You Had Me at Cougar

by Terry Spear

  “Are you taking him to jail?” Xenia asked, seeing them out.

  “Yeah, in Yuma Town, Colorado,” Chet said.

  Then they said goodbye and found that Luke and Travis had loaded Langston up in the car already.

  “I don’t know what you think is going on,” Langston said.

  “That you murdered seven women, six cougars and one human,” Bridget said as she shut her car door, wedging Langston in between her and Luke.

  Chet figured she said so because she was hoping he would confess what he’d done in his mind, even if he held his tongue during questioning.

  “What the hell? You’ve got to be kidding.”

  “We know you have been at all the homes of the victims,” Chet said.

  He didn’t say anything to that. What could he say? They were all cougars. They could smell his scent.

  “I’ve been to cougars’ homes, sure. I’m a cougar.”

  “Why kill a human?” Luke asked.

  “I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about,” Langston said.

  “I suspect Langston didn’t want to be with the woman, but there were no cougars readily available and so he figured he’d kill a human to see if he got just as much of a thrill out of it as he did with killing cougars,” Bridget said.

  “He’s the one, isn’t he?” Travis asked.

  “Yeah, he’s the one,” Bridget said.

  Travis said, “We’ll question him on the way to the jailhouse.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Luke said. “But I’m going to let you handle this. We have three vehicles. Just drop me off at the hotel and keep me informed.”

  “Will do,” Chet said. After driving for a few minutes, Chet parked at the hotel. They said their goodbyes to Luke, thanking him for helping them.

  “Thanks for nabbing the guy,” Luke said, smiled and headed into the hotel.

  “Okay, so how are we going to work this?” Chet asked Travis and Bridget.

  “Two cars, one driver for each, and one of us takes a turn sitting in back with the perp,” Bridget said.

  “Let’s do it. I think we should leave him in your car though, Chet,” Travis said.

  Bridget said, “I’ll stay with the prisoner and you, Chet, and then we can switch off later.”

  “Two hours’ time,” Chet said.

  “Sounds good to me.” Travis gave his wife a hug and kiss, then he went to their car and got in.

  Then they were on the road, Travis following behind, while Chet drove, and Bridget questioned Langstone nonstop—asking him about every victim, times, dates, murder locations, and she was taking notes. She could be a one-woman CSF team.

  It would be enough to drive a man crazy. Chet only smiled, figuring that even when Langston didn’t answer her, she was gathering all the information she needed.

  “I told you, I want a lawyer. I’m not speaking without a lawyer.”

  “Rules are different when a cougar kills innocents,” Chet said.

  “Besides, your scent and posture reveal all there is to know,” Bridget said. “So don’t mind me. I’ll keep questioning you until someone else does.”

  When they stopped for gas, Chet drove the MacKay’s vehicle and Travis sat in the back seat with Langston and he started the questioning all over again. Only this time, Bridget was quiet, listening in on the one-sided conversation.

  When Chet took his turn in the back seat with Langston he asked, “How come the woman is always in the car with me? You think she intimidates me?”

  “I think you like to have the upper hand with women, but in this case, she has got your number and all of a sudden, you aren’t in charge,” Chet said. And then he began the questioning again. Only when he was questioning Langston, the guy was giving him answers. Chet figured the reason he hadn’t answered Bridget was that he really didn’t like any woman to be in charge of him. Though he didn’t trust Benny’s answers either. They just weren’t adding up.

  “That’s not what you told Travis,” Bridget repeatedly said.

  “I didn’t tell him anything.” Langston growled at her and if looks could kill, Bridget would be on his hitlist for certain, Chet was thinking.

  During a switch off, Chet drove the MacKay’s car again, getting close to Yuma Town, and he called his boss. “Hey, Chuck. We’ve got some evidence concerning the murders in Cody and caught the person we think is the murderer, Benny Langston. We still need to learn what his motivation was, but we think he’s our man.” He shared all they had discovered. “I’ll call Dan as soon as we’re off here so he knows he has got a prisoner coming in.”

  “Good job. You sure caught him quick. I heard you spent the weekend on your vacation at Ava’s place.”

  “Yeah, the safehouse was under renovations and she had the only room available.”

  “Well, you let me know if you’re putting in for a transfer, will you?”

  Chet chuckled. “Yeah, I sure will.”

  “Yeah, well, first it was Leyton and Travis and Bridget. It’s like a Shangri-la for cougars.”

  Chet agreed. Especially if a male cat connected with a female there.

  Then Chet called Dan, telling him that they had caught the suspect and we’re bringing him in.

  "Good show. And Addie will do some investigating to see if he has committed any more serious crimes. Bridget always comes in real handy for the interrogations with being able to read their thoughts."

  "Yeah, absolutely."

  "Do you have another job to do after this?" Dan asked.

  "Not yet. Chuck hired three more special agents to work out of Cheyenne."

  "That's a long drive here. You'll have to stay overnight."

  "Yeah, I'm going to check in with Ava and see if she has room for me.” Chet didn’t want to take things for granted. "All right. I'm giving Ava a call now." Then they ended the call and Chet phoned Ava. "Hey, I'm coming in late tonight with the murder suspect. It might be too late by the time I get in"—he really should have thought of that first, but he wanted to see her so badly, he wasn't thinking of that—"but if it's all right with you—"

  "I'll leave the light on for you. The spare key will be on the back patio under the table leg."

  "Okay, thanks. I can't wait to see you."

  "You didn't get bitten this time, did you?"

  He smiled. "No, we arrested him as a human."

  "Good. I'll see you when you get in."

  "I'll try not to wake you."

  "No problem. If I hear you coming in, I'm going to get up to make sure you're not an intruder."

  "All right, and thanks so much, Ava."

  "Is the safe house available?"

  "Yeah, so if you want me to stay there and not trouble you tonight, I can do that."

  She chuckled. "You can stay here with me."

  That’s just what he wanted to hear.

  Chapter 15

  With rock and roll music playing in the background while Ava cleaned up the kitchen after having tilapia for dinner, she wanted to jump for joy that Chet was returning to see her, well, to drop off a prisoner, but he wanted to stay with her. She was glad they’d caught the man and she hoped he was the right one.

  She did a little dance around the kitchen floor. She was going for a run for now. Chet would get in too late, and she still wanted to see if the she-bear was anywhere about.

  She finished cleaning the kitchen, then danced out of her clothes, tossing her shorts, shirt, panties, and bra on the kitchen floor, then she shifted and headed out the door. She felt like she was on cloud nine.

  While Ava was running, she found the scent of the she-bear again and wondered where the bear had been staying that she seemed so close by all the time. Had Jonathon or Blue found her? Or was she evading them still? Ava heard the flow of water falling from Rainbow Falls off in the distance and thought the she-bear had gone that way. At least from the scent trail she'd left behind, she had. Good. Ava was thirsty. She should have had more water to drink before she left the house.

&nbs
p; But then way up ahead she saw the bear. She was smaller than the male bears, and Ava smelled the same scent here that she'd smelled at the cabin and the night Jonathon ran into her after she was treed by a coyote. She was certain it had to be Ursula and she was gaining on her. The bear was eating some blackberries and hadn't noticed her coming yet. She didn't want to startle her or make her think that a cougar was coming in for the kill and have a big fight on her hands. Ava was so far from her yet, she didn't want to shift and call out to Ursula to tell her that she was a shifter, a friend, and she only wanted to help.

  Ava wanted to get closer first, and she was when she heard something behind her off in the distance. Voices. Male, three of them and no one she knew. She didn't think they were the bears that had been looking for Ursula either. They'd been running as bears before when they tried to track Ursula down.

  Who else would be running around at night other than cougar shifters like Ava or the bear shifters. The only thing she could think of was hunters. She raced toward the bear, wanting to warn her, and that's when the bear turned and saw Ava running at her. Ava quickly stopped, shifted, and said, "Hunters." But she whispered it to her.

  Then she shifted and ran to close the distance between them. Thankfully, the bear waited for her. Ava knew the territory and she could help her reach the perfect hiding spot. She shifted again as she got close. "Come with me. I can take you to somewhere safe until the hunters leave."

  Ursula shifted. "Let's go."

  Then they both shifted back, and Ava led the way.

  "I see something that way. Movement. A bear," one of the hunters shouted.

  They must not have seen Ava ahead of the bigger bear now. She was at the pool of water in front of the waterfall and jumped in, then swam across it. She finally reached the waterfall, climbed out on the rocks, and ran through the curtain of water.

  Then Ursula splashed through the pond, swimming the rest of the way to the waterfall and pulled herself up on the ledge and ran through the screen of water.

  They were standing behind the waterfall, watching for the hunters. Ava shifted and whispered, “Are you Ursula?”

  The bear shifted. “Yes, how do you know that? And who are you?”

  “Ava.” She held out her hand to shake Ursula’s. "I…I'm psychic and I'm an empath. Jonathon…came to see me at a fortune teller's booth, apparently having learned I could see visions. Anyway, I saw that you were at a cabin and another bear was after you. Blue? My friend and I met up with him later. He says you aren't Jonathon's sister."

  Ursula laughed. "Hardly."

  "So both bears are fighting over you?"

  Ursula sighed. "Yeah. And I'm not interested in either of them."

  "Well, we were worried about you. That something bad had happened to you since they couldn't find you. So I've been looking for you."

  Ursula smiled. "Thanks."

  "You know, I have room, if you would like to stay at my condo in the guest room for a while until you can sort out things with the guys."

  "I might take you up on it for the night, anyway, if we can get ourselves out of this situation."

  Then they heard the sound of men's voices and the women both shifted into their fur coats, feeling warmer and safer and they weren't going to talk right now, even though Ava figured the men wouldn't be able to hear them through the noise of the waterfall and how low they had been speaking. But the women could hear them with their enhanced animal hearing.

  If the men did something crazy and went through the waterfall to see if they were on the other side of the falls, they could shift first. They would find two naked women, and hopefully wouldn't try to pull anything with them.

  “I know that bear and cougar went this way,” one of the hunters said.

  So they had seen Ava. She thought they’d only observed Ursula.

  “The cougar might have gone up on the cliffs, but I don’t see it,” another said.

  "It's getting dark. We'll set up camp here," the one man said.

  Great. Ava glanced at Ursula who looked just as disgruntled as Ava felt.

  "You think that's safe here with a bear and a cougar nearby?"

  "We'll all take turns guarding the camp."

  Ava had figured they would slip out when the men went to sleep. Then again, if the men were on the lookout, surely they would be watching for any moment coming from every direction other than the pond and the waterfall.

  For now, they would just tough it out until the other men settled down for the night and fell asleep.

  Ava finally laid down on her belly and Ursula followed suit. At least they could see the men setting up camp, erecting tents, starting a fire, heating water. But the men couldn't see them in the darkness. Not without the cougar and bear's night vision.

  "That cougar could be up on those rocks there observing us," one of the men said as they sat beside the fire and warmed up a pot of chili.

  That meant they would probably watch in the direction of the cliffs and waterfall. The cliffs were exactly where Ava thought she would go, but she wasn't sure Ursula could climb that steep cliff. Though come to think of it, bears could climb trees so she probably could.

  "I'll take first watch tonight and the last shift in the morning," one hunter said.

  "Yeah, I'll take the next one," another man said.

  "Where do you think they got off to?" the last hunter asked.

  "They could have hightailed it out of here, if they knew what was good for them. Or they could be sitting around waiting to make a meal of us. Which means no sleeping on guard duty for any of us."

  Ava wished she had her phone. She would have called Dan and had these men arrested for illegal hunting. No one would even know she was missing. Not until she had to go into the bakery at four in the morning. Chet might come in about two. He might not even check on her, thinking she had to go in so early, he wouldn't want to disturb her.

  Of course, she had no intention of waiting until morning and the hunters went back to hunting. She and Ursula would be out of here as soon as two of the men went to sleep and only one man was on guard duty.

  Ava figured both she and Ursula would need to decide who left the cave behind the waterfall first. And once one of them was out of there safely, the other would take off and they could meet up and Ava would have Ursula follow her home.

  Ursula had to have left her clothes somewhere. They would need to go there first. Maybe she had a car parked somewhere close by. Ava wished they'd had more time to talk before the hunters had shown up.

  The hunters talked forever though, and Ava didn't think they would ever go to sleep.

  Late that night, Chet and the others finally arrived in Yuma Town, and he called Dan. The sheriff and Ricky took custody of Benny Langston.

  "Have you had any trouble with the ex-girlfriend yet?" Chet asked Ricky.

  He shook his head. "She has been here already. But as far as I know, she returned home and that’s the last of it."

  "Good. I hope so. I'm going to get some sleep."

  "Is Ava putting you up?" Dan asked.

  "Yeah, she is."

  Dan and Ricky smiled.

  "All right, thanks." Then Chet said goodnight to Bridget and Travis also before they headed home, and he soon arrived at Ava's place. The first thing he noticed was it was dark. She had said she would leave the light on. Had she changed her mind about him staying with her? Or had she just forgotten to leave a light on?

  He found the spare key under the patio table leg on the back patio and let himself in.

  As soon as he walked into the kitchen, he saw her clothes strewn about the floor. It reminded him of the first time he'd been to her place to stay, and she'd dropped her clothes all the way to her bedroom because she wanted to hurry and swim the day of Fourth of July festivities. But she had said she normally didn't do that. And since she had known he was coming, he figured she really wouldn't have done it.

  It made him think she had shifted and gone for run as a big cat. But at this hou
r? He headed for the stairs and went straight to her bedroom to make sure she was sleeping there. He hadn't planned to disturb her, though one of the steps on the stairs squeaked when he stepped on it. When he finally reached her bedroom, he peeked inside and saw that the bed hadn't been slept in. He checked the master bathroom, but she hadn't taken a shower in it recently and she wasn't there. He thought maybe she was sleeping in the guest room bed, waiting for him to come him. He sure liked that idea.

  But when he didn't find her in there, that really worried him. Before he stripped and shifted and went into search mode, he called Dan as he hurried down the stairs. "Ava's not home. She left the spare key for me, but her clothes are on the kitchen floor near the cougar door, and it appears she went for a run, but she hasn't returned."

  "Did you check with her sister first?"

  "No."

  "I'll call Nina first and get back with you. Don't go until you hear from me, just in case she's over there for some reason, or she told Nina where she was going."

  "All right. But make it quick." Chet didn't want to have to wait a second longer than necessary before he took off after Ava. Yet, it would be foolish of him to take off searching for her if she was just with her sister or at the bakery or something and was all right.

  He got a call back from Dan. "She's not at Nina's and now she's worried. We're organizing a search party now. We'll meet you at the condo."

  "I'm leaving now. You can catch her scent." Chet wasn’t about to wait a second more. He dumped his clothes on top of hers on the kitchen floor and then shifted and bolted out the door after her.

  He prayed she was okay as he ran after her, following her scent. He had to find her.

  He ran across a she-bear’s scent soon afterwards and he suspected Ava had been after the she-bear, to learn her story. But he didn’t think she would be out this late like this if she’d met up with the woman and had talked. Not when she knew he was coming in to stay with her and he would have worried about her. Which meant? She was in trouble, he was afraid.

  Then he found the scent of three males—humans, following her. Following them? Who were the men?