by Terry Spear
“No, he doesn’t dive. Don’t tell him I said so, but he doesn’t like getting in the water at all. I swear he’s more like a house cat than a wolf. So he’s grateful I do the diving. He’s the one who plans everything out; pays for the accommodations, boat, and equipment; provides medical assistance if I need it; and stays topside while I go diving.”
Vaughn pulled Jillian close and wrapped his arm around her, as if he worried she was feeling poorly. She snuggled next to him and suddenly felt really tired. She guessed she’d been so wired about learning something new with the case that she had forgotten they needed to lie down.
“Hey, your sister needs to rest. Anything else you can think of that might help with the case?” Vaughn asked.
“No. Not offhand. If I think of anything, I’ll let you know. Oh, and, Sis? No telling Dad about my treasure hunting.”
“I won’t. You have my word.”
They ended the call, and then Vaughn stood and helped her to her feet. “I called Bella, and she said she’ll ask the pack if anyone had been diving with Douglas. She said she knew nothing about it. But she gave me a list of places he’s vacationed over the years: Belize, Fort Pierce, St. Augustine, here, the Caribbean. I’d say they all have sunken treasure.”
“So it’s like you suspected. He goes on vacations where he can enjoy his favorite hobby…treasure hunting.”
“Right.”
Vaughn was about to lift Jillian in his arms, but she said, “No way. If you don’t rest your injured shoulder, I’ll have to tie you down to the bed and—”
“Have your wicked way with me? Sounds good to me.” He lifted her in his arms and carried her to the bedroom.
“You’re just afraid I’ll change my mind about napping with you.”
“You’re tired. I didn’t want you to have to walk all the way to your bedroom.” He set her on the queen-size bed and pulled off her boots. Then he went to the other side and yanked off his own.
They stood and pulled back the covers.
“We don’t tell anyone about this.” Jillian groaned a little as she lay down on the bed.
Vaughn groaned just as much and joined her. “I thought I was doing my job.”
“Yeah, but only the doctor needs to know about it.”
Vaughn closed his eyes. “How’s your head?”
“Pounding. How’s your shoulder?”
“Same.”
“We sound like two achy old wolves.”
He chuckled. “Yeah. But by tomorrow, we’ll be as good as new.”
She sure hoped so. She hated feeling so out of commission, and she really wanted to get back to the investigation. She wondered how the jaguars would feel once they learned one of their own kind had injured a wolf. Closing her eyes, she tried to shut her mind down about everything, then envisioned the peacock she’d been working on, some of the feathers colored, most still white, and smiled.
Then they fell asleep, and it wasn’t until hours later that Jillian heard someone at her bedroom door and turned to look. They hadn’t closed it, not thinking they would take more than an hour nap or so, though Vaughn had set his alarm to check on her after three hours, and they’d snuggled and fallen back to sleep. What time was it anyway? It was already dark out. She was lying against Vaughn, her head on his chest, his good arm around her, his hand gently rubbing her back, so he was awake too.
She turned her head further to see who was in the doorway. All three jaguar agents were standing there checking them out. She wanted to groan out loud.
Chapter 12
“It’s been hours since we returned. We were just checking to make sure you both were still alive.” Demetria smiled at Jillian and Vaughn as they didn’t make a move to get out of bed right away.
Vaughn sighed. “Don’t tell me the cat is out of the bag now.”
Howard said, “I told you they have a really strange way of taking on a mission.”
“Doesn’t look strange to me at all. Looks quite natural. Is the coloring book for all of us? I want the jaguar, but I might have to fight Howard for it.” Demetria patted Howard’s arm.
Jillian laughed, glad the jaguars enjoyed working with them as they all moved to the kitchen. “Now that’s something the three of you will have to figure out. How are you feeling, Vaughn?”
“Like I’ll be good as new—tomorrow.”
“We’re making spaghetti for dinner. The two of you can come in and just relax while we’re fixing it,” Demetria said.
“We have news.” Jillian hadn’t known what it would be like working with jaguar shifters. She normally got along with most people just fine, but she hadn’t been sure if working with jaguars would change the dynamics a lot. Luckily, it didn’t seem to. They appeared amused to see the changing attitudes between the two wolves. “And dessert’s on me.”
Vaughn frowned at her.
“You said the ice-cream bars are mine. So I’m sharing them.”
He snorted. “You didn’t seem happy to share with me last night.”
“That’s because it was my last one, and you didn’t ask.”
The jaguars chuckled.
“So what’s your news?” Demetria asked, stirring the spaghetti sauce.
They told them about the treasure-hunting expeditions while Jillian pulled up the articles on Douglas to show to them.
Demetria wiped her hands on a kitchen towel, then pointed to the screen. “Says here he was in Belize this past year looking for treasure.”
“Do you know something about it?” Jillian asked.
“Only that a lot of us go down there because jaguars still roam free there for now,” Everett said. “That’s where Demetria and I are going for our belated honeymoon this summer. We still need to have our wedding too.”
“You’re both invited to the wedding,” Demetria said.
“Wow, congratulations to both of you. I’d love to come.”
Vaughn echoed Jillian’s comments.
Jillian began to set the table and explained about Douglas and Miles’s group excursion in Belize this past year.
“Did the other treasure hunters smell like jaguars?” Demetria asked.
“They did, and Miles has been seeing one of them intimately. Kira Wells.” Jillian told them her brother and Douglas had been friends for ten years, and they’d even met at the Kitty Cat Club six months ago and talked about another expedition.
“I danced with Kira,” Vaughn said, “if she’s the same woman. And she danced with Douglas after me. But she didn’t dance with Miles. He said he hadn’t remembered seeing any of them there.”
“So the jaguar shifters who were at the club were probably the same ones who have now been in this area. Probably one of them overheard Miles and Douglas talking about their next expedition,” Demetria said.
“That was in Belize. And if it’s the same people, they just happened to sign up for the same tour as Douglas and Miles did,” Jillian said.
Everett pulled out his phone. “I’m going to update our boss on the situation.” He called Martin Sullivan and then put the call on speaker.
“Wait, let me pull up the articles on treasure hunting you found.” Martin didn’t say anything, then whistled. “I’m in the wrong line of business.”
They all told him where they were on the case and that this might be the first real lead they’d had.
“I suggest Demetria and Everett check out the Kitty Cat Club. Learn what you can. If Miles shows up before you leave, take him with you in case he recognizes anyone from the boat he was on in Belize. My agents may have a better chance talking with other jaguars about who might be involved. I want Jillian and Vaughn to stay here for when Douglas comes out of his coma. Howard can help track down any leads, in case you have to stay with Douglas.”
“Sounds good,” Everett said.
Everyone else agreed, and then they ended the call with the boss.
Vaughn served glasses of water for everyone to have with their dinner.
“We didn’t do a thorough
search of Douglas’s cabin because I’d hurt my head,” Jillian said. “If you’re going to travel to San Diego tomorrow, maybe we can all do that after we eat.”
“Sounds good to me,” Demetria said.
“It’s about an eighteen-hour drive,” Vaughn said, looking it up on his phone. “Are you going to drive, or fly and get a rental car?”
Jillian looked up the information on her phone. “It’s only two hours’ flight time.”
“I vote for the flight,” Demetria said. “The JAG branch will pick up the tab, and we need to check into this sooner rather than later.”
“Okay, so we go to Douglas’s cabin tonight, in case there is something there. We wouldn’t want the jaguar to grab the evidence and run,” Everett said.
“Are the two of you okay to go?” Howard brought over a platter piled high with garlic toast. “We can run by there and let you get some more rest.” He winked at them.
Vaughn glanced at Jillian, letting her make the call.
“No. If all of us go, we have more of a chance of finding something crucial to the case. And if he comes back, maybe this time we can catch him,” Jillian said.
“We got Doc’s lab results, if you haven’t learned about them yet,” Demetria said while serving the spaghetti. “We were shocked to learn a jaguar injured Douglas after it appeared a wolf had. We will find the shifter who did this.”
Everyone took seats at the table.
“So when is Miles coming here?” Demetria asked.
That was the million-dollar question. “I’m afraid he’s going to confront Kira with some of these concerns,” Jillian said.
No one said anything, and Jillian knew just what they were thinking. Miles was playing with fire. If they were forewarned, the big cats might clear out of the area, and the team wouldn’t be able to locate them.
After they finished eating, they took off in two cars for the cabin. Howard stayed with the wolves and drove this time.
When they reached the cabin, Jillian warned, “A couple of the windows are open again.”
“We might have left them open,” Vaughn said.
Everyone was armed and ready for action as the jaguars went to the back and the side of the house. Howard and Jillian climbed the porch to open the door.
As soon as Jillian and Vaughn stepped on the front deck, it creaked. Though she suspected whoever was in the house had already heard the vehicles pull up, she still hated to let anyone who might be in the cabin know exactly where they were. Then again, whoever had opened the windows might have left already.
She tried the door and found it locked. Vaughn pulled out his lock pick, something most lupus garous kept on them. The lock clicked open. Then he pushed the door open and they waited, listening for any sign anyone was moving about in the cabin.
Vaughn shoved the door further aside and flipped on the light switch. No one was in the living room that Jillian could see, but she immediately smelled her brother’s scent, and it was fresh. From the way Vaughn glanced at her, she knew he did too. She nodded.
Then they moved in unison. Vaughn walked quickly around the couch, while she headed toward the kitchen. No one was in either location.
“All right, all right,” Miles called out. “You caught me. I’m coming out with my hands up. Don’t shoot! I was just getting ready to call you.”
Jillian couldn’t believe it! “Are you alone?” She was highly annoyed with her brother for coming back here. Now he really did appear to have been involved in all of this.
“Yes.” Her sandy-haired brother moved toward them, walking slowly down the hall, his hands up, his phone in his right hand, his blue-eyed gaze shifting from her to Vaughn.
Vaughn had lowered his weapon but was still holding it like he planned to shoot her brother if he made a false move. Jillian hadn’t holstered her weapon either, not because she didn’t trust her brother completely, but she didn’t trust that the cabin was clear.
“Are you all right staying with him?” Vaughn asked.
“Yeah, sure.”
“I’ll check out the rest of the rooms.” Vaughn stalked off to search the bedrooms and bathroom.
“Do you have any weapons on you?” Jillian asked her brother.
“Just a hunting knife.”
“What if the person who had injured Douglas had been here?”
“I would have taken care of him,” Miles said.
Right. And her brother would have gotten himself killed. “What are you doing back here?” Jillian was so annoyed that she could have arrested him just for being stupid about this.
“I really like Douglas. He doesn’t judge me like Dad does. I want to do something to help catch the guy who hurt him. I kept thinking about what you and Vaughn said about the jaguar coming back here for stuff and hurting you. So I thought maybe he left something else behind. Something that would prove he did it. Why are you here?”
“I’m investigating the attack.” Jillian couldn’t believe she was having this conversation with her brother.
“No, I know that. What I meant was what are you hoping to find…specifically?”
“Anything related to Douglas being injured.”
“I found something. Probably not related to the crime, unless someone else knew it was here and wanted it, so I thought I’d better see if it was here and turn it over to you for safekeeping in case whoever injured him was after it. That’s what I was getting ready to call you about when I heard the cars. I checked and saw it was you, so I didn’t panic. But, well, you might want to come in here and see.”
“What is it?” Jillian asked.
“Remember when we used to go camping with Dad at the old cabin, and he’d hide his gun while we went for a run as wolves?”
“Yeah, sure. Under the wooden floor planks. And he told us never to touch the gun unless he was with us.”
“Yeah. Beneath the wooden floor. Under the bed, not just in the middle of the floor, covered with a floor rug.”
“You’re a genius.” Jillian was proud of her brother, though she still didn’t know what he’d found.
“No, not quite. I told Douglas the story last year when we were swapping stories. He always had large sums of cash when he’d book a boat for us to search for sunken treasure. I wondered if he would have created the same kind of secret place to hide a lot of money. If Douglas truly meant for us to do a treasure hunt, he would have brought the money with him.”
Jillian stared at him. “The cash. Ohmigod. We found it.”
“You did? I’m so glad to hear it. I thought the jaguar who tore into him got it. I thought I’d find it in the cubbyhole. I flashed my penlight in there, but the bags of money weren’t there. The scent was though. So I figured Douglas had hidden the money there, then got it out to pay the boat rental guy. But when I checked with the boat rental management, they said Douglas wasn’t coming until today, so he hadn’t paid the money yet. I told them we had to cancel. So you really got the money. How much?”
“Yeah, yeah, we’ve got it. Vaughn gave it to Leidolf, who put it in his safe. Ten thousand dollars.”
“Yeah, that’s how much he spends on a boat, fully equipped for salvage. We spend a week out on a job, sometimes returning for provisions and then heading out again.”
“This is why you don’t get a long-term regular job?”
“See? That’s just how Dad would react.”
“It’s like gold fever.” She studied Miles for a moment. “That’s why you go off sometimes, and when you return to see me, you look like you’ve been sunburned on a beach. I thought you had taken up surfing or something.”
“You should see how scratched up we get, between the sand on our skin and our knees on the coral. Did you know that gold always retains its gold appearance? But iron and other artifacts are encrusted in centuries of marine life and look like rocks. Orange rust could be oxidized iron of some sort. Blackened items, oxidized silver. You have to know what you’re looking for. But we take metal detectors with us, and that helps
to find some of it. It’s down there, just waiting to be found.”
“So what did you find hidden away?”
“Douglas’s treasure journal. I was just about to reach my hand in to grab it when I heard the cars pull up. I worried it was the jaguar that had injured you and maybe Douglas, so I closed it back up. I hurried to look and saw it was you.” Miles paused in the hall. “I thought the journal would prove Douglas was here so we could go diving. So did someone else know about the money? Maybe about his notes on treasure hunts? Had the person tried to intimidate him into telling where it was? I was going to call you,” he repeated.
Vaughn got on his phone and put it on speaker. “Hey, Everett, it’s all clear in the cabin. Got the phone on speaker. Miles is here. He said he found Douglas’s journal outlining treasure hunts that he had hidden. That would most likely confirm he was going to schedule a boat trip to search for treasure. We’re just about to get it. What are you all doing?”
“I’m glad to hear Miles is there and safe. Tell him he can go with us to the Kitty Cat Club tomorrow in San Diego. We were worried he might have gotten himself into trouble. He needs to come back to the ranch with us not only for his own protection, but so we can use his assistance to help solve the case.”
Jillian was certain Everett said that because he wanted her brother to feel important in resolving the case, and she could have given him a hug for it.
“On the trip to San Diego, absolutely. I’ll do whatever you need me to do,” Miles said agreeably.
“Good. We’re retracing the tracks that everyone has left in the area…the jaguars’ and Miles’s. We smelled his scent as he walked from his cabin to this one. No jaguar scents, but we’ve found other evidence: jaguars’ hairs caught on underbrush and pugmarks in the wet soil. We’ll be at this for a while,” Demetria said.
“Sounds good. We’ll keep searching the cabin for other clues,” Vaughn said.
“Okay, out here.”
“The journal was in Douglas’s bedroom, right?” Jillian asked her brother.
Miles shook his head and motioned to another. “It wasn’t in Douglas’s room. It was in one of the other rooms.”