SEAL Wolf In Too Deep(76)

“Sorry, Debbie. I couldn’t tell you at the time why Rose knew about her.” Allan reached over, wrapped his hand around hers, and gave it a squeeze.

She couldn’t help going over all the stuff that had happened and realizing how much of what she had believed had only been half-truths.

“Do you want to help us on this?” Paul asked Vaughn.

“Hell yeah,” Vaughn said. “I’ll continue to try and locate his lair.”

“I’m game,” Debbie said. She told herself it wasn’t for vengeance, that they needed to take Otis down before he killed any more innocent people, but who was she trying to kid? She wanted him dead. It wasn’t her growly wolf side that wanted it. She’d come to realize that the members of Paul and Lori’s pack were hard-working, law-abiding citizens, just like any other decent folk raising families and earning livings.

Wolf pups like Meghan and Eliza were just like any other five-year-olds, only they had a wolf side too.

The werewolf killer was the monster, not the werewolves.

“If you’ll follow me, I’ll take you to Franny and Gary’s place so when you’re not tracking Otis, you can have some good home-cooked meals and watch out for him if he shows up there,” Paul said.

“Sounds good to me. I could use some good meals.”

“Gary’s a world-class chef,” Paul said, “but he’s not trained in protection like we are.”

“Then that works out well for all of us.”

They said their good-byes. Debbie just sat on the couch, pondering the case.

Allan rubbed her arm. “Did you want to get your car?”

She had scheduled a million things to do. None of them had taken into account they might learn that the shooter was back in the area.

She shook her head. “Where would he have his stuff stashed? His rifle, silver bullets, hunting traps? Clothes, all that stuff while he was running as a wolf?”

“Storage facilities? Motels that rent by the week or month? Furnished apartments that rent biweekly? Once he learned he was a wolf, he had to have found a place where he could store his stuff without making anyone suspicious. We never figured on him doing that. We assumed he had packed up and gone.”

“We could split up and start investigating storage units and the other places by sections of the city of Bigfork and surrounding areas.”

“We don’t split up,” Allan said. “But if he has to deal with turning into a wolf, that might narrow it down some.”

“To more wilderness settings.”

“Right.”

Allan wanted to find and catch the killer, but he knew how important it was for Debbie to have her time to do as she wished. He figured even if she hadn’t allowed for it, she was going to fall asleep at some point. He really didn’t want her to miss out on a chance to do some fun things without the worry of shifting.

She stood and took his hand and pulled him close. She might not agree to date him, but this was all they needed—the intimacy, the baby steps. He was certain she’d come around before long.

“I know what you’re thinking. You wanted me to do everything on my list today and for the rest of the week. Think of it this way—if we can eliminate the werewolf killer, we’ll be all set to—”

“Date?” He couldn’t help it. Even if she said she didn’t want to, he wanted to, and he wanted her to know it.

She smiled up at him. “We’ll be all set to accomplish the rest of the schedule we’d worked out. We could catch up on what we missed today and finish some of it each day for the rest of the week.”

He rubbed her shoulders and smiled down at her, loving her. “You know you only scheduled four hours of sleep a day.”

She shrugged. “Sleeping is overrated.”

He laughed. “Okay, we’ll skip sleep then.” But that had become one of his favorite parts of the day because he got to snuggle, cuddle, and spoon her every night.

“Let’s check out the places online first and then go from there.” She snagged his hand and headed for the guest room. Seated at the desk, they pulled up the rental cottages in the area, then began calling the owners to learn which were currently occupied and by whom.

“Okay, so five people are staying at your lakeside cottage. Can you verify that four adults and a baby are staying there? Who made the reservations and picked up the key? Thank you,” Debbie said.

Allan was listening to the call while he waited for an answer on his. “Hello, Mrs. Edmonds? I’m with the sheriff’s department, and I’m checking on renters for your three cabins. I need to know if they’re families or—”

“Rental unit one is being rented by two middle-aged women. Rental unit two, a family of six—two adults and four children from the age of three to twelve. And the last unit is rented to two fishermen,” Mrs. Edmonds responded.

“Have you met all of them?”

“Yes. I actively speak to each of the renters. Not trying to be intrusive, but we only have one driveway into the rental units and our house. We keep an eye on things.”

“So you’d know if one of the renters came and left and hasn’t returned for some time?”

“Well, that would be the fishermen. They do a lot of ice fishing and cook their own meals, so no, I don’t see them coming and going. The two women, yes, they ate at the restaurant across the road and went shopping and sightseeing. And the family? They’ve been in and out of here a number of times.”