“Good. I’ll be back at the office in a couple of days. Just call if it’s anything critical.”
Dottie was dying to know what was up. Dan never took time off for personal business. He never took any time off ever. She couldn’t help being curious about it. That was part of the hazard of being a big cat. Dottie wondered if Stryker knew what was going on. After they ended the call, she got back on the line with Mrs. Sorenson.
“Okay, so not one of your cats?”
“No. I’ll send you a picture of it. I looked it up on the Internet. It’s a caracal—wild cat. They have them in Africa, Asia, and India. Some other places. But not in Yuma Town. It’s just watching me.”
Dottie was looking at the picture of the cat on her computer, not believing the pointy-eared, medium-sized wild cat was in their town. It was beautiful, with tufts of black hair on its long-tapering ears. It looked a little bit like a lynx, but with a long tail, longer legs, and a slenderer body. First the bear, someone reported otters at the lake, an alligator—that was removed—and now this?
“Okay, I’ll get Stryker right on it.”
“I wonder if someone tried to make it a pet. It’s tame enough acting.”
“It says here they run like a cheetah. They aren’t sprinters like the cheetahs are. If dogs chase them, they climb into the trees. They can leap ten feet. And it says people trained them to hunt birds, antelope, rabbits, and foxes, like they did with the cheetah. So it’s possible someone owns it. It’s usually nocturnal, which makes me wonder why it’s out at this time of day, and in your tree. Anyway, just stay safe. I’ll get Stryker to run right over there.”
Dottie called Stryker next. “Hey, got a new one from Mrs. Sorenson. It’s not about one of her cats this time. A caracal is in her tree.”
“A what?”
“Here, I’ll send you the photo she sent. Watch out for the claws. It can be between thirteen to forty-four pounds, the males are bigger than the females. So this must be a male, judging by the size.”
“What in the world is it doing here?”
“Someone’s pet? Has to be a human. I doubt our cougars would own a wild cat for a pet. But it says they’ve been trained for hunting in other countries, much like the cheetahs. So it’s possible someone has it as a pet and it got away from him.”
“As a hunting cat? I’m almost there. Can you call me if there’s a cute, single cougar that needs rescuing next time?”
Dottie smiled. “Yeah, sure, I’ll put that on my list of calls you need to take care of. I’d be careful of tranquilizing him unless you’re really sure about his weight though.” Not that she needed to tell Stryker his job. Tranquilizing any animal could be deadly if they didn’t use the right dose.
Ten minutes later, Stryker called her back. “I’m just pulling up now.”
A car door slammed shut. She heard Stryker’s footfalls, and then he stopped. “Beautiful golden eyes. Brick-red coat, white underside and, hell, it’s a female. And she’s jumping!”
A shot was fired off.
Dottie prayed that the cat would be okay. Well, and that Stryker was too.
“Got her. Aww, hell. About four-foot ten, redhead, golden eyes, naked woman.”
Dottie’s jaw dropped. “Omigod. Okay, calling it in to Dan.” This was amazing. She knew he’d want to hear about it. Before she could call him, she had another incoming call.
It was Mrs. Fitzgerald, who was the resident Yuma Town gossip.
“Oh, Dottie, did Dan tell you about the blond staying with him? She came in late last night. She walked right into his house like she lived there. He wasn’t even home at the time. Surprised me to pieces. Do you think he’s seeing someone now that you’re married to Jack? But listen to me. I completely forgot why I called. I’m arranging a baby shower for you and I just wondered if we should invite Dan’s friend.” Mrs. Fitzgerald was a platinum blond, vivacious woman who just turned sixty-seven. She was always smiling, widowed, and ran the coffee and pastry shop in town, Fitz’s Pastry and Coffee Shop. She prided herself on her to-die-for pastries.
Dottie often picked up pastries for everyone at the sheriff’s department. They all ran off the calories as cougars, so no problem there. The coffee shop was a fun gathering place for afternoon or evening dessert and was always crowded with both out-of-town guests and locals. Even while supervising the baking operation, or mixing up a great latte, Mrs. Fitzgerald always had time to visit with everyone for a few minutes.
But about Dan? Dottie couldn’t have been more surprised. “She might just be someone who is visiting for a brief time and then will be gone. I wouldn’t worry about it.” Dottie now suspected that was the reason for him needing some personal time.
“Well, I wouldn’t want to exclude her, if it turns out she’s going to be staying around for any length of time. You know how tight-knit we are and we don’t want to leave anyone out and hurt their feelings.”
Dottie sighed. Mrs. Fitzgerald was definitely one of the most agreeable people like that. Even if the cougar didn’t fit in really well, she wanted to make him or her welcome.
“I mean, I figured you could ask Dan on account of you work for him and get along so well.”
“Which means he’ll tell me if she’s staying around for a while and we need to include her. Otherwise, don’t plan on it.” At least Dottie didn’t think the woman was going to stay if Dan said he only needed to take a couple of days off to deal with personal business. So was this the reason? Dottie was dying to know who she was, but she wouldn’t ask Dan. “Got to go.”
“All right. You take care, dear.”
“You, too.” Dottie was dying to ask Shannon if she knew anything because Chase was a part-time deputy sheriff and Dan might have told him and Chase might have told his mate. Still, Dottie wasn’t going to start spreading stories about Dan. Not that she wouldn’t talk to Jack about it when he got home. He wouldn’t know what Dan was doing anyway. It was just something she would talk to her mate about. She suspected Jack still wondered if there had been any dating between her and Dan. So maybe if Dan was seeing someone now, that would put any concern Jack might have to rest, if he was worried about Dan in the least.
She called Dan up to let him know about the caracal, wishing he’d tell her about the blond at his home. “Dan, Stryker just tranquilized a caracal.”
“A what?”
“One of those cats from Africa with the pointy ears like a lynx, but it’s bigger. She turned into a naked woman.”
“Okay, as long as Stryker’s got a handle on it.”
Dottie couldn’t believe it! Either the blond was just too hot to take his eyes and hands off, or something else was going on. She really couldn’t understand his indifference. “Okay.” She decided right then and there she wasn’t calling the sheriff about anything else unless someone was killed or they had a major evacuation of Yuma Town or something else that was catastrophic.
Stryker called her back. “I’m taking her to see the doc. Kate can decide what to do next.”
“Hey, you said you wanted me to send you to a job with a—“
“Cougar shifter. Not a caracal shifter.”
“Picky, picky.” She laughed. “Okay. If I don’t manage to call Kate before you do, let me know how the woman is doing, and what she’s doing here.”
“What did Dan say?”
“You know he’s off on personal business, right?” Dottie assumed Dan had already told Stryker he had to be off for a couple of days.
“Uh, yeah. But I figured this was pretty interesting, if nothing else.”
“Well, you heard about the blond at his home, didn’t you?”
“Blond? Hell, no. Don’t tell me. He didn’t care anything about the caracal? Did you interrupt anything then?” Stryker laughed. “And Dan gives me a hard time!”
“I just figured you would know about it. Mrs. Fitzgerald was the one who told me and she spread the word, I figured. But maybe she hasn’t.”
“Huh, well, I won’t say anything to
anyone. That’s definitely interesting news. I’d say if he wants to keep this private, we need to let it go. He’ll tell us if he feels we need to know.”
“Okay, I agree. So is the caracal shifter woman older, younger? Pretty?”
Stryker laughed. “She’s beautiful. And a wild cat. She reminds me a little of Shannon. But younger. Maybe an older teen.”
“Oh, not another cougar on the run then? Except she’s a different kind of wild cat?”
“I wouldn’t think she’d be sitting in a tree at a home on the outskirts of town. Why not hunkered down in the rocks or caves out by the lake? In the woods, sleeping in a tree?”
“Why would she be here at all?” Dottie asked.
“Good question. I’ll drop by and check on her in a couple of hours when she’s more alert.”
“Why did you shoot her?”
Stryker didn’t say right away.
Dottie laughed. “Okay, give it to me straight or I’ll ask Mrs. Sorenson what happened. And we’ll learn soon enough from the cat herself.”
“She jumped me. Or…tried. She leapt straight at me before I even had a chance to clear the car. I swung the rifle up and shot her with one dart. She dropped on top of the rack on the car. Truthfully, I wasn’t sure how I was going to deal with the cat in the tree. It’s not like rescuing a housecat. But then the caracal decided it for me.”
“Just think, from this beginning there could be little caracal-cougar shifter babies.”
“Not likely.”
Dottie figured Stryker was still wondering about the woman who had come through here when he was playing Santa Claus for grownup ladies for charity. When he was asked if he wanted to do the charity Santa bit this year, he was all for it. What would the chances be that the woman would show up again and drop by the place where he was showing off his well-toned Santa muscles?
“Hey, Hal’s here at the clinic with Tracey. She’s having more contractions. I’m going to drop by and see them, and then I’ll just be patrolling the area, and you can let me know if anything needs my attention.”
“What did you do about the bear?”
“He was gone by the time I reached the location where he’d been seen. Someone said he’d taken off into the woods. He hasn’t attacked anyone—yet, not bothered anyone’s dogs, so I’m not chasing him down.”
“Hey, just got another call. Traffic accident in front of the coffee shop. Lots of eyewitnesses.”
“Off to check it out.”
Then Dottie got a call from Jack. “Hey, honey, we haven’t reached Loveland yet. We’re checking out the dead man’s house there. Since I didn’t have any news, I figured there was no sense in bothering you,” Jack said.
“You are never bothering me. Hey, have you ever heard of a caracal shifter?”
“No. Don’t tell me they exist.”
“Stryker just tranquilized one in a tree. Which was kind of how Chase met Shannon. Except she was up in some cliffs when Chase shot her. Luckily, no humans were around at the time when this woman shifted. She’s at the clinic now.”
“Sounds like it’s a lot more interesting than here. Hold on,” Jack said. “Leyton wants the story.” Jack explained to Leyton, “Apparently Stryker tranquilized a caracal, and she shifted into her human form.”
Leyton laughed in the background.
“She’s all right though, isn’t she?” Jack asked.
“Yeah,” Dottie said. “She’s fine. We just don’t have a clue why she’s here or who she is.”
“Everyone in Yuma Town will want to see her in her cat form. Except for seeing a caracal in a zoo one time, that’s the only instance where I’ve ever observed the wild cat,” Jack said.
“Me too,” Leyton agreed. “I’m calling Kate now for an update. I still can’t believe Kate’s having a baby.”
Dottie said, “What?”
“She just told me.”
“Omigod, Leyton, I’m so happy for you. You will make a great papa.”
“I still can’t believe it.”
Jack laughed. “Welcome to fatherhood.”
There was no such thing as patient confidentiality among the shifters. Well, for some things, sure. Concerning the health of an unknown shifter, to ensure a shifter who needed further care was taken care of by other shifters when they were discharged? That was shared with the people who needed to know.
“Okay, if you learn anything about the caracal, let me know.”
Twenty minutes later, she got a call from Stryker saying he’d taken care of the traffic accident, and he was going on patrol and that someone had spotted the bear again.
She hoped they didn’t have to take him down.
Jack called to give her a heads up that they had just reached Bishop’s house and he’d update her after they left there. Dottie prayed he and Leyton didn’t run into real trouble there.
10
When Dottie got Bridget’s return call, she suspected it was about Travis and his head injury again. “Hey, Bridget, is he all right?”
Bridget snorted. “I can’t believe he was going to try and hide it from me. Thanks for calling me right away to tell me he’d been injured. But yes, Kate said he was all right. I just need to keep him on bedrest for overnight. He told me that Jack is a bit of a maverick, but that at least he doesn’t get shot.”
Dottie breathed a sigh of relief. She had no idea how Jack would react on the job. As the Yuma Town police dispatcher, she’d been surprised when she got the call from Leyton asking for Dan’s assistance in the case of a dead Bishop. She figured that Hellion, or the other guy, Ralph, had a falling out with Bishop and took him down. Until Dan had called back with news that Hellion had killed Bishop, per an update from Leyton.
She wondered how long it would take Leyton and Jack to bring down the two men, and from what Dan had said, Jack’s ex-fiancée too. Dottie couldn’t believe the woman had been shooting at Jack also. After five years, Gigi was still angry with them? She had to be as unbalanced as her brother.
On the other hand, Dottie wished that Travis was with Leyton and Jack still. If they were just checking out Bishop’s house, she thought that wouldn’t be too dangerous. As long as Hellion and others didn’t show up there.
“How are you doing?” Bridget asked.
“Don’t tell Jack. I’m growing so big, so fast, I’m certain I’m having twins again.”
Bridget laughed. “I won’t tell. But you’re not going to wait until they’re born, are you?”
“No. Just until I have an ultrasound that proves I’m having twins. No sense in unduly worrying him.”
Bridget laughed again. “I hope he won’t be too shocked. I’m sure Travis would be if I told him the news.”
“What news?” Travis asked in the background.
“Nothing, Travis. Just girl talk. I have to go since Travis is awake, and make sure he doesn’t need anything.”
“All right. Give him a hug for me.” Dottie hoped Jack was all right with having twins, if she was having them. They didn’t have any choice anyway. She wished her aunt lived nearby if she ended up with two sets of twins. Especially if Jack was away a lot on missions.
“This is the address,” Jack said, pointing to the red brick, one-story house when they arrived at Bishop’s home.
The blinds and curtains were all drawn in the three windows that faced the street. The grass needed to be mowed, but so did half the neighbors’ yards. The trees and shrubs were all overgrown for the small lot sizes. Cars and pickups were parked in driveways and street-side for most of the houses, except for Bishop’s. At least no one appeared to be home and Hellion and his buddies hadn’t come here. Though Ralph and Gigi had headed in the opposite direction so they would have had to drive out of their way to come here.
“Are you ready?” Leyton asked.
“Yeah.”
Jack and Leyton got out of the vehicle, shut the doors, and walked up to the front door.
Leyton took Bishop’s keys and tried two of the ones that looked li
ke house keys before the second one gained them access. Jack kept thinking they’d have to announce themselves, even if the owner was dead. From what Leyton had told him, they didn’t exactly go by police procedures, because they didn’t arrest these guys if they were attempted murderers or murderers.
After they moved through the house, first checking all the rooms to make sure they were clear, they finally rejoined each other in the living room.
“No sign that Hellion, his sister, or Ralph have been here,” Jack said.
“No. Looks like they met elsewhere. Let’s start searching drawers and the like.”
“I’ll take the bedrooms,” Jack said.
“I’ll get the kitchen.” Leyton stalked into the kitchen while Jack checked out the first bedroom. This one looked like a typical bedroom: bed, night stand, dresser.
In the closet, he found boxes stacked high. He pulled out one and set it on the bed. He tore off the tape sealing the box, opened it up, and saw all kinds of explosive devices. Hell. “Hey, Leyton, you might want to see this.”
“What did you find?” Leyton stalked down the hallway toward the bedroom.
“Armaments. And if the rest of the boxes are filled with the same, enough for a small army.”
Leyton joined him in the bedroom and took a look at the contents of the box, then he glanced at the other boxes in the closet. “Let’s check them all out. This is probably some of the same ordinance that he and Jeffrey used to cause the cave-in at the gold mine where Travis and I had to call for help.”
“Was Bishop in the service?”
“Yeah, demolition expert. They were hiding illegal weapons in the mine. When we came to, the men and weapons were gone.”
Jack closed up the box and retrieved another from the closet while Leyton opened one too. “It might have taken a while. It appears we’ve confiscated it for good this time. As long as we can get a team to secure it before we have any trouble,” Leyton said.
Jack looked at all the semi-automatics and was glad they’d found this before these bastards could sell them to criminals who would use them on innocents next.