by Terry Spear
He chuckled.
“Hey, what you did that night was really remarkable. Saving that dancer? I tried to get them to turn up the lights and turn off the music so you could concentrate better and see what you were doing.”
“Thanks.” He frowned. “I’m surprised they weren’t sued. Maybe they compensated her for it.”
“And you?” Jillian asked.
“Free drinks and food whenever I visit.”
She shook her head. “That wouldn’t have been enough.”
“I did what anyone would have done, had they been trained for it.”
“Still, that was amazing. I just couldn’t believe it.” She figured that he didn’t know the truth, so she wasn’t going to burst his heroic bubble.
“Thanks. I was just glad it had a good outcome. Any photos of Douglas?”
“No selfies. Just a couple of group shots that he was in. Maybe you can look at them and see if you recognize anyone who might be with your pack.”
“I’ll take a look at them,” Howard said, eager to help.
She just bet he would.
“So what do you plan to do next?” Vaughn asked Everett and Demetria.
“We’re going to take the receipts Douglas had for the grocery store and gas station, and learn if anyone remembers having seen him. We’ll check if he was with anyone at the time,” Demetria said. “What about you? Are you still going to look for Miles?”
“Yes, we’re going to my cabin to see if my brother has returned.” If he hadn’t, Jillian figured she could at least check Miles’s cell phone and see if he had any photos that might help them solve this whole business. But she sure hoped he was there, safe and sound.
“Yeah. We’ll keep in touch. Miles might know something about what went down,” Vaughn said.
Jillian couldn’t believe Vaughn wasn’t still saying her brother did it. What a change in attitude! She so appreciated him for it.
“Are you sure a wolf tore into Douglas?” Everett asked as they headed for their vehicles.
“You mean you think a jaguar shifter could possibly have done this?” Jillian was surprised that one of the jaguar shifters would suggest it. “Did Leidolf’s doctor examine his wounds and determine the cause of the bite?”
“He’ll be doing a further exam today,” Demetria said. “Between taking care of ranching injuries, Vaughn’s bullet wounds, and Douglas’s condition, and delivering a couple of sets of twins, Dr. Wilders has been busy. The DNA samples from the bite wound should be available soon. He’ll let all of us know his findings once he has them.”
“Good,” Vaughn said. “We’ll have the attacker’s DNA then.”
“Agreed. Are you going with us or with them, Howard?” Everett asked.
“I’m going with them. I’m a badass Enforcer agent, if you didn’t know that,” Howard said to the wolves. “So if we’ve got to take someone down, I can come in real handy.”
“You’re not taking down my brother,” Jillian warned.
Howard smiled at her.
“My Jeep or your Land Rover?” she asked, though she glanced at Howard to see if he had a vehicle and wanted to drive.
“I don’t have a vehicle here. I flew in and met up with Leidolf at the airport and have been investigating matters with Demetria and Everett since then. They picked up a rental Jeep.”
“We can take my Land Rover, if you don’t mind driving.” Vaughn climbed into the passenger seat and handed her the keys. “I’d just filled the gas tank. If you’ll give me Douglas’s phone, I’ll check out the pictures.”
Since Vaughn didn’t offer to drive, Jillian wondered if he must still be hurting. “Yeah, sure.” She handed him the phone. “Oh, and I liked the shot of you where you were giving mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to another bathing beauty. I didn’t know folks wore bikinis so much in Colorado. Unless that was your brother.”
Howard chuckled.
“It gets hot in the summer,” Vaughn said as he rolled through the photos.
Looking for that particular one? “Blue bikini, a blond, and you were in board shorts.” She noted he didn’t say the photo had to be his brother’s this time. Maybe he didn’t know that Douglas had taken it while Vaughn was kissing a woman on a beach towel poolside. “Miles probably won’t be at the cabin now. I just wanted you to know that. If he’s worried about you following him there, he’ll grab his things and take off. He’ll get in touch with me later, once he feels safe.”
“No problem, but we might find a clue about his friendship with Douglas. Or something else. Did your brother have a vehicle at the cabin too?” Vaughn asked.
“We both did. He came in from California. I was up in Tacoma working a case. He was in between jobs, so he asked if I could get away and join him at the cabin where we used to go for vacations a few years ago when Douglas couldn’t make it. I said sure and made time on my schedule. We do our own thing most of the time, but normally we run a little together and have meals at night with each other. Then someone shot him while I was on my way to join him here. He was so out of it that he called me instead of Leidolf, who was so close and had the medical support he needed. I hadn’t planned on conducting any investigations during my vacation.”
“He had no idea who hit him? How badly was he injured?”
“He didn’t see anything. Just felt the impact when it hit his rump and heard the report. He figured it was just some hunter out shooting for sport. He headed straight for the cabin, shifted, got a towel to stem the bleeding, then called me.”
“Did you tell everyone investigating the case what the make, model, and license plate of Miles’s vehicle is?” Vaughn asked.
“No. Because he’s not a suspect.” She’d thought Vaughn had finally quit thinking of her brother as a suspect.
“Standing over a crime scene with blood on his muzzle doesn’t sound good.” Howard finally buckled up in the backseat.
“Do you want to go with your jaguar friends?” Jillian slowed the Land Rover down and fully intended to let him out right here. He could hitch a ride with Demetria and Everett, who were following them to the main road off the ranch.
“Nope. I’m right where I belong.”
Jillian’s cell phone rang, and Vaughn fished it out of her pack.
“What are you doing?” she asked him, her voice hot with annoyance. It was her bag, and if she wanted to speak to the caller, she would.
“I’m answering your phone in case it’s important,” Vaughn said.
Her skin perspired lightly with the notion the call could be from her brother. She wanted to grab the phone away from Vaughn, but how would that look? Like she believed her brother was guilty.
“Hey, Demetria,” Vaughn said over Jillian’s phone. “I’ll sync Jillian’s phone to the Land Rover. Howard’s too, so that we can get calls back and forth if we need to. I’ll put you on speaker for now.”
Jillian was relieved the call wasn’t from her brother, but she fought saying no to Vaughn syncing her phone to his car. If her brother called, then everyone could hear what they were speaking about. She’d have to accept the call, or again, she’d seem afraid that Miles would incriminate himself.
“Well, I was calling Jillian, but since you answered, I just wanted to make sure that you get your rest. No sense in killing yourself before we learn the truth about all of this,” Demetria said.
Jillian smiled at Vaughn. Teach him to answer her phone for her and then put it on speaker. “Uh, yeah, will do.”
“Talk later when we have more information,” Demetria said.
“Same with us. Out here.” Vaughn slipped the phone back into Jillian’s pack.
Jillian asked him, “How well do you know Douglas?”
“He works at the leather-goods factory our pack owns and is at all of the pack gatherings. I’m not there a lot of the time because of work commitments, but Douglas is a real pack participant. He never had a mate and is in his midthirties, and he loves to boat. Brock and I have gone out with him several times, and
he’s the kind of friend everyone should have. He has no mortgages or other financial obligations, as far as I know. He isn’t into gambling. And he gets along with everyone.”
“Was anyone else ‘on vacation’ from the pack at about the same time?” Jillian asked. “I’m wondering if he came alone.”
“As soon as I let my pack leaders know what had happened to him, I asked what they knew about his vacation plans. Leidolf contacted them right away while I was chasing your brother, and he also told them what had happened to me. Douglas was alone. He’s come here a few times over the years, but gone to several other places too. He seemed to love the water, despite not liking to swim, so he always takes vacations someplace that has a body of water…the ocean or large lakes.”
“And from the pictures we saw on his phone, the boats were all different,” Jillian said.
“Yeah, he always rented them, didn’t own one of his own. He said they didn’t get used enough to make it worthwhile to have one. He liked to go to lots of different locales, so it was easier just to rent a boat wherever he ended up.”
“Did you take some vacations with him? From the pictures on his phone, it looks like you did.”
“If I was free and he asked me, sure. I haven’t since the trip to San Diego though.”
“This picture was recent. Four months ago.”
“That was local. A group of us went out on a party boat on one of the lakes, so it wasn’t really a vacation, just an outing.”
“Hey, sounds like something I’d love to do. Jaguars love the water,” Howard said. “You can pass back the phone as soon as you’re done with it.”
“Can you think of anyone who would want to injure your brother?” Vaughn asked, handing the phone to Howard.
“No. And he wouldn’t think of anyone either. He never gets into fights. He’s more likely to walk away from an argument than try to win it. That has to do with my dad and not liking confrontation.” She didn’t see her brother’s car as they pulled up. “We’re here.”
As soon as they reached the cabin, she parked. In a way, she wished Miles would have been there so they could talk to him about what had happened and clear him in Vaughn’s eyes. Now she couldn’t even look at the pictures on his phone to see if she might recognize someone. She also had a niggling fear that Miles could be in danger.
Her phone rang again, and she tensed. When she saw Miles’s number, she practically held her breath.
“Answer it,” Vaughn said, glowering at her as if he knew just what she was thinking.
She was certain Vaughn would answer the phone, if she didn’t accept the call. She gave him a scathing look and answered, quickly saying, “I’ve got company.”
Her brother immediately ended the call.
Chapter 8
“Let me get this straight,” Vaughn growled at Jillian. “We are working together on solving the crimes committed here, right?”
Howard laughed. “I’m sure glad I’m with the two of you. I don’t know when we’ll ever solve the case, but it’s sure entertaining to see how we’re going to do it.”
Jillian’s jaw was set as she opened her car door. “Sure. We’ll start with examining the cabin for any evidence of foul play. Together.”
“You said you didn’t think your brother was guilty of any crime. So why not talk to him?” Vaughn couldn’t help how furious he was. If her brother wasn’t guilty of anything, they needed to clear this up pronto. If Miles knew something, even if he didn’t think he did, they needed to learn about it and see if it led them in the right direction.
“Listen,” Jillian said, getting out of the car and placing her hands on her hips, “he’s my brother. He might have talked about anything, thinking he was having a private conversation with family…me, his sister. I had to let him know I wasn’t alone. That if he needed to tell me something, he also needed to know others were listening to the conversation. It was up to him to decide if he wanted to talk in front of anyone else. Apparently, he didn’t.”
“Which means he could be damn guilty.” Vaughn pinned her with a glower.
She took off for the cabin. “I’m not the bad guy. Neither is my brother.”
“If he is, you’re covering for him, whether you believe he’s guilty or not. Hell, maybe you were the one who did it.”
Jillian whipped around, her mouth hanging agape. “You think I tore into Douglas?”
“Maybe you got there before your brother did. It’s only your word that you arrived at Douglas’s cabin after someone attacked him. Maybe your brother shows up and discovers what you did. Being a protective brother, he warns you to call Leidolf to take care of Douglas so you’re not accused of attempted murder. You do.
“Miles leaves, but returns—well after Leidolf’s men have taken injured Douglas and the evidence away—to see if anything else was left behind. Before he could leave some evidence that muddied the waters, I caught your brother standing in front of the blood left behind. Maybe you’re right. Miles had nothing to do with it. Maybe he’s helping you cover up that you did it.”
Her eyes were wide in disbelief. “What about you!”
Vaughn nearly laughed. He hadn’t expected her to accuse him. He didn’t believe she had injured Douglas either. But he wanted her to realize that by covering for her brother, she could be a suspect.
“Yeah, you! Who says you didn’t wound him? What if you did it in the heat of an argument over some old pack feud, hadn’t planned it, and then took off to get cleaning supplies to take care of the mess? I arrive, find Douglas in bad shape, and call Leidolf for help. After we left, Miles arrives to see his friend and finds the blood on the floor. Miles ends up getting some blood on him, if that really happened. Who says he really did end up with blood on his muzzle? We only have your word that he did.
“So after you injure Douglas, you return to the scene of the crime and unexpectedly come face-to-face with Miles at the cabin. He smells your scent and realizes you’re the one who injured his friend. Miles takes off, certain you’re going to kill him if you can catch him. He’d be the perfect patsy all tied up in one neat little package. Now you can’t dispose of the body, most likely believing Douglas was dead, because I’ve already gotten help and removed him from the cabin. And you can’t hide the evidence like you’d planned because Leidolf’s men have already gathered it and taken it away. You have to silence the witness though. And you’d have to take care of Douglas before he comes out of his coma. You call Leidolf to tell him you’re going after a suspect. Then you go after my brother to take care of loose ends.”
Standing on the deck, Howard was smirking, waiting to see how this all played out.
Vaughn smiled at Jillian. She appeared a little taken aback that he would be amused at her accusation. She didn’t look amused. He liked how gutsy she was and how she didn’t take his comment about her actually attacking his pack member to heart. He liked how quick she was to turn the tables on him, but at the same time make some valid points.
“Should we…check out the cabin now?” Howard asked.
“For what it’s worth, Douglas owes you his life,” Vaughn said to Jillian. “And I can’t thank you enough for that.”
She looked up at him, appearing a little surprised that he hadn’t been serious about accusing her of the crime. “If he’s all right when he comes out of the coma.”
“Agreed, but you’ve given him a chance to live, and for that I’m thankful.”
They headed inside the cabin, and Vaughn asked, “Which room is Miles’s?” He could have just smelled for Miles’s scent, but he wanted Jillian’s cooperation, even if she didn’t want to give it. He still couldn’t believe she had warned Miles.
“Down the hall, second room on the right.”
For her sake, Vaughn truly hoped he didn’t find anything that would indicate her brother had been involved in the attack.
When they reached the bedroom, he saw the bed was unmade, and drawers were open and empty. The closet door was open; nothing in there eit
her. He looked under the bed, but didn’t find anything. He yanked back the covers of the bed. Then he spied a tiny bit of red silk and lace and pulled the covers back further. A pair of feminine lace panties were lying crumpled on the sheets. He glanced over his shoulder at Jillian to see her response. Her cheeks were flaming red, and her mouth was parted in a way that said she was as surprised to see them there as he was, her gaze quickly shifting to his. Vaughn lifted the panties off the mattress and realized they belonged to someone who smelled of cat. Yet he hadn’t smelled anyone other than Jillian and her brother who had been in the cabin recently.
“Cat, but she had to have worn hunter’s spray or we would smell her scent in the cabin.”
Howard checked out the scent. “Don’t recognize her, but jaguar for sure.”
Jillian closed her gaping mouth.
Vaughn wasn’t shocked her brother had been with someone, but he was bowled over with the notion that canines and felines could be mixing it up together. Talk about an odd pairing. But now that they knew jaguar shifters existed, they did have that in common with the cats. They were all shifters. Would they even be able to have shifter kids?
“Looks like he packed up in a hurry and took off.” Vaughn still felt that Miles’s every action said he was guilty—of something.
Howard tucked the panties in a baggie. “Evidence,” he clarified when both Vaughn and Jillian watched him.
They left the bedroom, and Vaughn glanced in Jillian’s room. Her bed was neatly made, and it appeared as though she could still be staying there.
“My stuff is still here,” she confirmed, sounding irritated with him. “I do have a couple of bags at Leidolf’s guest house, but I’m staying in this area too in case my brother needs to get in touch with me.”
“Like he did earlier, when you warned him away from talking to you in the car.”
She gave Vaughn a caustic look, but didn’t comment.
Vaughn walked into the kitchen and checked out all the cabinets.
“Any ice-cream bars in the freezer?” he asked, teasing her now, trying to lighten the mood a bit.