. He had to remind himself they’d had fun every time they had met for dinner, though after the first time, Debbie had water to drink. Rowdy had asked her to go out with him a couple more times, but she still said no, to Allan’s relief. The more he saw her and got to know her, the more he wanted to know her even better. He genuinely loved her company, her smiles, and her teasing nature, and he loved to tease her right back. He’d grown more lax around her, allowing more of his wolfish nature to show—the possessiveness, the playfulness, and the sexual overtures—although he shouldn’t have. But she brought it out in him, and he had a hard time keeping his wolfishness under wraps around her.
That was the trouble when a wolf began to really get interested in a good prospect for a mate and the female wasn’t a lupus garou. He’d even allowed himself to envision her being turned, of him doing the deed. That was a dark road he had to turn back from now.
Then right in the middle of refilling Allan’s mug with beer, Rowdy asked Debbie out to dinner for Saturday night. And, hell, she looked at Allan, as if waiting for him to approve or get her out of it this time!
“We have a date tomorrow night at Captain O’Keefe’s Seafood Restaurant,” Allan said, smiling a little at Rowdy and hoping Debbie wouldn’t be annoyed with him for saying so. Of course he’d take her out, but that would just stir up things between the two of them again. Allan told himself he was just doing it to rescue her from Rowdy since he was trying to wear her down and she looked ready to fold. Or maybe she was playing her woman’s intuition—women could be tricky like that—and forcing Allan to take a stand.
Rowdy lifted his mug of beer in a salute to Allan.
Allan raised his to Rowdy. He ventured a look in Debbie’s direction. She’d folded her arms and was frowning at him.
Well, maybe they wouldn’t really go out to dinner.
“I’ll call you about tomorrow night,” he said.
Allan and Debbie had continued to arrive separately at the pizzeria. He thought she was trying to flirt with other dive team members who were single, but he could tell her heart wasn’t really in it. He felt like a real heel, but what could he do about it? Nothing.
Rowdy shook his head. “See you all next week, if we’re still on.”
“Sure,” Debbie said, smiling.
“Right. Next week,” Allan agreed.
Then he left and headed home. When he arrived at his cabin, he got a call from Debbie. “Listen, about tomorrow night—”
“When did you want me to pick you up?”
“I…don’t want you to feel obligated.”
“I’d like to go out, if you’d like to.”
“Sure. Thanks for rescuing me from Rowdy. I don’t think he believes you’ve had a change of heart about us, but I appreciate that you made the offer.”
Allan couldn’t share how he really felt. How much he wanted to take her out. How much he wanted to stay with her afterward. She was like a drug to him, an addiction he couldn’t give up.
“Would six be good?”
“Okay, see you then.”
Allan knew he shouldn’t be doing this. He knew it, but he told himself there would be no harm in a little dinner date.
* * *
Late the next afternoon, Allan got a call from Rose. Every time he did, he worried she was going into labor. “I was looking over the applications—”
“You’re not going into labor,” he blurted out.
Pause. Then Rose chuckled. “No. I guess every time I call, I need to preface the conversation with, ‘I’m not going into labor yet.’ Every time I call anyone, I get the same panicked comment.”
Allan breathed a sigh of relief. “Okay, you were going over applications from potential new members who want to join our pack and…?”
“I found one from around the time Lori and I discovered the dead woman. We’ve either met and accepted or rejected everyone else who sent one. Or they rejected us. I didn’t think she could be the woman because she said she would check us out in a few weeks. But we found the dead woman only a few days after this was sent. So I didn’t make the connection, thinking this Sarah Engle was still coming to see us in a few weeks. A few weeks have passed. Allan, I think…I think she might have been part of that LARP group in southern Montana that I went to check out.”
He sure hoped this was the break in the case that they so desperately needed. “Is that where she was from?”
“On her application, she said she was. I didn’t see her with the group when I went down there, but under hobbies she said that she loves theater production and mentions LARP—not that particular group, just listed the acronym. So I’m thinking she could have been with Zeta’s group. I told Paul and Lori, but he wanted me to call you and tell you everything I knew. He wants you to speak with Zeta Johansson, the woman who runs the group. I’d go because I’ve already met her before and she seemed to like me but—”
“You’re due any day now. I’ll go.”
Rose gave him the address. “Let us know what you find, all right?”
“I will.” Then he ended the call and looked at the clock. It was three already and it would take three hours in good weather to reach Helena. He’d have to see if he could schedule a meeting with Zeta for Sunday because of the lateness of the hour, the worsening weather, and his date with Debbie.
But then the name of the place jogged a memory. The dead man in the car submerged in the lake had stolen the car in Helena, Montana. What were the odds that two people from there weren’t related somehow? Both murdered near Bigfork. Both from Helena. And murdered only a day apart. What if the murdered man had also been a member of the LARP group?
“Paul,” Allan said, giving him a call right away. “You’re not going to believe this, but…”
Chapter 10
This was it! Allan was finally taking the bull by the horns and asking her out. This would be their first real date, and Debbie couldn’t have been happier and more excited about it. She spent the day doing laundry and cleaning the duplex, just in case Allan stayed the night. Not that she thought he would. But then again, she wanted to be prepared.
During the day, she’d gone over her wardrobe a million times. Nothing suited the occasion. Too flashy, like she was ready for a New Year’s Eve party, or too dark and businesslike, as if she were a female detective on a TV series. Or too casual—soft, million times washed jeans. One dress looked too frumpy. Another like she was going to a church social. Maybe slacks. One pair was too baggy. Another too short-legged and tight. When had they shrunk?
She eyed her black jeans and a jade sweater that was so soft and cuddly. That would do. She threw them on and then considered her hair. Up and sexy, or was that too much like the way she wore it all day on the job?
Down and soft and curling about her shoulders? Despite how tipsy she had been the night she’d had the beer at the pizzeria, she had seen the look on Allan’s face when she’d let her hair down—admiration. But was it sexier if he removed the barrette? That if they started kissing, she would go from polished to ready for some fun loving?
She never thought about her clothes or hair this much for a date. A little, sure, because she didn’t want to be underdressed or overdressed for the occasion. But never all day, trying on clothes, taking them off. Trying her hair up, then down. Then up. Then down.
She groaned as she considered herself in the mirror. She wasn’t going to the church to get married today. No one was going to take pictures of the date, capturing what she looked like for all time. And really? She didn’t believe Allan would care. He’d seen her in frumpy and casual and nice, and he seemed to enjoy being with her no matter how she looked.
A knock at her door made her jump. She glanced at her watch. Either Allan was half an hour early, or someone else was knocking at her door. She hurried into the bedroom and grabbed her Glock from her bedside table drawer, then stalked toward the door.