Dreaming of the Wolf (Heart of the Wolf #8)(73)

“The place looks clean, unless you tidied it up,” Detective Hanover said to Alicia.

For a moment, she thought the detective was referring to Ferdinand’s condo, then she realized he was talking about her apartment. Get a grip, Alicia!

“It was like this when we arrived,” she offered.

“Then it appears Mario’s henchman was only waiting here for you and wasn’t searching for anything incriminating you might have had here. Or he was very neat when he went about his business.”

She didn’t say anything, thinking the same thing, but why say one way or another when she truly didn’t have an answer? Besides, she didn’t want to give away the fact she had her mother’s belongings, which she’d be going through if the police would ever leave her alone.

Detective Hanover watched her for a long time before he finally said, “All right. Well, one other thing.”

Something in the way he said “one other thing” made her think it was significant, although he tried to make it sound like an offhand last-minute question. She tried to not tense up while she waited for him to say what that one other thing was.

He tapped his pen on his notepad like Detective Simpson had done at Darien’s house, and for an instant, she felt it was a training technique they all had learned in police detective school. A way to fluster the interviewee in a crime-scene investigation.

“Two 9-1-1 calls were made in Breckenridge, both about you,” he finally said.

She stared at him in disbelief.

He paused, observed her reaction, and then forged ahead. “The first was nearly two months ago, coinciding with when you said you met Mr. Jake Silver.” The detective read from his notebook, “A handwritten death threat was left at the room of one Miss Alicia Greiston. Myron Baker, assistant manager of the Mountainview Inn, called to report that Alicia Greiston had hastily paid for her hotel room and left without sending word to Mr. Silver although they’d had a prearranged engagement later that day.

“Now,” Detective Hanover said, “my father happens to be the police chief in Breckenridge and led the investigation.”

Police Chief Winston Hanover. Of course. She’d met him when he was trying to solve her mother’s murder several months earlier. Who would have thought his son would now be interrogating her in another incident?

“My father was unsuccessful in locating the missing woman, you, Miss Greiston. He assumed you had gone missing, not wanting to see Mr. Silver any further. Although my father was still concerned about your interest in Constantino, that the mobster has been spending time in the area, and that you believed there was a connection between the man and your mother’s death, not to mention her lover’s murder as well. None of which my father has been able to corroborate to date.”

Alicia barely breathed.

“So what happened, Miss Greiston? Why did you suddenly disappear from your hotel that day?”

“The note containing the death threat explains it all. I feared for Jake’s life and left before Mario killed him for hanging around me.”

“And now?”

“Jake assures me that Mario has no chance at doing him any harm.”

“Hmm,” the detective said. Then he flipped to another page in his notebook. “Then a day or so ago, a 9-1-1 call was made from the Cliffside Art Gallery, and the woman frantically tells the operator that a woman is in trouble. Her name is, surprisingly… Alicia Greiston. But the woman quickly tells the operator it’s a false alarm and the woman had passed out due to being pregnant. Since no real medical emergency existed, the operator concluded the conversation. But when my father heard of the call, his interest was instantly piqued. Now he knows the woman is still around, still alive, but he’s disconcerted that he hadn’t had a chance to talk to her… you.

“But it doesn’t end there. That night, another 9-1-1 call is made. A high-school buddy of mine gets the call about the shooting at Crestview Motel, and guess who’s at the heart of the shooting? Why our elusive Miss Greiston. Of course, Detective Simpson didn’t know you’d gone missing in Breckenridge or been the subject of the call about a pregnancy mishap…” The detective hesitated, and his gaze dropped to her waist.

She felt her face burn with embarrassment as she could imagine both Peter and Tom looking her over again, trying to figure if that was what all this was about. Had she’d gotten pregnant with Jake’s baby? But the timing wasn’t right, as far her having been turned, if a werewolf couldn’t impregnate a human.

“And now this. It seems as though no matter where you are, trouble follows you. My boss says we need to put you in protective custody, considering who you’re dealing with and how much my father would like to take Constantino down. But I wasn’t sure which one of you he was concerned more about protecting, considering all these shooting incidents that have occurred. You, or the men who hassle you and keep ending up shot or dead.”

And he didn’t even know about the man she’d shot on the trail where her mother had died.

“I’ll be fine with Jake and his family.”

“In truth, you’re bound to put his whole family at risk. There’s a good chance somebody’s going to do something rash and someone you love is going to get blamed for it when they’ve never done anything criminal in their life.” Detective Hanover looked at Jake, as if to say he was the one the detective was talking about.