“With PIs? No. Besides, even if he was with a police force, we each look at the investigations differently and ask different questions,” Debbie said.
“Well, this is a complex that doesn’t allow pets. No kids either. It’s a no-pet, no-kid place for adult living. Swinging singles, except no loud partying. Mainly young professional couples. Once they have kids, they’re out of here. And no pets,” she reminded them, as if pets were the bane of her existence. “But you know what I found? Tons of fur. Shed all over the place. On the furniture, tile floors, and carpet. Probably fleas all over the place. I’m going to have to have the carpet cleaned and a pest exterminator in here. She wasn’t going to get her deposit back.” Then the manager swallowed hard. “Well, I mean if she had been alive. So when are the police going to release the place so I can rent it again?”
Debbie and Allan put on gloves and began searching through things, but they didn’t find anything that would help them in the investigation. No laptop, cell phone, photos, or notes of any kind. When they left the place, Debbie asked Allan, “Fleas?”
“Luckily, if she had them, they don’t bother me. What about you?”
“No, thankfully.”
“Do you want to call Rowdy and let him know we learned who the two murder victims were?” Allan asked as they climbed into his vehicle.
“Sure, I’ll do that. But he’s not going to be happy.”
“Hell, we practically solved the case for him. He’d better be happy.”
She smiled at Allan, but he knew she dreaded calling Rowdy. He was sure to be mad about it, but Allan had to find out if this case involved pack business. The only way to do that was to learn what he could before the homicide detective arrived. Otis sounded like a werewolf hunter out for blood. Had he killed both Sarah and Lloyd? It was beginning to sound like he had. But they still didn’t know if the man who murdered Sarah had been turned.
“Hi, Rowdy. I’m putting this call on speakerphone. It’s me, Debbie. We’ve got some information pertaining to a Sarah Engle and Lloyd Bates. Sarah was the leg-trap murder victim, and Lloyd was the man found in the submerged car in the Van Lake murder.”
“And you know this how?” Rowdy sounded annoyed as hell.
After asking them a million questions, Rowdy told some of his team what to do to look for new evidence in the case. Then he dismissed them and chewed Allan out for investigating this on his own when he should have run it all over to Rowdy and let him handle it. He ended the call. Abruptly.
“Sorry,” Debbie said. “Rowdy seems to think it’s entirely your fault we went down there.”
“It is. I had the clue and I was going whether you wanted to join me or not. Besides, he still likes you, so he’s not going to hurt his chances with you.”
Debbie had thought the issue of who was dating whom was behind them. She wasn’t dating Rowdy. And now it seemed she really wasn’t dating Allan either. Somehow she thought that had changed between them last night.
Annoyed, she waffled between wanting Allan to stay the night and letting him know it was time for him to get on his way. Rowdy could help her get her car from the shop.
But halfway to Whitefish, she didn’t have a chance to decide either way when Allan got a call. “Ah, yeah, okay. I’ll be there as soon as I can. I’m an hour and a half out. See you, Mom. Thanks. Give her my love.”
Debbie suspected what it was about right away, and she wished she hadn’t been annoyed with him. “Rose?”
“Yeah, she’s in labor.”
“Tell her I wish her all the best.”
“I was going to take you to dinner, but—”
Debbie smiled. “No problem. Being with your sister is way more important.”
“Thanks. If you don’t mind, we’ll do it another night. On the way home, we can stop at a drive-through and grab something to eat.”
She wanted to tell him she’d just fix herself something to eat when she got home, but he would probably have a long night at the hospital with his mom and sister. He needed to eat, so she agreed. “Sure.” She wanted to congratulate him on being a new uncle soon, but multiple births sometimes didn’t turn out well, so she reserved comment. “They’ll be fine,” she said instead.
But he didn’t say anything in response. She understood how he felt. She was feeling anxious about Rose, and she wasn’t even related.
Chapter 13
When he dropped Debbie off at her duplex, Allan gave her a light kiss on the lips, but she pulled away so quickly that he didn’t have a chance for more. After telling her good-bye, he headed to the clinic outside Bigfork. He knew Rose would have good care. If she got into too much trouble, she could shift into a wolf and have her babies as wolf pups, which was sometimes easier for one of their kind. He was still sick with worry though. He wondered how Everett was holding up if Allan felt this bad.